Little Kestol Prairie

Posted on March 16, 2014 by paulmozina

Little Kestol Prairie is a secret nestled in the rolling moraines and oak savannahs of the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening State Natural Area (SNA). Well, OK, it’s not a secret anymore, it’s outlined by the black circle just south of Young Road on the map below.

Zach Kastern has known the secret of this remnant, dry prairie, for some time and has been working to keep invasive species, as well as fast spreading native woody trees and brush, from overtaking it. So when Jared Urban, the DNR’s SNA volunteer coordinator, asked him for a location for the March workday, Zach was quick to suggest it was time to reveal the Little Kestol Prairie. (Ed. note. After I posted this, Zach commented that the prairie was probably named after Joe Kestol.

The Joe Kestol house on Territorial Road was built when the Kestol family came from Norway about 1846. It has been occupied by Joe Kestol until 1993, when he went to live at a Retirement Home.

Georgia Kestol corrected the history in a comment posted on 5/5/15:

J. W. Kestol refers to the late James Kestol, my father, who was a teacher in Janesville, Wisconsin. The farm, about 200 acres bordered by the state forest, has been in the Kestol family for 105 years. Little Kestol Prairie is named for James Kestol, not Joe Kestol. Joe Kestol, deceased, was James’ brother. He owned the farm on Territorial Rd, a sesquicentennial farm that has been in the family since 1851.

Thanks Georgia!

The Little Kestol Prairie is also mentioned in the Walworth County Land Use and Resource Management Plan.) Listen to Zach share the secrets of this ecological remnant and what he hoped we could accomplish on a beautiful Saturday morning.

A great crew of volunteers including: members of S.A.G.E. (Students Allied for a Green Earth) at UW Whitewater, the Kettle Moraine Land Trust, and free agents like Don, Brandon and Ginny (thanks for the cookies) contributed to a very successful workday.

My day started at The Springs, where I stopped to get some “world class” spring water to drink.

When I arrived, Zach, Jared and Ginny were reviewing the plan for the day. Below, Zach documents Little Kestol Prairie with some before photos.

Soon we were hard at work on the slippery, snowy, wet hillside.

Herb and Stephanie cleared an area at the bottom of the hill.

I spent the morning following Brandon, who was swinging a brush cutter, with one of Jared’s patented poison daubers, and that was a nice change for me. Zach flagged the hazelnut, hickory, oak and other “keepers” so the brush cutters (Rebecca and Brandon) had to be very discriminating. As the morning warmed up, even the snow on the north side of the hill began to melt. Although many of us got cold, wet, feet, nobody bailed out!

Ginny and Herb double team the brush.

Wrapping up…

Here are some perspectives from the top of the Little Kestol Prairie.

I spent the afternoon back at The Springs harvesting black locust firewood for my upcoming camping adventures at My Shangri-La.

I ran into Carl Baumann and John and Sue Hrobar, who reported seeing American Woodcocks by the new spring we uncovered in the Buckthorn Alley (I forgot to mention the Sand Hill Cranes returned this past Monday, the 10th.) Carl was picking up some black locust and cherry firewood for his new friend Marty, who lives in the neighborhood and, like many others, ran short of firewood this season. Nice work Carl!

That’s Marty in the skid steer loader and Carl in the back of the truck.

See you at The Springs!

Kettle Moraine Oak Opening

Posted on February 17, 2014 by paulmozina

A lot of ingredients go into a successful land restoration recipe and you’ll always find persistence as the base stock. Our chef Saturday, February 15, at the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening SNA chilly bowl, was noted Oakologist and Wisconsin DNR Conservation Biologist, Jared Urban.

Restoring and preserving oak savannahs and woodlands is an important goal of the DNR’s Endangered Resources Program (newly christened as the Natural Heritage Conservation Bureau), and Jared has been focusing on organizing and empowering volunteers to accomplish this.

Zach Kastern gets the party started.

Our chef sets the table.

Feast your eyes on this work crew!

Jared likes to spice up workdays with unique mixes of people, locations and activities and Saturday’s stew pot included burning brush piles and cutting and poisoning buckthorn, honeysuckle and other brush on the sunny south side of an oak covered moraine just northeast of the intersection of Bluff Road and County Hwy H. Enthusiastic volunteers from the Ecology Club, and S.A.G.E. (Students Allied for a Green Earth) at UW Whitewater, the Kettle Moraine Land Trust, and others, provided the meat and potatoes for the savory stew but Jared’s “secret ingredient” was Gary Birch.

Gary has dedicated his professional career (first with the Wisconsin DNR and currently with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation) and a lot of his personal time to nurturing, protecting and researching the flora and fauna in Wisconsin. Here is a small sample of Gary’s diverse activities:

Recipient of the 2002 Wisconsin DNR Volunteer Of The Year Award (along with The Buckthorn Man).
Leading field trips with the Natural Resources Foundation
Working with The Prairie Enthusiasts on the land management committee for the Smith-Reiner Drumlin Prairie SNA
Representing the WisDOT as a recipient of the The Transportation and Utility Rights-of-Way Best Management Practices Advisory Committee Volunteer Group Award.
Researching the Karner Blue Butterfly for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from his perspective as a Wisconsin Department of Transportation Biologist/Ecologist.
Leading the WisDOT effort to implement the NR40 state administrative rule (see group award above)

NR40 establishes classification of invasive species and regulates certain categories of plants. The BMPs (Best Management Practices) identify measures that ROW (right-of-way) managers can take to minimize the introduction and spread of invasive plants by applying maintenance resources effectively. A growing concern for more than 20 years, experts point to invasive species as a threat to ecological balance and the economic value of Wisconsin’s lands and water.

…

Gary Birch, an ecologist with the WisDOT Division of Transportation Development, says the department is reviewing the impact of NR40 on its policies and mowing directives for state highways. WisDOT also is working with the DNR to create programs on invasive species management for use around the state. Birch hopes to circulate the DNR Field Guide at future workshops, part of “a monumental effort” to help road maintenance managers and crew members recognize problem plants and what methods to use, when.

Gary’s life’s work epitomizes persistence, which is the key to any “monumental effort”. His latest tip is to check out the Pleasant Valley Conservancy SNA, which I plan to do soon! Thanks for everything you do Gary!

Meanwhile, back at the Oak Opening, Jared led a crew of brush cutters, stump poisoners and brush haulers and I led a team to set the piles on fire..

Zach Kastern led another team clearing brush along the horse trail.

Jerry took one for the team.

Herb Sharpless, with the Kettle Moraine Land Trust, led another crew working farther north along the horse trail, but they were in brush so dense that I didn’t see them!

It was another wonderful and satisfying day working at the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening SNA!

See you at The Springs!

Super Friends of the Scuppernong Springs

Posted on January 6, 2014 by paulmozina

2013 was a fantastic year at The Springs. Here are highlights from the perspective of all the Super Friends♥ of the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail. We don’t have a normal friends group; no, we have Super Friends♥

January

(photo by Tighe House)

We burned a lot of brush piles on the south side of the Indian Spring and all across the Indian Campground, aka, the Sand Prairie. My old friend from “The Quiet Company”, Mark Mamerow, was a big help.

The USGS installed a ground water flow meter at what I now call the “gaging station” bridge and Rich Csavoy and Lindsay Knudsvig were very active helping burn 173 brush piles.

Lindsay, Rich and I cut and piled buckthorn between the cut-off trail and river. DNR trail boss, and jack-of-all-trades, Don Dane, provided native flower and grass seeds that we sowed near the Indian Spring.

Lindsay, Pati and I began our Journey Down the Scuppernong River in an effort to become more intimately familiar with the Scuppernong River Habitat Area.

February

We continued exploring the Scuppernong River hiking the frozen, snow covered, banks from Hwy N all the way to Hwy 59.

The powers that be relented and I got a window of opportunity to burn the brush piles I had left behind at the Hartland Marsh. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my friends from the Ice Age Trail Alliance, Pat Witkowski, Mike Fort, John Mesching, Marlin Johnson, Glenn Ritz, Jack, Dick and the maintenance crew from the Village of Hartland. We lit over 300 piles during the month on many workdays.

Carl Baumann and Rich Csavoy helped cut buckthorn between the cut-off trail and the river. I hope to work with these righteous dudes again soon!

Steve Brasch, Carl, Lindsay and I had a couple of brush pile burning adventures and Lindsay showed me the value of having a leaf blower handy to ignite a smoldering pile.

Pati and I continued our investigation of the Scuppernong River watershed following the outflow from McKeawn Spring to the river on a gorgeously warm winter day.

One of the most memorable days of the year was with the DNR Fisheries team of Ben “Benny” Heussner, Steve “Gos” Gospodarek, Andrew Notbohm and Josh Krall (right to left below, “Double D” Don Dane kneeing in front) as they reviewed their past efforts to rehabilitate the river and formed plans for the coming year. They made good on their promise returning for two workdays on the river, most recently with a crew from the South Eastern Wisconsin Trout Unlimited group.

March

Pati, and I and Lindsay continued our Journey Down the Scuppernong River hiking from Hwy 59 to Hwy 106. We attempted the last leg from Hwy 106 to where the Scuppernong River joins the Bark River south of Hebron, but we were foiled by melting ice.

I continued clearing brush between the cut-off trail and the river and was glad to have the help of Boy Scout Troop 131, from Fort Atkinson to help pile it up.

Lindsay and I were honored to jointly receive the Land Steward of the Year Award from the Oak Savanna Alliance for our work at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail. I continued investigating the Scuppernong River watershed hiking the Paradise Springs Creek from it’s source to it’s confluence with the river.

Steve, Lindsay, myself and Carl had a classic brush pile burning day in the area around the Scuppernong Spring and shared a few cold brews afterwards.

I began volunteering with Jared Urban and the DNR’s Endangered Resources team and met great people like Virginia Coburn, Zach Kastern and Herb Sharpless.

Dave Hoffman and Matt Zine secured a $75,000 NAWCA grant for the DNR to continue the work on the Scuppernong River Habitat Area that Ron Kurowski had championed for over 20 years.

April

We began clearing brush in the area around the Old Hotel and Barn sites near the Hotel Springs. Rich Csavoy, Pati and I continued to clear the brush between the cut-off trail and the river; this time on the far east end.

John and Sue Hrobar (shown with Don Dane below), the “Keepers of the Springs”, began to report that they were not seeing as many brook trout as they had in previous years and attributed this to our removing too much water cress the previous spring. Indeed, Ben Heussner had warned us that the trout relied on this invasive plant for food (bugs) and cover.

DNR wunderkind, Amanda Prange, her boyfriend Justin, his mother Beth, Roberta “Berta” Roy-Montgomery and DNR Ranger Elias Wilson (who would save my life 3 weeks later!) joined me for a day installing prothonotary warbler houses and piling brush.

Rich, Berta and I began girdling aspen. This was new for me and now I realize we were a bit early.

Rich and I began spraying weeds like garlic mustard and spotted knapweed. I started having misgivings about using poisons in this delicate ecosystem.

I began working in the Buckthorn Alley.

Pati, Lindsay and I made the final leg of Journey Down the Scuppernong River via canoe and were sorely disappointed to contrast this stretch of the river to those preceding.

Jon Bradley contributed an excellent photo essay to this blog.

May

I began the month girdling aspen and working in the Buckthorn Alley.

The most exciting day of the year was when the DNR burned the Scuppernong. It was memorable in every way but it almost began disastrously. I was using a drip torch for the first time and it was leaking fuel badly from the rim of the cap. DNR Ranger Elias Wilson noticed the danger immediately and calmly said: “Put the torch down Paul.” Again, he repeated, with a little more emphasis: “Paul, put the torch down.” Finally, I came to my senses and realized the danger too. Thanks Elias, you saved my life!

This is probably a good place to thank Paul Sandgren, Superintendent of the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, Assistant Superintendent Anne Korman, Don Dane, Amanda Prange, Melanie Kapinos and all of the DNR staff, including retired naturalist, Ron Kurowski and the Kettle Moraine Natural History Association for all of their help and support.

Within a few weeks, flowers and grasses were emerging from the blackened earth and I kept busy girdling aspen along the river valley and piling brush from the Old Hotel site north to where the trail turns west away from Hwy 67. Garret and Jenny interrupted their studies to help me pile brush and I hope to see them again sometime.

Spring was in full bloom and Rich helped me girdle aspen and pile brush between the cut-off trail and the river. Ticks and mosquitoes where out in force and I got infected with lymes.

June

Amanda, Tara Fignar and Melanie pictured below, along with others including Jim Davee, Kay, Barb, Berta and Rich (see this blog) replaced all of the signposts that accompany the interpretive guide. Don Dane made the new posts.

Jon Bradley built and installed this swallow house near the marl pit bridge and we are looking forward to the new tenants moving in this spring.

I continued volunteering with Jared Urban’s Endangered Resources team in Oak woodlands around Bald Bluff. Jared, Zach and Gary are great teachers!

Jon Bradley contributed another excellent photo essay.

I sprayed Habitat/imazapyr on phragmites near the Emerald Spring and no life has returned there — maybe this spring. I suspected it would be the last time I used this poison. I switched strategies and began cutting invasive plant seed heads with a hedge trimmer, or I cut the entire plant with a brush cutter.

My lymes infection kicked into gear and I had a few miserable days.

July

Ben Heussner and the DNR Fisheries team returned to the Scuppernong River to lay down some bio-logs continuing their effort to improve the river channel.

I spent a few days working at the Hartland Marsh brush cutting along the boardwalks and mowing the trails.

I was still spraying poisons like Transline and Milestone on various invasive plants at The Springs and it bothered me. I cut a ton of huge, flowering, spotted knapweed plants with the brush cutter to prevent them from going to seed and also started digging them out.

Pati, Lindsay and I were very disconcerted when we completed out Journey Down the Scuppernong River in the Prince’s Point Wildlife Area and I followed up and got a guided tour from DNR veterans Charlie Kilian, the recently retired property manager, and Bret Owsley to better understand what was going on.

Ron Kurowski, retired DNR Naturalist and champion of the Scuppernong River Habitat Area restoration effort, met me at The Springs and helped me identify what was growing on the Sand Prairie and in other parts of the Scuppernong Springs Nature Preserve.

I was becoming more and more disillusioned with the idea of spraying poison on weeds ad infinitum and began looking for alternatives. Late in the month I met Jason Dare, the real deal when it comes to ecosystem management, at The Springs. He was doing an invasive plant survey for the DNR and I became painfully aware that I didn’t know what I was doing vis-a-vis spraying invasive plants with poison in that delicate ecosystem.

August

The Buddha said : “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”. It was Atina Diffley’s award winning memoir Turn Here Sweet Corn that finally opened my eyes and raised my organic consciousness.

I’m done spraying toxic poisons at The Springs, except for on freshly cut buckthorn, honey suckle and black locust stumps.

Ben Heussner had warned that our aggressive removal of water cress from the river in the spring of 2012 might impact the brook trout and John and Sue Hrobar observed that, indeed, they were seeing far fewer fish than in previous years. We finally got some objective data when Craig Helker and his DNR team of water resources specialists, performed their annual fish count. It was a fascinating day! Below: Craig, me, Chelsea, Rachel, Shelly and Adam.

The fish counts were down significantly this year and I don’t doubt that it was a result of our removal of too much cover and food source from the river. At the time we pulled the water cress, it had formed thick mats that damned the water flow raising the water table along the river by at least 6 inches. I thought it was important to help re-establish the river channel, and the flora in the valley, to remove the water cress dams. Until we can establish a native water plant, like Chara, which is in fact making a comeback, to replace the invasive water cress, we will allow the cress to thrive short of damning the river again.

I began attacking the phragmites and cattail that dominate the river valley with a hedge cutter loping off the maturing seed heads and leaving the emerging golden rod and asters undisturbed beneath them.

September

I learned to adjust my efforts to the plant life cycles and spent a lot of time pulling weeds by hand including: Canada Fleabane, American Burnweed (shown below), Common Ragweed , Queen Anne’s Lace and Sweet Clover.

I wonder if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew attempting to eradicate invasive weeds at The Springs without using poison. I take heart when I consider all of the Super Friends♥ that are willing to help. Sue Hrobar captured this ambitious water snake and it inspires me to keep trying!

I’m getting more philosophical these days and thank my friends Mike and Yvonne Fort for their inspirational efforts at Lapham Peak State Park.

I began pulling Japanese knotweed and purple nightshade as well as all of the other aforementioned weeds and it almost seemed like the whole nature preserve was just a big weed patch.

Pati and I usually go camping in the mountains in September and she couldn’t make it this year so I decided to camp at Ottawa Lake and see what that was like. The two walk-in sites #334 & #335 adjoin the Ottawa Lake Fen State Natural Area. Lindsay and his wife Connie and Pati joined me for my first evening at site #335 and we agreed that the wall of buckthorn on the hillside between the campsites and fen simply had to go. I divided my time over the next two weeks between working near the campsites and at The Springs.

October

I began cutting buckthorn on a stretch of trail at The Springs that I christened the Buckthorn Tunnel.

The task of weeding the Sand Prairie is daunting to say the least and I’m glad to have the help of Jim Davee, Pati and Tara Fignar. I know we can stop the spotted knapweed from going to seed and then it’s just a question of carefully digging out the plants.

Lindsay informed me that there is a weevil that attacks only spotted knapweed and I’m considering if we should try to introduce it at The Springs. That reminds me that we need to reintroduce more Purple Loosestrife beetles, as we had a bumper crop of this invasive plant in 2013.

Anne Moretti, Jim Davee and Tara Fignar helped me pile the buckthorn I had cut in the Buckthorn Tunnel. I really appreciated their companionship and contribution.

The fall colors where just starting to emerge by the end of the month.

November

The Fall season lingered long and colorful.

I spent another week camping at Ottawa Lake and continued cutting buckthorn and thinning American Hop Hornbeam near sites #334 and #335.

I began opening up a new area on the northeast end of the loop trail where it passes by an old cranberry bog; at signpost #13, the junction with the cut-off trail. And I continued piling the freshly cut brush along the Buckthorn Tunnel.

Jon Bradley contributed another post-full of beautiful and interesting photos. If you would like to contribute photos or stories to this blog, please let me know.

I spent 3 days piling the brush cut near campsites #334 & #335. I separated the good logs, suitable for firewood, from the brush and plan to return this spring to cut the logs into smaller pieces.

Lindsay took a full-time position at UW Madison and Rich focused on his beautiful grandchildren, awesome garden and classic pottery, but the Three Brushcuteers reunited for a day piling the brush I cut near the cranberry bogs mentioned above. It was sweet to spend time with them again working in the forest.

Ben Johnson and Andy Buchta joined forces with me to pile brush right at the main parking lot on Hwy ZZ. They are both hard-working men and I truly appreciate their contributions. Both Ben and Andy have returned numerous times since then and I really enjoy working with them!

Towards the end of the month, master naturalist Dick Jenks began volunteering as well, doing everything from cutting, to piling, to burning brush piles. Dick, Ben, Andy and Jim all have great ideas and are very observant. I’m really benefiting from their experiences and perspectives.

Conditions were borderline, but we succeeding in lighting up all the brush piles we recently made in the Buckthorn Tunnel.

December

After more than 6 months delay, while we focused on other areas of The Springs, we finally got back to the obscenely grotesque and nasty Buckthorn Alley. You will not find a worse thicket of buckthorn anywhere on the planet. With the help of Dick Jenks, Ben Johnson, Andy Buchta, Jim Davee and Pati, I was eager to “get after it”!

Everyone agreed we should separate the wood suitable for campfires at Ottawa lake from the slash and we have many log piles that we plan to prep using Dick’s custom sawbuck. We’ll put some information fliers at the visitor’s center across Hwy ZZ and in the trail brochure box offering the wood to campers on a donation basis. With the 25 mile limit on transporting firewood scheduled to kick in this season, we expect campers will take advantage of the buckthorn firewood.

The snow cover was perfect for burning brush piles, and I took advantage of it burning all of the piles we had made the past year between the river and the cut-off trail.

Dick Jenks with his sawbuck.

We had a perfect day burning brush piles along Hwy 67.

I took advantage of another fine day and lit up all the brush piles remaining along the main trail.

John and Sue Hrobar informed me that Ben Heussner and the Fisheries team, along with the South Eastern Wisconsin Trout Unlimited group, had executed another workday on the river on December 14. Check out their excellent results here and here.

Ben Johnson (shown below) got his first licks in with a chainsaw in the Buckthorn Alley. And Jim Davee came out to pile brush there too.

The year ended for me with a “Big Bang“, that, given my evolution of consciousness documented in these posts over the last year, should not be too surprising.

I worked with Zach Kastern on numerous occasions over the past year and so I was really excited when he made time in his very busy life to come out and help cut some buckthorn. I hold him in high esteem! Here is the “blue V” we used as our target to open a channel through the buckthorn connecting the trail to the remnant of a cranberry bog.

Thanks to Ben Johnson for inspiring me to put together this year-in-review. And THANKS to all the Super Friends♥ who pitched in to help reveal the beauty of the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail.

See you at The Springs!

Friend Of All The World

Posted on November 20, 2013 by paulmozina

I lost control of my truck on the unexpected ice and barely stopped before intersecting the oncoming traffic. What was that? Seconds later, as I waited to turn left into the medical complex, I heard and felt the sickening impact of autobodies as the driver behind me skidded on the same ice patch and smacked me. My hat flew off and coffee erupted from my cup. Damn construction! I called Dr. Campbell, the surgeon who removed the cancerous tumor from my neck back in June 2011, and informed his assistant that I’d be a few minutes late for my annual checkup.

The morning frost was long gone by the time I made it out to the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening on Bluff Road to finish piling the brush we cut last weekend.

The blue sky silhouetting the might oaks on the hillside was immaculate and I was under Rudyard Kipling’s spell listening to Kim, “friend of all the world”, on audio book. What a tale filled with metaphors: the Great Game, the River of the Arrow, the Wheel of Life… and told in the context of the rich and incomparable Indian culture of the late 1890’s. I blissfully piled brush as Kim simultaneously “ripened” into a secret agent for the British empire and faithful chela to the Teshoo Lama.

Dr. Campbell said everything looked good and that I had “made the right choice” by refusing the radiation and chemotherapy they had strongly recommended after the surgery. I don’t know if I’m “acquiring merit” by volunteering in the forest, and it doesn’t matter, I felt the reward in the present moment and thankful tears welled up.

I finished stacking what we laid down last Saturday and tried to consolidate the piles so they would be easier to light when we get snow cover.

Then I headed over to the high ground at Bald Bluff to watch the sun down and thank the Creator for giving me another splendid day.

See you at The Springs!

Bluff Creek West

Posted on July 22, 2013 by paulmozina

If you want to explore some hidden treasures in Wisconsin consider participating in the State Natural Areas Volunteer Program. Ginny Coburn is organizing volunteers on a regular basis to work with DNR Conservation Biologist and Wildlife Technician, Jared Urban, at uniquely beautiful locations in the South Kettle Moraine Forest just north and east of Whitewater. Back in May we girdled aspen at the Lone Tree Bluff Scenic Overlook and I visited the springs that originate Bluff Creek.

Jared is a careful phenologist, optimizing every volunteer hour to the max. Last Saturday, July 20, our mission, dictated by dynamic biological phenomena, took us to the Bluff Creek “west” (of Hwy P that is) State Natural Area to a secluded prairie where we cut white sweet-clover and wild parsnip. I knew this was going to be good as I rode on the back of the 4-wheeler Jared was driving, holding down brush cutters and other gear, as we left the paved road behind us. I think the black line coming north off of Hi-Lo Road approximates where we entered the prairie and the black dots show where we cut weeds.

The view from on top the ATV.

Jared explained how the DNR has been cutting brush and burning in this prairie for years and the results of their tender loving care were evident in the diversity of plants in this high quality prairie. Zach, Ginny, Jared, Diane and I had a wonderful morning doing what we love!

I’m becoming a bit of a phenologist myself, or maybe its just hard not to notice the spotted knapweed and buckthorn resprouts/seedlings that are growing at phenomenal rates at The Springs. I had a few hours to spare before the Waukesha/Milwaukee chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance was to have their summer gathering, and I headed over to Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail. There were two trees down across the cut-off trail, and another down across the river just upstream from the gaging station. Sometimes trees grow faster than they can handle, and that appeared to be the case here. After cutting them out of the way, I started spraying weeds and brush seedlings on the cut-off trail. In many places both sides of the trail are literally carpets of new buckthorn and prickly ash seedlings. This is a perfect time to spray these plants as they are still small and there will be minimal collateral damage.

This week I’m planning to cut spotted knapweed on the Sand Prairie and continue spraying buckthorn along the cut-off trail.

See you at The Springs!

Bald Bluff

Posted on June 16, 2013 by paulmozina

Thanks again for tuning into the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail blog! Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with Gary Klatt, Zach Kastern and Jared Urban girdling aspen on a hillside prairie on the southwestern slope of Bald Bluff. This area is part of the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening, one of the few remaining examples of what was the predominant plant community in pre-settlement days. The best part of the day was that they let me rant on and on, suffering my righteous indignation at the way the world is working, with patient, good humor, or, maybe they were just laughing at me.

Jared, Zach and Gary.

Zach has been doing a lot of volunteer work in this area in the past year, flowering into a bonafide naturalist. He has adopted the place as his own and gained intimate knowledge of the flora and fauna. We couldn’t hope for a better steward to step forward and take care of this land!

Gary Klatt is a retired Math Professor at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. He is a former director of the Ice Age Trail Alliance, and his contributions have even been recognized by The President. Here is Gary working on one of the many bridges he has helped design and build along the IAT.

He was awarded the “Spirit Stick” in 2010.

Gary says, “I’ve come up with a philosophy: Be kind always, and be useful when you can,”. Check out this homage to Gary in the Winter 2010 issue of Mammoth Tales on page 5.

It was drizzling when we began working and the brush was very wet, but our cheery banter soon banished the clouds and we all began peeling off layers.

The top of Bald Bluff has grown over with oaks since the days that Black Hawk and the Sauk tribes made it their home.

Afterwards, Jared invited us to Paint Brush Prairie, a rare, first-rate, remnant prairie and it was amazing to listen to Zach and Jared calling out one plant after another. We parked along Lowland Drive and crossed a farmer’s field on a DNR easement to arrive at the prairie, which is just west of the Rushing Waters Trout Farm complex on the google map below.

Listen to Jared describe the prairie.

I remembered a few names of the many plants they identified, but not this one.

Flox.

Yellow Stargrass

Paint Brush

Death ‘something’?

I appreciated the opportunity to spend time and learn with Jared, Zach and Gary and look forward to the next Kettle Moraine Oak Opening workday.

See you at The Springs!

Oaken Word

Posted on May 13, 2013 by paulmozina

Siddhartha taught me to listen to the river. Time is an illusion; the “present” moment is an embraceable gift to us. Instead, we often treat time as a commodity to be spent, or saved, or wasted. The past haunts us, we fear for the future, all the while missing the gift of the present moment.

I was lucky to spend some time with the oaks this past weekend; paying attention, listening and feeling the gentle vibration of their subtle speech. The last few weeks I’ve been distracted with the burn, inmates and doctor visits but I found calm again in the present moment amongst the oaks.

On Saturday, May 11th, I joined Ginny Coburn and DNR Conservation Biologist Jared Urban for a workday at the Lone Tree Bluff Scenic Overlook to girdle some aspen trees. Jared leads the Endangered Resources (ER) team in southeastern Wisconsin. His crew varies in size from 3-5 people and they are responsible for approximately 20,000 acres.

Jared hobbled to the top of Lone Tree Bluff on crutches due to an ankle sprained while lighting a 90 acre prescribed burn at Lulu Lake on May 6th. This was after the ER team spent the bulk of the day helping to burn the Scuppernong. The expression “Still waters run deep”, was coined with Jared in mind; I calm down just being around him. But, you should have seen his face when he described the fires he lit at the Scuppernong; the tone vanished as his jaw dropped and I could see the 40′ flames reflected in his widened eyes. Below, Jared gives us a natural history lesson and explains the science behind girdling aspen trees.

When you contrast the billions and billions of dollars the government spends on the military, security industrial complex, versus what it spends to nurture the land, it recalls to mind TreeBeard’s lament in The Lord of the Rings that, ‘no one cares about the trees anymore’. The war mongers misleading us, our Saruman’s if you will, have propagandized us using the old divide and conquer strategy, demonizing Muslims, and distracting us from what our real priorities should be here in the homeLAND.

Whew, I’m ranting again. I’ll try to be more calmly passionate (sounds like something Joseph Conrad might have written, not to suggest I could have even sharpened his pencil). We had a lot of fun working together and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

In the back row Diane, Carol, SwordMan, Princess and Ginny and in the front row, Carol, Thayer and Jared.

I’m new to this area so I stayed to explore a little. Here are a few shots of the bluff.

The Bluff Creek Springs emerge from the north side of the moraine and feed Bluff Creek. I had to check them out.

I found another set of springs on the east side of the moraine.

I wanted to hear what the oak were saying up at Lapham Peak, where Mike Fort and the Lapham Peak Friends have been restoring the prairies, oak woodlands and oak savannas for over 20 years. They have perfected techniques for cutting, stacking and burning buckthorn that are models of efficiency. This past week they did a 75 acre prescribed burn in the area marked in white on the map below and they burned approximately 177 acres total in the park this spring burn season.

This huge swath of the north flank of the peak extends from “the big slide” cross country ski trail east to the tower hill road. I was in awe taking in the scope of the effort as I well remember this hillside was thick with buckthorn.

The oaks were swaying and singing gratefully with the blustery north wind, giving thanks for the tender loving care of the Lapham Peak Friends.

Approaching the tower.

A bird’s eye view from the tower (I need a wind screen for the camera mic).

If you haven’t visited Lapham Peak lately, or ever, consider paying attention to what the friends have accomplished and spend some present moments there.

On Sunday, May 12th, I was back at The Springs. Wow, I wonder how long it will take for the forest floor to become green again. I wonder if the native flowers and grasses will have enough strength in their roots to push up fresh growth this year; or next. I began the day spraying garlic mustard, which appeared in isolated patches that escaped the fires.

I was pleasantly surprised, and heart warmed, to see Lindsay, his wife, Connie and her granddaughter Sophia, arrive to pick up a load of wood.

When I talked to Don Dane after the burn he mentioned that this would be a great time to attack the spotted knapweed on the Indian Campground. Loaded with the recipe I got from Lindsay, I started that application. Spraying herbicide is my least favorite thing to do in the woods and I limit how much I do in a day. There is plenty more garlic mustard and spotted knapweed proliferating out there and I’ll be spraying for the next two months.

Some scenes from the Indian Campground.

Looking down into the river valley from the Indian Campground.

Next on the agenda was girdling aspen. I intended to continue working at the old hotel site, but I thought better of it as I was walking down the river valley, and I attacked a few isolated clonal colonies that were spreading into the valley.

A quick stop at the Scuppernong Spring.

Finally, I started piling buckthorn just north of the old barn site. I have been a cutting fool for the last couple months thinking that I would get a crew of inmates from the Sturtevant Transitional Facility to help me pile, but I don’t think that is going to work out, so I’ll be piling for the next few weeks to catch up. I made around 10 piles and it was very relaxing work with a great view down the river to the west.

DNR Visitor Services Associate extraordinaire Amanda Prange is leading an effort to install a new set of signposts to match the trail brochure.

The Hatching House Spring is looking great.

I followed the channel of the Indian Spring’s towards it’s junction with the Scuppernong River and caught this panorama video. The marl pit factory ruins are just to the right of the sun.

Speaking of which!

See you at The Springs!

Kettle Moraine Oak Opening

Posted on March 24, 2013 by paulmozina

I really love everything about Oak trees. Their stately grandeur, sweeping curves, deep shade, fissured bark, colorful leaves and nutty fruits give them a marvelous character. At the recent Oak Opening Workshop I was inspired to join in the efforts of the Oak Savanna Alliance and, when I got Jared Urban’s email invitation to a workday at the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening, that was all I needed to take action.

This past Saturday I joined Jared Urban and Amanda Prange, from the DNR and Herb Sharpless, Virginia Coburn and Zach Kastern, from the Kettle Moraine Land Trust cutting brush off a hillside prairie at the south end of the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening on Bluff Road, just east of Co. Hwy. H.

Listen to Jared describe the project.

We split into two teams and continued to expand the already cleared areas to the west and east.

All the while I could not wait to walk to the top of the hill and get a good look around.

I had a commitment in the afternoon at the Scuppernong Springs so was not able to explore the area, but I’ll definitely be back to stroll amongst the majestic oaks along the rolling moraines. What a cool place! I’m sorry I missed Ginny in this picture (Amanda, Zach, Herb and Jared). I really enjoyed the morning and look forward to working with them again.

I had a date in the afternoon with Troop 131, from Fort Atkinson, to pile some brush at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail and I got to the cut-off trail in time to start some piles.