116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cranes make comeback
Orlan Love
May. 25, 2015 5:00 am
LINN COUNTY - It didn't take long for a pair of sandhill cranes to prove the adage, ‘If you build it, they will come.'
A wetland built last winter at Linn County's Matsell Bridge Natural Area is home this spring to the county's first documented successfully reproducing sandhills of the modern era.
'This is awesome, unbelievable, really cool,” said natural resources specialist Dana Kellogg, who coordinated the wetland construction.
Linn County officials noticed a pair of sandhills in the wetland this spring. But they did not realize that the pair had become parents until a colt, as sandhill chicks are called, turned up in pictures Matsell Bridge Natural Area manager Aaron Batchelder was taking of one of the adults.
Batchelder said he took the photos on May 12, but he didn't notice the youngster until he was reviewing the images the following day.
'The little guy photobombed me,” he said.
Linn County Conservation Director Dan Biechler said he was 'excited but not really surprised” to learn that sandhills had settled the wetland so quickly.
Nesting sandhills, gone from Iowa for nearly a century, began reappearing in 1992, when the first successful Iowa nesting in 98 years was recorded in Tama County's Otter Creek Wildlife Area.
As of last year, sandhills had reproduced in 26 Iowa counties and had been sighted in 33 others, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
Though nesting cranes have been documented in Johnson, Jones, Delaware and Buchanan counties, 'this is the first confirmation we have in Linn County,” said Pat Schlarbaum of the DNR's Wildlife Diversity Program.
Biechler said the wetland construction 'really was a team effort of our staff and DNR personnel.”
The project originated in 2012 when Linn County acquired the 129-acre Anderson-Teymer tract with the assistance of a $220,000 DNR wildlife habitat stamp grant, a $100,000 North America Wetland Conservation Act grant and donations from three Pheasants Forever chapters.
An additional $36,000 NAWCA grant paid for the actual reconstruction late last year.
Kellogg said the acquisition included an eight-acre, stagnant water wetland, which has been expanded to 19 acres and infused with fresh water.
Reconstructed wetlands provide valuable wildlife habitat while improving water quality and slowing runoff after heavy rains, said DNR special projects coordinator Todd Bishop, who arranged much of the funding for the wetland reconstruction.
The wetland consists of three connected basins with an assured source of water from a spring-fed creek, said DNR special projects biologist Doug Janke, who designed it.
A system of valves, dikes and channels facilitates raising and lowering water levels in the wetland, he said.
'It will be a popular spot for shorebirds, waterfowl, reptiles and amphibians,” he said.
The wetland will be attractive to hunters in the fall and to bird watchers and nature lovers the year-round, Biechler said.