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Every year, the Ohio Land Improvement Contractors Association (OLICA) is approached to conduct a service project. In the past, the organization has helped Ohio State University, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and several Soil and Water Conservation Districts. This year, the group worked with the Malabar Farm Foundation at Malabar Farm State Park.

"There are things that Louis Bromfield did in the ’40s that need to be redone," said OLICA Executive Director Dale Arnold. Bromfield is the late author, farmer and conservationist who purchased the farm in 1939. Malabar Farm became an Ohio State Park in 1976.

In particular, a pond that he created had become filled with sediment over the years. At the OLICA Field Day, the conservation contractors reconstructed the pond into a functioning wetland. With Richland County Natural Resources Conservation Service plans, construction equipment provided by association member businesses and the help of as many as 50 association members, the wetland was constructed in two days.

"With the wet summer we had, the wetland is grown and healed already," Arnold said. The wetland will be used to improve water quality on the farm as well as for research and educational projects.

Arnold said OLICA plans to return to Malabar Farm at least two more times this decade to complete other projects.

"If farmers are looking to construct field tiling, site reclamation and need environmental consulting or construction, these are the guys to do it," Arnold said.

To find a member near you, visit the OLICA Web site, which may be linked from the Ohio Farm Bureau Web site at www.ofbf.org or contact Arnold at 614-246-8294. OLICA is one of the organizations that contracts with Ohio Farm Bureau for management services. This relationship benefits both organizations through improved communications, awareness and the ability to promote shared interests.

Caption: Terry McConnell of Terry McConnell Excavating, Bellvue, uses the Hyundai extended reach excavator from Buck & Knobbe Equipment to create an extended peninsula into the wetland area. The new structure will have a boardwalk, allowing people to walk out into the wetland for further examination and study and allow for wheelchair accessibility. Photo courtesy of OLICA.