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The Nature Conservancy in Ohio Press Releases
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Randall Edwards
Phone: (614) 717-2770 ext. 30
E-mail: redwards@tnc.org

Wetland Restoration Takes Shape

The Nature Conservancy to restore 100 acres at Kitty Todd Nature Preserve

SWANTON, OHIO — October 17, 2007 — The Nature Conservancy is well on its way to bringing back 100 acres of wet prairie that will improve water quality in the Maumee River and provide natural habitat for wild plants and animals at the Conservancy’s Kitty Todd Nature Preserve.

Volunteers from the Americorps NCCC, a volunteer service group, began this week planting planted native prairie plants in an area of the Kitty Todd preserve that already had been cleared of unwanted trees and shrubs – especially glossy buckthorn, an invasive exotic species. Wet prairies are a type of marsh that flourishes where the water table is high, as it is here along the ancient lake ridges of Lake Erie.

 

Wetland at Kitty Todd Nature Preserve

Watch Toledo's NBC24 coverage of restoration work at Kitty Todd.
Photo © August Froehlich/TNC
This portion of the preserve, located in the Oak Openings Region outside Toledo, generally is flooded half the year, said Gary Haase, the Conservancy's preserve manager at Kitty Todd. 
 
"This area was all part of an historic wet prairie that was seven miles long and a mile wide,” Haase said. “It was essentially treeless when settlers arrived, but they drained it in the 1800s for farming and towns.”
 
When they did, they took away the land’s natural ability to recharge the groundwater supply and filter water running off the farms and cities. They also eliminated habitat for spotted and Blanding’s turtles, blue spotted salamanders and swamp sparrows. As the prairie is restored, Haase hopes to see those animals coming back, as they have to other parts of the Kitty Todd preserve.
 
The project was paid for primarily through a grant from the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, with additional funds coming from a project involving the City of Toledo and the Ohio EPA. Restoring the prairie involves cutting and removing many trees that do not belong in the prairie but grew up after the land was drained. Native plants will then be planted, including Great Lakes goldenrod, wiregrass and blue-joint grass.
 
In addition to restoring land on Kitty Todd Preserve, the Conservancy is encouraging landowners within tributary watersheds of the Maumee to protect their own property through its voluntary Landowner Stewardship Program, also funded by the Joyce Foundation.
 
FOR INFORMATION: Contact Gary Haase or Kelli Krueger at (419) 867-1521.
 
In the News:  Toledo's NBC24 covers the restoration work at Kitty Todd Preserve.  Watch the clip!

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.