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.

Dry Enough for a Walking Tour: The Tower Marsh

Changes are literally visible by the day when it comes to what is growing in the Tower Marsh at present; and the tiny seedling starts in the foreground are a surprisingly positive indicator of what might be to come (click to enlarge)

The Tower Marsh, an 85+ acre expanse that hasn't been much but shallow water (12-30" deep) ringed in Phragmites since we took possession of the property, is in the midst of a change that hasn't been witnessed in decades . . . like maybe three. For the first time since the '80s (we think), this management unit is dry enough to walk on foot.

Periodic (~weekly) rains over the last couple/few weeks have saturated the mud on at least a couple occasions. Last Friday, for example, a 0.5"+ of rain covered the expanse shown above with skim water in the morning, only to see it evaporated and/or absorbed by afternoon. This makes for some sticky walking in places, but it is the perfect incubator for a late season drawdown.

As I've written about in the past, we seeded the eastern ~10 acres of the unit with millet just a short month ago (a few weeks later than we had originally intended). The result of that seeding appears as the very light green in the background of the photo above. A shot "from the weeds" is included below. This introduction of millet was intended to create desirable cover along the Phragmites-dominated eastern dike, while leaving the majority of the new exposure prone to whatever resides in the seedbed. Our fingers have been crossed and based on our initial discoveries, we're excited!

The eastern end of the Tower is now a far cry from bare mud; it has been exposed the longest and is now dominated by a nice mix of millet (flown in), nut sedge, and soft-stem bulrush (seedbed generated) -- these areas are now supporting plants 12-18" tall

A closeup of the area above shows just what we were hoping for -- a healthy mix of "fruit"-bearing annuals (nudge sedge, pictured to the left) and even some desirable perennial species.

If you click on the image to the left to enlarge, you may be able to make out the rounded, darker stems of soft-stemmed bulrush. The largest of these plants are getting close to a foot and a half, but most are <12" and can be quickly covered in the more aggressive annuals. The good news is they are there, and they are taking root.

The other good news is that even on bare mud, the bulrush is present. In fact, it really seems to be the dominant plant in areas where water has just receded. Seedlings that are <3" tall can be difficult to identify to species, but with some experience and a good camera, you can train your eye to ID the usual suspects.

Below, I have included just a few select photos from of the other discoveries from our hot walk onto the mud. I'll try to detail what we found on the far east unit (the "Dinky Track") soon. While we implemented a similar management tactic, things are looking markedly different over there.

Demonstrating its propensity to germinate about anywhere that it can find a foothold, these two individual Japanese 
millet seedlings are joining a handful of bulrush on the inside curve of a decaying snapping turtle shell

Even one of my favorite wetland plants, arrowhead, is showing itself in very isolated clusters in the Tower

This perspective is most striking because two seasons ago it was a sea of Phragmites 10-feet tall or more; the sun-faded sticks and one isolated plant are all that remain after an aerial herbicide treatment (late August 2015); with the water now down, we are seeing the immensely positive response from the millet, nut sedge, and bulrush

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

Clean Slate, Fingers Crossed

After months of effort, we have finally accomplished a full drawdown on the main Tower Marsh.
This image shows the ~half of the ~80-acres that we hope will evolve into a broad diversity of desirable wetland
vegetation. It's been decades since this has been done though, so it's a "fingers crossed" experiment.

For two years now, Roy and I have been using the term "clean slate" to describe the starting point that we face -- or in some cases strife for -- with our management units when we contemplate restoration activities. While it seems somewhat counterintuitive, the broad expanse of mud depicted in the image above is about as "clean" of a slate as we can get on our property.

In reality, we don't ever have the luxury of starting fresh. All of the land targeted for restoration has a history, and each individual target area confined by earthen dikes ("management unit") has its own specific past, present, and future. Our goal is to help provide environmental circumstances that promote the most ecologically desirable future. And it all starts with water (or in some cases, the lack thereof) and plants. As I've discussed in previous posts, many of our units were dominated by invasive species at one time or another over the last several decades. Some were dominated when we took possession of the property in 2015.

Others, like the "South Tower" unit pictured above have had enough water on them long enough that there isn't much growing. Two to three feet of standing water tends to limit emergent vegetation, especially if the water levels are sustained. And if the water tends to be murky (like ours was), even submergent vegetation (below the water level) tends to be limited.

But every unit has a "seed bed," a residual reservoir of plant seeds made up of several to many species -- deposited over years and even decades -- that resides in the shallow surface "mud" that in several cases, we have now exposed. The gamble is what is that seed composition, and what can we trigger to germinate?

In the case of last year's effort in the West Rest Pond, we weren't confident that we'd like what we'd see in the seed bed, so we flew in millet to help promote desirable plants (read more here, if you haven't already, to better understand how we try to stack the deck using millet). We are implementing a similar tactic on the far East Dinky Marsh because we are concerned there may be high percentages of Phragmites and loosestrife seed (reminder: both "bad guys").

But the Tower is a roll of the dice we are willing to entertain. Only time will tell if the gamble will pay off. I'll get more into the impacts of drawdown as we witness what unfolds.

P.S. The only plant material visible in the image above is a small amount of aquatic smartweed in the foreground, the ring of Phragmites that we are allowing to grow on the far dikes to help keep soils stabilized (dark green plant in the background), and the bright green millet (background, but in front of Phrag) that we flew in a few weeks back to try to minimize the spread of Phragmites from the surrounding dikes. It is still short, but it is coming on well.