Scott Starling Nature Sanctuary Wetland Restoration
The Center for Earth and Environmental Science is restoring a mosaic of relatively rare
and biologically diverse groundwater-fed wetland systems in the Scott Starling Nature
Sanctuary portion of Eagle Creek Park. The restoration is occurring in areas that were
historically fen and sedge meadow. CEES has established a broad coalition of
stakeholders that include professional staff at the City of Indianapolis Department of
Parks and Recreation, university faculty and staff, wetland restoration professionals from
Spence Restoration Nursery, JF New and Associates, university students, corporate and
community volunteers, Veolia Water Indianapolis, the Efroymson Fund of the Central
Indiana Community Foundation, citizen groups representing the Starling Nature
Sanctuary, and the area watershed task force. Site geophysical surveys and manual
probing were used to locate the old agricultural tile drainage network which was installed
by earlier settlers to drain the wetlands at the site. To date, approximately 1000 feet of
the agricultural tile drainage network have been disabled or removed. Undergraduate and
graduate student research is evaluating how the removal of agricultural tiles affects site
hydrology given that many wetland complexes have been artificially drained and that
wetland restoration includes hydrologic restoration through drain tile removal or
disabling. Understanding the evolution of site hydrology and the effects of tile removal
on hydrologic restoration has important implications for wetland restoration efforts.
Groundwater monitoring wells, and piezometer clusters have been installed to monitor
the level of the groundwater and track its chemical characteristics; several of the wells are
instrumented with level-loggers and multiparameter probes. As the hydrology has been
restored to the site, management continues with the removal of invasive exotic species
and the installation of native genotype wetland plants. We anticipate that 60-70% of the
eleven acre site will be returned to wetlands and associated habitats. The remaining area
will be allowed to establish its own ecological setting based on ground wetness,
elevation, and relationship to surrounding vegetation communities.
Project Location, History and Setting
The Scott Starling Nature Sanctuary is located at the north end of Eagle Creek Reservoir
in Eagle Creek Park. It is situated in Pike Township of northwest Marion County on the
Tipton Till Plain section of the Central Till Plain Natural Region of Indiana. The area
was settled in the mid-1800s. Nearly all of the land on the north side of Fishback Creek
was utilized for agricultural purposes during most of the twentieth century. Aerial
photographs from 1936 show several areas that are now covered with young second
growth forest were in row crop (Tungsevick, 1997). The area was purchased by the City
of Indianapolis in 1966 as a portion of the land designated for the developing Eagle
Creek Park and Reservoir. Several agricultural fields continued to be cultivated until
1991. The area was officially dedicated as the Scott Starling Nature Sanctuary in 1992
and is managed by Indy Parks and Recreation.
The physical setting of the Nature Sanctuary is defined by Fishback Creek and its
associated stream valley (Barr et al., 1996). The Fishback Creek valley is incised through
Wisconsinan-aged glacial deposits and into pre-Wisconsinan glacial deposits, both of
which are primarily till. The valley is characterized by a narrow floodplain and steep
bluffs on the south and west sides of the creek. A broad floodplain with a gentle slope
occupies areas north and east of the creek. Regionally, the location and landscape
position of the contact between the Wisconsinan till and the older underlying tills provide
a significant source of groundwater (Tedesco et al., 2004a; Tedesco et al., 2004b;
Tedesco et al., 2003). Where this contact is near the ground surface, seeps develop. The
presence and size of sand and gravel bodies at this contact controls the quantity of water
available. In a more natural setting the type of wetlands formed by the seeps is controlled
by the texture and drainage characteristics of the alluvium and the distance from
groundwater seeps (Webber et al., 2004; Webber et al., 2003). In the modified setting of
the Nature Sanctuary, Wilson Road forms a break in the natural landscape. Prior to the
initiation of restoration efforts, several small seep faces had developed above and below
Wilson Road. A key aspect of the wetland restoration at the Nature Sanctuary has been
the identification and naturalization of these seeps.
References Cited
Barr, R.C., Hall, B.E., and Jewett, D.G., 1996. The Evolution of Fishback Creek
Watershed. Hydrology Laboratory, Department of Geology, IUPUI.
Tedesco, L.P., Salazar, K.A., Webber, J., Hernly, F.V., Hall, B.E., and McPeek, T.M.,
2004a, The Starling Fen Restoration Project: A University/City Park/ Corporate/
“Friends of” collaborative. Association of State Wetland Managers National
Symposium, Wetlands 2004, Abstracts, p. 57.
Tedesco, L.P., Hernly, F.V., and Hall, B.E., 2004b, Interpreting Geologic and Landscape
Data to Identify, Preserve, and Restore Seep Wetlands, Indiana GIS 2004
Conference Proceedings, Putting Indiana on the Map, Indianapolis, IN, p. 30.
Tedesco, L.P., Atekwana, E.A., Hall, B.E., Salazar, K., and Hernly, F.V., 2003, The
Starling Fen Restoration Project. U.S. EPA Sixth Wetlands Workshop, Atlantic
City, New Jersey, Abstracts, p. 15.
Tungesvick, K., 1997. Floral Inventory of Scott Starling Nature Sanctuary.
Webber, J.J., Tedesco, L.P., Hernly, F.V., and Hall, B.E., 2004, Characterization of
wetland soil and sediments at Starling Nature Sanctuary, Marion County, Indiana.
National Council on Undergraduate Research, Indianapolis, April, 2004.
Webber, J.J.; Hernly, F.V.; Tedesco, L.P; Salazar, K.A., and Hall, B.E., 2003,
Characterization of wetland soil and sediments at Starling Nature Sanctuary,
Marion County, Indiana. Geological Society of America National Meeting
Abstracts, v. 35, #6, p. 406.
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