An Outdoorsman’s Journal: The rebirth of a wetland

Hello friends, This week’s column is my biggest challenge in the 35 years that I have been writing to fit a lot in a small amount of space. Most of you may know that I love the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, as well as the adjoining Meadow Valley Wildlife Area and a lot of other connected public lands in northern Juneau County. My hunting camp is in the area. I moved to Necedah 25 years ago due to this piece of paradise and I probably spend 100 days a year exploring it.

What you may not know is that well over 100 years ago, this area had many miles of ditches dug in it for water drainage that controlled the Little Yellow River and diminished a vast area of wetlands to straight line ditches that could drain a 1-inch rainfall in a week rather than dispersing it to the groundwater and wetlands.

One of the problems this created was that the roads in this area, of which many are gravel, are being destroyed over the long term by hard rains and beaver. There are not many residents in the local townships and so finances for a permanent, maybe forever fix are not happening.

Brad Strobel is a wildlife biologist at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and is one of the main people who has a vision to enhance the wetlands. This should/will help mitigate problems from flooding or at least the frequency in the project area. They are minimizing the road damage and for the folks who love walking and viewing wildlife and hunting, they are creating 14 miles this year and 8 more in the future of wide-open trails where there used to be tree-choked ditches.

This project is vast and some of the main players include the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, Ducks Unlimited, Kingston Township, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the Juneau County Highway Department, as well as the Land Conservation Department and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

My first-day education was with nine people on teams of three each. Our goal was to chart out 800- to 100-foot increments for 14 miles of ditch. In other words, we would travel 800 feet, pound a pole/marker in the ground, put marker tape in a nearby tree, travel 100 feet, do the same, and then travel 800 feet again for what would be 14 miles over two days. One of the challenges we had was that at each mark, we had to cross the ditches and do the same and there were times when we hit some bad ice. In reality, for everyone involved, it was a very cool way to spend two days. So here is the plan: the ditches drain the water as they were supposed to for the farmers who all left the area, mainly due to very poor soil quality for most agriculture. The world needs water/wetlands and wildlife; especially ducks need wetlands. Where the ditches meet the roads, there are or were culverts; beaver and flash rains are destroying them. The plan at phase one was to remove the trees for maybe 20 feet on each side of the ditch for the entire project. The next step was to create plugs every 800 feet, by removing what are called spoils from when the ditches were originally dug (the banks that are above water) and placing them across/ in the ditches for what is the natural lay of the land for 100 feet. Then the excavator doing the job will travel 800 more feet and create another 100-foot plug.

What has happened in test projects is that the Little Yellow River meanders through an area close to the ditch but creates vast wetlands, and the ditches, which will have a version of a ground-level dam every 800 feet, will grow sedge grasses and be very easy to cross.

How does this help with the road damage issue? When a 2-inch rain falls, the area through which the water flows will be much wider, thus diminishing the current, and the groundwater will be able to slowly replenish.

Many of the roads will be rebuilt and some are currently closed. Some sections will be permanently closed. Here is the road plan: existing roads in the project area will be dug up and a layer of rock will be laid, then fabric, then another layer of rock, then fabric with red granite on top. Currently it is all red granite or sand. This plan should allow water to flow through, instead of over the road.

Folks, I say amen to the men and women who have the vision to help in so many ways. Just think about what you just read; it really is a happy story.

Sunset

Mark Walters