Fort Dodge Messenger, IA
07-12-07
Smeltzer ground returns to its ‘roots’
By MICHAEL NEARY, Messenger staff writer
A swath of land near Gowrie may return to a condition it hasn’t seen since the
middle of the 19th century — and an entire farm in Otho may provide examples
of some of the soundest environmental practices in the state.
Those are goals of conservation workers striving to restore the Gowrie land —
part of the Ann Smeltzer Trust — to prairie and wetlands, close to what it was
150 years ago. Conservation specialists are also using farm land from the trust to
illustrate some of the most effective, environmentally friendly agricultural
practices.
The Webster County Conservation Board is one of the agencies working in
partnership with the Ann Smeltzer Trust to preserve and restore 160 acres of
farmland near Otho and a 40-acre parcel near Gowrie.
The prominent Fort Dodge personage Ann Smeltzer died in 1999 and the court
later asked the Ann Smeltzer Trust to keep Smeltzer’s environmental concern in
mind as trustees decided how to use the land, according to James Patton, the
Iowa State University Extension education director for Webster County.
Patton is on the board of the Ann Smeltzer Trust.
“This is a public-private partnership,” said Patton, who noted there are a number
of other organizations involved in the project.
Standing in the Gowrie acreage Wednesday morning, Karen Roosa Hansen said
staff members from the Webster County Conservation Board have re-seeded
that patch of land in the past couple of years. Hansen is a naturalist for the
Conservation Board.
She said staff members are also working on clearing away non-native trees and
other plants in an effort to restore the territory to prairie land. Once the plants are
thriving and some of the trees are cleared, she said, native animals will begin to
re-populate the region.
‘‘You get ... the plants growing, and the animals will come,’’ she said. ‘‘Even the
animals you think are gone will surprise you.’’
Hansen said staff members have planted tall grass, gray-headed cornflower,
bergamot, butterfly milkweed, compass plant and other foliage. That sort of
growth, she said, could lure back such creatures as grassland birds, pheasants,
partridge, frogs and variety of snakes (including green, prairie and garter).
Those animals, according to Hansen, might have survived over the years — but
they haven’t thrived.
Hansen said staff members have also planted shrubs along the west fence line
and part of the north fence line to shield the past (and, they hope, future) prairie
land from the wind. She said they’re also working on clearing away non-native
plants.
‘‘We’re in the process of removing honeysuckle, mulberry and whatever other
trees that either are a hazard, dead or not desirable in some way,’’ she said.
Hansen said non-native species can grow unchecked and overtake native plants
because, removed from their native land, they can flourish far away from their
natural predators.
‘‘If a plant is not native to an area, there’s a one in 10 chance that it will naturalize
and take over because there are no natural predators for most non-native
species,’’ said Hansen. ‘‘If you don’t have a predator ... you are going to have a
problem.’’
In the land near Otho, work has been done to restore prairie land — as it is in the
Gowrie parcel — and work has also focused on ‘‘stream back stabilization.’’
Hansen said it was a challenge to maintain clean water in Prairie Creek, which
runs through the Otho land. She said the threat of sedimentation, or pollution of
the water from the soil, is a concern for Prairie Creek and for the state at large.
‘‘If we can keep the soil where it belongs, not in the water, that will improve our
water,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s a pretty simple concept, but it’s hard to implement
sometimes.’’
Much of the design for the plans has come from Natural Resources Conservation
Service, according to Denis Schulte, a district conservationist for the NRCS in
Fort Dodge. Schulte said diverting tile water from the Prairie Creek to dried up
ground has preserved the quality of the stream water and begun the process of
converting the dried ground to wetlands.
‘‘We try to put (tile water) in existing drained areas or oxbows that have been cut
off from the stream,’’ he said.
Hansen said workers are using a variety of means to protect the water, including
using limestone rock on the bank, contour buffer strips, willow cuttings and
cement. She said having so many techniques provides good material for an
educational session.
Patton said the land will ultimately be prime teaching ground for everyone from
farmers seeking to hone environmentally sound practices to children learning
about water pollution. Patton said the variations in the land make a wide swath of
lessons possible.
‘‘Many of the physical factors we find in lots of locations in central Iowa are (here)
all in one place,’’ said Patton.
Contact Michael Neary at (515) 573-2141 or mneary@messengernews.net.