Good things happen sometimes when humans do the right thing. Case in point — Howard Marsh, part of the Toledo, Ohio metropark system. It’s about halfway between Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge/Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, along the southwestern shore of Lake Erie.
The property, known historically as Howard Farms, is the last remaining large tract of land in the Western Lake Erie marsh region. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife has been interested in the property for more than 20 years, but was not able to come to terms with the owner. With the help of many partners, Metroparks was able to negotiate a deal in 2008 to secure the property. Metroparks Toledo
The partners who made the purchase and development possible deserve a shout out up front.
When Metroparks successfully negotiated an agreement in 2008, the [Ohio Department of Natural Resources] Division of Wildlife contributed half of the $6 million purchase price. Metroparks and the Division of Wildlife entered into a management agreement for fishing, hunting, trapping and wildlife recreation and conservation at the marsh. The other half of the purchase price was paid for with a $1.76 million grant from the Clean Ohio Fund Greenspace Conservation Program and $1.24 million from Metroparks. Metroparks Toledo
Development took place in two phases. Phase one’s 700 acres opened spring, 2018. Phase two’s 240 acres opened fall, 2022. Just my personal opinion, but I’m partial to phase two, which my birding buddy and I refer to as Howard Junior.
Converting Howard Farms into Howard Marsh required additional partnerships and funding. Metroparks contracted with Ducks Unlimited, the international wetlands conservation organization, to design the wetland habitat infrastructure, and with SmithGroupJRR, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, to design the public amenities infrastructure.
The Division of Wildlife committed a total of $4 million to help fund the wetland restoration, with Metroparks providing a 25 percent match. The Division’s contribution was reimbursed with dollars from the federal Pittman-Robertson Act, an excise tax on hunting and fishing equipment used to fund habitat restoration.
Ducks Unlimited obtained a $2.8 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to assist with construction. Toledo Metroparks
Wetland restoration is a win-win proposition. Habitat loss reversed, better water quality for everyone, revenue from the nature loving community. I’m always heartened when human institutions act with broad long term benefits in mind, rather than short term profits. More from the Metroparks Toledo website:
While Western Lake Erie is an international destination for birding, fishing and boating, it has also made national news in recent years because of water quality issues. Contributing to the water quality woes is the loss of natural wetlands, which function like kidneys, filtering out excess nutrients, like phosphorus, that cause algal blooms while providing critical fish and wildlife habitat. Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth—comparable to rain forests and coral reefs, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These systems support more than one-third of the threatened and endangered wildlife species in the United States, while providing natural water quality improvements and flood protection.
Half of the wetlands in the Great Lakes basin are gone. In western Lake Erie, where just 10 percent of the original 300,000-acres of wetland remain, every acre counts. The largest new wetland restoration project on the Great Lakes, Howard Marsh, takes 1,000 acres near the lakeshore—from a willing landowner out of agricultural production and re-creates a marsh wetland as buffer between land and lake.
My birding pal and I discovered Howard Marsh last year when we were at Magee Marsh and heard that Black-necked Stilts had been spotted at Howard. These endearing shorebirds are still unusual in this area, although they have been nesting at Howard Marsh and Pointe Mouillee (southeast Michigan along Lake Erie) for at least a couple years. As excited as I get about the spring Warbler migration at Magee Marsh, I’m enjoying Howard’s continuing birding bonanza through the summer and fall. What started as an if-we-have-time-stop on our way back from Magee and Ottawa, is now a destination.
The park’s entrance road is wide enough to accommodate birding by car. The trails are mostly gravel, with benches for resting and boardwalks affording front row views of the marsh. Plus there are six miles of water trails for kayaks. Many of the places we bird are on the rustic side, so the bathrooms are also much appreciated.
When birding slows down in summer, Howard Marsh has been a godsend. Some birds stick around to breed, like the Blue-winged Teals above and the Black-necked Stilts. Ospreys, Bald Eagles and Northern Harriers are common sights, with an Osprey pair taking advantage of a nesting platform mid-marsh. Other than fall migration, I rarely see large flocks of birds. And being in the Detroit suburbs, I never see shorebirds in the neighborhood. I happily get a fix of both at Howard Marsh.
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Because Black-necked Stilts were what first drew me to Howard Marsh, I want to highlight them. When we visited in late July, we saw at least six adults at Howard Junior. Four of them were paired off and were being very vocal. We figured out that the two males were protecting nests, one on each side of the boardwalk, while the females tended to their chicks. We never saw chicks on one nest, but after waiting patiently for awhile, my sharp-eyed buddy spotted two chicks moving around at the second nest.
The Stilts took particular exception to the Lesser Yellowlegs who were trying to feed near the nest. My guess is that was more resource guarding than warding off a predator. Snowy Egrets were left alone.
I’ll close with a sequence of high drama on the marsh. It started quietly enough with a small group of Snowy Egrets quietly feeding in the shallow water, along with a sole Black-necked Stilt. This first photo shows the relative size of the two birds. The frames after this first one are sequential.
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