MISSION

The Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park is a university campus facility in Ohio, USA, designed to provide teaching, research, and service related to wetland and river science and ecological engineering. At the research park, we seek to understand: 1) how wetlands function, and 2) if and how we can create and restore wetlands.

It is a long-term, large-scale wetland research facility. There is no other facility of its kind on any other university campus in the world, so it also has as its mission the dissemination of wetland science and ecological engineering around the world. 

WHY A WETLAND RESEARCH PARK

Wetlands are shallow to intermittently flooded ecosystems that are more commonly known by such terms as swamps, bogs, marshes, and sedge meadows.  They are revered as important parts of the natural landscape because of their functions in cleaning and retaining water naturally, preventing floods, and providing a habitat and food source for a wide variety of plant and animal species.  It is estimated that more than half of the original wetlands in the world have been lost to drainage projects and human development projects.  Ohio has lost about 90 percent of its original wetlands.

When we lose wetlands, we lose their ability to provide clean water, prevent floods, and enhance biological diversity.  Many organizations are calling for the creation and restoration of wetlands and stream and river restoration to clean up and repair our streams, rivers, and lakes.  The USA National Academy of Sciences (1) called for the restoration and creation of 4 million hectares (10 million acres of wetlands) in the United States. Two million hectares (5 million acres) of wetlands in the Mississippi River Basin have been suggested as necessary to help prevent the dead zone, or hypoxia, in the Gulf of Mexico (2, 3). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversees a regulatory program that results in the creation and restoration of thousands of hectares of wetlands nationwide each year to replace wetlands that are lost to development.

Furthermore, some of the largest wetland restorations in the world are underway in the Florida Everglades, the Skjern River Basin in Denmark, the Danbue Delta in Eastern Europe, the Louisiana Delta, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (4), the Mesopotamian Marshlands of Iraq, and Delaware Bay in the eastern USA. All of these projects need sound wetland science and qualified individuals to carry out the restoration and manage these ecosystems.

HISTORY AND FUTURE PLANS

The Wilma H. Scheirmeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park is located on a 21-hectare (52-acre) site owned by The Ohio State University, immediately north of Dodridge Road and adjacent to the Columbus campus. The site has been developed in several phases:

Phase 1 (1992-1994) —Construction of two experimental wetland basins and their water delivery system.

Phase 1 of site development, the construction of two 2.5-acre deepwater marshes and a river water delivery system, was completed in 1994. Pumps were installed on the floodplain to bring water from the Olentangy River to the wetlands and pumping officially began on March 4, 1994. River water has been and continues to be pumped continuously, day and night, into the two wetlands. It then flows by gravity back to the Olentangy River through a swale and constructed stream system. In May 1994, one wetland basin was planted with marsh vegetation typical of wetlands in the Midwest (7, 8); the other remained as an unplanted control.

Phase 2 (1994-1999) —Development of a research and teaching infrastructure.

Phase 2, establishing the infrastructure for research and education of the site, began in 1994 with the construction of boardwalks in the two experimental wetlands (winters of 1995 and 1996) and ending with the dedication of the Sandefur Wetland Pavilion in 1999. That phase also included the creation of the 7-acre naturally flooded oxbow (called locally our billabong) and construction of the Mesocosm Compound for medium-scale research on wetland function.

Phase 3 (2000-2003) —Development and construction of the Heffner Wetland Research and Education Building.

Phase 3, the construction of the $2.8 million Heffner Wetland Research and Education Building at the ORWRP, began with the receipt of $1.18 million in two Hayes Investment Fund grants from the Ohio Board of Regents in 1999 and 2000. The grants were the result of an effort of a 5-university consortium of Ohio institutions—Ohio State, Wright State, Shawnee State, Youngstown State, and Kenyon College. Additional support for the building was obtained through donations, pledges, and a loan from OARDC.  The decision to go forward with building construction was made on December 13, 2001. Construction began in spring 2002 and staff and students moved into the building on March 6, 2003. As the building was created, three additional wetlands were created in the vicinity of the building, including a stormwater wetland that receives runoff from the roof of the Heffner building.

Phase 4—Our current phase involves establishing Ohio and international collaborations, as well as the construction of a city bike path shelter, experimental streams , and research access to the Olentangy River . This phase also involves fund raising to establish long-term endowments that will ensure that the research and teaching site continues to be part of the Ohio State University for a very long time.

REFERENCES

1. National Research Council (NRC). 1992. Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. 552 pp.

2. Mitsch, W. J., J. W. Day, Jr., J. W. Gilliam, P. M. Groffman, D. L. Hey, G. W. Randall, and N. Wang. 2001. Reducing nitrogen loading to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin: Strategies to counter a persistent ecological problem. BioScience 51: 373-388.

3. Mitsch, W.J. and J.W. Day, Jr.  2006.  Restoration of wetlands in the Mississippi-Ohio-Missouri (MOM) River Basin: Experience and needed research.  Ecological Engineering 26: 55-69.

4. Day J.W., Jr., D. F. Boesch, E. J. Clairain, G. P. Kemp, S. B. Laska, W. J. Mitsch, K. Orth, H. Mashriqui, D. R. Reed, L. Shabman, C. A. Simenstad, B. J. Streever, R. R. Twilley, C. C. Watson, J. T. Wells, and D. F. Whigham.. 2007. Restoration of the Mississippi Delta: Lessons From Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Science  315: 1679-1684.

5. National Research Council. 2001. Compensating for Wetland Losses under the Clean Water Act. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 158 pp.

6. Dahl, T.E. 2006. Status and trends of wetlands in the conterminous United States 1998 to 2004.  U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, 112 pp.

7. Mitsch, W. J., X. Wu, R. W. Nairn, P. E. Weihe, N. Wang, R. Deal, and C. E. Boucher. 1998. Creating and restoring wetlands: A whole-ecosystem experiment in self-design. BioScience 48:1019–1030.

8. Mitsch, W.J., L. Zhang, C.J. Anderson, A. Altor, and M. Hernandez. 2005.  Creating riverine wetlands:  Ecological succession, nutrient retention, and pulsing effects. Ecological Engineering 25: 510-527.