August 2023

Cattail Control at Elkhart Bog Nature Preserve By Nate Simons A swarm of hybrid cattails had invaded a 2-acre portion of Elkhart Bog Nature Preserve. Indiana Division of Nature Preserves’ Regional Ecologist Rich Dunbar commissioned Blue Heron Ministries to control the cattails that had covered approximately 90% of the surface area of the 2 acres effectively shading and crowding out most of the existing, native bog vegetation.In late summer 2020, the Blue Crew waded through the bog’s moat and gently clambered onto the floating mat that covers much of the bog to eradicate the cattails. The experience of walking on the mat of floating, intertwined plant roots is similar to playing on a waterbed. Employing the two-person wick technique on the interior of the patch, the crew took turns traversing the treacherous area in 5-foot wide parallel bands with the herbicide-soaked bar wick to cover the entire patch. Then summer intern Cassidy Robinson captured the process expertly in this Go-Pro video:

Other crewmembers used the glove-of-death technique to apply herbicide to individual, wider-spaced cattails on the perimeter of the patch. The results after the first application were striking. Approximately 90% of the cattails were eliminated after a single application. And some short-statured plants survived by playing limbo under the two-person wick.Not good enough, because from experience we know that we can get rid of all of them. So in the summer of 2021, the Blue Crew returned to apply herbicide to missed cattails using the glove-of death (or hand-wicking) herbicide application technique.

John Brittenham wicking with bottle out – by Fred Wooley August 31, 2017

Still not good enough, just because… and because remaining cattails can quickly reinvade areas due to their prodigious amount of wind-blown seed and ability to colonize by their underground network of rhizomes. In the summer of 2022, the Blue Crew returned to Elkhart Bog with gloves and squirt bottles in hand. The return of native bog vegetation was evident and was beginning to fill in the mucky soil gaps that the dead and decomposing cattails had left behind.And again in August of 2023. This time just one person from the division of Nature Preserves returned to “finish off” the last remaining cattails. The effect and transformation is pretty amazing. The 2-acre patch of bog is recovering and is beginning to look like the surrounding area. Spotted Joe-Pye weed, leatherleaf, marsh cinquefoil, blue-joint grass, highbush blueberries, poison sumac, flat-topped aster, pitcher plant, marsh shield fern, and royal fern are making a comeback in this floating mat of Elkhart Bog.

Elkhart Bog. Just a few cattails survive after 4 years of control efforts by the Blue Crew and Div. of Nature Preserves. August 15, 2023.

Elkhart Bog. From the soil’s seedbank, an amazing display of bog plants emerge now that space has been made for them again. August 15, 2023.

Oh, someone will have to return next summer…and probably the next…with a squirt bottle of herbicide and a gloved hand just to make sure all is well. But I bet it will take longer to drive there than apply herbicide. We charted the number of hours for each successive year of work on the floating mat. The exponential reduction in the amount of time spent stewarding this 2-acre area is quite telling and attests to the effectiveness of efforts to restore native plant communities by eliminating invasive species.

A Huge Thank You! By John BrittenhamIf anyone has walked the trails at Blue Heron Ministries’ La Tierra Sanctuary in the last few years, they will likely have noticed that the boardwalks on the sanctuary’s trails were in desperate need of repair. This spring, we put out a plea to our community to see if we could find someone to help repair the boardwalk, and up stepped Xandri Clifton and Kyle Krupa. Xandri and Kyle live in Massachusetts and were staying in the area for the summer. After looking at the project, they agreed to spend some of their free time repairing the boardwalk and improving the trails. Both Xandri and Kyle had previous experience working on trails for the Idaho Conservation Corps, and they put their skills to good use, as they cleared the trails with chainsaws, hand saws, loppers, and rakes. And that was just to get to the boardwalk areas!

Many downed trees and debris covered trails at the La Tierra Sanctuary trails.

Once at the boardwalks, they replaced the broken boards and got the boardwalks back in great shape. Xandri and Kyle were a joy to work with and did amazing work. Everyone at Blue Heron Ministries recognizes their generosity and dedication, and we want to let them know how much we appreciate their hard work.Thank you Xandri and Kyle! We really appreciate you!

Expert boardwalk repair done by Xandri and Kyle.

The newly repaired boardwalk and cleared trails ready for a pleasant day on the trails.

Our expert trail maintenance crew, Xandri and Kyle.

The Henry Home Prairie By Fred Wooley There’s an adage in the service industry, “No job too big or small.” That claim can also be said of Blue Heron Ministries and our land restoration projects.One BHM service is establishing native plant communities over a nearly blank slate of landscape. That blank slate may come from the final process of new construction, a home site, or it might result in one to two years of herbiciding a large field to remove nonnative plants or plants from an agricultural history.Some projects are quite extensive, dozens to a hundred or more acres. We have worked on fields that once supported corn, beans, hay, or livestock that the landowner now wants to convert to natural habitat through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Or landowners may not enter a federal program for financial assistance, but rather just restore at personal expense, as they would rather enjoy the native vegetation that was most likely there prior to farming or other human activity.Not only private landowners, but also state agencies and nonprofit land trusts will have projects covering a vast expanse of bare land. It is exciting to see land once tilled, grazed. or left fallow, now feature blooming plants blowing in waves on gentle winds.Equally pleasing is a small home landscape that has a wild mix of native plants offering a colorful contrast to the lawn of just common yard grass that needs continual fertilizing and watering, and mowing! Some of our smallest projects are steep hillsides along lakes, between the home above and the water below. It is not convenient, nor safe, to attempt mowing on such a slope. If left untouched it likely grows in mostly nonnative plants – weeds – While workfree, these areas lack visual appeal. A slope of native species, blooming throughout the growing season, is a much more attractive alternative.For these small projects we will either plant two by two-inch plant plugs of native species, or we scatter seeds, much the same you would to put in a regular lawn.JoAnn and John Henry built their new home four years ago north of Fremont, Indiana. It is in the country, giving a rural flavor, though the setting is subdivision-like with new homes. The yards are very spacious and offer much green space and seclusion between neighbors.JoAnn and John liked the wild natural look of native plants around their new home. The notion of eliminating a lot of time, work, and expense in caring for a traditional lawn was also attractive. Enter Blue Heron Ministries.

John Brittenham scratching up soil.   June 11, 2020

In June of 2020, coworker John Brittenham and I went to the Henry home pulling a trailer hauling an ATV and drag. The equipment was unloaded and used to smooth the bare soils surrounding the home. We also had with us a big tub (John calls these containers “totes”…. you can choose your term!). In this tub/tote we emptied packets of seed from over two dozen native plant species, mostly wildflowers, but some grasses, and a bag of annual oats. The mix was scooped into a seed spreader which John strapped to his chest and walked back and forth across the yard. The oats are annual and used as a carrier to help distribute the native plant seeds, some of which are quite tiny.

Henry landscape native plants seeds for mixing June 11, 2020

The next part of the project might be the toughest and seemingly the longest … the waiting…. Not just waiting for things to germinate and get green but waiting for the species you planted! Coming up with native species you also get nonnatives – weeds. The first-year yard and native landscape might have a few early bloomers, but mostly looks like, frankly, a weed patch.At this point, we preach patience! We also mow the landscape the first year when vegetation gets close to knee high, but not down to normal lawn height. We mow to about 8-10 inches off the ground depending on how things are growing. This eliminates the nonnatives from seeding and removes enough vegetation for the native plants seedlings below to get sun and grow.

Butterfly milkweed on June 25, 2023 begins to show a little orange blush of blooms to come. By JoAnn Henry

In subsequent years the native plants get a jump on the non-natives and begin to out compete them for sun and space. By the third year, the natives become more obvious. If fire can be added to the landscape, the native plants in most situations thrive even better.This is year four of the Henry home native landscape. It has been fun for me as I get occasional texts from JoAnn with a photo of a plant, she is hoping to be native! “Fred… friend or foe?!” Then the photo of the plant. Plant enthusiasts new to the process may not recognize all native species in just the vegetation state. Once in bloom, however, it becomes clearer what they are and if profuse, can be quite stunning.

Henry lawn, August 28, 2023.  Coneflowers going to seed.  By Fred Wooley

With a yard full-bloom in natives comes the variety of interesting butterflies, dragonflies (JoAnn and John are on a small lake), beneficial bees, and birds, hummingbirds a favorite searching for nectar and tiny insects.The color show may fade come fall but is no less interesting for nature lovers. Many species of birds descend upon the lawn for the great bounty of seeds from native plants. As winter comes, some homeowners might cut that year’s growth, but many, me included, personally enjoy the variety of browns, bronzes, and gray colors and the interesting textures of plants in their winter state.

Path through native plants to the lake at the Henry home.  Late summer 2023. By JoAnn Henry

Come next year…. We wait to see what new species appear or how existing species might move and appear about the yard. It is good look with interesting outcomes.

View from the Crew by Madeline McQuiston (Summer Intern)

August 2 – My first cardinal flower bloom of the summer, right off the boardwalk around Mike Metz Fen at Pine Knob County Park.

August 4 – An Eastern Tailed Blue joined me for lunch at Marsh Lake Wetlands State Fish and Wildlife Area. Its tiny tails are so delicate!

August 8 – Fellow steward of creation Matt Neff once again assisting a painted turtle crossing the road, this time at The Nature Conservancy’s Cline Lake preserve.

August 10 – It is always a delight to find a caterpillar on the underside of a leaf, especially Monarch butterfly caterpillars with their iconic black, white, and yellow markings. I had not seen any Monarch caterpillars all summer until I spotted this chunky lil guy! (Marsh Lake Wetlands State Fish and Wildlife Area)

August 10 – The thin, threadlike vines of dodder get all the nutrients they need by parasitizing other plants, like this cattail. I love its tiny flowers. (Marsh Lake Wetlands State Fish and Wildlife Area)

August 10 – Going out in the field with Nate Simons usually leads to instruction on sampling the wonders of creation while we also knock out invasives. Here, Freya Berntson breaks from cattail hand wicking to smell a groundnut flower that Nate pointed out at the Marsh Lake Wetlands State Fish and Wildlife Area.

August 15 – One of the great things about working at Blue Heron Ministries is the excess produce I can obtain from my coworkers. Using an eggplant from Phil Beiberich and tomatoes from Josh Hall, I was able to make zaalouk, a Moroccan dip.

August 17 – The ripe seedhead of a dark green bullrush. When the clouds threaten rain, seed collection is a good activity until the storm blows in. It is very peaceful working in the wetland alone doing a simple, methodical task until the rain is too heavy to continue. (Marsh Lake Wetlands State Fish and Wildlife Area)

August 20 – It is supremely satisfying to enjoy a job site on a Sunday and appreciate the hard work that went into making the area look so beautiful. My sister, Grace, was able to travel from back home in PA to visit me. While hiking around Pine Knob County Park, she got to listen to my (mostly) successful attempts at remembering the names of, according to her, nearly every single plant we walked past.

August 22 – My first time spraying from the ATV! (Franks)

August 24 – The maroon of the sphagnum moss beneath these sundews nearly camouflaged them, but Fred Wooley’s sharp eye pointed them out to me beneath the poison sumac. (Loon Lake Nature Preserve)

Upcoming Events

Native Prairie Plant Seed Harvest Saturday, September 16 from 12-4pm The kickoff to our fall native prairie seed harvests! Come help us further our mission by collecting seeds from our native plants, to be used in our future projects. You’ll have the opportunity to learn about the plants and the protected spaces they inhabit.We’ll meet at the Presbyterian Chapel of the Lakes (2955 W. Orland Rd) at noon and caravan to the site(s). We have all the tools and supplies.

Butterfly milkweed pods ready for harvest photo credit: Beth Williams

Native Prairie Plant Seed Harvest Saturday, October 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th from 12-4pm Come learn about the native prairie plants of our area and help further our mission by helping to collect their seeds to be used on our future projects. We’ll meet at the Presbyterian Chapel of the Lakes (2955 W. Orland Rd) at noon and caravan to the site(s). We have all the tools and supplies needed.