Boardman River Restoration: Planting Milkweed

A few weeks back, my mother and I assisted the Grand Traverse Conservation District staff plant Milkweed plugs along the banks of the Boardman River. This section of the river, and many others, have been restored to flow along a more natural path (after the removal of the aging dam).

Spring 2017

The restoration efforts entailed large quantities of soils and other established substrates to be relocated, shaped and transformed into the new flow path of the river. And in doing so, large portions of land along the river became exposed. Exposed topsoil is inviting to both native plant species, and of course, invasive ones as well. Thus the importance of populating the land with as many native species as possible: in this case, Milkweed (both common and Swamp varieties).

100_9378 — The view from the trail above: spring 2017 (copyright *The Wilderness Journal 2018)*

Kodak P880 Boardman River Restoration 6 12 17 a — Further downstream, large logs were relocated: spring 2017 (copyright *The Wilderness Journal 2018)*

FujiFilm S5200 BR Renevoations and Dam Removal 7 12 17 d — The work was tedious, often testing the capabilities of the heavy equipment: spring 2017 (copyright *The Wilderness Journal 2018)*

Spring 2018

DSCF4873 — Each tray contained 40 Milkweed plugs (copyright *The Wilderness Journal 2018)*

DSCF4784 — My mother and I planted along a section of land butting up to the undisturbed portion of the river (copyright *The Wilderness Journal 2018)*

DSCF4816 — The river view upstream from our planting site (copyright *The Wilderness Journal 2018)*

DSCF4809 — An increasingly common site along the river banks (copyright *The Wilderness Journal 2018)*

My mother and I planted a total of 80 plugs that morning. With the aid of other volunteers, approximately 1,000 plugs were planted (just a rough guess). In the coming months, I hope to revisit the site, to see how the work of many, doing our part, can make a difference.

-Adam K.

*For updates on the restoration effort, visit the link below:

http://theboardman.org/

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