Saturday I helped Bruce Shackleford (Fayetteville's environmental consultant and president of Environmental Consulting Operations) and the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association clean up a wetland prairie mitigation and restoration area called Woolsey Wet Prairie.
I spent most of my day killing invasive non-native plants and learning a lot about wetland restoration and management. This type of wetland habitat is unique in Northwestern Arkansas and in sharp decline all across the United States. The wetland prairies provide a vital ecosystem for insects, plants, and animals which are threatened due to loss of habitat. Botanists recorded 47 native plant species when the restoration project was started in 2001, and as of Saturday that list has risen to over 300 unique native plant species, some of which haven't been recorded in this area for over 100 years. This is largely due to the abandonment of grazing cattle, initiation of prescribed burns, and the addition of berms to hold water throughout the year. Woolsey Wet Prairie is truly a testament to the implementation and direct application of years of scientific research in biology, ecology, and environmental sciences. My time spent at the wetland prairie reinforced my understanding of ecology and the importance of biological diversity in the rhythm and landscape of the natural world.
Here are the three non-native plants we hunted down and killed - Queen Anne's Lace, Goat's Beard, and another.
Before weeding:
After weeding:
And a few pictures of the native plants that were flowering
The Northwest Arkansas Times had a small article about the clean up event in the Sunday paper, and the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association had this to say about the day on their website:
July 19, 2008, Woolsey Wetland Prairie (new wastewater treatment facility) Clean-up. Invasive species removal/trash pick-up.
Follow-up: What an amazing area! For those who slathered on the bug repellent and helped pull up some of the invasive species, thanks for your help. For those unable to be there, you missed quite a treat. Worth noting --- the many killdeer flying about, a good representation of dragonflys and butterflys, several scissortail flycatchers, a flock of ducks, the somewhat elusive grasshopper sparrows, and some really gorgeous wildflowers and other nifty plants. Thanks, Julie McQuade for organizing the work party and Bruce Shackelford for the enthusiastic and educational crash course on Woolsey's wealth of plants and wildlife! We are so fortunate to have this reclaimed area as part of our enduring green network. This natural area restoration success story will most certainly be a huge draw to Fayetteville.
1 comment:
Del McCoury sings a song called "Queen Anne's Lace" and he is gonna be here on Saturday playing at George's with Del Moe.Curry, killing the Queen Anne's Lace no doubt.
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