photo by: Chris Conde

Rotary volunteers Chuck Blaser, from left, Doug Paul and Bob Rhoton install slats on a new boardwalk on Friday Jan. 14, 2022, on the east side of the Baker Wetlands.

The newest section of the Baker Wetlands trail systems looks like a karate school has been practicing board-breaking, but when construction is finished it will be a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk through a densely wooded area.

The boardwalk, scheduled to open in the spring, will be just under 1,200 feet long and pass through the Night Heron Shallows on the east side of the wetlands.

Stanley Rasmussen is the former president of the Jayhawk Breakfast Rotary Club and current director of the U.S. Army Regional Environmental and Energy Office. While Rasmussen was the Rotary president, the club was looking for new volunteer projects during the first few months of the pandemic in 2020. After speaking with Baker Wetlands Director Irene Unger about possible projects, the club found a good fit.

“It was something a lot of the members were really excited about, and it gives us an opportunity to be working outside even with COVID going on,” Rasmussen said.

The 85-member Jayhawk Breakfast Rotary Club secured a $5,000 grant to put toward an environmental project in line with Rotary International’s new goal of environmental protection, and the wetlands organization had an anonymous donor interested in matching a contribution of that size, Rasmussen said, in addition to gifts from an assortment of other anonymous donors.

“It isn’t cheap. When we first approached them, they said the construction would cost about $20 per linear foot. Just the part we are working on has got to be at least $25,000,” Rasmussen said.

The rotary club has contributed about $8,000 total to the project so far, Rasmussen said.

In addition to the Rotary volunteers, there are student volunteers from Baker University, a volunteer project manager and wetlands staff putting in hours at the site, Unger said.

“The donations have gone toward materials such as gravel to fill holes, blocks for the footings, brackets to secure the stingers to the footings, lots of lumber and lots of screws,” Unger said.

photo by: Chris Conde

Foundation platforms outline the path for the new boardwalk on Jan. 14, 2022, at the Baker Wetlands.

The process for constructing a new trail in the protected area involved permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Douglas County, Unger said. The cost of permits, heavy machinery and engineers to draw up the plans was covered by the Baker Wetlands. The idea for the boardwalk has been around since Unger took over as director in 2018, she said.

The forested area was previously closed to the public because of seasonal flooding, but now the area will be wheelchair accessible with five wide turnarounds, Unger said.

“The boardwalk is low to the surface; animals will be able to travel over or under the boardwalk,” Unger said. “It should have minimal impact on animal movement.”

The wetlands is not a pristine nature preserve. It was used for agriculture before Baker University took possession and has a gas odorization plant and sewer lines on-site, but it is on its way to being in a more natural state, Unger said.

Dana Carpenter works as a biologist and natural areas manager at the wetlands. She is a botanist and all-around plant enthusiast who is looking forward to having easier access to the plants in the area.

“We removed maybe one tree of significant diameter, but we lost zero canopy coverage,” Carpenter said.

The staff at the wetlands does routine maintenance on the pathways, and annually they mow patches of the grassy areas to give visitors better access during monarch butterfly season, Carpenter said.

The vegetation that was removed for construction will be allowed to regrow around the boardwalk but not over it, Unger said. The boardwalk will have information panels about the surrounding habitats, and visitors will be able to observe birds that aren’t found in other parts of the preserve.

The new section will add about a quarter of a mile to the wetlands’ more than nine miles of trails. Baker Wetlands trails, open from sunrise to sunset, are located at 1365 North 1250 Road.

photo by: Baker Wetlands

A new boardwalk is being constructed at the Baker Wetlands and is set to open in spring 2022. The new construction can be seen here in purple. The wetlands have close to nine miles of walking trails.