|
Home Page • About EcoResults! • Success Stories • Contact Us
|
|
Restoring an Extinct Marsh, NevadaWhen Tony Tipton was describing the newest project he and his wife, Jerrie, and the other members of the 20 to 1 collaborative not-for-profit corporation were undertaking, he said, “We know we can do small restorations. We’ve done lots of them, but that hasn’t got the job done.” 
The job that Tony Tipton says isn't getting done is one of the core missions of EcoResults: To let more people know that proactive rural land managers can be one of the most effective means we have of restoring ecosystems to natural function and health and sustaining them as such. In order to get this point across in even more dramatic terms than they had achieved in the first of the success stories we featured in this web site, the Tiptons and their team decided that they had to do something even more spectacular than revegetate a barren mine site. With this in mind, they decided to restore a Nevada salt flat to the wildlife-sustaining wetland it once was. The technique they would use was the same they had used to revegetate the mine site: by restoring the natural relationships between animals and plants that they believe have been deteriorating since humans first contributed to the extinction of several species indigenous to this area around 8,000 years ago. According to the 20 to 1 proposal, US Geological Survey data and maps from the early 1870s indicate that Teels Marsh was then a wetland with standing water and marsh vegetation supporting both grass and woody vegetation on the periphery. One of the current residents of the nearby town of Marietta can recall ducks being hunted on the marsh as recently as the 1940s. Local residents maintain that until the early 1960s large herds of mule deer wintered in the area. Today, there is no marsh vegetation in what was once marshland in spite of the fact that there has been more precipitation in the last 40 years than in the previous 40. What water does flow into the basin quickly evaporates leaving a crust of salt. Where there was marginal grass as recently as the early 1980s, grasses are now nearly non-existent. Current production of grasses both native and introduced in some parts of the area is from 0 to 50 lbs of dry matter per acre. In contrast, the Tiptons reclaimed mine site (as described in Success Stories) produced as much as 6,000 lbs per acre. This is a huge project. In order to restore the marsh the Tiptons and 20 to 1 plan to rehabilitate about 100,000 acres of the 300,000 acre watershed impacting about 20,000 acres per year.The budget for this monumental undertaking was projected to be about $5 million in 1998. It's more than that now. In order to raise that kind of money, and get the kind of support needed to undertake a project of that magnitude, the Tiptons are tackling one more demonstration project to prove they can get the job done. This project would restore 100 acres of land similar to that in the Teels Marsh watershed. Though smaller, this restoration would deliver important benefits of its own. The area in which the project is being conducted, though seriously desertified, is expected to become meadowland when restored. If that happens, the benefits for wildlife would be considerable. In western Nevada, meadowland is anything but common. If you would like to get in on the ground floor for what could be one of the most important positive changes humans have brought to the American West, this project is for you. Currently, it is in the application stage. Once we get approval for a grant we have submitted to a large foundation, EcoResults! has agreed to provide $8,000 dollars in matching funds. Sign me up to support this Restoration in Progress! Related Success StoriesRevegetating Mined-out Lands, Nevada Other Restorations in Progress Healing a Dysfunctional Watershed,
New Mexico |
|
P.
O. Box 61613, Santa Barbara, CA 93160 • (805) 964-5788 • info@ecoresults.org
