E-Newsletter ■ October 2007

Dixon Refuge receives fishery award

	A worthy largemouth bass pulled from Hopper Lake.

In September the American Fisheries Society awarded The Wetlands Initiative its 2007 President’s Fishery Conservation Award to recognize the successful restoration at the Sue & Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge at Hennepin & Hopper Lakes. The 9,000-member association of fishery researchers, fish managers, scientists and educators lauded TWI for its “visionary activities to restore an aquatic ecosystem to the use and enjoyment of the public.” TWI is noteworthy for “rolling up some sleeves and actually completing a suite of on-the-ground plantings, hydrologic planning, and support activities leading to a meaningful level of conservation and restoration in record time,” said AFS past president Carl Burger.

How profitable could wetland restoration be?

The net profit on corn is only $39.96, according to Iowa State University.

Will a farmer make more money growing corn or “growing” wetlands in a wetland-based nutrient farm? TWI recently asked that question to Tony Prato, agricultural economist at University of Missouri-Columbia. His answer was surprising, considering how corn prices have been rising in light of increased ethanol production. 

Prato used the Crop Production Decision Tool developed by Iowa State University to determine that today a farmer could expect a net return of $39.96 for an acre of corn. [This assumes that a farmer factors in all costs—both fixed and variable—and sells his corn at $3.20/bushel, which was Chicago Board of Trade’s price on 10/18/07.] In contrast, TWI estimates that a farmer could make a profit of approximately $195 per acre harvesting nitrogen from wetlands and selling the water quality credits to municipal or industrial dischargers who are looking for a cost effective means to reduce their nitrogen load. In addition, a "nutrient farmer" could sell phosphorus and carbon credits, adding to his or her annual income.

The Wetlands Initiative is developing a nutrient farming pilot project on the Illinois River at Goose Pond near Hennepin, Illinois. This 1,300 acre project, which is awaiting approval of the construction permit, will provide scientific and economic research that can demonstrate how this new economic strategy could fuel wetland restoration across the Illinois River basin and beyond.

Donald Hey to speak at Chicago Humanities Festival

	Donald Hey will speak Nov 11th at the Chicago Humanities Festival.

How do we value land? Is land worth more wet or dry? Ponder these questions and others with Donald Hey at the Chicago Humanities Festival on Sunday, November 11 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. at Loyola University’s Rubloff Auditorium in downtown Chicago. As part of the 18th annual festival, he will be participating in the “Wonder Cabinet” series, designed to merge science and the humanities to address issues on the festival’s theme, “The Climate of Concern.” Tickets are $5, available only from the festival. Call (312) 494-9509 or visit the festival's web site.

Generous grants to help Midewin bloom

A monarch butterfly finds nourishment in the restored prairies at Midewin.

This fall TWI will begin work restoring another 100 acres of rare wetland-prairie habitat at the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie near Joliet, Illinois. In partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the Lower Drummond Wetland-Prairie project will be TWI’s third restoration site within Midewin—the largest prairie east of the Mississippi River. TWI has been assisting the U.S. Forest Service since 1997 to transform the 19,000 acres of the former U.S. Army Arsenal into the region’s premier natural area. TWI recently raised more than $200,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Grand Victoria Foundation, and Chicago Wilderness to fund this new effort at Midewin.

REI volunteers harvest the prairie

	REI employee Cheryl Surowy gathers seed from the prairie.

Walking through acres of dried mesic and dry prairie, volunteers from the REI Oakbrook Terrace store gathered seeds on September 29th from purple cone flower, blazing star, rattlesnake master, Indian grass, and other prairie species at the Hennepin & Hopper Lakes Project. TWI ecologist Gary Sullivan and his staff and volunteers will plant the seed next spring in bare patches on the 2,600 acre restoration project in Hennepin, Illinois. The volunteer work day was spearheaded by Bill Watson, inventory specialist at the REI store, whose family owned farm land in the project site prior to its restoration in 2001. REI recently awarded The Wetlands Initiative a second grant to aid restoration work at Hennepin. The one-year grants recognize TWI’s efforts to protect and restore outdoor recreational areas.

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