On a recent fall morning, two excavators chewed up boulder-sized chunks of asphalt with distorted bars of rebar sticking out. A chain-link fence ran along the perimeter of a demolition site, where crews have been razing a 1970s-era Motel 6. The old hotel was a relic of midcentury development that buried wetlands in 8 to 10 feet of dirt and pavement. On the edge of the property, a sign read: "Coming Soon: More Nature."
The two ponds returning on farmland are the 25th and 26th ice age ponds to be restored by Sayer's team of academics, volunteers and an enthusiastic digger driver in the Brecks, a hotspot for ancient ponds and pingos formed by ice-melt 10,000 years ago. Over the past two centuries, thousands of such ponds have been filled in as land was drained and improved for crops.