Cooperating to monitor the impacts of terrestrial restoration on associated headwater streams

Session: 18. - Research-Driven Educational Initiatives to Improve Watershed Health

Laurie Eberhardt, Valparaiso University, [email protected]
Laura Barghusen, Openlands, [email protected]
Eric Bird, Shirley Heinze Land Trust, [email protected]
Sidney Noble, Valparaiso University, [email protected]

Abstract

Terrestrial ecosystem restoration projects in the Great Lakes region often involve major interventions like the removal of exotic invasive species and planting of natives.  Such restorations can have large impacts on watershed characteristics such as water runoff and nutrient movement.  However, the realities of grant funding and organizational capacity impose limitations on long-term monitoring of the resulting changes in the restored ecosystems or their associated watersheds. By partnering with educational institutions who seek to train students in ecological sampling techniques, long-term monitoring is possible.  Valparaiso University initiated aquatic monitoring of headwater streams at Shirley Heinze Land Trust’s Meadowbrook Nature Preserve in Porter, Co Indiana, in 2013 in partnership with an Openlands project to assess the biological richness of headwaters in Indiana’s Lake Michigan watershed.  Meadowbrook has been the focus of intensive restoration for the past three years from its former state of mostly open meadows and scattered second growth forest with invasive shrubs and vines to mesic forest with native trees.  Students from Valparaiso University have collected data on the diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates in the streams that run through the property, providing important baseline information to study changes as the terrestrial forest restoration develops over time.

1. Keyword
biomonitoring

2. Keyword
environmental education

3. Keyword
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI)

4. Additional Keyword
headwater streams

5. Additional Keyword
Lake Michigan