Purdue News

May 29, 1998 New wetlands to provide new research opportunities WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Purdue Research Foundation has developed a new wetland area in southern Tippecanoe County that will affect a range of Purdue University agricultural and environmental research activities in the years to come. The 8.25-acre wetland was developed on agricultural property near the Throckmorton-Purdue Agricultural Center in Randolph Township as part of a "wetlands mitigation" project, said Stan Mithoefer, director of real estate for the Purdue Research Foundation. Constructed with input and approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the new wetland will replace a similar-sized wetland in the Purdue Research Park along Yeager Road north of Salem Courthouse Apartments. The research park plot will be drained this spring for possible future development by the foundation. "We have built a better-quality wetland that will better meet the environmental needs of Tippecanoe County, while at the same time giving us the benefit a unique research tool," Mithoefer said. John Trott, director of Purdue Agricultural Centers, said: "This is the first opportunity we have had to build a wetland from scratch. We will be able to monitor how it grows and watch the ecological changes it undergoes. How this wetland lives and evolves will provide a wonderful opportunity for studying environmental, agricultural and wildlife issues all in one location." Trott said vegetable production from the Purdue Oneall Farm south of Lafayette on 18th Street is being moved to fields near the wetlands this spring, and fruit research now centered at the Horticulture Farm on Sharon Chapel Road west of the Purdue campus will be transferred to the area adjacent to the new wetlands over the next several years. He said the new planting areas open the opportunity to consolidate Purdue horticultural field research in one location to best utilize staff, resources and equipment. Mithoefer said tiling installed in farm fields near the wetlands will drain into the wetlands, assisting in the study of water runoff and the benefits of natural water purification that wetlands provide. The wetlands acreage also has been seeded and planted with prairie grasses and other plants common to such wetlands. The Throckmorton Center will administer the wetland area, which is on land held in trust and used by the university for agricultural research. CONTACTS: Mithoefer, (765) 494-1727; Trott, (765) 494-8370. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page