[To see more about restoration of other types of remnants, go to the main Restoration of Remnants page]
Little Waumandee Creek runs though the south part of our land. The creek and the valley floor on either side were once all wetland.
We estimate there are about 50 acres of this former wetland. Some has never been drained and is still very wet, especially in the spring and after rainstorms. Some areas had drain tile installed in the past and were planted with crops. There are numerous springs with streams that feed into the creek, and several large sedge meadows. There are thickets of Alder and Bog Birch close to the State Highway that runs along the southern edge. Reed Canary Grass and Wild Parsnip are common invasives. A power line runs down the middle of the valley, and the right of way is periodically mowed either by us or by the the power company.
This is a drone photo of most of the creek and the wetland. The creek runs from right to left in the photo.
We have three main goals here:
1 – Protect the native wetland habitat that still remains
2 – Restore native habitat in places where there aren’t many natives left
3 – Get rid of as many invasives as possible.
Protecting Native Habitat
The areas that weren’t tiled and cropped still have mostly native wetland vegetation. There are two large sedge meadows, two large and many smaller springs with streams that lead down to the creek, and many smaller wet areas with wet prairie plants.
This shows the eastern sedge meadow, running down the middle of the photo.
A closer view of the other large sedge meadow – with native forbs including Joe Pye Weed, and Common Milkweed, Wild Cucumber Vine.
A wet spot with sedge meadow on the left, wet prairie on the right, and a thicket of Common Elderberry and Angelica beyond and hiding a spring.
Most of the work I do in these areas is to try to get rid of invasives.
Habitat Restoration
Several large areas were formerly cropland. Drain tile keeps the top surface fairly dry, but underneath the soil is wet. The tile is very old, and made from metal, so it’s deteriorating and there are sunken places with water, or at least wetter soil, at the bottom. When we started, the vegetation was an ‘old field’ mix of canada goldenrod, wild parsnip, non-native cool season grasses including Reed Canary Grass, and some native sedges. Some areas also had Crown Vetch and Bird’s Foot Trefoil.
For all the former crop fields, we mowed them in late summer, then once they greened up in the fall we had them sprayed with glyphosate. This shows the Farmhouse Meadow, just after mowing.
We had the spraying done late in the fall, so early season natives – like violets – would survive. Once the spraying was done, I divided the field with stakes. Here’s that same area after spraying and staking.
Once there was snow on the ground, I threw wetland seeds on top of the snow.
Some natives bloom the first year – especially Blue Vervain and Black-eyed Susan. But most of the growth that first summer is weeds, especially Wild Parsnip, Queen Anne’s Lace, and Canada Thistle. Mike mows once or twice that summer – to try to reduce the number of weed seeds.
The second summer there are fewer weeds and more flowering natives. We only mow the places where the weeds are thickest, and leave the rest. I pull Wild Parsnip, and spritz the largest Canada Thistle and Crown Vetch plants with herbicide.
As these ‘reconstructed’ wetlands mature, more of the plants grow and flower, so they get more varied looking and more diverse. Here are a couple of examples of older plantings.
Common Milkweed, Water Hemlock and Swamp Milkweed
Sawtooth Sunflower, Joe Pye Weed, Swamp Thistle
Invasives
We’ve also been trying to eliminate – or at least reduce the amount – of our 4 worst wetland invasives: Wild Parsnip, Reed Canary Grass, Crown Vetch and Bird’s Foot Trefoil. There’s also some Garlic Mustard but it’s growing mainly in shaded clumps of willows, so it’s very difficult to work on, and doesn’t seem to be spreading outside those areas.
We’ve been pulling and mowing Wild Parsnip since at least 2007. We started at the west end of the property – Mike mows when there’s too much to pull, and I pull plants when there aren’t as many. We’ve been moving east, and have finally nearly reached the eastern property boundary. I recheck the whole wetland every spring, and I’m feeling hopeful – the western sections have very little parsnip now – some areas have none at all.
We have one area that we call ‘No Bridge Meadow’ that’s surrounded on one side by the creek and on the other side by sedge meadow so it’s impossible to get a tractor to it. I don’t think it was drain tiled or cropped, and most of it still has native wetland vegetation. I’ve been pulling the Wild Parsnip there for years, and the numbers of plants are finally declining.
Reed Canary Grass is a problem everywhere. It’s very aggressive, and grows in thick circles that other plants have a hard time penetrating. I’ve tried spraying, mowing, cutting and treating the stems but I can’t get rid of it. The only thing we’ve found that helps is to damage the RCG and then plant or encourage the growth of aggressive natives in between and around it. Sedges, Big Toothed Sunflower, Water Hemlock and Swamp Betony all seem to be able to compete fairly successfully. So when we find a thick circle of RCG we mow it a few times just as it’s beginning to flower, which sets it back. After a few weeks, once it starts greening up again, I sometimes spray with a grass-only herbicide. I try to ensure there are aggressive natives that will grow into the RCG area – either by planting seeds, or by making sure there are some growing nearby. The RCG doesn’t disappear, but it mixes with natives and becomes much less dominant.
Crown Vetch is only a problem in a few places: Crown Vetch Meadow has the most, and it’s also crept out along the creek to the east of the meadow. I’ve spot sprayed plants there and along the creek for years – they don’t seem any better, but not any worse either. We had Crown Vetch Meadow sprayed with glyphosate in the fall of 2023, and I planted wetland seeds there that winter. It still has Crown Vetch – I’m continuing to spot spray in hopes that eventually I can get rid of it.
Bird’s Foot Trefoil is another problem that’s confined to a few areas, especially west of the driveway. I’ve managed to mostly eliminate it along the edges of the driveway and on the slope above the driveway. I still watch for it there, and spot spray when I find it. It’s still in the slope below the driveway, and scattered in the field on the way to Crown Vetch Meadow, and in Parsnip Meadow, and at the wet end of Pat’s Prairie. I spot spray there too, but it’s so scattered and there’s so much of it that it’s hard to find it all, so it persists.