Michigan WRP Success Story

The Portage River Restoration

The Portage River Restoration is a 180 acre wetland restoration located  in Jackson County, Michigan. The Portage River Restoration property was one of the first easements to be enrolled in the Wetlands Reserve Program in Michigan (1995). This project has become one of the largest and most successful wetland restorations in southern Michigan.

The wetland restoration has resulted in approximately 80 acres of restored emergent marsh and 100 acres of restored grassy wetlands and upland. This wetland restoration effort provides an important fall migratory staging area and nesting habitat for Sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis), as well as other species of migratory waterfowl. The restored wetland is located in an area that has the highest nesting densities of Sandhill cranes (0.8 cranes per sq.km.) found anywhere in North America. The land remains in private ownership, with a permanent easement to protect it in perpetuity.

Through the Wetlands Reserve Program, private landowners can restore and preserve wetlands that have been previously drained for agricultural land. NRCS purchases a conservation easement and reimburses the cost of construction and seeding to make it affordable for the landowner to retire the wetland from crop production.

Acreage before restoration

Acreage 3 months after restoration

This wetland site was previously planted to vegetable "truck crops" such as potatoes, carrots and radishes. Prior to production of vegetables the site was used for the production of mint. The remnants of a mint oil processing facility can still be found about 1/2 mile north of the restored wetland. In the late 1800's the area was completely tiled, ditched, diked and pumped to control water levels. Restoration included removing the pumping plant, installing culverts and dikes, and removing tile to restore wetland hydrology. Because of the soils, a dike along one side of the restoration had to be cored with a 60ml, high-density polyethylene membrane to prevent seepage onto adjacent cropland.

In the spring, floodwaters from the Portage River will flow into the wetland and provide an excellent resting and mating site for migratory waterfowl. This restoration will also reduce flooding downstream in the Portage River System. The restored wetland will also provide much needed sediment retention and groundwater recharge in an area of Michigan that is under increasing development pressure.

This restored wetland is located next to the Phyllis Haehnle Sanctuary, property owned by the Audubon Society, which provides only one of two fall migratory staging areas for Sandhill cranes in southern Michigan. In addition to providing important habitat for wetland bird species, this restoration will provide habitat for muskrats, mink, raccoons and white tailed deer.

The organic soils of Portage River Restoration are much like the potting soil available in stores. In their natural state, these mucky peat soils have a high fertility and high waterholding capacity. Water and air can move freely through these soils. When water levels are controlled, they can be successfully used for agriculture. Their best use is, naturally, as wetland. The mucky-peat soils of this area owe their origin to two major geologic events. The glacier ice, moving across southern Michigan, gouged out its original basin and drainage channel. Water from the melting glaciers formed a small lake basin. This basin eventually filled with the decomposed plant remains from 14,000 years of hebaceous plant growth.

In the late 1800's, the Portage River was channelized and this area was converted to crop production. During the early 1900's, this parcel was divided into 5 and 10 acre parcels and used to produce garden crops. A small railroad track was constructed to the North to Henietta Station to transport the produce to a growing population in the Michigan cities of Jackson, Ann Arbor and Detroit. Eventually these small parcels were combined into one large farming operation.

Acreage as it appears today

Photographs courtesy of Jim Marshall, NRCS Michigan WRP Coordinator, and Will Bowman, NRCS Soil Scientist

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