(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to The Journal.

I'm Steve Kendall.

The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters in which all life depends.

The Nature Conservancy, the Toledo Metro parks and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources have been working for more than 40 years to increase protection in the historic Irwin wet Prairie region in Oak openings.

Recently they broke ground on the reconstruction of a nearly 300 acre parcel in the Irwin that wet Prairie complex.

Joining us to talk about that is Alexa Sockas, Natural Infrastructure Director of The Nature Conservancy, Ohio.

Alexis welcome to The Journal and thanks for taking the time to speak with us today.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- Now Alexis let's talk a little bit about Irwin Prairie and why this particular project specifically is so important to help with the preservation in Irwin Prairie and a little bit about what Irwin Prairie is because maybe not everybody's familiar with the entire complex itself.

- Yeah, thanks.

So this would have been...

Historically a very extensive wet Prairie, hopefully many of the listeners will have visited at some point in time.

And so, like you mentioned, we've worked to protect this area and restore it for many years, but through its history it has been split up and we put roads through it and we've also drained and bitched big portions of this.

And so with this recent purchase that The Nature Conservancy undertook in 2019 of 300 acres of the original Prairie, we're working now to restore that to what historically would have looked like (inaudible) - I don't mean to interrupt you.

So that area, this particular piece that we're talking about is no longer wetlands or Prairie it has actually been turned into a farm.

Is that correct?

- That's correct.

So it's been farmed for many decades.

Yes.Thats exactly right.

- Yeah.

So this will truly be a restoration because if people have been to Irwin Prairie, there's a large portion of it that is sort of, I guess what the average person would consider its natural state the way it was for a lot of time.

But in this case we're going to be restoring land that was repurposed at one time for farmland.

And now you're gonna restore it to its more natural, natural state - Very common in Northwest Ohio.

Yes.

This 300 acres has been there was tile put beneath the surface of the ground.

And there are also high capacity pumps that have drained the site of many acre feet of water for many decades.

And so we're essentially with this project looking to undo a lot of that and restore that hydraulic, do that natural hydrology to this particular site.

- Okay - As well as many other sort of conservation objectives through this particular project.

- Great.

And this is part of a much larger, I mean Irwin Prairie and the Metro Parks, that whole area.

This is a piece of a really large area that we're trying to reconstruct and basically make it look like Northwest Ohio used to be and connect a lot of individual parcels and things of that nature.

- Exactly.

Yes.

And this is just one really good example of what the Nature Conservancy is up to in general.

So we are looking to build a future where people and nature can both thrive together.

And we see this type of restoration project as an effective, economical sustainable investment that can play a part in providing clean, reliable water in throughout Ohio.

So this is a good example of what we're doing all over Ohio but it's yeah, it's particularly special because it does occur in the Oak openings region which is known for its bio diversity.

So here around Toledo, we are fortunate that we have that just in our backyard.

So that's really what this project is about in sort of from a larger protect perspective.

- Yeah and when we're talking about restoration of wetlands here, and I know when I was looking through the information, the press release on this that very little of Ohio now exists as wetlands that we've really, of course over time.

And especially here in Northwest Ohio, where we're at in wood County is the great black swamp.

And that was seriously drained over time and for a purpose of farming and just being able to live here.

But there's very little of original wetlands left in the state.

Isn't that correct?

- This is true.

Yes.

So we've lost over 90% of Ohio's original wetlands across the street, across the state.

And so with that we've lost those important filtration systems that remove excess nutrients and sediment that come from our agricultural lands upstream.

And so all the same, we know that global demand for food, you know, continues to rise.

And so these are sort of competing objectives but we here at the nature Conservancy are...

It's important to be very strategic about where we can restore the systems and where we can be most effective with that restoration.

- Yeah.

Now, typically, and I know you're, you're talking about the, the entire state or part of this too but increasingly are you being, are you able to acquire across the state more land to convert back to wetlands or back to whatever it was prior to being farmed or developed for some other purposes that's an ongoing part of what the nature Conservancy does?

Correct?

- Absolutely.

We have huge goals to restore many more thousands of acres of wetlands across the entire state.

And this is not just, you know the Nature Conservancy operating alone but we work very closely with many partners all across the state and this will continue to be an objective for us for years to come I'm sure.

We, you know considering how large some of our goals are this is not something that's going to happen overnight.

And it's been great though to work so closely with those partners.

And those partnerships are extremely important to be able to operate at the scale that we need to operate to really move the needle with some of the environmental degradation and problems that we have seen such as the harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie.

And so we're working really closely with programs like H2Ohio and the Department of Natural Resources, to see the continuation of that program.

And really, like I said move the needle in terms of making a difference.

- Yeah and it's interesting because I was looking at this and obviously Toledo Metro parks, which, you know continue to try and expand their footprint and preserve as much green space wetlands areas, Woodlands all of that sort of thing.

But as you said, you worked closely with park systems but also the Department of Natural Resources obviously a significant partner, because in many cases you have state areas, things like that.

And of course this is a natural resource.

We're trying to turn it back into its original purpose.

So they're obviously a big partner with the Nature Conservancy and all of this.

- Absolutely.

We've worked with the Metro Parks and they've been some of our closest partners for many, many years.

At this point, we've been able to work together on many projects and we continue to do so in this area we work with them on the green ribbon initiative which is an initiative we started that works to conserve the entire Oak openings region, which extends from nearly up to Detroit, down through Toledo here.

So it's a really extensive region.

And so that's been a very successful collaborative partnership on that front.

- Okay, we'll be back in just a moment, here on The Journal with Alexis Sockas the Natural Infrastructure Director for the Nature Conservancy of Ohio here on The Journal, back in just a moment.

Thank you for staying with us here on The Journal.

Our guest is Alexis Sockas the Natural Infrastructure Director for the Nature Conservancy Ohio.

And specifically, we're talking about the Irwin Prairie region, part of the greater Oak openings region and a specific there a beginning there in conjunction with the Toledo Metro parks and also the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to restore a significant chunk of property there back to be a part of this this greater sort of Irwin Prairie wetlands and Marsh area.

So Alexis talk a little bit specifically about what is going to be involved in restoring that acreage and what's typically the things that you need to do to take something that's been farmland which means it's been tiled, it's been tilled it's been cleared all of those sorts of things, the scope of what you're talking about here to restore this back to what we would consider its its original state.

- Yeah.

So with this project, you know we've got lots of objectives that we would like to see.

And this is a good example of the type of work that we're doing throughout Ohio where we're really looking at the strategic location and we're hoping to restore a host of benefits through this project, including water storage nutrient storage, habitat, connectivity, and resiliency.

So this three, almost 300 acres is an important piece because to the North is Metro parks property into the South is our Kitty Todd nature preserve owned by the Nature Conservancy.

So it's really a good link in terms of that connectivity and with every project that we undertake it requires tons of resources.

So it's important that we be strategic with any individual project we choose.

With this one specifically it's great because being in TNC ownership and other projects that we've undertaken on Kitty Todd Nature Preserve, which we own we're able to really learn as much as we can from them.

And we can do a bit of experimentation.

And some of that we've done with Bowling Green State University through partnerships with the university so I will get more into that.

But this project is possible through a combination of funding sources including the Water Resource Restoration Sponsor the program and the Maumee area of concern program.

So without those funding sources, we would not be able to do what we're, those enabled both the funding or the acquisition of the project as well as the restoration of the project.

So I mentioned the Maumee area of concern.

There were originally 43 areas of concern throughout the entire great lakes.

And those are designated based on just degraded habitat and degraded quality.

So some here around the Maumee river is an area of concern and this project contributes to improving that area of concern.

So it's great from that regard.

But like I said, without those two programs we would not be able to undertake the restoration that we'll be doing with this project.

But in considering the design and the restoration we have thought about all the different aspects and how we can squeeze as much as we can out of this individual project.

So that involves considering soil health and the which is sort of the building blocks of any good restoration project, the flora which on this site, because it's been farmed for so long we anticipate that there's not much seed latent in the soils.

Often, you know, seed native seed will be still will still remain in the seed bank in the soils over time.

But because this has been altered for so long we'll be seeding it with over 200 native species of seed.

We would like to benefit as much of the Fauna as we possibly can.

So that means aiming for hydro periods that or pools full depths that will benefit amphibians and reptiles, macroinvertebrates, pollinators, mammals birds, and even the microbial community which we believe has been altered as well by the extensive agriculture that's taking place on the site.

- Yeah.

It's well, it's interesting too, because I know and you've talked a lot about the impacts and the goals and the objectives here, I guess in the in the greater thing is to besides the local impact, besides the local benefits, I assume opening up these areas, these marshy areas these wetlands restoring them also has kind of a more regional, no more than a regionally, but almost more of a national impact because you have migratory birds you've got all the other kinds of wildlife all of those things that move through this area on their way to somewhere else.

And that encourages that and makes it a lot easier to have this sort of restoration.

And of course you're doing this across the state in various places.

Is there a particular issue that will come up when you're taking farm land like this that specifically is more difficult than this.

This is just land that might be in a more a less processed state now is there something that you really have to concern yourself with when it comes to changing this back from farmland to wetlands or marshland?

- Yeah, it's a good question.

And it's a really good question because wetland restoration, you know, it can be fairly simple, but it's also quite complicated and there are all sorts of things to consider in taking on any individual wetland restoration project.

They're all very different and all the chemical dynamics can really differ project to project.

So absolutely when a site, you know, like this has been this is extensively tiled tile drained, and then those pumps are have been pumping water off the site for many, many years.

The previous owner had added a lot of fertilizer to the site.

So those are all things that do make the project a bit more complicated to undertake and just are important things to consider when we enter into this restoration phase.

But with our rescue wetland restoration across the state you know, it also varies in terms of types of projects.

We in some places will be, you know, ideally restoring wetlands like we are with this particular site.

Sometimes we'll be, you know, more constructing wetlands.

So there there's sort of, yeah, a lot of variability and a lot of things to consider with any given restoration project.

With this one in particular on the question of hydrology, it's been great because we've had, we've entered into a collaboration with Professor at the, at the University of Bowling Green State University to better understand the groundwater specifically and get a handle on how much additional storage do we may be able to provide through this construction project.

So we went out onsite and installed what are called piezometers and they measure groundwater over time.

So we have piezometers all across the site and they're measuring groundwater every hour.

So we have a good handle on what the dynamics are there with groundwater.

We also partnered with somebody at the University of Toledo another professor who ran ground penetrating radar.

A type of radar that enabled him to detect where the tile is underneath the field.

So we know exactly where the tile lays and we'll be able to deconstruct it that much more easily with that knowledge.

So it's been really great and important to have those partnerships.

- Sure.

Well, when we come back, let's talk a little about because I know we're gonna restore this particular area, but there are of course, as you said, sort of the ripple effects of the... Of things around that and the challenges of dealing with that.

Back in just a moment with Alexis Sockas, the Natural Infrastructure Director for the Nature Conservancy of Ohio.

And we're talking about Irwin Prairie here in Northwest Ohio, back in just a moment on The Journal.

You're with us here on The Journal and our guest is Alexis Sockas, the Natural Infrastructure Director for the Nature Conservancy of Ohio And Alexis you know we've talked about this Irwin Prairie project in the greater Oak openings region, part of, you know multi thousand acre project that partners with the Metro park and Natural Resources, those sorts of things.

One of the things that we may want to talk about with people too, is the fact that in this case, this particular, roughly 300 acre parcel 280 acres, you're not removing extremely, this isn't like really high productive agricultural land that is being repurposed back into marshland.

This is a, this is somewhat not the greatest farm land in the world and it's a better purpose would probably be this.

So talk a little bit about site selection and how you map out and select a parcel for this sort of reconstruction.

- Absolutely.

So with what we call natural infrastructure which is in my title and with that we're really referring to sort of wetlands and streams.

And we are not looking to create things in places that they don't belong.

So within Northwest Ohio there originally was what's called The Great Black Swamp, much of Northwest Ohio really kind of wants to be a swamp.

And so we have undertaken extensive spatial mapping.

This is an area of my personal expertise.

And as I mentioned earlier there are very limited resources.

So it's important to be very strategic about, you know where we take these projects on and make sure that we're designing them as best as we can to be effective to provide those benefits to both people and nature.

So that's really, what's behind all of these projects that we undertake.

And that's exactly right.

There's a fair bit of land in Northwest Ohio specifically as well as across Ohio where it's really just marginal farmland.

And, you know, often there may be years where a farmer is not able to even get a crop on because you know particular site or portion of their farm is not profitable.

And so those are the places that we're looking to rethink and potentially return back to nature where they can provide additional benefits to the greater community.

- Yeah well and I think one of the things when we talked about this repurposing, because as you said in a lot of ways, especially in Northwest Ohio which was very wet, The Great Black Swamp, a good chunk of it, we, you know, really we fought an uphill battle with nature to drain all of this.

And you can tell that by simply driving through some of the rural counties by the size of the ditches and the number of ditches and there's the volume of water that we're trying to move to the Maumee river watershed and then onto Lake Erie.

So in a way we're taking these properties that were almost forced in a way to be farmland or some other purpose and letting them sort of revert back to their natural state and providing a way to make that happen.

So that's a benefit overall because it actually does restore the normal flow of things that used to not to use upon there but especially with regard to water management.

- Yeah, it's amazing.

It's easy to forget or not think about, you know, how extensively Northwest Ohio has really been altered over time.

And there are amazing historical accounts of people trying to cross Northwest Ohio on horseback and you know, their horse up to their belly and water.

And so along with that though, we've also, you know we have a lot of, in some of our more urban areas we've also paved a lot of the surfaces over.

And so storm water has become a major issue all over the place as well.

And so when it rains we are really funneling a lot more water directly to our waterways and those rivers and streams are really swelling more than they ever have.

And then you, then you have issues with erosion.

And so by restoring places like this up in the watershed now we'll be able to hold back a whole lot more water than they say would have ever previously and mitigate for those issues.

So that's a major benefit of this project.

- Well, yeah.

And of course, along with that comes the natural filtering process that as you mentioned earlier we're talking about field tile and fertilizers and all of those things that have gone into the ground this is a way to more naturally filter that water as it moves through the watershed and then eventually into Lake Erie.

So it has all of those other benefits.

If people want to see more of what's going on or is there a way for people to get involved in this restoration?

Is there any kind of volunteer aspect to it?

Things like that?

- Oh, absolutely.

Yes.

I would love for people to reach out to us.

And we even here in the next few months we'll have, you know, a slew of volunteers as many as we're able to come out and actually put help put some of that native seed back onto the site.

So walking across the 300 acres and putting that seed down but we have volunteers year round and rely heavily on volunteers and that's been some of our best engagement, so absolutely always opportunities.

- Yeah.

And if you want it if people want to find out more about this they can simply Google The Nature Conservancy of Ohio or Irwin Prairie and information will come up about the project and maps of the project and that sort of thing and contact information too.

So if they wanna get involved, so good.

Okay.

Well, yeah.

(inaudible) - Sorry to Cut you off, nature.org is our website.

- Okay, great.

Thank you so much.

Alexis Sockas the Natural Infrastructure Director, Nature Conservancy Ohio specifically working on a project 300 some acres are roughly 300 acres in Irwin Prairie in the Oak openings region.

You can check us out at WBGU.Oregon.

Or of course you can watch us every Thursday night at eight o'clock here on The Journal on WBGU PBS.

We will see you again next time.

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