2007 PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS CONTINUED!

August 23. 2007
Mats are currently underwater, but they lived last time underwater for 6 days and made it through our drought for the last few months….so we will hope for the best!Used my new Water Test Kit, from Hoosier Riverwatch, for the first time and sent in the information to the national database!

  September 20 – Water is starting to recede and the top of the test area is emerging… the mats have still made it thus far…we’ll see about the plants

October 10 2007 – The erosion control mats emerged finally and I will take pictures soon to make sure the plants are still secured. Pictures currently available on the home page.

October 28 – A few days before presentation and checked the area for conclusions to present to the Army core of Engineers. I can defiantly tell the area where the plants survived and the rest of the vegetation not secured by mats were all washed away.

PLANTS LIVE!

November – Omni Room @ Courthouse meeting room – met with Army Core of Engineers to discuss entire Great Lakes Watershed improvements




Bill Grant
LaGrange County Health Dept.
114 W. Michigan St.
LaGrange, IN. 46761
219-463-7824
FAX. 219-463-7835


Well, the good news is we will be back again next year and the year after that to
plant native riparian seed, clean up the banks of the Maumee River, and raise awareness about the conditions of our beautiful waterways...same time same place.

 

 Speech for the Army Core of Engineers Watershed Suggestion Meeting  Nov/07
(return to Top of Page)

 I am Abigail Frost founder of Save Maumee Grassroots Org 2005.  I have been studying the St. Joe, St. Mary, and Maumee Rivers since 2000 and practicing restoration strategies since 2005….when I purchased a house next to the Maumee.  I have several jobs but Save Maumee Grassroots Organization is my calling (vocation). 

A grassroots organization is not a non-for-profit, a non for profit means they have money to pay people to work……everything I do is done with volunteer work and accomplished with my good word alone. 

I want you to think about where your drinking water comes from.  Who knows? Ok Which river?  I think you all probably take your drinking water coming through the faucet for granted don’t you.  How about the water you drank from the drinking fountain or gave your dog or cat this morning?

People do not have clean drinking water today and our group here tonight can make a difference for the USA's drinking water in the future and ensure we will not have water shortages or pollution problems for our future generations 

What I want you to remember today is that your drinking water is being polluted and YOU can do something about it.  Water is not being considered an important natural resource. Problems in the Maumee River include of course the number one pollution problem: sedimentation/erosion, too little DO, nitrates from sewage, suspended solids and runoff from paved surfaces and agriculture,  and Fish Consumption Advisories. the smell of eggs from sulfur dioxide those of you who live by or frequent the river would know this odor. All of this happening in Indiana, a state that had 1/4th of its area covered in wetlands and currently has only 13% of it’s wetlands remaining.  With all of these habitat alterations, wildlife is also a concern.
 

 I have an immediate solution one that can begin this Spring. It is attainable and its success is measurable. We need projects to encourage erosion control and provide natural cleansing techniques…one solution is “wetland plants” or “Mesic Prairie Plants let me address how my idea would work on a larger scale specifically I am speaking on all the riverbanks of the Maumee on the N. and South sides, and any inlet from the Hosey Dam on N, Anthony Blvd. to New Haven Bridge and Rose Street New Haven (WHY and how in pictures).
This is the most polluted area in my opinion we need to identify the sources and identify where all the straight pipes what exactly the straight pipes are discharging the citizens of our community and New Haven have a right to know what is being dumped.

I am also asking that inventory is taken of all the point source straight pipes between the Hosey Dam and New Haven. And I am not just speaking of the storm sewers I am talking about all the small pipes that are dripping into our rivers.
SO lets talk about my idea for the solution: How Mesic Prarie Plants will Benefit this area.
 
Mesic are in themselves becoming rare in Indiana due to large open areas, where they used to grow, have been taken over by agriculture, business and housing. Mesic is Greek… meaning neither wet nor dry so Mesic Prairie Plants can live through droughts or floods. They occur in fairly level outwash deposits and glacial regions like ours. Mesic Prairie Plants retain less water and provide more surface drainage than barren soil  is my first point. The more drainage the less standing water there is for west Nile mosquitoes have to breed because water will soak in but not as easily collect in pools.

 In essence I am speaking of creating a kind of wetland/prairie area on the riverbanks that can act like a buffer strip or protective sponge, which captures stores water longer than just dirt and slowly releases water over a longer period of time which will reduce the impact of floods and slowly cleansing and releasing fresh water. The plants roots are being held in place and the stalks will reduce the destructive energy of wind and faster moving water due to the rivers adaptations armoring like dams and the Tennessee Bridge area project where all the trees were removed.

 With the faster moving water the Mesic have special adaptations like extensive and deep root systems and hairy leaves and skins that help them live through the fast rising water or drought To keep all of the seedlings and new growth anchored where it is we used Geo-Jute or Erosion control mats.

 
Let me show you the test project still in the works…Earth Day Pics.
Some of the things that this type of project would help would be providing aquatic plants and animals with their Biological Oxygen Demand. Dissolved Oxygen is a measurement of stream health . DO is simply oxygen that is dissolved in water. Too little dissolved oxygen indicates water pollution. By encouraging Mesic Prairies to grow it creates nitrogen rich soil, this nitrogen rich soil will also provide other native vegetation to grow like woody trees that will cool the water with shade and help with the Biological Oxygen Demand because cooler water increases dissolved oxygen.

 The erosion control mats and added vegetation will help with the #1 pollutant in our watershed, sediment/erosion.  We need to stabilize these banks  
There are Erosion issues because there is lack of vegetation, the water has to adjusting to new flow volumes since the water level average on the Maumee is 1.9 feet and can raise several feet at least, when it floods, these areas have to adjust to new flow volumes extremely rapidly, like in the St. Mary's area in Ft. Wayne.
Help with bank slumping and collapse from groundwater outflow. Channelization where channels to the river are being made my rainwater finding its path of least resistance and cutting away vegetation.

Lack of Oxygen  increases the toxicity of other chemicals like hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. Which may be part of the smell of eggs or  Sulfur Dioxide may be the cause. Approx 100 million metric tons of Sulfur Dioxide per year enter this is harmful to plants, causing them to yellow the green portions of the plants so we would be replacing lost foliage.

Wet species Mesic Prairie Plants will also remove nitrates that is present in sewage. Bill Grant a LaGrange County Health Department Biologist did research on this successfully and reduced nitrates in well water.

 Wet Mesic Prairie plants have worked successfully in LaGrange from a LaGrange County Health Department Biologist named Bill Grant. His work has shown that these plants have removed nitrates in well water and included many
 I have written a rough draft plan of action for the Maumee River beginning at the Headwaters of Maumee and ending in the city of New Haven. I want to leave you with a sense of urgency. I love Fort Wayne! Not to mention we are encountering droughts in our own country and we have to protect our fresh water sources. River restoration is a necessity not a luxury. U.S. citizens depend on the services that healthy streams and rivers provide at an extremely fundamental level, Please invest in Natural capital.
 

I just want to leave you with two things first this type of project would show noticeable and measurable results and give  a positive direct impact to the environment that citizens would notice in a few months time. 
Thank you for listening and God Bless your decisions on this matter. Current national legislation for environmental water issues expire in 2010 and new legislation will begin. I am pleading with you because I know all of you can make a difference!
 
The following are resources to help you restore the St. Joe/Maumee Watershed:
 Bill Grant, a retired LaGrange Health Department Biologist has done successful work with Mesic Prairie Plants removing nitrates from well water.  I spoke with him on the phone.

Bill Grant
LaGrange County Health Dept.
114 W. Michigan St.
LaGrange, IN. 46761
219-463-7824
FAX. 219-463-7835
 

 This article is about wetlands and water quality and has statements from researchers about pathogens in water.

“Flushing into the Next Century” Proceedings from Sewage Treated Alternatives for Rural Areas” 1999 Pokagon State Park, Angola, IN

www.wood-land-lakes.org/adobe/1999flushproceedings.pdf

 Explanation of how Mesic Prairie Plants are drought and flood tolerant, and lists some species of Mesic Prairie Plants:

Peat Biofilter Project has much quality information on how to clean up waste water
www.p2pays.org/ref/21/20849.pdf

 EPA’s Booklet on “Protecting Water Resources With Higher-Density Development” On Page 3 of this booklet it shows an example of how precipitation either soaks into the ground, evaporates or is run-off.  This shows a good example of how providing more grassland and trees, areas are better able to have water soak into the ground and use plants/soil/rock slowly treat water instead of picking up all car’s waste and other pavement pollution and run-off directly into storm sewers then directly into rivers.  http://www.epa.gov/livability/pdf/protect_water_higher_density.pdf

This lists EPA-regulated facilities by area code in Fort Wayne, Indiana so you can view all the companies who are permitted to discharge waste into the water legally with NPDES permits. 
This page also lists all the hazardous waste handlers.