Water (Intentionally) Flowing Back into the Marsh (Finally!)

This half-day project included the removal of an old, rusty metal pipe with a nice, durable plastic one; as you can see in the
photo below, it was capped with a brand new screw gate on the bay-front side to accommodate the strategic addition
of water into the main South Unit of the West Marsh, directly from the bay -- this will only be feasible when bay levels
are high like they are at present 

With "big duck" season set to open in under two weeks (October 14), it's getting down to the nitty-gritty in terms of time for larger-scale projects in the marsh. Unseasonably warm, dry weather has made for ideal earthwork -- and as such, Buehlers (our loyal excavating contractor) "made hay" while the sun shined.

Buehlers even gave us a make-shift stairway to our new screw gate!

Between last Thursday and this Monday morning, we successfully (a) installed two replacement pipes with screw gates where old infrastructure was no longer functional, (b) extended a third pipe on a similar replacement project that we started last fall (we were waiting for low water and other projects to bundle in to get the job completed cost-effectively), and (c) got a stone boat launch installed off of one of our dikes.

That may not sound like a lot, but trust me, it's a lot of moving parts. And now, the good news is we should be about finished with "major projects" for the 2017 field season and we are back to moving water back into the marsh -- in a systematic and strategic way.

Classic Roy Kroll

Speaking of adding water, the photo at right (taken yesterday) was classic Roy. While it's somewhat difficult to see, he is standing in `12" of water on top of a 36" diameter pipe, juggling two heavy tools in his hands while balancing the three others that I passed him on surrounding surfaces (all precariously perched over the water).

While this is another one of those proverbial "five minute jobs" in the marsh, it really is more of a circus exercise. The only certainly in an effort like this is you are going to get wet one way or the other, from sweat, the marsh, or both. And chances are good you'll get cut, scratched, and/or bruised, too.

The goal is to carefully force a narrow pry bar into the seam between the end of the pipe and the flap gate so that another (wider) implement can be worked in to gradually (and forcefully) "break the seal" -- which is caused by the four feet of head pressure, the foot over the pipe and the three feet on the pipe itself. The ultimate outcome, if successful, is to work the pipe open to the point that it can be lodged ajar to allow for a desired flow rate. In this particular case, we are trying to add up to a couple inches a day over 75+ acres, so one well-placed 2x4 provides all the volume we need.

Since spring and into mid-summer, I've spent a lot of time writing about moving water out of the marsh to achieve desired management goals. For as much as I wrote, our entire team spent that much more effort actually making it happen. Water going back in at this time of year is a meaningful milestone; it allows us to look back on the season's successes and means duck season will soon be upon us!

The pipe extension on the left of this image marks the completion of a pipe replacement that we started last fall;
this effort was conducted in conjunction with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and was critical to our
management efforts this past year