MMP Contributes to Wetland Restoration 

Driving down Hopkins Street in April 1995, I approached my first Marsh Monitoring Program station, sensing excitement and anticipation for what I might find. I had carefully chosen a route to include remnants of a large lakeshore marsh which once existed here before the steel-making days arrived in Buffalo, New York. This selection was also influenced by knowledge that hazardous waste and a future highway threatened these marsh remnants. I pondered the questions that arose from careful scrutiny of historic and current aerial photos of this industrial area. What species still used this marsh habitat? Were Fowler's toads present? Was marsh life here valuable enough to bend an expressway or oblige wetland restoration work?

My flashlight helped me find the brushy path leading to the first survey station. The air temperature was right for calling amphibians but something was wrong. Having spent a lifetime in the rural Southern Tier of Western New York, wetlands were places of auditory over-stimulus . . . but here there was no familiar chorus to greet and encourage me on — only eerie silence and the intermittent noise of a nearby railyard. The structure of the habitat looked good, a nice mix of emergent vegetation and open water. Wasn't I close enough to hear the frogs at the site? Was the silence somehow due to the chemicals? As a professional biologist, I was well aware of the list of heavy metals and toxic chemicals present in the on-site sediments. Was the silence related to amphibian mortality induced by petroleum spills?

On that spring evening, only 2 calling frogs were heard on the 4-station route. This marked the beginning of 3 years of MMP surveys, involving 15 visits to this route. MMP data collected over that period provided information on biota and helped guide the chemical cleanup and restoration of three wetlands on the route. The information gathered through the MMP is beyond what's normally available in planning most wetland restorations. Most often, species lists from one or two visits are all that the responsible party or agency biologists can bring to the planning table.

During 1995, MMP surveys were conducted at 5 Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC) and 7 non-AOC routes in the Buffalo, NY region. With 4 years of data for many routes in the region and a standardized protocol, the MMP has become a valuable tool to document the distribution and relative abundance of marsh species in the Niagara River AOC.  MMP data also help judge the success of habitat restoration efforts, several of which are underway or planned for the Niagara River AOC.

A variety of gulls, herons, waterfowl and other wildlife use the river for breeding, migration and wintering habitat. One would expect that marshes adjacent to such a waterbody would also be similarly attractive.

Historic aerial photos, charts and literature reveal the extensive marsh habitat once present. Three large marshes (e.g. the 780-acre Tifft Street lakeshore marsh, the 150-acre Buckhorn Island Marsh, and the 80-acre Rattlesnake Island Marsh) were formerly major marsh habitats. Fringe wetlands along the river, particularly near Niagara Falls, and marshes in small bays and coves augmented these large wetland habitats. These areas produced impressive lists of bird use over the years, including nesting Bald Eagles, Black Terns, Least Bitterns and migrating Yellow Rails. But while the sightings were being archived, marsh habitats were being lost. Four hundred and fifteen acres (168 hectares) were lost from 1942-1985, and soil cores from waste sites and examination of aerial photos indicate that extensive filling had already occurred by 1938. The Niagara Falls and Rattlesnake Island marshes no longer exist, less than 10% of the Tifft Street marsh remains, and the Buckhorn Island Marsh has been severely degraded. Several wetlands also contain chemical contaminants from steel, chemical and other industrial wastes.

MMP data are beginning to document the loss of wildlife diversity. Four formerly recorded marsh nesting birds, American Bittern, Least Bittern, American Coot and Black Tern have not been observed on the Niagara River AOC MMP routes. Only Red-winged Blackbird, Common Yellowthroat, Marsh Wren and Swamp Sparrow remain as common marsh nesters. In U.S. portions of this AOC, only the spring peeper has been recorded at code level 3 (full chorus). Ongoing and planned marsh restoration efforts within the AOC are aimed at increasing the quality and quantity of marsh habitat to reverse the losses. Supported by a highly interested environmental community, New York' s Department of Environmental Conservation has directed over US$400,000 toward the restoration of Buckhorn Island Marsh. Cooperation and negotiation have resulted in the restoration of riverine fringe and other wetland areas and removal of contaminated sediments from several sites. Remediation of other areas is scheduled to begin later this year. A concerned advisory board, planning a restoration of open water habitat at the Tifft Street marsh, demonstrates that citizen's groups can be effective in responding to declining marsh bird diversity.

These many efforts indicate the necessary changes occurring in our stewardship of the Niagara River AOC marshes. We are now familiar with the losses of wildlife diversity and the high costs of restoration incurred from misuse. The Marsh Monitoring Program is contributing to this change in awareness, both by providing a growing database of wildlife and habitat information, and by providing a time for professional biologists and naturalists alike to touch the reeds, hear the choruses and contemplate the silence.

— Ken Roblee

 

Ken Roblee works as a senior wildlife biologist with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation when he's not doing MMP surveys.

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