Jon Bradley Loves the Springs

Posted on October 7, 2012 by paulmozina

Here is a guest blog from Jon Bradley.

The Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail is one of my favorite places. I started walking it when I was just a young child. I still grab a guide at the entrance of the trail every time I go, although I pretty much have the entire thing memorized. I’ve been to the trail at least once every year, and this year I’ve been lucky enough to visit it 6 times, and planning a 7th visit this October when the leaves change. In fact, last year, on October 8th, I came for the fall colors as well, and it was a fantastic sight along the crystal clear Scuppernong River.

Also some fall colors at the old Marl Plant.

One of the reasons I love this area so much is because it seems to be a good fit for a wide variety of animals and plants, some even threatened or endangered, and the common ones thrive. Snakes are almost a guaranteed sight along this trail in Spring and Autumn. Last autumn I found this young Common Garter Snake next to the main Scuppernong springs.

One of my favorite views (and with the recent efforts to clear out some trees, an even better view) of the Scuppernong River Habitat Area, is located at the old Native American campsite. This photo of the fantastic view was taken 8/27/12.

Last Autumn I found this large spider at the Native American campsite. I don’t know spiders, but I think its probably a Wolf Spider.

Here is a photo of the Hotel Spring that I took earlier this year, and I’d like to mention on my last trip there (2 days ago) I noticed one of the bricks had fallen off the wall and into the water.

Lastly, I have a few photos of the centerpiece of this trail, the Scuppernong River.
The first photo was taken on August 27th, in the morning before the fog rolled off. This is one of my favorite parts of the trail. There always seems to be a lot of bird life in this area such as Eastern Kingbirds, Cooper’s Hawks, Belted Kingfishers, American Goldfinches, and Great Blue Herons. I know its also a good place to find Garter Snakes, Hog-Nosed Snakes, and Northern Watersnakes. I love that the place is literally crawling with wildlife.

These two photos were taken just past the Marl Works, to the east. This area is listed as #5 on the guide and highlights fur trapping. The first photo was taken in the morning on August 27th, 2012, and the second was taken in the early afternoon on July 9th, 2012.

Finally, this area was recently cleared right near the old Hotel, and is listed #12 on the guide.

(ed. note, Thanks Jon for your story and great pics!)

Tracy Hames Interview

Posted on August 20, 2012 by paulmozina

We had a wonderful visit with Tracy Hames, the executive director of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, on Sunday August 19th. It is easy to see why they hated to see Tracy leave his position as head of the Yakama Nation’s Waterfowl Program. Tracy is very passionate and enthusiastic about protecting and restoring our wetland resources and we are lucky to have him back home in Wisconsin.

Tracy, Sophia, Connie, Lindsay, Paul and Pati at the Scuppernong Springs. Thanks Anne for the photo!

Connie captured some great moments on video and pictures as we toured the Springs and we will add some of that content to this blog soon. Listen to the interview I captured with Tracy at the Indian Springs.

Tracy had many suggestions for things we could do including: introducing beetles to attack the Purple Loosestrife, working with a DNR Hydrologist to install one or more water flow gauges, studying the historic (before European settlement) use of the land and water and the flora and fauna present at that time, and in general, carefully monitoring the results of all remedial actions we taken to determine their efficacy.

Later that day, our friends Jim and Cathy Brown visited us and we took another tour of the Springs. We walked out along the Marl Pit channel, which is very easy to do now because of the dry weather, and I captured a couple shots along the way.

The opening in the distance on the hillside below is the Indian Campground.

Hope to see you soon out at the Springs!

Fix the Water

Posted on August 18, 2012 by paulmozina

“Fixing the water” has been one of the top priorities of the DNR and the Kettle Moraine Natural History Association in regards to the Scuppernong River Habitat Area Restoration. Our efforts to clean up the Springs, the headwaters of the Scuppernong River, compliment the DNR’s efforts to put the river back on its original stream bed (Ben Heussner interview) and all of the other things they are doing to improve the watershed.

On Sunday August 19th we will be taking a tour of the Springs with Tracy Hames, the executive director of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association. Tracy spent 20 years working to “fix the water” on the Yakama Reservation in Washington state. Here is a bit of Tracy’s philosophy. excerpted from his Wetlands & Riparian Restoration Project documentation.

“we’re trying to restore the hydrology
– to get the water working the way it used
to. That’s what we’re talking about when
we talk about hydrologic restoration. The
first thing we want to do on a project like
this is ‘fix the water.’ Then you can start
working on all of the other components.”

The last time DNR trail boss Don Dane took a tour with us, Lindsay pointed out that the river had taken an unwanted diversion immediately West of the Marl Pit bridge. Don recommended that we block the side channel and get the river running back on its main course. Ron Kurowski also recommended the same when he toured the site back in the Spring. So, in honor of Tracy’s visit, I took a break from brush clearing and tried to “fix the water”.

These pictures are taken from the Marl Pit bridge area and show the before views downstream. The river got off course sometime after the channels connecting the Marl Pits to the River were filled in with gravel. There used to be large buckthorn trees laying across the main channel and they trapped logs and other debris until finally the river found a way around by making a turn to the right/North. The river returned to the main channel approximately 20 yards downstream.

A better view of the main channel full of debris.

The side channel diversion is show below.

Here are some after shots. I noticed a classic pool, riffle, run pattern after the river resumed its normal course. There is a pool right where the side channel formed and now, after the clean up, you can see this followed by a riffle, a run and another pool where the old side channel returns to the river (Ben Heussner explains this pattern in his interview).

My repair job is probably not up to DNR standards, but its a start.

Water Works and Odds and Ends

Posted on August 12, 2012 by paulmozina

I cherish every day I get to spend at the Scuppernong Springs. Saturday, August 11th was an absolutely gorgeous day indeed.

Since I resumed working at the Springs in late April 2011, I’ve thought about giving the individual springs names. Well, they already have names that I just recently noticed on the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail Map, included in the guide.

The namesake spring is the Scuppernong Spring, which I’ve been referring to as the first or main spring. Then there are the Hillside Springs (actually in two locations), the Hidden Spring, the Emerald Spring, the Hotel Spring and the Indian Spring. Trail boss Don Dane says there are 13 springs and one of these days, I’ll get him to document where they all are. The trail brochure explains — The name Scuppernong comes from a Ho Chunk word meaning “sweet-scented land.” I wonder what names the Ho Chunk people gave to the individual springs. From now on, I will be using the current names when referring to the individual springs.

I started the day with a couple of clean-up tasks. A huge Cottonwood tree had fallen parallel to the trail and a few branches needed to be cleared.

And a Hickory came down across the trail.

Since we have opened up the area at the South end of the trail, there has been an explosion of Black Locust. They grow very fast and have the nastiest barbs you will find on any woody plant. The DNR began girdling the huge Black Locusts many years ago and we are continuing that effort and cleaning up the trees as the die and fall. They can be harvested for firewood as well (contact Mike, the forester at the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, for a permit). I sprayed 5 gallons of Roundup on the bushy black locust. Don Dane recommends we use TransLine and we will do so as soon as we get some.

Then I continued our efforts clearing the quack grass from the Indian Spring. Lindsay got most of it already and I cleaned up the last remnants.

This effort stirred up at lot of mud, which collected at an earthen bridge that crosses the Indian Springs outflow channel. The water finds a way under it somehow but the bridge restricts the flow. When Don and Dave visited the site on August 9th, they recommended that we open it up and so I did.

Then it was on to the Observation Deck at the Emerald Springs (see map above) where I wanted to pull a patch of water cress that had formed a dam that actually forced the river out of its natural path. Don pointed this out and showed me where the river used to flow. John and Sue Hrobar, stopped over to say hello. We will soon be posting some of their stories and pictures describing the various flora and fauna they have observed.

Finally, on the way back to car going up a DNR access road by the Hotel Springs, I had to capture these views of the river valley that are now visible since we cleared some of the Willows that were filling in.

It was a great day at the Springs!

Scuppernong River Bridge Cleared

Posted on August 8, 2012 by paulmozina

We got a nice mention in the latest issue of the Scuppernong Journal. It is published by the Kettle Moraine Natural History Association, S91 W39091 Hwy 59, Eagle, WI 53119 Ron Kurowski editor. Address questions and comments to the editor at (262) 363-9892. Please consider supporting the KMNHA and you will receive your very own copy of the Scuppernong Journal in the mail.

On August 7th I spent the day clearing brush and Willows by the 3rd bridge over the Scuppernong River (counting from the first Spring). This is where the dam used to be that Ben Heussner mentioned that was removed in 1993. There were a lot of fairly large Willows that were beginning to fill in the area along with some smaller buckthorn and other brush.

Here are short before and after videos.

Ben Heussner Interview

Posted on July 15, 2012 by paulmozina

Lindsay suggested we “…get a hold of the fish people…” to get some feedback/advice. Ron Kurowski put us in touch with Ben Heussner, Waukesha County Fisheries Biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Ben met us at the Scuppernong Springs on July 14th and reviewed our work and also described the Phase II effort to restore the Scuppernong River to its original bed, which his DNR team had just completed.

Here is a short video of the “Big Springs“, at the very start of the river, where we talked with Ben. He is referring to the Trout Unlimited group and what great partners they have been.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Here is Ben showing us the shells he collected from the old riverbed (sorry about the rotated image).

In the early 1990’s Ron Kurowski and others from the DNR created a plan to repair the damage done to the Scuppernong River from man-made dams, dikes and canals (this was a key component of the Scuppernong River Habitat Area Restoration Project). The first step was to remove the dam that created “the pond” in the wetlands where numerous springs collected to form the Scuppernong River headwaters. This was done in 1993 and Ben was there to set the river on its meandering course after the pond drained.

Phase 1 was completed in 2005 restoring 2+ miles of river to its original bed. The river is healing quite well in this area except for a barrier between the river and one of the old canals that was blown out during the floods back in 2008. Phase 2 included repairing this break and restoring the stretch of River from the end of Phase 1 to Hwy N.

Later that day I visited the Phase 2 work site. If you want to check it out, I recommend parking along Hwy N, just North of Wilton Rd. where the River passes under the road and following the river upstream. The work site below is accessed via a DNR “road” off of Wilton Rd just East of Hwy N.

There was major work done here to fill a trench connecting the river to the canal system. More details on that below.

I followed the 2-track shown below upstream looking for the 2008 “blow-out” repair work.

Along the way you can see the old canal drying up now that the breach has been repaired.

The scenery in this area is blissful… if you want some peace and quite, take this hike up the Scuppernong River.

After following the 2-track for approximately 1mile through dogwood and willow brush and open areas, I arrived at the repair site. I imagine it was pretty tough to drive the machinery back there. The stretch below is the old connection where the river was diverted into the man-made canal. Now it is filled in and the separation restored.

The view upstream from the repaired area.

Below is the edge of the fill blocking access to the old canal.

Below is where the breach in the river was repaired.

Returning back to the beginning of the Phase 2 work site, where another stretch of connecting trench between the river and the canal was filled in.

The picture below is taken from the old canal looking back at the river. That was a long ditch to fill!

The next pictures show the rest of the Phase 2 effort from the main work site above going West to Hwy N. Watch for the pool, riffle, run sequence Ben described. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures from before the work was done or during the work in progress.

You can see how carefully, they “mucked out” the river-bed.

Ben explained that the gradient change was relatively small, so they had to work carefully and measure the depth frequently. Checkout the “runs” below.

Just before Hwy N.

Thanks to Ben for meeting with us and explaining more about the Scuppernong River restoration effort. Hats off the DNR crew that accomplished the excellent work shown above in extremely hot and challenging conditions!

Another Spring Opened Up

Posted on July 8, 2012 by paulmozina

The Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail is full of treasures waiting to be discovered. Yesterday I continued cutting the Phragmites on the West side of the River just North of the second bridge ( Phragmites Invades the Springs ) and sure enough, there is a beautiful little spring there under this mat of cress and phragmites.

A couple pictures before I continued cutting the phragmites.

Below, after cutting and cleaning out the spring… This bubbler is just beyond the boardwalk that the Wisconsin Conservation Corps put in back in the 1930s so this spot was recognized long back as one of the scenic attractions of the Springs.

Below is the channel flowing out of the spring shown above toward the River. I was not able to finish clearing the channel all the way to River. We will need a shovel to finish excavating it as it has become filled with silt over the years.

On July 9th Lindsay finished opening the channel to the River.

He found another little spring shown on the left below.

Thanks Lindsay!

I finished cutting the Phragmites in this area.

Below are a few more pictures of the area around the second bridge (counting from the very first spring at the head of the valley).

Looking out from the bridge over the River that is just up the trail from the Marl Pits.

The little Oaks growing in the understory are being attacked by Leaf Minor. We are keeping an eye on this to see if it is affecting any of the mature trees.

Phragmites Invades the Springs

Posted on July 3, 2012 by paulmozina

The headwaters of the Scuppernong River are the series of springs that line the hillsides along the main valley/channel where the river begins to flow. Back in the early 1900’s entrepreneurs dammed the river and created a trout farm. This significantly disrupted the normal course of the river and flooded the little plain through which the river flowed. After the man-made dam was removed, beavers moved in and created one of their own, which helped keep the area flooded. This provided a perfect environment for Phragmites, a large perennial grass, to become established.

A few years back (I’ll have to get the exact date) the DNR removed the beaver, drained the valley, and executed a major project to restore the Scuppernong River to it’s original banks. But by this time, the many feeder springs coming off the hillsides had become choked with water cress and much of their flow was diverted into the expanding fields of Phragmites that line the river valley. The root system of the Phragmites is amazing with hollow tubes 1/2″ in diameter drawing water from the springs and river into it’s system. It creates a mono-culture effectively choking out all competitors, except cattails, which are also and issue at the Springs.

We have begun attacking the Phragmites using two strategies. We are going to try a small test plot where we grab handfuls of mature plants and cut them off a foot or two from the ground and then daub the fresh cut ends with eco-imazapyr. Alternately we are brush cutting the Phragmites now and plan to spray the new regrowth with eco-imazapyr sometime in September. Like the water cress that built up over many years to form virtual dams in the river, the Phragmites stands are comprised of many years growth. The reeds are very robust and can remain standing for years. Thus the first pass through these areas with the brush cutters will be tough. The grass is over 16′ tall and very thick. Below are some pictures of our brush cutting efforts. We hope that the combination of clearing the springs and river of water cress, which has lowered the water table in the valley by 6-8″, cutting and poisoning the Phragmites and, nature’s contribution of a hot, dry summer, will put a serious hurt on this invasive plant.

Back in the depression years, the Wisconsin Conservation Corps built a trail system with boardwalks leading to all the major spring locations along the river. We have cleared many of these paths. There are at least 2-3 springs at the end of this boardwalk shown above which have become completely overgrown with Phragmites and water cress. The river is 40 yards to the right and none of the outflow of these springs is making it there, it all feeds this huge patch of Phragmites. The spring below is right off the end of the boardwalk shown above. We plan to open up these springs and dig or clear a channel for them to flow directly into the river.

Below are shots after the second pass through this area with the brush cutter. You can see the clearing around the observation deck in the distance.

Below are some shots taken around the observation deck that overlooks a huge and beautiful set of springs. The former shop manager at the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest headquarters referred to this spot as “the Little Yellowstone”. The shot below is taken from the trail above at the Indian Campground.

There are 4-5 major patches of Phragmites in the valley and we intend to get them all cut in the next few weeks, except for our test patch, which we will poison by hand later in the season.

Water Cress Chokes Scuppernong River

Posted on June 29, 2012 by paulmozina

When I first started working at the Springs, I used to harvest the Water Cress to put in my juicer. That was before Don Dane and Tim Peters, from the DNR, explained that the cress was an invasive species and detrimental to the health of the Scuppernong River. As you can see below, it was pretty darn thick.

Don and Tim explained that the cress was slowing down the water flow allowing the water to warm up, which is not good for the native brook trout. It’s pretty tough to swim through a water cress dam! The cress caused the water level to rise and spill over the boundaries of the river bed creating more of a marsh than would normally be there.

Armed with this understanding, Lindsay and I have been pulling water cress from the river since late March and now the river is flowing fast and free again. The water level has fallen by at least 8″ and the river has settled back into its original bed. In the process we “discovered” numerous feeder springs that were also completely choked with water cress. So instead of flowing directly into the river, the water was absorbed into the hillside. Here are a few examples of feeder springs that we opened up.

We are brush cutting the phragmites and canary reed grass (invasive species) that line the river and planning strategies to eliminate them.

The goal is to restore the headwaters of the Scuppernong River to a cold, fast-flowing stream that will attract fish and create a more natural setting for native wetland plants.

The Springs!

Posted on June 17, 2012 by paulmozina

Welcome to the home of the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail. In partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Kettle Moraine Natural History Association, we began in May 2011 the process of restoring the natural area around the trail. This includes cutting, piling, poisoning and burning buckthorn, honeysuckle and various other invasive species to more fully respect the beauty of this land. We are also pulling water cress from the Scuppernong River to restore it to a cold, fast flowing stream and also to unclog all of the feeder springs so their waters will flow directly into the river instead of getting soaked up in the banks.

The Springs are the headwaters for the Scuppernong River and, per Ron Kurowski, the 40 year DNR veteran naturalist who spearheaded the Scuppernong River Habitat Restoration Area project, “It’s a World Class Site!”.