Saving Sand Point: KBIC continues restoration
By DAN ROBLEE
BARAGA – Before six inches of soil were added in 2006, the north end of Sand Point was “nothing but grey stamp sand as far as you can see,” remembers Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Natural Resources Department Wildlife Biologist Pamela Nankervis, who’s led the Sand Point Restoration Project for the past several years.
“It has gone from a barren, sandy, black sand area to lots of birds, insects and wildflowers. It’s incredible,” she said, noting that workers and volunteers have enhanced the beach for both human use – an exercise trail – and wildlife habitat, such as protecting a native cranberry bog and wild rice beds.
The south end of the Sand Point Restoration Project, along the shoreline of the Ojibwa Recreation Area, was capped with soil in 2013, meaning a total of 33.6 acres, and about 2.5 miles of shoreline, have now been included in the restoration effort of the onetime brownfield.
The soil cap, however, was just the beginning of KBIC’s efforts. The project began with a $361,000 grant from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and other, smaller grants along the way, and utilizing the hands-on efforts of a KBIC youth group, the tribal Natural Resources Department’s plants program workers, Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area volunteers and many more.
“There have been a lot of different agencies and groups involved,” Nankervis said. “It’s been a really big community effort.”
Earlier this summer, the Lake Superior Binational Forum awarded the KBIC a Lake Superior Environmental Stewardship Award for their years of effort.
Just this month, only a few days before snow ended restoration efforts for the year, a team of plants program workers, volunteers and a tribal wildlife technician braved blustery winds at the northern end of the restoration area to plant 30,000 culms of beach grass.
Each culm is an individual stem. They’re planted in bunches and provide a dual purpose for habitat restoration, the workers explained.
“Today we’re planting grass to keep stamp sand from blowing in from the beach,” said plants program worker Deanna Hadden, noting the sand would otherwise harm coastal wetlands. It also offers habitat for wildlife, including pollinators that will propagate a wider variety of plants, added Greenhouse Technician Karen Anderson.
Beach grass is just the beginning of plant restoration. While the south end is still a few years behind, a large garden on the north end seeded with plants started at a tribal greenhouse has 30 different native species that are providing wildlife habitat and helping to crowd out invasives, said Anderson.
One of the main plants is milkweed, which provides habitat for monarch butterflies, she said.
Nankervis said animals are responding to the restored habitat, with the Natural Resources workers recording bear tracks, wolf tracks and even photos of wolves on a remote camera.
“We’ve seen deer there, even going down to the water on the beach,” she said.
Even in the less-complex beach grass habitat on the south end, “geese love it, turtles are still using it, we want to keep that,” she added.
Nankervis said she would have liked to install a gate on the north end of the beach this fall, and build driftwood piles to further impede blowing sand, but the restoration project is definitely achieving its goals.
“We’re keeping sand from the wetlands,” agreed Anderson. “The cap’s holding, the habitat’s good. The plants are taking hold and the animals are coming back.”
Restoration worker Wausau Sandman-Shelifoe said she remembered playing on the stamp sands as a child, and thinks things have improved considerably.
“You had to sprint through the black sand because it was too hot,” she remembered. “Now we have a 3.5 kilometer walking trail, bridges. We’ve done a lot.”