Wetland restoration project yields 10 new acres at Cliffside Park

CALEDONIA — Wetlands are more than just interesting scenery for hikers.

Wetlands can filter pollution, store floodwaters to reduce erosion along shorelines, store carbon, and provide habitat for diverse and sometimes endangered species.

There are 10 new acres of wetlands at Cliffside Park. Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network (WIN) spent the summer transforming former farmland to open-water wetlands.

Dave Giordano, executive director of Root-Pike WIN, explained before most of southeast Wisconsin was farmland – way back before Europeans began to clear the old-growth forests for agriculture – the area had significant areas of wetlands.

However, the area has lost approximately 90% of those wetlands, with negative consequences to the environment, as seen in increased flooding that ultimately contributed to the deterioration of bluffs along Lake Michigan.

“An acre of wetland a foot deep can store 300,000 gallons of water, so it’s no mystery that because so many of our wetlands are gone or altered, we have these flash flood-like conditions often when it rains,” he said.

Restoring a wetland

Wetlands are essentially comprised of soil conditions, plant conditions and topographic conditions.

Giordano explained to restore a wetland, it is necessary to restore the depressions, 18-36 inches deep, that were once common in southeast Wisconsin.

It is not quite as easy as just picking a couple of spots to dig out.

“It’s not like you show up with (a) bulldozer and do whatever you want,” Giordano said. “There’s six to nine months of permitting and engineering involved to create the right shapes.”

The long process includes drawings from engineers, significant review by the Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers, archeological surveys by U.S. Fish and Wildlife, as well as permitting by the Village of Caledonia.

Once everything is in place, it will take a month or more to scrape back the soil to create the depressions in the soil that will eventually collect water.

The right plants are essential

In addition to getting the topography right, it is also important to choose the right plants that will live in the wetlands.

Giordano explained there was a time when people moved away from native plants, which they thought of as weeds, in favor of non-native or exotic plants.

However, the non-native plants were problematic for the environment. The shallow roots of so many non-native plants could simply not store as much water or carbon. Some of these plants were invasive and began to squeeze out the native plants.

Giordano said of native plants, “Their root systems tend to run much deeper, which allows more stormwater infiltration.”

He added that native plants “have some really phenomenal infiltration rates.”

“When we see flooding in yards and school grounds, where you normally find a lot of turf or a lot of invasive species, it’s because the root systems are so shallow,” he added.

The deep root systems also allow for greater carbon storage as 70% of the carbon stored by a plant is stored in the root.

Another benefit to native plants, Giordano said, is their resiliency – especially to the fluctuations in the climate.

“They can weather these anomalies,” he said.

Maintaining what has been done

Once everything is in place, work at the site will go on for another three to five years to continue the seeding of native plants and eradicating any invasive species.

Giordano explained that about 90% of the maintenance work will ensure that invasive plants do not creep back in and crowd out the native plants.

The maintenance portion of the project will also include some controlled burns on occasion, which are important for native plants.

“It’s part of their growing mechanism, so burns are actually healthy, and they knock back some of the invasive species,” Giordano said. “There are native plants that need burns to thrive correctly.”

Promoting habitats

Even though there is some way to go before the project is complete, there has already been a sign of the good things to come.

Giordano said he has seen a rusty patched bumble bee, an endangered species.

He explained the reason rusty patched bumble bees are so important is because they are an indicator species; that is, the health of that species is an indicator of the health of other species.

“When the rusty patched bumble bee declined, which it’s in dramatic decline right now, that means other species are probably going to follow,” he said. “We keep a close eye on that bee. We look around often for it because when we find it, we know things are healthy.”

The rusty patched bumble bee will ignore non-native plants because “they’re honed in on the food sources that are most important, that are built into the DNA.”

As they buzz around, they are looking for bergamot, St. John’s wort, pale purple coneflower, and other plants native to Wisconsin.

“It’s just amazing to me to see the transformation when you get rid of these invasives and you put natives back, what incredible things come out of it,” Giordano said.

Restoring southeast Wisconsin’s watersheds

The Root-Pike WIN is a non-profit project development organization with a mission to restore, protect and sustain the watersheds in the Root-Pike basin, which represents 200 miles of streams and tributaries.

Relying on the EPA’s Nine Element Watershed Restoration planning guide, there are plans in place for the Pike River, Root River, Wind Point and Oak Creek. A plan for Pine Creek is in the planning stages.

“The plan defines the challenges but also recommends projects that help alleviate some of the impacts to the land, and ultimately Lake Michigan,” Giordano said.

The project was made possible through grants from Fish and Wildlife, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which was originally funded by the federal government to restore natural features around the Great Lakes Basin. There was additional funding from Microsoft and SC Johnson.