Former farm near Fermi restores itself to marsh

October 21, 2010 - 05:44 — glbm

NEWPORT, Mich. - A half-mile north of DTE Energy's Fermi 2 nuclear plant lies a birder's paradise that reminds conservationists of what can happen when valuable coastal land is restored to its nature state. A 67-acre site known as the Brancheau Unit, acquired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to become part of the newly established Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge in 2003, has virtually re-established itself as marshy wetland in under a year. For more than a century, it had been tiled and drained for farming.

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