Watershed Committee of the Ozarks built an education center overlooking the revitalized wetland complex.  The Watershed Committee, in keeping with their award-winning standards of stewardship and community engagement, also restored the wetlands. The wetlands, stream, riparian corridor and associated ecosystems were paired with “green technology” buildings to create a working model of sustainable living. 

 


The first step was the restoration of the badly degraded wetland and the stream at the mouth of the wetland. In recent years, the biodiversity declined as the wetland suffered a severe infestation of Reed Canary Grass and lost connection with groundwater through much of the site. Intuition & Logic and Adaptive Ecosystems worked together to eradicate the exotic species and establish vigorous stands of Missouri native grasses, forbs and shrubs.  The design included subtle grading creating a remarkable array of habitats on the 13 acre site.  In addition to the stream and open water marsh, the restored site also includes slough, wet prairie, prairie, spring fringe and Ozark bluff seep habitats each with diverse, beautiful plant communities.

 

 

One of the major challenges on the site was its immediate proximity to a drinking water reservoir for the city of Springfield.  For this reason the Reed Canary Grass eradication plan did not include the use of any herbicides.  The design team devised an aggressive schedule of grading followed by repeated burns and scalping over the next four years.  The erosion and sediment control activities were similarly intensive with the entire site seeded and blanketed immediately after grading.  The installation schedule extended over four years to allow aggressive treatment of invasive plants while sparing the high value forbs.