By Bruce Ross, Executive Director bruceross@wi.rr.com
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s April, 2021 Newsletter edition.
This is envisioned to be a series of three articles designed to help guide landowners who may have some vague (or even specific) notions about restoring their property’s wetlands to be more productive for wildlife. This series is not about doing a restoration itself, but focuses on helping the interested landowner find the right (free) help as quickly as possible.
- Part 1 – Lessons learned for the neophyte wetland restorer
- Part 2 – Shortening the learning curve and establishing realistic goals
- Part 3 – What to expect during your restoration
PART 1: HELP! Lessons learned from a wannabe wetland restorer
A WWA restoration completed in Manitowoc County
A group of fellow duckhunters and I have some property in the middle of the state that has been a duck marsh for generations. When I offered to begin managing our neglected wetland property for waterfowl, I really had no clue. So I did what most of us would do – I turned to the internet. And I found lots of information from academic dissertations on moist soil biology to private sector firms that specialize in ponds or wetland management, to the community benefits of healthy wetlands. And I began to accumulate an alphabet soup of government and non-profit organizations who might help us do what we thought we wanted to do. These included Wisconsin Waterfowl Association (WWA), USFWS, Wisconsin Wetlands Association (the “other” WWA), NRCS, DU, USDA, WDNR, County Land & Water offices, Farm Bill Biologists, and more.
There certainly was no one-stop-shop for everything I thought I needed to know, at least not without a price tag that accompanies private sector wetland management services. As helpful as that might be, we were working on a shoestring budget. So I began making phone calls, coordinating visits to our property, and collecting advice. Frankly, I became overwhelmed with the amount of information, some of it conflicting, and many of the recommendations beyond the reach of my pocketbook. And given that I was doing this in my spare time, it took a long time (really, years) to accumulate enough information to move forward confidently. Here’s some of what I learned in the process.
- The learning curve is steep. None of us can know what we don’t know, so learning about the various opportunities, sources, and types of help available can be a significant undertaking. And not every alphabet souper – even if they want to help – is available on your schedule, so count on dedicating significant time to this effort.
- There’s help, but frequently with strings attached. There are several governmental and non-profit programs that can indeed help a wetland owner make their property perform better for wildlife… but they tend to be appropriate for specific circumstances, which may or may not apply to your situation.
- Hang in there. Because you’ll spend time working with folks who ultimately may not be able to help you the way you want, don’t be surprised if you feel like some of your effort has been wasted.
- Establish, but be flexible with, your restoration goals. Even if no immediate help results from your initial inquiries, the process tends to be iterative… meaning that as you learn more, your property goals and approaches may change, making some of your early frustrating efforts more relevant later on.
- There’s no free lunch. Everyone wants financial help, but no one is going to show up and give you a bucket of money to do whatever you want. But some organizations can offer financial help, if your property goals align with their particular program.
- Details matter. Engineering and permitting complexities are underappreciated by folks who are just starting down this road. Knowing the realm of the possible requires experience.
Now, several years later, and with many visits by those alphabet soup sources of help, and with a lot of reflection and discussion with the fellow owners of our wetlands, I have some advice to shorten the learning curve while keeping to that shoestring budget. Get some free, no-strings help from organizations that specialize in this early phase of the process. We’ll identify some of them in the next installment, and how you should prepare for their site visit to your property. Did I mention that my own learning process helped lead me to my current role as Executive Director of WWA?