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Iowa Project Could become "a Model for Restoration"
Dorchester,
Iowa -- These days it's not uncommon to hear about projects to restore tall
grass prairie or trout streams. A plan to do both on the same property is a bit
more unusual. Add to that, an attempt to revive a disappearing oak savannah and
you have a project that's not only different - it's ambitious, time-consuming
and expensive. But the vision of one very determined man could become a model
for restoration work in a unique part of the region called the
Driftless Area.
Unlike the relatively flat landscape surrounding it, the Driftless Area is
filled with limestone bluffs and lush valleys. The last continental glacier
bypassed this chunk of land that extends through parts of southeastern Minnesota
into Wisconsin, Illinois, and northeast Iowa.
It's a distinctive environment that's a haven for oaks and cedar trees, rattle
snakes, and coyotes. It's also a haven for trout.
"There's over 2,000 miles of trout stream in just this area here. It's really
equivalent to Pennsylvania and to the chalk streams of England. There's just no
other place in the world like this and so few people understand that or realize
it," says Michael Osterholm, a well-known disease expert from Minnesota.
Osterholm is most often associated with grim warnings about smallpox and other
bio-terrorism threats. But his science background also is useful when it comes
to his other passion. He's an avid fly fisherman.
Two years ago, he bought land along an idyllic northeast Iowa stream --
Waterloo Creek.
It's a spring-fed stream that's full of trout. It's also full of silt from
eroding stream banks. Osterholm could have shored up the banks with some rock
and left it at that. Instead, he decided to tackle what he calls his "legacy
project." He wants to return all 98 acres of land to its pre-settlement
condition.
Driving along the edge of his property on a recent spring day, Osterholm's car
kicks up a long trail of dust. As he rounds a curve in the gravel road, a field
filled with corn stubble comes into view. Behind it, flows the stream along the
edge of a steep oak-covered hillside.
"This is the property line where that green sign is," he points out. "So
everything on that side of the hill, across all that hilltop across, was burned.
This is cosmetic surgery. If it were going to be like this, it would be a
tragedy. But it's going to be very different in the not too distant future."
Osterholm's land is scarred by fire. Recently a team of restoration workers
deliberately burned all of the weeds and brush along his creek. They also got
rid of trees with shallow, destructive roots that were cutting in to the fragile
banks. In their place, they'll plant native prairie grasses that will stabilize
the stream walls by burrowing 20 to 30 feet into the ground.
Native Prairie
The team also burned the wooded hillside to clear out underbrush that was
competing with a stand of 100-year-old oak trees. Osterholm says oak savannahs
once co-existed with the native grasses, but both need fire to survive.
"That's what fire does. It creates woodlands that are still thick woodlands but
with beautiful flowers and grasses as opposed to bare, desolate looking leaf
litter. The prairie's the same way. If you don't burn a prairie over time it
will secede back to almost weed-like trees," he says.
In addition to stabilizing eroding banks, prairies are important to trout
streams because they invite lots of insects. The more bugs flying and crawling
around, the better chance fish will have food falling in their streams.
Before the recent fire and landscape work, Osterholm's property wasn't very
attractive to insects. A butterfly survey conducted by researchers at nearby
Luther College
turned up just ten species, when there should have been at least 20 or 30.
GPS Survey
"That's just one group of insects," says biologist Kirk Larsen, who participated
in the survey. "My specialty is ground beetles. Probably we have about 15
species out there right now. And, over time I expect that to increase at least
30 species, maybe even get up to 50 or 60 species."
With this project, Osterholm is attempting to undo years of damage caused by
farming. Some of the work is obvious and relatively easy. He's already taken the
corn field out of production and will return it to prairie. But that field also
poses his biggest challenge in restoring this property to its original state.
Years ago, another spring-fed stream wound its way across the valley. When
farmers moved in, the stream was diverted into a ditch to make way for the
field. In looking at aerial photos from the 1940s, Osterholm discovered a faint
outline of the spring's original path. Now he wants to put it back.
"It's going to be artwork. It's trying to find the old stream bottom and
meandering it just like it was," he says.
To
do it right, he knew he needed help. Osterholm turned to the
Natural Resources Conservation Service, a
division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Federal agency has programs
and money to help landowners restore property damaged by farming.
On this afternoon, NRCS Technician Mike Henderson stands at the edge of
the old cornfield. He turns on a global positioning satellite device and takes
some readings as Osterholm looks on.
Osterholm and Kalishek
All that's needed now is a massive earth mover to rip open the field and return
the spring to it's original path.
To most people this probably seems like a lot of fuss over a tiny bit of water.
But Osterholm has big plans for this stream. He wants to re-establish brook
trout in it. Brookies are native to northeastern Iowa and there are very few
naturally reproducing fish left. The trout are extremely sensitive to muddy
streams and fluctuating water temperatures.
Osterholm thinks they may do well in his spring if he can get it flowing
properly again. The water comes straight out of a huge limestone bluff which
stabilizes the temperature.
"The springs are constantly seeping in at 50 degrees and that's why oftentimes
you'll come down here and the stream will be totally open in the middle of the
winter when other rivers will be frozen over because the spring water keeps it
warmer," Osterholm says.
The Iowa DNR
has already offered to stock Osterholm's spring with fingerling brookies taken
from South Pine Creek about nine miles away. The fish were discovered a few
years ago in one of the stream's remote pools. DNA testing confirmed that they
are wild fish, native to northeast Iowa.
Trout biologist Bill Kalishek says the trout have been moved to several new
streams and they've naturally reproduced in four of them so far.
Ditched Spring
"The remeandered stream here on Mike's property will be one of those streams
also. We're gonna be stocking that with some of those heritage strain South Pine
Creek brook trout to try to get another population established."
Kalishek says the DNR is encouraged by Osterholm's project and hopes it will
inspire others.
"Mike's one of the few landowners we've worked with that is really looking at
the big picture. He's looking at his entire property and really trying to figure
out what impact all of that will have eventually on the stream and the trout
population," he says.
Trout Unlimited
is also watching the project closely. Recently the national organization gave
the local T.U. chapter $10,000 to help repair the stream. It was one of only two
fully-funded projects in the Nation.
Osterholm is also receiving some government grants. Still, he will have to kick
in a good share of his own money. The entire project is expected to cost well
over $100,000.
"In part what we're doing here is an experiment. This is not going to be a
project that I would urge others to begin to embark upon because we're going to
learn things here about how to do it better, how to do it more cheaply. It's
going to be an expensive proposition. It's one that however I think in the end a
model that I think will save a lot of others both time and money."
Occasionally Osterholm fantasizes about turning his property and other sections
of the Driftless Area into a national park one day. He thinks it's special
enough to deserve the designation. But he's also content knowing that at the
very least, he's preserving what he can of a unique Driftless Area prairie and
trout stream.
Top image: Tall summer weeds hide Waterloo Creek's eroding banks. Native prairie
grass eventually will stabilize them. Image by Michael Osterhelm.
Second image: Natural Resources Conservation Service technician Mike Henderson
surveys the stream using a Global Positioning Satellite device. Image by Lorna
Benson.
Story by Lorna Benson, Minnesota
Public Radio.
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