Jake's Wetland: Nature's work in progress

Jake's Wetland and Wildlife Meadow is to be officially dedicated Saturday, but to planners of the Martin Slough project, it's a work in progress that is constantly evolving as nature takes its course.

The public is invited to the 10 a.m. ceremony to honor the memory of longtime Nevada legislator Lawrence Jacobsen and celebrate his love of Minden.

For the past few years, neighbors of the 7.4-acre project on Lucerne Street in Winhaven have walked its pathways, observing wildlife and plant life.

On Friday, resource specialist Sheila Anderson and project manager George Mahe pointed out a snowy egret, killdeer and a snow goose flying overhead with a flock of Canada geese.

"Our biggest challenge has been to establish a wetland community under fluctuating conditions," Anderson said.

She defined a wetland as an area that experiences fluctuating periods of saturation and drying and discussed the task of finding plants that adapt to those conditions.

Across from the sedges, yarrow, mullen and willow, ragweed pushes against a chainlink fence on private property, straining to join the mix.

"We didn't anticipate the huge weed population," Anderson said.

The Town of Minden, stewards of Jake's Wetland, enlisted their own crew and help from the Nevada Division of Forestry to combat the weed problem.

Then there was the algae, which workers raked off the ponds to dry along the banks.

The biomass was collected and taken to Bently Agrowdynamics.

"The message we'd like to get out is that this isn't the kind of project where you plant it and walk away," Anderson said. "It takes years of management."

Dick and Linda Checchi who live in the neighboring LaCosta development, walk the perimeter of the project two times a day.

"There's no traffic and no congestion in the area," Dick Checchi said.

The Checchis lived in Shasta, Calif., before moving to Minden and enjoy the dry, flat climate at Jake's Wetland.

"We like the pond, we don't like the algae," Linda Checchi said. "We lived in a mountain area before and we didn't have an area like this for a little walk. It's a pretty area."

The town received $950,000 in Question 1 funds for the project. The plans were put together by Resource Concepts Inc. of Carson City, and landscape designer Sandra Wendel.

The park was named after Minden native state Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen who died in July 2006 at age 85. At the time of his retirement he had served longer than any legislator in Nevada history, a feat not likely to be duplicated.