Nahant marsh is a graceful marsh and is full of wildlife. It used to be covered in water plants. There were various different sizes small, large, short, tall, and the plants were so colorful. It was amazing. But all good things come to an end.
There used to be a gun club that shot animals in the area. Well they used lead bullets and the bullets got into the water. Animals ate and drank the bullets and the water. The bullets killed the wildlife at Nahant and the water got contaminated thus making it deadly. After the government found out the gun club had to close and there were people out there cleaning the marsh. They ended up digging out a lot of dirt and getting rid of almost all the plants that surrounded the marsh. After that the citizens of the town decided to turn the marsh into an educational reserve. Nahant was the first marsh to be turned from a high fund site to an educational site.
A reserve is a place that has been protected by the government. It is made to protect the plants and animals that live there. There are only two animals that are on the endangered species list at Nahant. They are the Blanding turtle, and the river otter. A lot of other animals live at Nahant like the blue Hereon, Painting turtle, Snapping Turtle, frogs, minks, Cranes, fish, and many different types of insects. Those are just some the many different types of animals living at Nahant.
There are three different types of habitat that animals live in wetlands, grasslands, and woodlands. Try to guess what type Nahant is? If you guessed wetlands your right, but if your guessed grasslands your right too! Nahant is mostly a wetland but the workers at Nahant are working on restoring our native prairie grass and the plants that grow with it such as Black-Eyed Susan, Milkweed, cattail, and the canary grass. Here’s a funny fact for you. Did you know that weed canary grass is not native to Iowa. It was brought to Iowa because of an erosion.
Nahant marsh was a fun place to go to and I learned a lot of stuff there. Special thanks goes out to Arnie, Renae, Dave, and bob, for teaching us about the marsh!
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