Imagine noticing a wet area in an agricultural field and envisioning the wetland and meadow that you see in the photo above. And then imagine having the patience and skill to make that transformation happen!

That’s what is gradually taking shape at the north end of Blue Heron Environmental Area on Rochester Road. Back in 2019, our Oakland Township Stewardship Manager, Dr. Ben VanderWeide, noticed that one low area in a farmed field at Blue Heron was consistently wet and could only be planted to crops in dry years. Clearly water could collect there from the slopes of the surrounding field and perhaps the field had a spring that once fed the area. The area was likely drained long ago to improve farming conditions. Since wildlife always gathers at wetlands, he wondered if he could create – or maybe re-establish – a healthy wetland habitat there.

If You Build It, Nature Comes!

He shared his plans with colleagues Meredith Holm and Jim Hazelman at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. They surveyed elevations in the wet area and designed a berm with an emergency overflow route to handle wet years and heavy rainstorms. In October of 2020, the wetland area was edged with a berm on the downhill side to hold the water on the land.

By spring of 2021, a large, gracefully-shaped pond had formed where once there was only a wet area in a field. As I covered in my 2021 blog on this unusual natural area, nature was doing its part to restore the pond. Aquatic plants sprouted along the shoreline. Shorebirds arrived during spring migration. A muskrat and crayfish took up residence. Dragonflies zinged among the greenery. Here’s a short slideshow of success: the migrating birds that took advantage of the new pond in 2021 alone – plus one rare sighting of an off-course Willet in May of 2022. I’d say that pond could be considered an immediate success for spring and fall migrators!

In May of 2022, biologists Meredith Holm and Erica Roberts with the Fish and Wildlife Service Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program returned to seed native species around the pond edge and north of the pond. And those native seeds were the foundation for this year’s bloom which burst forth in full glory this July.

Native Aquatic Plants Bring More Life to the North Pond

In September of 2021, the fall before the surrounding upland fields were seeded, Ben decided that the pond could use more native plants. He began by slipping the rhizomes of Fragrant Waterlily (Nymphaea odorata) into the mud near the shore with a flat shovel and then tossing a few pieces farther out into the deeper water. Since the pond was new, he wasn’t sure how much the water level would change over a year. Planting at different depths helped hedge bets in hopes that a few would establish. Aquatic plants were sourced near docks in other parks, where they are controlled anyway to maintain access for fishing or boating. So this was a win-win situation!

This July, nearly three years after Ben planted it in the mud, the white Fragrant Waterlilies had established very nicely at the northern edge of the pond! Seeing them more closely was my “quest” in July this year.

The day before my trip to the North Pond, the summer stewardship crew had transplanted more aquatic plants in the pond. Aquatic plants benefit a wetland in so many ways. Their blooms, leaves and stems provide shade and spawning areas for fish as well as improving water quality and preventing erosion. Seeds provide food for migrating waterfowl. And of course, they contribute beauty and color. Ben chose more Fragrant Waterlilies and two other aquatic plants for the crew’s work, again sourced near docks where they are controlled anyway for boating and fishing access.

Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata) blooms in late summer with a spike of purple flowers with yellow markings which attract bees. After pollination, the stem bends downward to submerge the seeds where they go dormant until the following season. It can also spread asexually through rhizomes beneath the surface. This plant thrives at Lost Lake Nature Park, which is where Ben and the crew harvested some of them to plant at Blue Heron Environmental Area and Bear Creek Nature Park. Every year some plants need to be eliminated at Lost Lake in order to allow a safety boat quick access to the lake during the kayak classes held there each summer. So Ben saved some of them by digging them up and transplanting them.

Ben did the same with a plant that I’d never heard of called Watershield (Brasenia schreberi). Its oval leaves float on the surface, protected on the underside with a clear slime that botanists theorize may protect them from hungry herbivores. Evidently it appears on the underwater stems and buds as well. (I know it would deter me…)

Watershield blooms with small purplish red flowers from June to September. Each bloom lasts only two days. According to Wikipedia, the first day, the plant emerges from the water with a female stigma. Its job is to snag any wind-blown pollen from nearby Watershield blossoms for its own fertilization. That flower then submerges and emerges again the next day with its male stamen held higher than the female pistils. The anthers on the stamen then break open, releasing pollen for its neighbors. Nice reciprocity, eh? I really hope this plant takes hold; I’d love to witness both days of this process!

Walking (Carefully) on the Pond’s South and East Side…Looking for Waterlilies

When I arrived in July and finished being dazzled by all the glorious color around me, I raised my binoculars and discovered that the waterlilies that I wanted to find had bloomed at the opposite end of the pond. I would have to navigate along the edges of the soybean field to reach them. The Parks and Recreation Commission is still leasing the south end of this field to a local farmer whose crops keep invasive plants from moving in while the park is being restored. Undaunted, I treaded carefully along the field edge near the soybeans; no trails are available yet in this park.

Suddenly, a high, persistent warning call erupted behind me and I turned to see a small bird steadily wending its way in my direction. It turned out to be a brave little Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) who clearly wanted me farther away from its nest! Since males tend the nests of Spotted Sandpipers, I’d guess this was a male, though it could be a female since they’re in charge of defending territories. Females also perform their courtship dances. Gender stereotyping must be very much frowned upon among Spotted Sandpipers!

Seeing this little bird certainly made me feel much better about coming into the park at the wrong end! I took a quick video as it approached so I could share with you the tail-bobbing gait of this spunky shorebird and its persistent chirping . Then I quickly moved off so that calm could be restored. Later I heard a second bird piping from a different location, so again I carefully moved away, concerned that I might scare the adult birds off their nests or even worse, step on a nest!

Here’s the video. Please excuse the traffic noise from Rochester Road in the background!

As I picked my way across the mud toward the south shore of the pond, I discovered that some smaller winged companions moved along with me. A small Pearl Crescent butterfly (Phyciodes tharos) twitched from leaf to leaf along my route, while two male dragonflies, the Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa) and the Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) paused briefly and then continued following me, hoping I’d stir up some prey along the way.

The “Quest” for the Waterlilies Continues!

My goal remained to get a close look at the waterlilies Ben planted three years ago. So making my way through the tall greenery and across muddy, uneven ground, I continued on toward the north shore. On the way, I passed some crayfish “chimneys.” These small mud mounds act as a kind of nursery for Crayfish. According to a Clemson University website, male Crayfish create a network of tunnels. The male carries mud balls to the surface and stacks them into one or two chimneys. Some experts believe this shape slows down would-be predators; others maintain it provides the mated female with oxygenated air while she waits for the plentiful eggs attached to her body to hatch and grow enough to survive without her – usually 2-21 days.

As I neared the north shore of the pond, a male Slaty Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula incesta) zipped past me, moving among the tall stems. What a sight he was with his black face and midnight blue body! He finally posed for me for on a dry stalk. Well actually, he was probably seeking prey or a mate, whichever came first. Another Widow Skimmer swooping nearby was likely doing the same.

With muddy boots and a few scratches, I managed to reach the north shore of the pond. I climbed onto the berm to get above the plants along the shore – being careful not to step in holes a muskrat may have caused there  – and wow, there were the waterlilies floating almost magically, looking like Claude Monet’s famous paintings at Giverny.

Even on the berm, I had to peek between some of the cattails to see and photograph them. A Fragrant Waterlily that seemed not quite yet open caught my eye first, sitting peacefully on top of its reflection . Waterlilies, I learned, close each night and open each morning. It was close to noon when I took the photo. Perhaps this one slept a bit late?

Or perhaps it’s preparing to disappear! Once it’s pollinated, the berry-like fruit forms and sinks back into the water. The seeds within the fruit settle into the mud or float to the surface where waterfowl occasionally snack on some.

But another flower nearby had opened fully that morning ready to be pollinated. Waterlilies always look so serene with their great circular leaves floating calmly on the surface and their gorgeous faces turned to the sky. The lily pads shade the water which helps prevent the spread of algae and provides shade for creatures below. These Fragrant Waterlilies give off a strong, sweet scent which attracts bees to the golden centers of the flower, pollinating the blossoms.

Envisioning, Science-based Knowledge and Effort Pay Off!

Ben VanderWeide’s ability to envision possibilities and his science-based approach to restoration, combined with the work Grant VanderLaan and the dedicated seasonal staff of our stewardship team, and the wetland reconstruction expertise of colleagues at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, transformed the north field at Blue Heron from what you see on the left above to what you see on the right. Their hard work continues to make the vision of better habitat a reality. And that allows me to imagine what’s possible here in future years.

I picture the rest of the north field seeded with more productive and beautiful native plants. Perhaps, they’ll need to be refreshed periodically by fire and more native seed. Aquatic plants will enrich the pond habitat for all kinds of creatures. More migrating and local birds will peer down at a blue wetland and drop in for a rest or to build nests and raise young. Increasing numbers and varieties of butterflies and bees by day and moths by night will buzz and flutter over native wildflowers while sipping the nectar or collecting the pollen that they require. Raccoons, foxes, possums, and other creatures may already be coming for a cool drink on a warm night. Bats may swoop over the pond in the moonlight feeding on night-flying insects.

As the aquatic plants take hold, turtles might bask on the shore on sunny afternoons. Frogs may sing lustily for their mates in the spring. More flowers may float upon the water or stand tall in the shallows. Even fish may swim in this pond, carried here by eggs on the feet of birds. Ben and I once saw a small fish, probably spawned in a nearby forest wetland, trying to swim upstream toward the pond when water flowed out of the restored wetland after a large rainstorm.

And a future trail or viewing area in this moist, fragile park may allow visitors to enjoy the quiet glory of a peaceful pond in a sunny, flowering meadow.

All the liveliness and productivity of a healthy, native habitat will exist here because of a small, wet patch in field and a stewardship manager like Ben who noticed what was possible and started to make it happen. For over fifty years, our community has supported this patient, science-driven process of restoring the beauty and diversity that nature intended. That’s impressive! What do you think? Maybe we should do it for at least another fifty!