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Thursday, September 15, 1994
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wetlands debate continues to be a struggle
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the trafficway would not affect the Baker Wetlands that much. The noise would drive birds further into the wetlands, but probably would cause more harm to the Haskell wetlands.
The 35th Street route, however, would have serious impact, he said. He said a trafficway straight down the middle would divide the habitat into small islands of wetlands, eventually decreasing its value.
"How do you come in and build a road bigger than 31st Street and expect animals to get through?" Boyd said. "The smaller the islands get, the faster you lose species."
Chuck Haines, professor of biology at Haskell Indian Nations University, said the Haskell Wetlands mostly were in the same state they were in before white settlers came to Kansas. Too wet to be farmed, the land around the small ponds hidden in the undergrowth south of the trafficway rarely have been touched.
"When (the U.S. Department of) Fish and Wildlife came, they said it was unbelievable." Haines said. "They hadn't seen this in 30 or 40 years."
Haskell students have another reason to protect the Haskell Wetlands, Haines said. Haskell's medicine wheel, a circular pattern cut into the grass that Haskell students use for religious ceremonies, is located there. Students also maintain sweat lodges, small huts where smoke from a fire is breathed in as part of a spiritual ceremony.
Haines said that should the trafficway
go through either of the wetlands, it would be typical of the history of environmentalism in the United States.
"Europeans didn't understand when they came in," he said. "They still don't. They're just beginning to with their ecologists. They ask, 'What do the wetlands do?' Their ecologists answer, 'They provide life.'"
--determining the final route.
But environmental concerns have been taken into effect, said David Orr, acting division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration in Topeka. The original Final Environmental Impact Statement, which was presented in 1992, took eight years to write and involved agents from the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Kansas Fish and Game Department and a number of other agencies.
The final statement concluded that building the trafficway on 31st Street would not adversely affect the Haskell Wetlands if precautions,such as building the trafficway taller than planned, were followed.
"We are involved and interested," Orr said. "Our position is that the final statement adequately addressed the problems of the wetlands."
Orr's department now is in the process of preparing a supplemental impact statement, designed to give Haskell students a chance to state the spiritual importance of the wetlands. Orr said such participation was important in
Krista McGlohon/ KANSAN
Source: Kansan Staff Research
"White men, we have a really hard time relating to that type of spirituality," he said. "So that learning curve is something we have to overcome. I don't know if it can be done. I hope it can be done."
The supplement also will look at the environmental impact of the proposed 35th Street on the Baker Wetlands, as well as the south-of-the-wetlands routes.
Orr also said federal laws called for creating a mitigation site, an area of wetland to make up for the amount of wetland lost. Currently, the Kansas Biological
Survey is building 17 acres of wetlands, more than will be affected by the trafficway, Orr said.
Orr said federal and county officials didn't want to hurt the wetlands. He said county officials would take steps—such as a screen of more than 1,000 trees to dampen noise and an extensive network of water-control systems designed to keep the water level steady—to ensure the wetlands were preserved.
"They're valuable resources," Orr said. "They serve an important function. People are just starting to realize that."
Respect, time needed to nurse former wetland
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
Creating a wetland may be impossible, but resurrecting one is not—which might help the county make up for wetland lost to the trafficway.
The Baker Wetlands aren't completely an act of nature, said Roger Boyd, professor of biology at Baker University in Baldwin. Without the intervention of Baker, the wetlands south of 31st Street wouldn't exist at all.
The wetlands were owned by the Haskell Institute, now Haskell Indian Nations University, in the 1920 and was
used for farming.
Baker bought the land in the 1960s and now uses a series of ditches and controls to recreate and maintain the wetland.
Douglas County is hoping they can use that technique to create a mitigation site, an area that will make up for the wetland taken up by the South Lawrence Trafficway.
What's a wetland?
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a habitat must meet three criteria to be considered a wetland by the federal government.
Wetland vegetation — Cattail, duckweed and other plants found commonly in freshwater environments.
- Standing water — The area must be covered by water for a total of 21 days sometime during the year.
- Hydric soil — The soil must be dense enough that it doesn't absorb standing water quickly.
The county has taken 17 acres of former wetland Source: Kansan Staff
east of the Baker Wetlands and is using it to create a mitigation site, said Kelly Kinscher, an assistant scientist with the Kansas Biological Survey.
Kinscher said the site was not a high quality wetland, although it was larger than the amount of land that would have been taken on 31st Street. He said it would need time to develop, like the Baker Wetland.