If You Build It...

The Wonderful Wetland, June 8, 2021 shortly after sunrise

It may surprise you to know that fifteen years ago this wonderful, magical, glorious wetland, which I've spent the last eight months marveling at and blogging about, did not exist except on paper. The Homer Lake Wetland I am so fascinated with is a wetland restoration proposed by the Champaign County Forest Preserves and partially funded by a Five Star Restoration Challenge Grant awarded by the National Association of Counties in July, 2006.  The photo below shows the site of the proposed wetland in September 2006 before any work had begun. You may recognize the tree at the right in the photo below as the now dead snag standing on the east edge of the wetland visible in many of the photos of the wetland I have posted, a favorite perch for bluebirds and flycatchers watching for flying insects emerging from or attracted to the wetland. Likewise, bluebird nesting box number seven at the bottom left of the photo below still stands between the parking lot and the south edge of the wetland.

The (then) Future Site of the Proposed Homer Lake Wetland Restoration, September 2006

According to a September 17, 2007 News Gazette Article, this portion of the forest preserve, referred to as "the Middle Meadow," had been farmed up until 1960 or so when it was turned into a state tree nursery. As a state tree nursery during the 60's, autumn olive and multiflora rose, both shrubs now known to be aggressive invasives harmful to native habitats, were planted in the area with the [misguided] intention of fixing nitrogen in the soil and providing habitat. This resulted in much work to be done in the 90's to remove both of these plants, as evidenced in the photo above where neither plant remains.

Working on the Wetland, June 18, 2007

Work on the wetland was completed throughout 2007, per the terms of the grant, so its first season functioning as a wetland was fall 2007 into 2008, as seen below.

The Wetland, January 7, 2008

Scads of Tadpoles Already, May 27, 2008!

I marvel at the rich diversity of life now inhabiting the wetland knowing it is only in its fourteenth year. Where did it all come from? The area was diligently seeded with a rich variety of appropriate plants, both wetland and prairie, in 2007, but what about all of the animal life? In the photo above you can see that even in its first year it was a hotspot for at least one species of frog. Still, this year I observed ten amphibian species breeding in the wetland (nine frog species and one salamander species), including a new county record for the northern leopard frog. Apart from the northern leopard frogs -- no one is quite sure how they got here -- the other amphibian species were quite likely present elsewhere in the forest preserve but have found the wetland a great place to "raise a family." Similarly, the five species of reptiles (two snake species, three turtle species) I've observed at the wetland this season were certainly already present in the preserve. Unlike the amphibians making use of the wetland for reproduction, the reptiles find it a great place to hang out and have dinner -- in the case of the snakes and the snapping turtle no doubt, dining on the abundant amphibian population!

Most of the insects that now rely on the wetland, though smaller, are actually more mobile than the reptiles and amphibians in that as adults they are capable of flight. In past blog posts we've seen insects that essentially spend the entirety of their lives in the water, such as water boatmen, backswimmers, giant water bugs, water scorpions, giant water scavenger beetles and multiple species of predacious diving beetles -- all of which are capable of flight as adults so easily able to colonize new bodies of water. In addition we've seen insects that rely on the water for their immature life stages but are completely aerial as adults, such as horse flies, deer flies, damselflies and dragonflies. These are obviously also able to colonize new bodies of water, or to recolonize in subsequent years waters that have dried up before the nymphs emerged as adults. Nevertheless, I have to note, since I have a particular bent toward dragonflies, that this past year I observed 21 species of dragonflies at the wetland, including two new county records. Over the past five years I've observed a total of 29 species of dragonflies at the wetland with a total of four county records, three of which I have not yet found anywhere else in the county. What this says to me is that the wetland is an extremely attractive habitat for creatures such as these that have choices as to where they want to set up shop. Elsewhere I've noted that the migratory common green darners and Carolina saddlebags dragonflies are especially successful at making use of the temporary waters of the wetland for reproduction.

A mystery to me is where the abundance of much less mobile creatures found in the wetland has come from -- the crustaceans such as fairy shrimp, isopods and amphipods, for example, or leeches, snails or fingernail clams. My guess is that they hitch rides to move between wetlands. It's not hard to imagine, for example, that a leech over in Homer Lake feeding on a red-eared slider or snapping turtle might just stay attached when it makes a trip over to the wetland. Likewise, we noted in the post on fairy shrimp that the variety of eggs with tougher shells that last through the dry season will also withstand passing through the digestive system of a waterfowl and so can be transported that way. Amphipods? Isopods? Fingernail claims (which we have not yet covered in a blog post)? I have no idea. I do wonder though if there's any chance any of these things could have lain dormant in the soil from a time in the past where an original wetland may have been here?  That seems unlikely since there is an agricultural component to the history of this location which would no doubt have included major disturbances to the soil. Nevertheless, there are a lot of incredible things out there, so for me it's an open question for now. I do wish though that I had been paying attention when the wetland was first constructed back in 2007 to have observed closely when and how things arrived -- how long it took for various creatures to discover and begin to make use of the wetland.

In closing this post, let me share the opening paragraph of the project description from the original grant proposal that made this marvelous idea a reality:

In the mid-western farm belt states, over 36 million acres of wetlands have been lost or degraded since pre-settlement time. Therefore, the need to create and enhance and protect wetlands in Illinois is necessary. The Champaign County Forest Preserve (CCFPD) owns an 800+ acre area known as the Homer Lake Forest Preserve near Homer, Illinois. The Preserve provides recreational and educational activities for thousands of individuals each year. With miles of river corridor, an 80 acre lake, and acreage set aside specifically for wildlife conservation, it is one of the premier natural areas on the county. This setting provides the perfect opportunity for a wetland restoration that would have a significant  positive impact on the ecological, educational, recreational, and socio-economical actives in the area.

Yes. And if you build it, "they" -- lots and lots of them -- will come. 

special thanks to CCFPD staff Mike Daab, Brian Taylor, Peter Goodspeed and Jennifer Wick for background information and historic photos for this post, not to mention their (and others') involvement in making the wetland a reality!