May: Sometimes Green Leads to Improved Water Quality

Beyond the characteristic influx of spring migrants passing through on the wing (see previous post), May was defined by an emphasis on water quality. 

Spring may be historically stubborn to yield new green growth in the marsh, but May's warm temps certainly got the bulrushes going (as evidenced by this dense stand of soft-stem emerging from the Rest Pond -- photo taken 5/50/21. 

One evolving project that we are extremely excited about brings many of our favorite things together: marsh restoration & management, water quality, interactive education, emerging technologies, and functional data collection & analysis. At the invitation of our friends from Toledo Public Schools, we have been asked to host a water quality data collecting buoy that is being developed by an incredibly gifted collection of scientific minds. This unique collaboration was conceived and is being spear-headed by a robotics and software engineer from the NASA Langley Research Center. You can read more about the early development of the project here. We are thrilled to be one of two locations in the country (the second being Yorktown, VA on the Chesapeake Bay) where prototypical equipment has been deployed.

Preliminary testing not only yielded real-time data collection on useful water quality parameters including temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and nitrates, it also provided high school students a glimpse into a wetland world that is often as foreign as outer space. We are flattered to be a part of this team and this worthwhile project, and we are excited that the first iteration prototype yielded enough positive feedback to prompt the development of a second generation. Wetland Buoy 2.0 is currently under development and should be ready to be deployed in the fall. Updates will follow.

Roy delivering real-time water quality data from Standing Rush to the classroom at Toledo Public School's Natural Science Technology Center (NSTC).

New signage marks the newly completed Structure 2 connection between the Main West Marsh (behind the camera) and the Rest Pond (pictured), the management unit where water quality data is being collected.

This open canopy of free-flowing water between the Main West Marsh (behind the camera) and the Rest Pond (top of image) was the primary impetus behind the construction of Structure 2. This dramatically increased exchange of water benefits not just water quality, but also all of the biodiversity (both plants and wildlife) that thrive in these recently restored habitats.

This Eastern Foxsnake (or Fox Snake) neonate (or hatchling) -- a Species of Concern only found in marsh habitats of the Western Basin of Lake Erie in Ohio -- fittingly made its presence known while we were deploying the water quality buoy.

This nearly 5' Eastern Foxsnake specimen (which greeted Roy at the container door to the shop) did a little growing up -- and demonstrates that the species is thriving at Standing Rush.

Another shot of the emerging sea of green, taken in the Rest Pond toward the end of this month.

MOST WANTED: The Eastern Foxsnake

What's hiding behind that snarl of last year's growth? The Eastern Foxsnake: A Species of Concern in Ohio

I'm heading out to Erie County for what I hope to be a busy (dry) day in the field today. We have a couple guests touring the property in the morning, and among other things, we hope to show a survey crew around to establish some parcel lines and establish some elevations at key locations on the site.

But before I hit the road, I wanted to share this find. I finally got the photos organized last eve . . .

On a recent afternoon where the sun actually broke the clouds, we found ourselves in the midst of one of our MOST WANTED. Roy was monitoring for recent muskrat activity, when he stumbled onto the sight pictured above. You have to look closely, but it was definitely a highlight of the day.

Roy was fully confident that our marsh should be home to a decent number of Eastern foxsnakes, a species that played an important role in his Masters work when he lived and conducted research on the property in the late 1970s. As one of Ohio's largest snakes (growing to 5'+) and boasting of one of the more impressive contrasts in coloration you'll see in a Midwest snake, this reptile would seem hard to miss. But this species is only known to inhabit a handful of northwest counties in Ohio, and is therefore one of eleven "state-listed" reptiles recognized as a Species of Concern.

Along with its immediate physical attributes (size and color contrast), its bronze head and propensity to shake its tail when threatened make it often mistaken as a rattler or other poisonous snake. In truth, this surprisingly docile creature is tightly tied to lakeside marsh environments and, as Roy found out through his studies, would rather eat mallard duck eggs than latch onto your calf or hand.

Based on his research, Roy found that foxsnakes were actually the #1 predator of mallard eggs on the property. A raccoon or possum would break all the eggs (leaving broken shells) and eat without restraint until the entire nest was decimated, but a foxsnake would stealthily take one egg per overnight visit, leaving no tell in the form of broken shells.

Julie showed her experience with reptiles by gently handling this individual long enough to photo-document, sex, and measure before releasing back into the protection of the sun-drenched vegetation. A female, she measured just over 50-inches long. She's apt to be mating now, and if all goes as planned, she will introduce as many as 30 young snakes to the marsh by late summer or early fall.

Next on our herpetologist most wanted list: the threatened Blanding's turtle,Lake Erie watersnake, and possibly the endangered Eastern Massasauga.


P.S. For a great photo field guide of the reptiles of Ohio, check out the Division of Wildlife's Publication 354. It is actually part of an entire series that is free and available to the public.