WETLAND RESTORATION/ RICE RANGERS
The Wetland Nursery Project--a new project in 2002-- gets schoolchildren involved in raising native wetland plants from seed, growing the plants, and transplanting them into Anacostia River mudflats. In 2003, we will extend the program to include Wild Rice (Zizania aquatica), once a dominant plant on the tidal Anacostia.
In
our first year, we raised 1,400 Arrow Arum plants
at the Bladensburg Waterfront Park with 4th & 5th graders from Mount
Rainier and Thomas Stone Elementary Schools, teaching them the important
ecological services provided by wetlands. We also removed Purple Loosestrife,
a non-native invasive plant species.
In 2003, we hope to involve older students in the planting and transplanting as well. These youths (Rice Rangers) will be involved in Wild Rice transplantion into mudflats behind protective fencing to keep out our overpopulation of Canada geese, who would otherwise wipe it out. We are also looking for a heated greenhouse in the area to start propagating some seed in February 2003.
Wetland Functions - What are they good for?
Wetlands are now considered one of our most precious natural resources. Once considered impediments to commerce and "progress," wetlands have been found to be extremely important to human health & well-being. The plants mentioned above contribute some very important ecological services;
- Flood Prevention: Wetlands can minimize the damage to downstream property owners by decreasing the velocity of the water and acting as a storage basin. When a stream overflows its banks, it spreads horizontally into a surrounding wetland (a flood plain) where the vegetation acts as numerous time barriers temporarily detaining the water.
- Water Pollution Control: Wetlands serve to maintain water quality. They have a "self-cleaning" ability which, if not over-taxed, can filter, or take up, pollutants from runoff before they enter an adjoining watercourse. In many respects, wetlands function much like sophisticated sewage treatment plants (ie, Blue Plains) by removing nutrients and other pollutants prior to discharge to a waterway. This is done at virtually no cost to the taxpaying public via free solar energy.
- Soil Erosion and Sediment
Control: Wetlands acts as buffers which trap sediments resulting
from natural and man-induced erosion. Increased development along a
watercourse can hinder a wetland's capability to trap these sediments.
- Water Storage/Stream Baseflows:
Wetlands absorb and store a significant amount of surface water runoff
during storm periods. They also gradually release a portion of this
stored water to streams and maintain critical baseflows, especially
during periods of drought.
- Wildlife Habitat:
Wetlands provide essential wildlife habitat. A large number of animals
including threatened and endangered species use wetlands for breeding,
feeding or refuge. All wetlands function in providing an important source
of food for wildlife and represent a critical link in life cycles and
food webs. They also provide economic value in the form of commercial
fisheries.
- Educational and Aesthetic Values: Wetlands often offer unspoiled, open space for the aesthetic enjoyment of nature as well as recreational activities such as boating, hiking, fishing, hunting, photography and environmental education.
*Excerpted from "Understanding the Value of Wetlands"
by Joseph A. Mele, Ph.D.
Historical Wetlands of the Anacostia River
Long
before the automobile and the subsequent development of highways and suburbs
thatdominate our metropolitan landscape, our region was a lush greenscape.
Thousands of acres of forests covered the land, with free-flowing streams
feeding the rivers we travel over daily. Vast stretches of wetlands existed
as well, serving as wildlife nurseries, human food sources, and "kidneys"
that helped to clean the water as it ebbed & flowed. Sadly, decades
of pollution, sedimentation, deforestation, urban growth, and suburban
sprawl have almost totally destroyed the last remaining wetlands; we have
lost 99.9% of tidal wetlands and 75% of freshwater wetlands along the
Anacostia River since John Smith traveled here in the 1600s.
There are only a small number of wetlands that currently exist on the river. The most obvious, publicly-visible sites are the restored wetlands in Kenilworth Marsh and Kingman Lake, which is adjacent to RFK Stadium and visible from both the Benning Road and East Capitol Street bridges. As early as the mid-1600s, many of the Anacostia wetlands were already being drained to provide more land for tobacco and sustenance crops (see original extent of Anacostia River's wetlands here, highlighted as a light yellow outline).
Native Emergent Plants of the Anacostia River
The Wetland Nursery Project seeks to involve students and the general public in helping to revitalize the wetlands we've lost over hundreds of years. We have selected native emergent plants, which are species that grow in shallow water. Emergent plants have their roots and part of their stems underwater, and their leaves, stems, flowers and seeds above the water. Typical examples found on the Anacostia that we are growing include Arrow arum, Pickerelweed, and Soft-stem Bulrush. There are also many other emergents, including sedges, rushes and grasses.
Arrow Arum - Peltandra virginica
The
shiny green arrow-shaped leaves of this aquatic plant, which grow one
to two feet long, give rise to its common name. They typically are 10
to 12 inches long and half as wide. The leaf underside is whitish with
three prominent veins. Its leaves are clustered on long succulent stalks,
that can be three (3) feet long. Arrow arum flowers are small and light
yellow, on a fingerlike spike. The flower spike is surrounded by a bract,
or spathe, that is usually yellowish green.
- Family: Arum (Araceae)
- Common Names: Arrow Arum, Tuckahoe
- Dates for first bloom: May 10- May 27
- Flowering Time: May to July
- Flower size: actual flowers are tiny (located
on the slender spathe inside the hooded spadix); whole flowering structure
is 4-7 inches high
- Flower color: green
- Height: 1-2 feet
- Habitat: wetlands, ditches, swamps, shores
of ponds and slow-moving streams in shallow water or muddy ground
Pickerelweed - Pontedaria cordata
Pickerelweed
is a common and attractive aquatic flower, found most commonly in shallow,
quiet, streams, lakes, and rivers. Though its foliage somewhat resembles
that of arrowhead, the leaves of the arrowhead are decidedly arrow-shaped,
while those of pickerelweed are heart-shaped, and their respective flowers
are drastically different. Marginal aquatic perennial with erect, lance
shaped triangular to ovate, glossy, emergent, floating or submerged leaves,
8 inches wide, with heart-shaped bases, borne on stalks to 10 inches long.
Young, unfurled leaves are edible and can be added to salads or boiled
for ten minutes and served with butter (Sharon LaPlante). The red, sticky
fruit is considered an important wildlife food and is eaten by ducks and
other animals. Each fruit contains a single starchy seed which, in addition
to the leaves, is edible. The seeds are very nutritious and can be eaten
out of hand, dried, or added to cereals. They can also be roasted and
ground into flour.
***AWS takes no responsibility for situations incurred
from ingesting these materials. These statements are for informational
purposes only.
- Family: Pontederiaceae (Pickerelweed)
- Common Name: Pickerelweed
- Dates for first bloom: Late spring/early
summer
- Flowering Time: April to September/October
- Flower size: 6 inches long; on stalked spike;
blooms provide nectar for many insects including bees, wasps, and butterflies.
- Flower color: violet/purple
- Height: 1- 4 feet
- Habitat: tidal & nontidal freshwater & brackish wetlands/marshes, ditches, swamps, shores of ponds and slow-moving streams in shallow water or muddy ground
- Ecological Importance: hardy emergent species,
good habitat for young fish, macroinvertebrates; seeds a secondary food
source for wildlife
Wild Rice - Zizania aquatica L.
Wild
rice is a true annual that overwinters as seed. It is a tall, native emergent
with long tapering leaves. The panicle (seedhead) is large & loose,
helping to make Zizania is prolific seed producer. Wild rice is
a high-energy food source for native and migratory waterfowl, especially
ducks and sora rails. Migrant Soras (Porzana carolina) were once
hunted from flat boats in the vast expanses of Anacostia marshland. When
the marshes were destroyed, rail populations declined.
- Family: Poaceae (Grass)
- Common Names: Wild Rice, Annual Wild Rice, Canadian Rice, Indian Wild Rice, Squaw Rice, Blackbird Oats, Marsh Oats, Water Oats, folle avoine (Québec), Intiaaniriisi (Fin)
- Flowering time: June to September
- Flower size: lower branchlets drooping (male
flowers), upper branchlets pointing stiffly upward (female flowers);
spikelets and flowers numerous; spikelets one-flowered and unisexual,
with long stiff twisted barbed awns. Cross-fertilized and wind-pollinated.
- Flower color: both male and female flowers
range from white to purple
- Height: 10 feet at maturity
- Habitat: shallow emergent areas, requires water for seed germination
- Ecological Importance: Highly significant
food source for birds & waterfowl especiallyMallard (Anas platyrhynchos),
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), Bobolink, Blackbirds, and Carolina Rail.
Redwing blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) frequently strip entire
stands in the 'milk' stage.
Soft-stem Bulrush - Scirpus validus
Soft-stem
bulrush can be observed as a large colony of stems growing in water, the
stems topped by a hanging inflorescence. Like other bulrushes, its seeds
are a great food for birds. The whole stem is eaten by geese & muskrats.
This plant is good for habitat reconstruction (as waterfowl cover) and
erosion control along areas with occasional flooding. Roots of soft-stem
bulrush can be ground into flour or eaten whole. Syrup can be also extracted
from them.
- Family: Cyperaceae
- Common Names: Soft-stem bulrush, soft-stem clubrush, great bulrush, giant bulrush, bull whip common bulrush
- Flowering time: July through September
- Flower size:
- Flower color:
- Height: to 9 feet
- Habitat: Grows in marshes, along lake and stream shores, and in wet meadows. It grows in fresh or brackish water. Soils are usually poorly-drained or continually saturated.
- Ecological Importance: This bulrush can triple its biomass in one growing season and can be used to reduce pollutant loads carried by storm water runoff in urban wetlands.
*References used on this page:
Taylor, Walter Kingsley. The Guide to Florida Wildflowers. Taylor Publishing: Dallas, TX 1992.
Wasowski, Sally. Gardening with Native Plants of the South. Taylor Publishing: Dallas, TX 1994.
Peterson, Lee A. Peterson Field Guides: Edible Plants. Houghton Mifflin: Boston 1977.
Elias, Thomas S.; Dykeman, Peter A. Field guide to North American Edible Wild Plants. OutdoorLife Books: [Place of publication unknown] 1982.
Schueler, Tom; Galli, John. Pond/marsh Detention
System Key to Urban Stream Restoration. Restoration and Management.
8(2): 115-116. 1990
