Forrest Tract 5 Restoration

Wetland restoration increases nutrient uptake, reduces sedimentation and erosion, increases floodplain connection, and improves stream habitat on a 70-acre site within a nature preserve.

Located near the confluence of Marie DeLarme Creek and the Maumee River, the 489-acre Forrest Woods Nature Preserve is a remnant of the Great Black Swamp that once covered 1,500 square miles of northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana. The Black Swamp Conservancy (BSC) has completed multiple projects at the Preserve, restoring acres of habitat and converting retired agricultural ditches back to functioning streams. Biohabitats helped BSC design and implement a wetland and stream restoration project that involved converting a historically farmed 70-acre area within the Preserve to a functional riparian Stage 0 and headwater wetlands system.

Adjacent to high-quality Category 3 forested wetlands and containing active agricultural land used for row crop and hay production, BSC sought to increase nutrient uptake, reduce sedimentation and erosion, increase floodplain connection, improve stream habitat, and restore wetlands and upland buffers at the site. The project team enhanced and restored nine acres of riparian habitat; restored headwater wetlands to treat surface runoff; daylighted tile drains; restored the headwater stream to an integrated stream/wetland complex; disabled field tile; re-contoured the ground to restore vernal pool wetlands; planted 23–42 acres of pollinator meadow; and managed invasive species.

This project restored and reconnected nearly 2,000 feet of stream and floodplain and improved the filtering of the nutrient-rich water that flows through the Preserve before it reaches the Maumee River, and ultimately Lake Erie.

TAGS

• Ecological Restoration