kansas river and missouri river wetland and stream umbrella mitigation bank site 2 -
stranger creek
Leavenworth County, Kansas
The second restoration site established under the Kansas River and Missouri River Wetland and Stream Umbrella Mitigation Bank, this 199-acre mitigation site along Stranger Creek compensates for authorized impacts to wetlands and streams across most of northeastern Kansas.
Because this restoration site protects more than a mile of Stranger Creek on one side, Swallowtail has the opportunity to improve water quality and wildlife habitat in a watershed that is heavily impacted by agriculture. Historically, the habitat at the site would have consisted primarily of riparian forest with a mixture of forested, scrub-shrub, marsh, and wet prairie wetlands. The location was altered for agriculture by removing almost all of the riparian forests and converting the other habitats to row crop fields. A levee was built along the entire length of Stranger Creek which limited flooding of the site, and Brush Creek, a significant perennial tributary of Stranger Creek, was channelized and realigned. A small ephemeral stream was also impacted and became incised.
Swallowtail is addressing these impairments through the following activities:
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Increasing floodplain flows across the site by breaching the farm levee along Stranger Creek in multiple locations
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Restoring Brush Creek to its historical channel alignment and stable cross section
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Relocating the ephemeral stream to a higher elevation to reconnect it to the floodplain with natural sinuosity and a stable cross section
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Planting 87 acres of riparian forest
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Restoring nearly 51 acres of emergent wetlands, 15 acres of forested wetlands, and 2 acres of scrub-shrub wetlands
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Enhancing an additional 22 acres of existing wetlands
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Restoring over 18 acres of buffers and uplands adjacent to wetlands