A Fermilab groundskeeper’s help to turn a sewage treatment area into a wildlife haven on the laboratory’s grounds has earned Fermi regional and national recognition.

This month, Dave Shemanske of Batavia accepted a natural landscaping award from the Chicago Wilderness Congress and the U.S. Environmental Agency on the laboratory’s behalf for the Nepese Marsh Restoration Project in the Fermilab Village.

In 1999, the site of the current Nepese Marsh project was an abandoned sewage treatment lagoon. Fermi officials had to aerate the pond constantly to keep it from becoming septic, at a cost of $4,000 per year. Shemanske led a project to drain the pond, re-contour the bottom and replant the site with native wetland species.

But he doesn’t take all the credit for the site’s success.

“The Roads and Grounds Department and myself strive to keep Fermilab environmentally a world-class site for people to visit and enjoy the nature and wildlife while doing world-class science and physics,” he said.

The site now contains 61 species of native plants, including arrowhead leaf, marsh marigolds and bulrush. The area also attracts a multitude of wildlife, including birds, frogs and dragonflies.

“The project has been very successful and continues progress by planting seeds from native plants from the Fermilab site, many collected by volunteers during our annual seed harvest events,” said Rod Walton, Fermilab environmental officer. “Nepese is now considered one of the most productive bird-watching sites at the lab.”

Shemanske said restoration is important to the future.

“Whatever we’re doing now, the next generations are going to be able to appreciate as restoration progresses,” he said.