Success! 205 Acres of Coastal Habitat Protected -- Forever

This aerial overview depicts major expanses of the ~205 acres now permanently protected at Standing Rush
thanks to the USDA/NRCS' Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) program; the area directly below the drone totals 
almost exactly 100 acres and is completely protected -- the largely open water expanse just above the center
of the image (above the narrow tree line) is ~75 acres in size and is also fully included in the protection

Late yesterday afternoon, it became official: just over 205 acres (or roughly 155 football fields) -- virtually all of our "East Marsh" and its watery connection to Sandusky Bay -- is now permanently protected wetland habitat through formal acceptance and completed enrollment into the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) program. This is a very significant step, a crucial part of the most foundational "pillar" of our project mission: long-term habitat protection and conservation.

While this herculean effort (which started way back in December 2015) culminated in a real estate closing, this is not a land sale. Standing Rush still owns the property; it remains privately held. And we can essentially continue to do most all of the things that we originally set out to do to carry out the mission of our broader project.

However, under this critically important arrangement, we -- or any other individual or entity that owns the easement area moving forward [forever] -- are bound by a perpetual pact with the United States government, specifically the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS, which is managed through the USDA). This legal agreement, known as a conservation easement, essentially forfeits most traditional development rights. So we didn't sell the property, we just sold the legal right to do many of the things that our societal structures traditionally grant us, as landowners, the right to do.

Another vantage point showing habitat now permanently protected by WRE; special thanks to everyone at NRCS
and all the affiliated agencies and collaborators who helped make this day possible -- now we are on to finding
ways to protect the rest of Standing Rush!

By entering into this conservation easement, we forfeit our right to do things like build structures within the easement area, grow cash crops, harvest timber, etc. in exchange for a one-time monetary payment and the promise that our federal government will serve as watch-dog and protector of this unique habitat . . . forever. We also enter into what is called a "compatible use agreement" with the NRCS. It is tied to a living land management plan, so that again, we can continue to advance the stability and ecological function of the property within the confines of the broader easement. We will continue to focus on restoration opportunities within the easement area. Historical recreational uses (e.g., hunting, trapping, fishing, birding, wildlife viewing, etc.) are considered "compatible uses" as long as they are carried out legally and responsibly.

So in many ways, this is an ideal situation for all involved. Standing Rush gets the benefit of a financial infusion to help off-set significant carrying costs and management expenses and is provided the assurance that no matter who owns the property in the future, the natural resources will be protected. The U.S. government secures and protects the diverse and crucially important functions and values of critically scarce wetland habitat at a fraction of the price of buying the property outright, and the legal owners of the property continue to be responsible for its care and maintenance. And the general public gets the broad benefit that the government has secured (e.g., improved water quality, ground water recharge, flood protection, wildlife diversity, etc., etc.), and in some cases, still has access to the protected property.

Permanently Protected

As a bit of an aside, the future of public access on Standing Rush property remains a bit of an unknown -- or at least a to-be-determined. As of now, we plan to continue as we have, inviting targeted groups and individuals on-site to witness and experience the wonder of the coastal wetland environment and to continue to research and learn from every square inch of this incredible natural resource that we have left.

Pintails Galore

Drake pintails (with a lone hen hiding in the background); just plain photogenic

I just got back from an annual pilgrimage to extreme northern Minnesota (a very late season ice fishing trip). Seems fitting somehow that I was greeted home by an inbox full of photos of Northern Pintails. Roy has been having some fun while I've been away. While the mercury remains stubborn in the 30s and low 40s for highs with lows often below freezing, the sun continues to gain strength and the day length continues to stretch. Compounded by the shift of daylight savings time, we're definitely in the midst of transition once again. Roy's photographs are a vivid reminder of one big payoff in the marsh that often comes on the heals of a long, tough winter: spring ducks!

Pintails basking on what is officially the
last day of winter

This blog entry is largely going to be a visual tribute, both to the specific waterfowl that dominates these images, but also to all the effort over the last two field seasons that have built to this explosion of life. Quite frankly, this wouldn't have been possible just a couple short years ago. The vegetation simply was not present, so as a result neither were the food options -- via seeds, tubers, stems, and associated invertebrate life.

The congregation of pintails in the image to the left and immediately below are particularly gratifying because this is the Dinky Track, the 100-acre unit that makes up our eastern-most habitat. This area was a largely sterile, almost lunar landscape when we took possession of the property. The dominate physical features were: (1) Phragmites, (2) hundreds if not thousands of massive root clumps from dead and decaying Phrag and loosestrife [still visible amidst last year's vegetation], and (3) open water with little if any vegetation beneath the surface. None of these attributes are apt to attract much less hold waterfowl -- at least in any great numbers or over any notable time period. Already that has changed.

More loafing pintails taking in all the sun can give them

A mix of stately drakes (with the long tails) and less showy but hardly drab hens

Spring pintails on the wing

A comparable aerial explosion out of the West Rest Pond
(second year millet with increasing stands of desirable annuals and perenials)

P.S. I purposefully set this post to go live at 12:15PM on 3/20/18. It is now officially spring! It's also the one-year anniversary of this blog's existence -- my first post was one year ago today, 3/20/17. Man, does time fly!

What a Difference a Rain Makes: The Dinky Track

The view looking south from the center of the 100-acre Dinky Track earlier this week

Barring a catastrophic dike failure (which we thankfully did not and should not experience), the thought that a single rain could cause flood damage to a wetland might sound strange. But the last line of my July 16, 2017 post (the day we flew seed over 50 acres of the Dinky Track) was pretty prophetic . . . to continue the biblical theme . . . "P.S. Thunderstorms are in the forecast again for this afternoon."

Just a few short hours after the seed rained down out of that plane, the actual rain came down. And it came down in big drops, close together. The thunderstorm was sustained and within a few short hours more than 2" of water fell. Usually, this wouldn't cause major problems with a millet seeding when water can be taken off a unit. But because we were just on the jagged edge of "dry" enough and because we couldn't get it dry quickly enough (in part due to extremely soft sediment holding moisture), we've now come to discover that much of the seed rotted. The landing strip of relatively bare mud above is a testament to too much water at just the wrong time.

Per usual in marsh management, one has to take some
bad (e.g. Swamp Loosestrife, above) with the good;
such is life in a world riddled by invasive species

But as is so often the case in nature, there is a silver lining. We had a hunch that the Dinky would respond differently to a late drawdown as compared to the adjacent Tower Marsh. That's why we flew millet onto 50% of the Dinky versus more like 15% of the Tower. What we didn't anticipate is that both units would show positive responses from the seedbed (the seeds naturally residing in the shallow soil).

Based on our hike earlier this week, the Dinky has much of the same nut sedge that we are observing next door (a good thing). Where the millet is lacking, we are also seeing other good pushes of smartweed and beggerstick (more good news). There are also some hints at some desirable perennials -- most notably soft-stem bulrush (again, a good thing).

We knew we were going to be dealing with some invasive loosestrife, both purple (below) and swamp (left, and in isolated stalks to the right above). As we discussed from early on, the purple is largely being held in check by a friendly beetle. There are a couple initially daunting stands in the Dinky now, but as the photo below illustrates well, the beetles are doing their jobs. And as for the swamp loosestrife, they are really only prevalent on the very tops of old, rotting root clumps (on "high ground" islands no more than 18"x 18"). We are scratching our heads a bit as to the best management approach with these buggers (no, the beetles have no appetite for swamp loosestrife), but the good news is, they don't tend to spread overly quickly, and they are really only sporadically present in most of the unit.

A fairly sizable (~1 acre) stand of purple loosestrife trying to establish within Phragmites that was sprayed in 2015;
note browning and highly stressed plants in middle of frame (being attacked by the Galerucella beetle) and the
bright-colored plants behind -- in the cue to be consumed/killed

Bidens, or beggersticks, can be a bit of a nuisance when wearing fleece or neoprene (seeds stick to everything) --
but the ducks happily feed on them come fall, so we welcome their presence in the natural succession plan

Roy estimates he saw as many as 1,000 shorebirds (big numbers but not huge diversity) earlier this week;
rain in today's forecast might make Friday's viewing worth breaking out the field guide and camera -- to be continued

I could go on and on cataloging the plants we are seeing now and the various outcomes that could evolve. But as Roy keeps saying, "This is a one week at a time proposition." We watch the weather, watch the response, and adapt accordingly.

Did Someone Say Mud?

My post from earlier in the week set the stage for what we are experiencing now in on the East Marsh. All our water management over the last several months has finally allowed us to reach our goals, and we are experiencing the extensive "late season drawdown" that we established as our primary 2017 restoration objective for nearly 200+ acres of marsh.

The vegetative response will be very interesting to watch. If we like what we see, we let it ride. If we don't, we always have the option of re-flooding one or more of the management units and essentially starting over.

But one thing we definitely can see is that the timing of our newly exposed mud is setting the stage for what we hope will be a bonanza of shorebirds. Dozens of species like the one pictured to the left are specifically adapted to capitalize on these situations. Their feet are typically long and well suited for "snowshoeing" through the wet mud, and long legs don't hurt anything when the mud is soft and the bugs are plentiful.

What amazes me most about this group of birds? (1) Their diversity [I have a lot to learn to differentiate all the subtleties that differentiate the species]; (2) Their ability to find and exploit new mud [they seem to appear out of nowhere the instant water goes away]; and, (3) Their metabolism [most of these species seem to never stop moving!]. Identification is tough (I'm always looking for positive id's from those who know more than me), but photography can be even more challenging. We hope to spend more time in the marsh with a camera over the days and weeks to come.

This medium-sized hunter of the shallows let me get pretty close yesterday while I was photo monitoring.
Can anyone ID?

Just like shorebirds, bird watchers seem to appear out of no where as soon as new opportunities arrive. I witnessed six vehicles and nearly a dozen individuals armed with scopes and telephoto lenses on the roadside to the west of our East Marsh late on Wednesday afternoon. Word is out that we have "fresh mud." Seasoned birders are well aware that the shorebirds are sure to follow.

For perspective, here are some comparison photos from the same vantage points: June versus August. The "after" shots were just taken yesterday.

BEFORE: Very sparse emergent vegetation and turbid water dominate in the Tower Marsh; June, 2017

AFTER: Millet and other annuals are beginning to fill in opportunistically thanks to the dry conditions that are conducive
to germination; August, 2017

BEFORE: Broad expanses of shallow water dominate the 100-acre Dinky Track, leaving little but dead and decaying
loosestrife clumps in the background; June, 2017

AFTER: The same perspective following drawdown -- shorebird activity is picking up and so is the germination of new
annuals in the mud; August, 2017

480,000 gallons/day Still Not Enough

The tiny blooms of the common bladderwort (Utricularia macrorhiza) may be the size of your pinkie nail,
but they still proved to be a bright spot in an otherwise sobering few days in the marsh

While I signed off earlier in the week with high hopes of large expanses of newly sown millet in our East Marsh, the last couple days have demonstrated how challenging it is to take feet of water off hundreds of acres -- especially when it has to happen fast. This is been an ongoing saga all spring, but now we are truly running out of time (millet needs 60 days to fully mature). Despite the fact that both of our pumps devoted to the east side continue to move water 24 hours per day (at an estimated 480,000 gallons per hour), we just didn't get enough water off our eastern-most unit to give the pilots the green light to come broadcast more seed.

A view of newly exposed mud in our eastern-most unit (the 100-acre "Dinky Track") as of Wednesday afternoon;
while there is a lot more "dry" ground compared to just a few days prior, there is still a good amount of area (80 acres+)
with 4-12" of water remaining

Constant monitoring this week has lead to the conclusion that we have to continue to pump through the holiday weekend -- maybe not through the 4th (next Tuesday), but close. At this point, it all comes down to pumps continuing to run and major thunderstorms continuing to miss the marsh. We got about 0.4" of rain overnight last night. At this point, no rain is best, but we were still able to drop another 4" or so in the last 24 hours. We just have to pray that daytime heat doesn't build to the point that a 2-3" rain falls directly on the site.

I have to admit that it is hard to keep my morale up under these situations. We know that the millet seeding would (will) make for some major improvements if we can get it sown and growing, but we are already thousands of dollars into a contingency budget labeled as the "unexpected," and each day of pumping costs hundreds of dollars more. This is yet another lesson in patience.

P.S. The bladderwort photographed on the top of the page is totally worth its own post. The submerged macrophyte (mostly underwater plant) is carnivorous . . . think Venus flytrap . . . but it does its dirty work under the surface of the water. I will collect more photos next week and provide more detail soon.

Happy 4th of July!