Editing Limberlost Swamp (section)

==Draining, development, and restoration==
After being drained from 1888 to 1910 by a steam-powered dredge, the area was cultivated as farmland for 80 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve/files/np-Loblolly.pdf|title=Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve|access-date=2016-05-15}}</ref> In 1991, local citizen Ken Brunswick established "Limberlost Swamp Remembered," a group organized to restore some of the wetlands, because of their importance as habitat. The work has included removing or blocking drainage tiles, allowing water back on the land, and planting native species of trees, bushes and flowers.  As of 2015, The Loblolly Marsh had been entered into Indiana's Wetland Reserve Program by five owners; it was purchased with funds from The Indiana Heritage Trust, ACRES Land Trust, Ropchan Foundation, M.E. Raker Foundation, and Friends of the Limberlost/Limberlost Swamp Remembered Committee.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve/files/np-Loblolly.pdf|title=Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve|access-date=2016-05-15}}</ref>

An alternate name for the area was Loblolly Marsh. This name has been said to have been derived from a [[Miami language]] word for "stinking river," related to the sulfur smell of marsh gas<ref name="Audubon">[http://archive.audubonmagazine.org/features0105/limberlost.html "Limberlost and Found"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227212650/http://archive.audubonmagazine.org/features0105/limberlost.html |date=2015-02-27 }}, ''Audubon'' Magazine, accessed 27 Feb 2015</ref>). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says that "loblolly" means a thick gruel or porridge, and that it occurs in the US as a colloquialism for a mud-hole. One quotation given by the OED, from ''The Log of a Cowboy'' by the Western writer [[Andy Adams (writer)|Andy Adams]], is "His ineffectual struggles caused him to sink farther to the flanks in the loblolly which the tramping of the cattle had caused."

[[File:Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve sign.jpg|thumb|right|Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve]]
The restored marsh has already attracted numerous species of insects, birds, and animals as the first major section has been restored. The 428-acre restoration project was dedicated as the Loblolly Marsh Wetland Preserve in 1997.<ref name="Audubon" /> Activists have included students from [[Ball State University]], who participated in restoration activities, such as planting [[Endemism|native habitat]]. Approximately {{convert|1500|acre|km2}} have been purchased and restored.<ref>[http://landandlit.iweb.bsu.edu/about_us/limberlost.html "Limberlost Restoration"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205215839/http://landandlit.iweb.bsu.edu/about_us/limberlost.html |date=2012-12-05 }}, ''Our Land, Our Literature'', Ball State University, accessed 7 January 2012</ref>

As of 2015, the Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve is held by the [[Indiana Department of Natural Resources]]. It has a parking area and walking trails, including Veronica’s Trail--0.25 mile wheelchair-accessible wooden boardwalk built to comply with the [[Americans with Disabilities Act]]. The preserve's floodplains connect to the [[Wabash River]] and support river bulrush, sedges, prairie cord grass, burr reed and cattails. The upland area contains a 25-acre mature woodland of hardwood trees.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve/files/np-Loblolly.pdf|title=Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve|access-date=2016-05-15}}</ref>