Nov. 28, 2020 7:30p
(WGTD)---Work has begun to restore to its native state a former farm field across from Sanders Park in southern Racine County.
The purchase of the 60-acre plot located east of Meachem Rd., or if you prefer 22nd Ave., is made possible by the Wisconsin Wetland Conservation Trust. The program is funded by companies that pay in after having secured permission to build on wetlands. Foxconn is one example.
Joshua Brown of the DNR says 90% of the state's wetlands have either been destroyed or altered.
The DNR's wetlands program tries to reverse some of those losses on land that's available for purchase. For one thing, converting agricultural land back to wetlands helps to reduce flooding and minimize erosion. "The difference between corn or soybeans or other cash crops and native plants is really the root structure," Brown said on a recent edition of WGTD's The Morning Show. "Because corn or soybeans don't go that deep, the root structure of the native plants allows for a lot of absorption and ground water infiltration," he said.
Wetlands restoration also helps create habitat that's conducive to increasing wildlife diversity, including pollinators like the endangered Rusty Patch Bumblebee, according to Nan Calvert of the Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network.
The Meachem Rd. project involves removing or plugging drain tiles, seeding the area with native plant species and planting some shrub seedlings.
It'll take several years for the new landscape to mature.
Eventually,hiking trails will be built and the site will be opened to the public.
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