Nara Wetland Restoration

Whitney Johnson
10.23.19
Introduction
The Father’s Day Flood of 2018 brought with it mass devastation to Houghton and
surrounding counties. Most damages have been repaired over the last year, but some evidence of
the disaster remain. One such area is the Nara Nature Preserve located just a few miles East of
Houghton. This is a popular destination for visitors to the area as well as many locals. It is
comprised of boardwalks that stretch through an expanse of wetlands where the Pilgrim River
meets the Portage Canal. The entire area was overrun with rushing water the night of June 17th,
ultimately destroying the boardwalks and leaving the area in an overall state of disrepair.
The previously healthy wetland was disrupted, and native species were weakened. This
is the perfect storm for invasive plant species to take over. Invasive plants, unlike native plants,
are very aggressive in the way they spread and choke out other species. Due to their newness in
an area with preestablished forms of vegetation, they are more resilient to pests and naturally
occurring controls. In the case of the Nara Nature Preserve, the prolific invaders are reed canary
grass and purple loosestrife.
This paper seeks to outline the issues associated with this invasion, the specific ways in
which we can act, and the organizations we can turn to for assistance. Through the process of
controlling, maintaining, and preventing further destruction in this area, we will in turn bring
community attention to the current state of the boardwalks and the fact that access to these
remote parts of the wetland is not only desired, but crucial for continued maintenance.

Background
 Where some plant species are purposefully introduced to an area, there are others that are
unwelcome and problematic. These are called invasive species and are very prolific in the Nara
Wetlands. To the untrained eye, they look like healthy green vegetation. This is until you
realize that native plant life is almost completely choked out and there is no longer the diversity
of a healthy wetland. The problem vegetation in our case is reed canary grass and purple
loosestrife.
The reason invasive plant species have such a devastating impact is because they are not
only prolific, but also more aggressive than native species. They often have some sort of
advantage or ability to grow and thrive in semi adverse conditions. Being a gardener on campus,
I have dealt with invasive plants regularly. The most recent, and most astonishing, was Japanese
knotweed.

Japanese Knotweed
This plant thrives almost anywhere and is very advantageous in its reproduction methods.
It can grow up to four meters in height and draws in all the surrounding nutrients from the soil,

causing other plants in the vicinity to starve. At the end of the season, the plant withers and dies
like all the others. However, the central stalk grows woody and hollow, much like bamboo, and
falls to the ground. Seeing as these plants grow in clusters, the hollow stalks cover the ground
almost completely, further choking out native species that try to regrow in the spring. Japanese
Knotweed also has the ability to thrive in areas that experience or have experienced a great
amount of disturbance, due to their Rhizome root system and advantageous nodes.
Once the floodwaters receded the summer of the flood, one of my first orders of business
was to check on the status of the knotweed. The patch I was focusing on was located near a
small river that, once the flood hit, turned to a rushing river, eating away at the knotweed
covered banks. This exposed the root systems and I was astounded to see that they were nearly
three inches in diameter when the plants on the surface were no more than a meter tall at this
time of year.

Applying Knowledge
Based on this experience, I know that approaching the Nara invasive plant issue will be
no easy task. There are different approaches when it comes to controlling a problem like this,
the major categories being biological, mechanical and chemical. Due to the area in question
being a wetland leading directly into the Keweenaw waterway, biological and mechanical means
seem to be the safest options if we wish to preserve the native plant and aquatic life.
Biological controls would consist of the purposeful introduction of plants and/or pests
that would specifically attack the plants in question. If we are to focus on the purple loosestrife,
there are some control agents that could be deployed. A test was performed in Minnesota in the
mid-1980s that examined the effects of various insects on purple loosestrife and it was decided
that four different species be released. Galerucella pusilla and Galerucella calmariensis, which
are leaf-feeding beetles responsible for devouring leaves and new shoots, ultimately impacting
the plant’s ability to grow and reproduce. Hylobius transversovittatus which focuses on the

lower portion of

the loosestrife, feeding on roots. And finally, Nanophyes marmoratus which feeds on the
flowering bodies of the plant. The introduction of these biological controls could hypothetically
get the purple loosestrife under control. In the case of this experiment, the beetles successfully
attacked the problem plants and are reproducing and spreading to other loosestrife prone areas
nearby.
As for the reed canary grass, there are no known biological control agents like there are for
purple loosestrife. In the case of this plant, the best method would be a mechanical approach,
which could consist of pulling, cutting, or controlled burning. Of these three methods, the least

destructive would be pulling and cutting. This would be followed immediately by planting
native, water-loving species in the newly desiccated and weakened invasive swaths left behind.

Solutions
Now that we know the general approaches that would be best in a wetland setting, we can
explore potential grants and organizations that would be willing to provide aid to a project of this
magnitude.
The Keweenaw Community Foundation concerns itself with the overall wellbeing of the
community as a whole. Seeing as it is a local organization, there would be little need to explain
the reasoning behind the desire to improve the Nara Wetlands. The types of grants that they
offer are only made to non-profit, tax-exempt organizations/causes and they must be used for
charitable purposes. Specifically, they are currently soliciting grant applications that fall under
the Houghton County Preservation Fund, whose purpose is to support local preservation and
education projects. The total amount available per proposal is $1,050.23, which is more than
enough to get a project such as this under way. Taking into consideration the biological insect
control mentioned above, qualified members of the Michigan Tech community (i.e. professors,
researchers) could donate a portion of their time and expertise to the cause.
 Another option would be seeking assistance from Keweenaw Invasive Species
Management Area (KISMA). This is a partnership concerned, specifically, with invasive species
and the management thereof. They work with 20 regional partners including Michigan Tech.
They are part of the Japanese knotweed efforts I mentioned earlier. As per their
recommendation, I am currently using mechanical methods of management due to the proximity
of the vegetation to a water source. These methods consist of cutting and pulling, in addition to
the reintroduction of native species, a process discussed above. The process of entering into a
grant with this partnership is quite straightforward; the participants seek out the funding they
deem necessary and decide how long they will need to see the project through. From there, the
hours spent working are documented and compared against the number of hours agreed upon at
the start of the process. If progress is made and hours are met, the grant holds strong. Seeing as
the Nara trails are located so close to the MTU campus, this would be a very simple and very
local option for additional funding and expertise.
Lastly, I will recommend seeking assistance from the Master Gardeners located in the
Houghton area. This group was responsible for recreating the gardens throughout the city that
were destroyed in the flood. Many of which, they turned into rain gardens by creating reservoirs
for water to pool and planting native species of plants with long taproots that will direct deep
into the soil. They would be a good resource to seek out for a local project of this magnitude.
Works Cited
“American Horticultural Society.” RSS, www.ahsgardening.org/gardening-resources/master-
gardeners.

“Control Mechanisms.” Control Mechanisms | National Invasive Species Information Center |

USDA, www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/subject/control-mechanisms.

Marcarelli, Amy. “Despite Flood Damage, Graduate Student Research on Pilgrim River, Brooks
Creek Persists.” Michigan Technological University, 28 Aug. 2019,
www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2018/august/despite-flood-damage-graduate-student-research-
on-pilgrim-river-brooks-creek-persists.html.

“Purple Loosestrife Biological Control - Invasive Species - Minnesota DNR.” Minnesota

Department of Natural Resources, 23 June 2019,
www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aquaticplants/purpleloosestrife/biocontrol.html.

“Purple Loosestrife: What You Should Know, What You Can Do: Aquatic Invasive Species:
Minnesota Sea Grant.” Aquatic Invasive Species | Minnesota Sea Grant,
www.seagrant.umn.edu/ais/purpleloosestrife_info.

“Reed Canarygrass (Phalaris Arundinacea).” Reed Canarygrass (Phalaris Arundinacea) - King

County, www.kingcounty.gov/services/environment/water-and-land/lakes/plants/weed-
identification/reed-canary-grass.aspx.

“Your Keweenaw Community Foundation.” Keweenaw Community Foundation,

keweenawcommunityfoundation.org/.