Wetland wonder

Click image for full story (Photo: Kayt Jonsson, USFWS)

By Megan Lang

For many a growing season, Matt and Marilyn Spong thought of the wetland on their farm as a problem spot. Year after year, crops they planted there would either fail completely or produce a smaller yield then the rest of the farm.

But rather than abandoning the area altogether, the Spongs got creative: with the help of the Service, Matt and Marilyn transformed their wet spot back into a natural wetland, creating new habitat for dozens of species.

For decades, wetlands in the U.S. have been in decline. A study in the 1980s found that the country had lost an area of wetlands twice the size of New Jersey from 1950 to 1970, restricting habitat for species like migratory birds that rely on wetlands to make their yearly migration. It’s only in recent years that conservation groups like the Service and its partners have been able to reverse that decline, and it’s only worked with the help of private landowners like the Spongs.

And the results, they say, have been worth much more than the crops that would never quite thrive.

“We see a whole lot more shorebirds and water turtles now, and we also see bald eagles that we rarely saw before the wetland was restored,” Matt said.

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Two Canada geese coming in for a landing over the restored wetland (Photo: Kayt Jonsson, USFWS)

The Spongs’ story is featured in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Nature’s Good Neighbors series, which highlights people across the U.S. who depend on the land as much as the land depends on them. These modern-day stewards of the land are working with nature to make a home for people and wildlife.

Walking the River

Click image to read the full story (Credit: Ryan Hagerty/USFWS)

Some of us merely enjoy nature as a place to visit – others take action to protect it. Gary Lang, a fly fishing guide in Elkins, West Virginia, has done some of both.

In his 40 years on Elkins’ crystal-clear rivers, Lang has not only made a living guiding his customers to some of the best trout fishing in the Northeast, but has also partnered with the Service and others to preserve those rivers for future generations. Having served as the president of his local Trout Unlimited chapter, Lang has worked to restore riverbanks, remove invasive species, and keep the rivers pristine for wildlife and people to enjoy. His efforts have helped improve conditions for native species like brook trout, and have also helped put the rivers of Elkins on the map for fly fishers across the region.

“There is nothing better than spending your day outside in beautiful surroundings, in a country you know and appreciate,” said Lang.

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Gary Lang’s story is featured in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Nature’s Good Neighbors series, which highlights people across the U.S. who depend on the land as much as the land depends on them. These modern-day stewards of the land are working with nature to make a home for people and wildlife. 

This farmer’s got your goat

After living in a densely populated refugee camp in Nepal for nearly 20 years, Chuda Dhaurali considered carefully when asked where he wanted to resettle with his family.

“We learned a lot of things about Vermont, and we decided that’s where we wanted to go,” he said.

Dhaurali was drawn to Vermont for the same reasons many people have been for generations: rugged mountains and fertile river valleys.

Originally from a farming family in Bhutan, a country on the eastern edge of the Himalayas, he hoped he would find an opportunity to farm again when he moved to Vermont in 2009. He found that and much more at Pine Island Farm.

Goats on the heels of farmer Chuda Dhaurali at feeding time at Pine Island Farm. Credit: Katie Kain/FWS

Born out of a partnership between the Vermont Land Trust, the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, and the Vermont Goat Collaborative, Pine Island Farm was established in response to a need for halal meat from the growing population of new Americans who have been resettled in communities around Burlington through the United Nations Refugee Agency.

As the pilot goat farmer on the 230-acre property that was once a cow dairy, Dhaurali helps sustain the agricultural traditions of his new community, the cultural traditions of his fellow new Americans, and the watershed that supports them all. Through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Reserve Enhancement (CREP) Program, Pine Island gave up seven acres of land for the creation of riparian buffer along the Winooski River, with planting and monitoring help from the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.

Dhaurali’s story is featured in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Nature’s Good Neighbors series, which highlights people across the U.S. who depend on the land as much as the land depends on them. These modern-day stewards of the land are working with nature to make a home for people and wildlife.

Click here to read the full story.