Nahant Marsh faces many battles

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By Alma Gaul | Tuesday, July 15, 2008 |

Nahant Marsh facilitator Brian Ritter drives a Gator down a trail to pick up a load of invasive plants that volunteers have dug up. (Kevin Schmidt/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

In late 1999, workers with earthmoving equipment rolled into Nahant Marsh, a natural wetlands surrounded by industry in southwest Davenport, ready to do battle with lead contamination that was killing Canada geese there.

The lead had fallen into the water and onto the land during the nearly 30 years the marsh was used for skeet and trap shooting by a sportsmen’s club, and birds were ingesting it while searching for food.

Several months and $2 million later — an amount that came from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund — the site was on its way to becoming a protected educational and recreational preserve open to the public, owned in part by the City of Davenport and in part by River Action Inc., a nonprofit group devoted to river issues.

Although many lifelong Davenport residents have never heard of Nahant — about 500 acres in size, with 262 acres in the nature preserve — managers call it a “hidden treasure.”

Birders go to see great blue heron and the occasional marsh hen or least bittern. Photographers snap pictures of native plants such as pale purple coneflower or endangered species such as the Blanding’s turtle.

And hundreds of students pour in for school field trips, examining water samples for insects and learning what the bugs indicate about the water quality.

But the marsh off Wapello Avenue faces many challenges.

Invasive weeds threaten to choke out native plants, flooding deposits debris such as car tires and sofa cushions on the shoreline and — as it turns out — there is still some lead contamination. Managers know this because they continue to find dead geese.

EPA inspection coming up

The EPA is aware of the contamination and expects to send inspectors to Nahant late this fall, said Catherine Wooster-Brown of the EPA’s environmental services division in Kansas City, Kan.

Managers think the lead is in an area of the woods and along the shoreline that was not included in the first cleanup. EPA workers will set up grids in those areas to look for pellets.

“What we find will determine the next step,” Wooster-Brown said, adding, “We really don’t know the extent” of the problem.

Although additional cleanup may be necessary, no one knows how much it would cost or who would pay for it.

It would cover a smaller area than the first operation, though, perhaps three acres compared with 13 in 1999, said Bob Bryant, a longtime Quad-City region naturalist who works as the marsh’s part-time resource manager.

And while the first cleanup entailed the removal of 143 tons of soil, encapsulating it with phosphate and taking it to the Scott County Landfill, a future cleanup probably would not require excavation, said Mike Coffey of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service office in Rock Island.

One option might be to cover the affected area with several inches of sand dredged from the Mississippi River so Canada geese and other waterfowl searching for food will not scratch through it, he said.

Invasive plants, balance

Aside from the lead question, there are other battles to fight at Nahant.

Bryant says a marsh “is the most complex thing to manage there is.” He should know, having spent a lifetime in conservation, first as director of the Clinton County (Iowa) Conservation Board and most recently as director of the Wapsi River Environmental Education Center at Dixon, Iowa.

A key point is that managing a natural area is not like managing a park where workers mow grass, pick up litter and clean restrooms, he said.

In a natural area, managers do those things, too, but their main challenge — which sets it apart from a park — is to try to keep in balance all of the original ecosystems so the plant and animal life that depends on those systems can survive.

Without management, natural areas would be degraded.

Invasive plants such a reed canary grass, garlic mustard, white and yellow sweet clover and musk thistle must be pulled, mowed, sprayed and/or burned lest they crowd out native plants and, in so doing, destroy habitat for creatures that depend on the natives.

“It’s labor-intensive and time-consuming, and it happens in all these wetland areas,” Bryant said. “Nobody has got an answer. Some people (at other natural areas) get so overwhelmed they don’t even try.”

Bryant, however, gets help from a very active Friends of Nahant Marsh volunteer group.

Flooding, animal refereeing

Flooding is another issue, caused when the Mississippi River backflows into the marsh during times of high water. This has happened twice so far this year. In addition to the tires and other litter left behind, dead cattails and other vegetation dropped on the shore threaten to choke the prairie plants below.

This year’s high waters “really set the place back,” Bryant said.

Flooding also cuts off access to the dock used by school groups.

And it’s not just the river that causes flooding. Sometimes it’s beavers. The marsh drains to the Mississippi via culverts that guide the water under Wapello Avenue and beyond, and if beavers build dams in the culverts, they plug up the marsh.

To fix that, Bryant has to crawl in the water and tear the structures apart by hand.

Another challenge is to play referee between some of the animals. Various turtles nest at Nahant, for example, but their eggs are often eaten by “middle predators,” such as raccoons and skunks that are in abundant supply because higher predators such as wolves have been removed by man.

In the role of referee, a St. Ambrose University student tried an experiment this summer in which he installed electrical wire around nesting sites with the aim of letting turtles in and keeping predators out. For various reasons, the experiment did not work, but Brian Ritter, the Nahant facilitator in charge of education, thinks it is worth pursuing again.

Money matters

Funding is another issue.

The City of Davenport maintains the education center, which is the former sportsmen’s clubhouse, and the grounds around it, mowing the grass and removing snow from the parking lot. In addition, about $40,000 in capital improvements, including a new restroom, is allocated this fiscal year, said Charlie Heston, the project manager for the city.

But money for other improvement projects, further land acquisition and to pay the salaries of the resource manager and facilitator have demanded creative fundraising efforts. The facilitator position, for example, originally was set up through Davenport’s Putnam Museum, but when that institution ran into financial difficulty, the position went unfunded.

Volunteers kept the place running until July 2007, when Ritter was hired, thanks to a significant gift from Jane Werner and an agreement with the Eastern Iowa Community College District that guaranteed funding for three years.

But the marsh’s various stakeholders are “always scrambling,” said Jim Van Fossen, the president of the Nahant Marsh Education Center board of directors.

Why it’s important

Despite the challenges, those associated with Nahant say the effort is worth it.

First, a marsh is nature’s natural water filter, pulling out contaminants.

Second, Nahant provides habitat for many species of plants and animals, including some that are threatened or endangered with extinction.

About 140 species of birds have been documented there — some nesting, some just passing through — and there are mammals, amphibians, fish, insects and turtles as well. You’ll also find at least 214 different species of plants, Ritter said.

“A place like Nahant is critical to our survival,” he said. “It cleans the water, cleans the air and provides food and shelter for wildlife.”

Third, the marsh is a recreational asset for the city, providing people with an opportunity to spend time in nature.

“It’s a unique, natural site located right within the city limits,” said Arnie Christian with the Friends of Nahant. “To see something nice, you don’t have to go far — it’s right here in Davenport.”

Finally, it serves as a classroom to teach people about the environment.

“We have had this large disconnect from nature,” Ritter said. “Re-establishing that understanding is critical to our long-term survival.”

That is why he especially values the opportunity to teach children.

“If we don’t reach them now, they’ll never be reached, and they’ll be lost,” he said.

Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.

The history of Nahant

Nahant Marsh began to take shape centuries ago when an oxbow, or U-shaped bend, of the Mississippi River was cut off, resulting in a lake. Over time, it filled with sediment and became a meadow.

With settlement, surrounding land was developed for farms and industrial uses, and water runoff caused the meadow to become wetter and more marshy.

The construction of Interstate 280 bisected the marsh, and from the late 1960s to the mid-’90s, a sportsmen’s club owned a 78-acre core piece, using it for skeet and trap shooting.

In the mid-’90s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, acting on a complaint, launched an investigation and discovered hazardous levels of lead shot on 13 acres of the gun club’s property, said Mike Coffey of the wildlife service.

During a long series of negotiations facilitated by River Action Inc., a mutually beneficial deal was worked out whereby the sportsmen’s club’s property was sold to the City of Davenport for use as an educational preserve and the site was cleaned up via the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund.

Through the years, additional parcels have been added to the preserve in deals brokered by Davenport-based River Action, bringing the total acreage to 262, including parcels on the downstream side of I-280. Numerous partners and supporting organizations have contributed money to the effort.

The city owns the core property that includes the education center and the open water, and the Nahant Marsh Education Center, a nonprofit group formed for the purpose of holding the deed, thereby relieving River Action from liability, holds the rest, said Charlie Heston, project manager for the city.

The watery part of the marsh is about three feet deep with a foot of “boot-sucking mud” at the bottom. Elsewhere, there are trails, interpretive signs, a dock, the education center and a blind for wildlife-watching.

A technical committee meets monthly to guide the preserve’s operation. Members include Heston and Greg Albansoder of the city; Kathy Wine of River Action; Brian Ritter, the marsh facilitator; Bob Bryant, the marsh resource manager; and Arnie Christian and Jack Wiley, both with Friends of Nahant.

TO GET INVOLVED

- If you would like to help maintain the marsh, contact Sheri Colman with the Friends of Nahant Marsh, (309) 786-8504. Projects include educational programs, weekly Saturday cleanups and the construction of a wildlife viewing blind.

Monetary donations would be especially appreciated now to replace $1,000 to $1,500 worth of tools such as chain saws and drills that were stolen within the past several weeks, Colman said. Donations also would help with purchasing bird seed, printing trail guides and gasoline to run equipment.

- Nahant will host a day camp from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. July 21-25 for kids 9-12 years old. The cost is $50, but scholarships are available. For more information, call (563) 323-5196 and leave a message.

- Nahant will be an X-Stream Cleanup site from 8:30 to noon Aug. 16. It’s an effort coordinated by the Living Lands & Waters organization. You may sign up on the Web at www.xstreamcleanup.org.

- Photographer John Freiband will teach a class on the basics of wildlife photography from 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday and from 9-10:30 a.m. Saturday. For information, call (563) 322-2969.

- For more information about the marsh, visit nahantmarsh.org on the Web or call (563) 323-5196.

MORE INSIDE

Jennifer Anderson-Cruz has been studying the frogs and toads that live in Nahant Marsh for 10 years. Read about her and her effort to study the amphibian populations

and how they

are affected by

pollutants on Page D1.

IF YOU GO

- At 7 p.m. Friday, there will be a special open house with a presentation on Nahant Marsh frogs by Jennifer Anderson-Cruz.

- Otherwise, Nahant is open daily for self-guided tours from sunrise to sundown. If the gate is locked, park in the small lot outside the gate and walk in on the trails. The Friends of Nahant group opens the education center from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday.

WHAT DOES NAHANT MEAN?

The Nahant name is a bit of a mystery with two explanations for it. One is that it came from settlers who named the area after the saltwater marsh town of Nahant, Mass. The other is that “nahant” means “almost a river” in an American Indian language.

IF YOU GO

- At 7 p.m. Friday, there will be a special open house with a presentation on Nahant Marsh frogs by Jennifer Anderson-Cruz. For more on this topic, see the story on page D1.

- Otherwise, Nahant is open daily for self-guided tours from sunrise to sundown. If the gate is locked, park in the small lot outside the gate and walk in on the trails. The Friends of Nahant group opens the education center from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday.

The address is 4220 Wapello Ave. To get there, take U.S. 61 in Davenport south to Iowa 22. Take 22 and watch for a brown sign pointing to Nahant Marsh. Turn left onto Wapello and follow it around to the marsh entrance on your left.