Wetlands 101

The following column appeared in the July 19 Pittsburg, Kan. Morning Sun:

Since Woods Edge was part of the Pittsburg Garden Tour last month, we have received several letters and e-mails requesting additional information about the diversity of habitats we have developed.

For us, the goal was to become better stewards of the plot of Earth we’re borrowing for our lifetime. To achieve that we had to help it become healthy.

A key characteristic of healthy communities is biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem. Ask yourself this question: Would you expect to see more wildlife on a Bermuda grass football field or in a section of Ozark forest of the same size? A more diverse plant community attracts a more diverse animal community and so on.

We continue to strive to create biodiversity at Woods Edge. Even though our domain encompasses a mere two acres according to the County Clerk, we are fortunate to be caretakers to several ecosystems — albeit small and fragmented ones — typical of southeast Kansas habitats, including a small tall-grass prairie and a wetland.

The prairie and wetland may be small, but they create a fragment of biodiversity to offset some of the acres of manicured golf course-style lawns in Crawford County.

Four years ago we utilized the technical expertise of Mark Sooter at the Natural Resources Conservation Service to engineer a wetland ecosystem in a low-lying area of our backyard.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, wetlands are areas that are covered by shallow water or have waterlogged soils for long periods during the growing season. As such, wetlands are the transition zone between land and water. Wetlands must possess indicators in all three criteria including hydrology, soils, and vegetation.

Wetlands are often referred to as “nurseries of life” because they host a tremendous diversity of plants and animals. Most wetlands dry up during part of the growing season, providing suitable conditions for growth of plants suited for moist-soil areas.

At our Woods Edge wetland, we release water in the late spring through a water control structure to mimic natural conditions and stimulate moist-soil plant growth. In early fall, we use wooden boards to block the outflow pipe and impound any runoff rainwater. This, in turn, provides a resting spot for migrating waterfowl.

Sometimes the autumn rains come, sometimes they do not, so it is a bit of a management gamble. But, then, nature is not a series of planned events, either.

Many species of frogs, turtles, snakes, birds, and mammals visit our wetland throughout the year. The diversity of plants that grow there attracts a very diverse array of both aquatic and terrestrial visitors seeking food, water, and shelter.

The barn swallows that nest each year under our patio eaves fly hundreds of insect bombing runs over our wetland — and neighboring properties — every day in order to feast from an insect buffet.

Likewise, Gambusia affinis, better known by their common name of “mosquito fish,” gorge themselves on mosquito larva in the shallow water. In the twilight hours, Little Brown Bats can consume half their body weight in mosquitoes each night. Scientific studies have revealed that a single colony of bats can eat 6.3 billion insects per year … that’s billion with a “b.”

Other benefits:
• Wetlands slow the movement of storm water, thus protecting against erosion and flooding.
• As water goes out of a wetland it is filtered and most of the bacteria and other harmful substances are cleaned out.
• Wetlands also filter pesticides, wastes, nitrogen, phosphorous, and agriculture fertilizers from adjacent land, which means they are kept out of larger bodies of water.

From a certain “golf course” point of view, the Woods Edge wetland, and its surrounding native prairie buffer, may look a bit ragged. But take a closer look and one will find a unique ecosystem teaming with biodiversity, one that contributes to the environment rather than takes away from it.

June 28 Outdoor Column

"Dancing the farm bill two-step"

We have all heard the old saying, “Two steps forward, one step back.” The Farm Bill passed this May is, in my opinion, a darned good example of Congress two-stepping across the habitat dance floor with conservation in tow.

This should not come as much of a surprise to anyone, as each time gas nears $4 per gallon at the pump President Bush strikes up the More Oil Band for a rousing rendition of the Oil Barrel Polka.

All together now, “Roll out the barrel, we’ll dig in A.N.W.R. for fun.”

A.N.W.R. is the political buzzword acronym for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is President Bush’s favorite bull’s eye for increasing domestic oil production … and, of course, destroying some pristine wildlife habitat to boot.

I digress, back to the Farm Bill.

Even the most dogmatic biologists and ecologists will not argue the value of our nation’s agricultural land in providing food and food products to the U.S. and many other nations around the globe.

But I would imagine that one could convince even the most staunch politicians and plutocrats that some land is simply not suitable for production of crops. In southeast Kansas, many areas are too wet. Travel across the border toward the Ozarks and rocky soil limits tillable crop acreage.

So why, you ask, is Congress relaxing the rules on some crucial conservation programs? Good question.

Following are just a few of the impacts that the new Farm Bill will have on conservation:

1. Prairie Grasslands. The northern Midwest contains slightly more than 20 million acres of the last remaining native prairie in the U.S. Booming grain prices, compounded with Federal incentives that discourage setting aside marginal agricultural land, are literally cutting into those 20 million acres of native prairie to the tune of approximately 2 percent loss each year.
Both the House and Senate pledged support for the “Sodsaver” provision of the Farm Bill that removed certain incentives for farming grasslands. The final Farm Bill language, however, only applied to certain states and even then deferred the decision to the states’ governors as to whether or not to adopt the program.

The result: Ducks Unlimited scientists estimate that 3.3 million acres of native prairie will be lost in the next five years.

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), originally developed with the 1985 Farm Bill to restore grasslands, also got a kick in the shin from the new Farm Bill. CRP acreage will be reduced by 18 percent, despite the proven track record of providing valuable upland habitat and protection of topsoil in highly erodible areas.
High demand for grain, such as corn used in ethanol production, is providing a financial incentive that outweighs CRP subsidy payments to agricultural producers. Prepare to say goodbye to 4 million acres of CRP grasslands in the next four years. Nice work, Mr. Congressman.

2. Wetlands. The new Farm Bill reduced the amount of land eligible for enrollment in the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) from 250,000 acres per year to 153,000 acres per year. WRP subsidizes costs to landowners for development of wetlands on their land. In addition to providing diverse wildlife habitats, wetlands serve as flood control buffers by storing floodwater in runoff events and releasing it slowly.

The silver lining in the 2008 Farm Bill is that there still are viable conservation components in the 2008 Farm Bill. Even though both the Conservation Reserve Program and the Wetland Reserve Program took a load of buckshot, the U.S. is still leaps and bounds ahead of most other nations in the area of conservation. We have more than 39 million acres of restored grasslands that we would not have without CRP. Nearly 2 million acres of wetlands have been created through WRP that would otherwise quite possibly be marginal cropland.

So, I challenge all conservation-minded readers of At Woods Edge to remain informed about conservation programs at the national level. E-mail or write our U.S. Representatives and Senators to express your thanks for their continued support of conservation and to remind them that you will be keeping an eye on their votes on conservation programs.