Nahant Marsh is a green gem in industrial west Davenport
The next few years will see more expansion and mitigation work at the urban wetland
Author’s note: This article also appears in the August/September issue of Big River Magazine
Across the railroad tracks from the Nahant Marsh Education Center, next to a train-filled switching station on the industrial fringe of west Davenport, a field of wildflowers blooms bright and yellow.
Despite surging mid-summer floodwaters, the newly created wetland mitigation bank is doing its job – anchoring soil, filtering nitrates and providing a healthy, biodiverse home to hundreds of plant and animal species.
The bucolic scene was made by possible thanks to lots of help – financial and sweat equity – from friends of the marsh, says Brian Ritter, executive director of the education center.
“It had more than 500 tires in it, an old ice cream truck, an abandoned boat and about 100 bags of garbage,” Ritter said of the 39-acre former farm field Nahant acquired in 2023. “We cleaned it up with volunteers first, then completed the remediation this year.”
It was well worth it, said Ritter.
The site is meaningful on several fronts – including local history, interesting geology and environmental health.
“We found Native American artifacts dating back 600 to 700 years and also foundations from what was the original town of Rockingham,” Ritter said.
If you haven’t heard of Rockingham, Iowa, you’re not alone. It was established in 1837 and its inhabitants engaged in a fierce battle with the newer town of Davenport to decide which would be the Scott County seat of government. In an 1838 voter referendum to decide which town would serve, Davenport leaders brought in laborers from Dubuque to vote, giving it the needed majority. Rockingham was subsequently abandoned by 1851.
Where once disgruntled settlers fumed, birds, invertebrates, fish and insects now thrive.
“We had a pair of Sandhill cranes nest here this spring,” Ritter said. “There’s been a real bounce back of flora and fauna. It’s like a Field of Dreams things in a way: if you build it, they will come.”
The recent remediation project is only one of several improvements made at Nahant over the past several years. Several additional miles of trails – including a new gravel bike/pedestrian path that links the marsh to the Riverfront Recreational Trail near Credit Island – have been added.
This past May, a new two-story operations building opened, providing much-needed additional laboratory and classroom space.
Ritter is excited that extra space is in demand. In the 17 years he’s been director, the number of people participating in educational programming at the marsh has jumped from 2,000 per year to 20,000. In addition, more than 30,000 people did self-guided tours of the wetland this past year.
“This summer we hosted a workshop for community and tribal college professors from every part of the country, including Guam,” Ritter said. “It’s exciting to have people from all over the United States, building that environmental workforce for the future.”
Another expansion and mitigation project is in the works, thanks to a 70-acre purchase of another adjacent property that just closed this year, Ritter said.
“I view it as kind of the final missing puzzle piece of Nahant Marsh,” he said. “Over the next few years we will work to convert it back to wetland as well and create an additional trail loop through there.”
That brings the total acreage of Nahant to just under 400 acres, making it the second-largest urban wetland in the Upper Mississippi watershed. The largest is the 1,000-plus acre LaCrosse River Marsh in Wisconsin.
If you live in the region and haven’t visited Nahant, you’re missing out, Ritter said.
The marsh boasts 432 species of plants and 216 species of birds, including more than 100 that nest in the wetlands. Several bird blinds allow you to get up close and personal with the marsh’s avian inhabitants and viewing platforms allow hikers to peer directly down into the murky water. It’s accessibility is its best selling point.
“There are some great wetlands up and down the Mississippi, but to see many of them, you’re going to need hip waders,” he said. “This one, you can just walk right out onto our marsh and explore.”
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Nicely done! Fun fact: My Cox ancestors founded Rockingham. No kidding!
Good story.