15-minute film documents creation of new local wetland

KANSAS — A 15-minute video, "Flowing Forward," has been released showing renovation of the $2 million Clary-Boulee-McDonald Nature Preserve east of Kansas. Wolf Creek runs through the 160-acre preserve that covers a square quarter-mile between TR 36 and SR 12 between Kansas and Bettsville in northwest Seneca County. The project was completed earlier this year as an H2Ohio project by Black Swamp Conservancy. Overall, the regional land conservation organization protects 21,000 acres on 175 properties in northwest Ohio, and has completed about 15 restoration projects. When a project is complete, the conservancy often donates the nature preserve to a local organization. In this case, the property will be given to Seneca County Park District, probably in the first quarter of 2024. The park district will own and manage the property. "The heart of the restoration is Wolf Creek, which meanders through the center of the property, and the 60 acres of mature streamside forest along its banks," BSC Executive Director Rob Krain said in a newsletter article. "This is one of only a few stretches of stream in northwest Ohio that remains unchannelized and in a natural state with streambed riffles and very little undercutting of its banks. The other 100 acres of former farmland has been restored to natural habitats." Documentary filmmakers Christy Frank and Alex Goetz followed the project from the purchase of a farm field from local farmer and conservationist Dwight Clary to the final planting of reconstructed wetland habitat. Farmer and conservationist Clary said he started renting the land and improving it as farm ground in 1989, and then the family purchased it. The name Clary-Boulee-McDonald is taken from people in his family who owned it over the years. When Clary wanted to retire from farming, he decided to sell that land as farmland. "The problem with that farm is a good portion of it was wooded river bottom that couldn't be farmed," he said. Clary said he contacted Seneca Parks, but the park district didn't have the needed funding. He then contacted a real estate agent who, in turn, contacted Black Swamp Conservancy, and that organization got the funding through H2Ohio. Clary said it was hard to watch land he had spent 30 years improving as farmland be bulldozed and reconstructed into wetland habitat. "That was kind of goes against the grain," he said. "I just spent 30 years being really careful not to compact it." However, he said it was a good use for the land. "We're pleased that, as a family, we were able to furnish a good nature preserve, a good park for the community," he said. In a few years, he said trees will be growing to expand the woods and trails will be added for people to enjoy. Viewers of the 15-minute film can see the project's progression, and learn how managing water in a single farm field has an impact on drinking water for thousands of people. The film also includes some history of the Black Swamp region, how and why local people created the conservancy, and information about the ethics and science the conservancy follows. "This property is unique because of its size and because it sits on both sides of Wolf Creek," Krain said in the video. "One of the unique aspects of the project that we're doing is that it's along a whole mile of Wolf Creek," said Conservation Manager Melanie Coulter in the video. "With the H2Ohio funds, that's exactly what they're looking for in spots where we can put treatments like wetlands and affect a lot of water from a lot of different farms." She said construction included strategically breaking tile so water continues to flow from surrounding farm fields into the wetland, and then stops before it reaches the creek so it can filter slowly through the soil and vegetation. "That's really the name of the game, slowing the water down and letting it filter through plants," Coulter said. At the same time, the project increases wildlife habitat. "It won't take more than six months before we start to see little frogs and turtles move into this habitat, and we start to see raptors hunting over the fields," Krain said. "It takes a few years for the wetlands to really develop and for the soil to start to hold the water." The new preserve collects drainage water from 64 square miles – much of it farmland – and the 45-acre wetland is designed to reduce the amount of nutrients that enter Wolf Creek, the Sandusky River, and eventually, Lake Erie. Low berms and swales help to pond runoff water, allowing native vegetation to filter nutrients and other pollutants from the water before it enters Wolf Creek. In addition, the property's seven new wetlands and five recontoured floodplain channels are designed to help prevent regional flooding. Thousands of hardwood trees have been planted to buffer the wetlands and two pollinator prairies will create several acres of wildflowers. The film can be seen on YouTube by searching "Flowing Forward - Black Swamp Conservancy 2023."