WRP the “Right Thing” for Indiana Landowner

Mike Valentine is dedicating his land to Mother Nature.

By placing 61 acres of his 85-acre farm in the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) Valentine is restoring the land to its gentle origins: the lush wetlands of the upper Tippecanoe River Basin, the home of deer, wild turkeys, blue sky and a flowing river.

"It was just the right thing to do for this ground," Valentine said.

He said the 61 acres are wetlands by nature, and had been drained years ago to be used as farmland. It is at the north edge of Warsaw on the Tippecanoe River.

The reserve contains varying forms of landscape and wildlife, including sunny green fields filled with clover, chest-high prairie grass, winding deer paths, rows of small trees, and three water holes that harbor sunfish and rock bass.

In the drier part of the reserve, feathery ferns, yellow and lavender wildflowers, white daisies, and Queen Anne's lace cohabitate with butterflies and humming insects.

There is also a shallow wetlands, deep enough to float a canoe. Here, the soil changes to calf-deep muck and the land leads through a stand of cattails, the home of helicoptering dragonflies and a choir of crickets and bullfrogs.

In 2001, Valentine and his wife, Pam, enrolled his land in WRP.

After Valentine enrolled in the wetlands program, a transformation began: District Conservationist Sam St. Clair, of the Warsaw NRCS Office, provided technical support and worked with Valentine to determine how the former farmland would be shaped into a wetlands reserve.

In late December 2001, an 800-foot-long dam was built some 30 to 40 yards from the Tippecanoe River's edge to create a shallow wetlands. By spring 2002, the water had flowed from the river and spread across the land, establishing a wetlands no more than 18 inches deep.

Several kinds of native grasses, plus wildflowers, were seeded.

The Nature Conservancy, which arranged to have more than 4,000 trees and bushes planted.

"It is just a tremendous magnet for wildlife," Valentine said. "We've seen a large increase in the deer, geese, ducks, sandhill cranes and wild turkeys. No geese nested here before, and this spring, 30 to 40 geese nested. We never had wild turkeys; now the turkeys are nesting!"

Valentine is pleased that he enrolled in WRP. A marvelous wetland habitat is emerging and the perpetual conservation easement will help guarantee that the north part of the Tippecanoe River won't be polluted with agricultural runoff.

"It's going to be a pleasure to watch this place develop over the next five years," Valentine said. "It's something that is going to have a positive effect on people for a long, long time."

(South Bend Tribune. Image of Mike Valentine by Carrie Vrable.)