By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent WAWAKA, Ind. — Gary and Tana Franklin have turned an unused part of their farm into a sanctuary for themselves and for wildlife.
Nestled among the farms that dot the countryside in the northwest part of Noble County, the Franklins’ restored wetlands provides enjoyment for them, and food and shelter for birds and other wildlife.
“This is the best thing Tana and I have ever done,” Franklin said. “It brings us so much pleasure. We use it as a part of our lives now.”
The nearly 29-acre wetland restoration project was completed a couple of years ago under the Northeast Indiana Wetland/Grassland Restoration Program. The program, a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited, Inc. and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), provides funding and technical assistance.
The restored wetlands features about 20 acres of water at least five inches deep, and includes a wooded area. Switchgrass has also been planted.
This property has been part of Franklin’s life for years. His father, James, had farmed the property since the 1950s for its owners. The land passed to his mother, Ruth, in 1970 after the owners died. Franklin bought it from her in 1979.
The area the Franklins have restored had been unused for about 10 years.
“My earliest recollection is that it was used as pastureland for the beef cows,” Franklin said. “But it was really too wet and chopped up for the cows. We lost a couple of cows that got stuck in the muck.
It finally got to the point that it wasn’t worth putting the cows out there.”
Before the county put in drainage tile in 1911, the area was a swamp, Franklin said. The 24-inch tile was put in to drain the swamp so people could farm the land.
Franklin heard about the restoration program while attending a Ducks Unlimited meeting in February 2004.
“We were talking about how there were no places to hunt ducks, and they mentioned this program,” he said. “That June, we had a meeting with all the landowners in the area, fish and wildlife, Ducks Unlimited, the Noble County surveyor and Indiana DNR.
“There were questions and some skepticism, but no negatives.”
The project received approval from the Noble County drainage board, which had already been planning to replace tile in and around the farm.
“They agreed to reconstruct the tile around us, but not ours, so we could maintain a water level,” he said. “The drainage board didn’t want us to construct a fishing pond or lake. But they approved of the wetlands.”
The project was completed in late summer of 2005. Franklin thinks his father, who died in the late 1960s, would have appreciated the finished project.
“Dad was a very progressive farmer, and I assume since this is a progressive-type project, that he’d be pleased,” he said. “It adds a diversity to the farm. It’s an oasis.”
The cost of the project was $8,700, plus another $2,500 for fencing to keep cattle out of the wetland, said Jeff Kiefer, state coordinator for Partners for Fish and Wildlife, Indiana Private Lands Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The cost was split evenly between Ducks Unlimited and Partners for Fish and Wildlife.
The Northeast Indiana Wetland/Grassland Restoration Program was established in 2001, but a private lands program has been around since 1988, Kiefer said.
“The program focuses on habitat and the restoration of wetlands and grasslands in northeast Indiana,” he said. “When people contact us about a restoration, we go out and look at the site. We look at the historical context of the site. It’s more cost-effective to restore than create. There’s a better chance for success, from a wildlife perspective.”
Since the late 1980s, Kiefer said about 1,000 wetlands across northeast Indiana have been restored, though most projects were fairly small.
“Gary’s is a good-sized project,” he said. “There are a lot of folks who are interested in doing this type of work. We want to make people aware of what’s available.”
Similar programs are available in every state, Kiefer said. The program does require a 10-year commitment to maintain the site, but the owners do not relinquish control of their land.
The goal of Ducks Unlimited is to provide for the lifecycle needs of waterfowl through the conservation of water areas, and the Franklin project was a good fit for the program, said Jason Hill, regional biologist for Ducks Unlimited, in charge of Wisconsin. At the time of the Franklin project, he was the biologist in charge of Indiana.
About 87 percent of Indiana’s historic wetlands have been lost, Hill said. “We‘re trying to take back every acre we can get,” he added. “This is one more wetland and another habitat restored for waterfowl.”
About 20 projects are in the planning stages or scheduled to be done, Hill said.
“Once people realize the value in the wetlands, they become a spokesperson for it.” he said. “Gary will be doing that the rest of his life.”
The LaGrange County, Ind., chapter of Pheasants Forever planted 4.5 acres of switchgrass and provided seed for another 1.5 acres, said Mike Holcomb, the group’s LaGrange County habitat coordinator. The not-for-profit organization was formed in 1982 in response to the decline in population of the ring neck pheasant, he said.
“We focus on habitat improvement, public awareness and education and land management practices that benefit farmers and birds,” he said. “We’re looking to clean up the water, and grasses, trees and wetlands are all filters to help restore the water quality.”
This year, Pheasants Forever will plant 122 acres of warm-season grasses and about 24 acres of trees in the St. Joseph River basin drainage system, he said. This farm news was published in the June 2, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
