Sticking To My Weeding

Posted on August 11, 2014 by paulmozina

It’s mid-summer at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail and I’m sticking to my weeding.

The challenge of being an activist, and what caused me to take a break from that line of work and seek refuge at The Springs, lies in the fact that people make it their business not to know things, that would cause them to understand things, that would conflict with their strongly held beliefs. Before I get to my weeding, let me give you one quick example: people don’t want to know how the Twin Towers were constructed and what the laws of gravity dictate.

To do so would cause them to understand that, the only way the towers could destruct at the rate they did — free-fall acceleration — would be for something to remove the resistance of the steel frame structures.

Hmmmm… what could have done that? Who could have done it? I don’t recall NIST mentioning anything about this in their report. Come to think of it, neither did the 9/11 Commission. Never mind, I’m going to stick to my weeding…

One weed success story at The Springs is that we have kept burnweed from spreading. I spotted this aggressive invader last year and pulled all that I could find before it went to seed. The only place I’m seeing it this year is right off the trailhead in an area where we cleared buckthorn last winter.

I’ll get these pulled in the next few days.

We made significant impacts on: sow thistle, garlic mustard, Canadian fleabane, nodding thistle, bouncing bet, white campion, ragweed and others, with spotted knapweed being our biggest challenge. This past Thursday and Saturday afternoons I pulled spotted knapweed on the sand prairie. I’m not taking the time to dig the roots out now. If the stems break off while I pull them, that’s ok, at least the flowers won’t go to seed.

Before…

… and after.

I’ll probably resort to mowing the remaining knapweed flowers soon: except for the area on the south end of the prairie where I released the flower weevils (root weevils should be arriving any day now.)

I replaced or repaired a few boardwalk planks near the hotel spring bridge where forked aster are blooming…

… and over by the the no-name spring.

I’ve been seeing a great blue heron hunting in the river lately.

Thursday night was a bit sticky, and very buggy, so I sought out the wide open and relatively bug free shores of Ottawa Lake to watch the sunset.

Saturday morning I patrolled the banks of the Scuppernong River between the Scuppernong Spring and the Hotel Spring pulling sow thistle. Then I mowed the DNR 2-track access road on the south end of the property and cut pokeweed and fleabane that I missed last time.

These yellow composites on the cut-off trail are 12-15′ tall.

It was a pretty busy day at The Springs and I got a chance to play host and talk to a lot of people.

There is a lot of repetition in the scenes I shoot but I’m just trying to capture the changing seasons.

Another marl pit bridge sunset.

The perigee moon.

I went over to the boat launch on Ottawa Lake to get a better look at that moon.

Wish I’d been here as the sunset!

See you at The Springs!

Weeds “R” Us

Posted on June 28, 2014 by paulmozina

Back in the days when I used to stand on street corners passing out dvds and flyers in an attempt to get people to re-examine what really happened on 9/11, I would often hear, “Get a life”, mumbled or shouted at me. “I have a life”, I thought, in which the truth matters and starting wars based on tissues of lies is deadly serious. Nevertheless, the insults stung and dumbfounded me. Why don’t they care? Why are they choosing to remain ignorant? Is ignorance really strength?

Although no one that passes by as I cut and burn garlic mustard, or pull and dig weeds on the sand prairie, says “get a life”, I wonder sometimes if it is the best use of my time. Maybe I should be trying to make some money? And, isn’t the definition of what is, or is not, a weed, a bit arbitrary?

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hope you don’t mind me baring my soul like this. I’m volunteering my time — spending my spiritual currency — working at The Springs, and trying, one weed at a time, to make the world a more beautiful place.

Since meeting Jason Dare on the trail last summer, I’ve adopted the approach of following the phenology of the weeds and timing my efforts accordingly; it feels like playing Whac-A-Mole. There are so many weeds out there, and so little time, and I’m just one Buckthorn Man!

Paradoxically, I really enjoyed working on the daunting task of eradicating the invasive, non-native plants, infesting The Springs this past week. I can see the progress being made and I got help from Andy Buchta and Ben Johnson, which was great.

On Tuesday, June 24, I pulled into the DNR 2-track on the south end of the property, and found someone hard at work grinding up the slash from the black locust trees that were recently harvested there. They did the same on the north end of the property last week. Thanks to Paul Sandgren, the Superintendent of the Kettle Moraine State Forest — Southern Unit, for making it happen; this is a huge improvement to the Scuppernong Springs Nature Preserve.

I re-girdled some of the aspen trees just west of the Indian Springs and, hopefully, that clone will shrivel and die. Then I pulled the flowering seed heads from smooth hawkweed and annual hawksbeard. Unfortunately, the sand prairie is threaded with poison ivy, and I got another dose of it on my ankles and legs.

I mentioned last week that I did a little engineering at the Indian Springs, removing a dense mass of peat/clay that was blocking the channel and creating a little dam. Here is how it looks now.

When the stream bed settles down into its new profile, we’ll transplant some native plants to replace the quack grass and watercress that previously flourished here.

The late afternoon was spent pulling and digging spotted knapweed. I contacted the Weedbusters and got in the queue for batches of root and flower weevils, which should be available by early August. The Kettle Moraine Natural History Association is going to cover the costs!

I’ve been watching the area around the deck at the Emerald Springs for signs of life; it’s been a dead zone since I sprayed imazapyr there last year. It looks like some brave grasses and sedges are finally starting to return. I’m really glad I stopped spraying herbicide at The Springs.

I missed the summer solstice sunset, but this is pretty close.

On Thursday, June 26, I was back at it and, while I worked on the south end of the property, Andy Buchta was piling buckthorn near the main parking lot on Hwy ZZ. Thanks Andy!

I girdled a clone of little aspen that was spreading down the hillside in the vicinity of the Hidden Springs. The mature aspen trees in this clonal colony were girdled last year, and its important to close the deal and get the little ones too. The rest of the day was a repeat of Tuesday, only this time Ben Johnson joined me to pull and dig spotted knapweed. We got a ton of it.

The highlight of the day was harvesting lupine seeds from the west facing slope of the sand prairie and sowing them along the trail above. It will be sweet indeed if we can spread lupine across the sand prairie.

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!

The Tibby Line

Posted on September 12, 2013 by paulmozina

Storms clouded the skies and my mind as I arrived early September 11th at The Springs.

I was reminded of the fact that, although September 11, 2001 was a bright, sunny, day in the city, hurricane Erin, a category 3 hurricane, passed by just offshore as the towers disintegrated.

There is a lot we know — or choose not to know — about what really happened on 9/11. Don Rumsfeld explained the conundrum: “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.” Now juxtapose that with the words of the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard: “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” So long as the majority of people choose to remain ignorant, i.e. to not ask who, what, where and when, examine the facts and remove the contradictions, regarding the events of September 11, 2001, the crime of the century, we will continue down the path of endless war that we are on.

I found solace for my breaking heart and worried mind at The Springs yesterday. My first stop was the drainage ditch along the trail near signpost #1 in which a curtain of cattails had risen up to obstruct the view into the Scuppernong Prairie.

And after…

White turtlehead is a new plant for me (thanks for the ID John).

Water Smartweed (Polygonum amphibium). I found it in the meadow in front of signpost #1. Thanks to Amanda Prange for identifying it!

This great plains ladies-tresses is near the marl pit bridge.

On my way to the marl pit area I noticed that someone had made off with two of the original rails from the Dousman Marlboro & Southern railroad at signpost #2. Robert Duerwachter, the author of THE PONDS OF THE SCUPPERNONG, also wrote a fine history of this railroad called The Tibby Line, which you can find at the bookstore at the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest headquarters. John Hrobar noticed last week that one of the rails had been loosened and he suggested that I try to secure it before it got stolen. Sorry John. You can sum up all of Natural Law in one statement: Do Not Steal!

The area between the gaging station bridge #5 and the marl pit bridge #4 is another meadow that is being invaded by cattails, phragmities, purple loosestrife and reed canarygrass. Here is a look before I got after it with the hedge cutter.

And after…

Then I went to a cranberry bog along the cutoff trail to finish piling some buckthorn that I cut last spring. My to-do list is clear now and I’m looking forward to getting back to Buckthorn Alley. I had a little time at the end of the day to dig spotted knapweed on the sand prairie.

Relaxing at the marl pit bridge.

Another sweet sunset.

See you at The Springs!

Scuppernong Summer

Posted on September 7, 2013 by paulmozina

Usually you’ll find me in the mountains this time of year, when they are gentle and uncrowded. This year I’m looking forward to experiencing the waning days of summer right here at home — at the Scuppernong Springs.

I’m taking liberties at The Springs including attempting to transition the cattail and phragmities dominated marshes that border the river into wet meadows, which will encompass a wider diversity of flora and fauna. The upper meadows (shown in blue below) are along the river valley upstream of the sawmill site #12 and the lower meadows (in red) are downstream from there to the gaging station bridge #5.

The upper meadows

It was a beautiful summer day at The Springs yesterday and I got started with a project that has been on my mind for some time i.e., re-girdling the black locust trees on the south end of the loop trail. Some years ago the DNR hired a person to girdle the trees in this area and they did approximately 200 of them before committing suicide (he did not mention the black locust trees being a motivating factor in his last note). Unlike this unhappy forester, many of the trees survived despite being deeply wounded. I re-girdled around 40 trees and added a new girdle to another 20 or so.

There is a vernal pool inside the south end of the loop trail just below the trees shown in the beginning of the video above that was filling in with phragmities, reed canarygrass and Japanese knotweed and I spent some time with the hedge trimmer cutting the flowering seed heads from these invasive plants. Then I headed over to the west edge of the lower meadows at the gaging station bridge to cut some cattails. Below are before and after videos, and again, I was able to cut above most of the flowering heads of the aster, golden rod and joe pye weed.

I almost finished before the hedge trimmer jammed. Then I headed up to the south end of the sand prairie and dug out spotted knapweed for a couple hours and finally finished the day pulling Japanese knotweed on the hillside just south of the Indian Springs. It was a great day to stop and enjoy the sky, the breeze and the summer flowers that are approaching their peak color.

Another Scuppernong Sunset

See you at The Springs!

Spring Meditations

Posted on September 4, 2013 by paulmozina

I spent another blissful day at The Springs yesterday contemplating the age old question: “Why am I here?” It’s the labor of love, and I know who to thank. Imitating Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations:

From my grandfather Verus I learned good morals and the government of my temper.
From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly character.
From my mother, piety and beneficence, and abstinence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, simplicity in my way of living, far removed from the habits of the rich.
From my great-grandfather, not to have frequented public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, and to know that on such things a man should spend liberally.

From Mike and Yvonne Fort (Friends of Lapham Peak), I learned what a labor of love is, and that has made all the difference.

I’ll never forget the time, almost 20 years ago, I was wandering the trails behind the Ice Age Trail Alliance storage barn at Lapham Peak, modestly intoxicated, playing The Battle of Evermore on Pati’s mandolin, when I saw Mike and Yvonne pulling sweet clover from a prairie they were restoring. As Lau Tzu said, “The longest journey begins with a single step”, and their vision, manifest in the prairies and oak woodlands of Lapham Peak State Park, inspired me to take the first step in discovering my own labor of love.

One last thought from Marcus Aurelius — who was probably one of the most powerful men to have ever walked the face of the earth — I heard from John Taylor Gatto in The Ultimate History Lesson: “Nothing you can buy with your money is worth having, and no one you can boss around with your power is worth associating with.”

It was a misty morning and I lingered at the Hotel Spring before heading up the trail, past the old barn site, to meet a fallen red oak or two. Keeping a trail clear can be challenging and is always gratifying.

This one wasn’t blocking the trail yet, and, since I was all geared up for it, I took it out too.

On my way back to the truck I passed by the bend in the river across from the old barn site and decided to cut the cattails in this area too, given the excellent results we see in the “upper meadows“.

Before and after video perspectives below.

Then I headed over to the Indian Springs to tangle with Japanese Knotweed, which, per Don Dane, is growing like crazy all over the Kettle Moraine State Forest Southern Unit.

I see the wisdom in Jason Dare‘s advice to focus on herbaceous weeds for as long in the growing season as makes sense. I’ll be pulling Japanese Knotweed for another week at least and this is one that I definitely need to learn how to identify in the early spring when it first appears.

It was a cool evening and I was glad to leave the bug net in my pocket.

Sand Prairie Sunset

Marl Pit Bridge Reprise

See you at The Springs!

Spring Labor Days

Posted on September 2, 2013 by paulmozina

Thanks again for checking out my work at The Springs via these posts! Paradoxically, it’s serious play, entertaining study and effortless labor. I’m so lucky!

Yesterday was the first of September and I had loads off my mind as I drove out to the Kettle Moraine State Forest. I was looking forward to meeting a carpenter, Bryan Menning and trail boss, Don Dane to review some construction projects we have in mind for The Springs. The Kettle Moraine Natural History Association has generously offered to fund:

2 new observation decks overlooking springs on the east side of the river
A new observation deck and bench at the Indian Spring
A new bridge near the marl pit factory that would cross a drainage ditch and connect the main loop trail with the recently reopened cutoff trail
A short boardwalk spanning a ditch that drains an old cranberry bog along the cutoff trail

The sites are marked with blue numbers on the map below.

I began the day in chest waders pulling watercress near the Emerald Spring observation deck and a few other places where it was especially thick. Then I headed over to the marl pit area to pull weeds including: Canada Fleabane, American Burnweed, Common Ragweed and Queen Anne’s Lace. I’ve seen fleabane and burnweed dominate the disturbed areas I cleared at the Hartland Marsh and I don’t want to see that happen at The Springs. Common ragweed has some redeeming qualities that I just became aware of via the link above; I’ll have to reconsider pulling it.

Views from the marl pit bridge

American Burnweed at the marl pit factory

I ran into John and Sue Hrobar on the sand prairie and John shared his perspective that, by cutting down weeds like canada fleabane and brush cutting red oak, buckthorn, cherry re-sprouts and other woody brush on the prairie, I’m reducing the amount of organic material produced and thus the amount of fuel accumulating for the next prescribed burn. In the case of the woody brush, that makes sense to me, but I’ve seen how quickly and thoroughly weeds like canada fleabane can dominate disturbed areas, so I’m hesitant to let them go to seed.

Sue captured these incredible pictures of a northern water snake with a grass pickerel in a death grip. I wonder how it turned out!

After pulling weeds down by the Indian Spring for a while, I met Bryan and Don over by the DNR parking area above the Hotel Springs. I’ve been trying for months to find someone with the skill and inclination to build the projects we have in mind and I’m confident that we have the right person. Bryan lives in the neighborhood, knows The Springs very well, and he just completed rebuilding a bridge over the Bark River on the Glacial Drumlin Trail for the DNR.

2 new observation decks overlooking springs on the east side of the river (note the sign with #9 and Emerald Spring has been moved to the boardwalk that leads to the Emerald Spring. #9, described in the Trail Brochure, is the Old Fish Hatchery, so we need two separate signs for these locations.)

A new observation deck and bench at the Indian Spring

A new bridge near the marl pit factory that would cross a drainage ditch and connect the main loop trail with the recently reopened cutoff trail

A short boardwalk spanning a ditch that drains an old cranberry bog along the cutoff trail

Thanks again to Ron Kurowski, from the Kettle Moraine Natural History Association, and Don Dane for being instrumental in the progress of this effort! We’re looking forward to reviewing Bryan’s proposals!

A brief shower blew in from the northwest and, from the looks of these clouds and the distant thunder, we could have had a real storm.

Big Sky Country at the marl pit bridge.

See you at The Springs!

The Great Work

Posted on August 19, 2013 by paulmozina

What is truth? Mark Passio says it is: “That which is; that which has actually undergone the actuality of occurring.” To know and understand the truth and communicate it with others is one definition of The Great Work. I have benefited tremendously in my personal quest to know the truth from studying the work of Mark Passio, at What On Earth Is Happening, and Richard Grove, at Tragedy and Hope and the Peace Revolution Podcast. Mark introduced me to the principles of Natural Law and explained the true difference between right and wrong. Richard reintroduced me to philosophy, the love of wisdom, and showed me how to apply critical thinking in my daily life. So I was very excited to consume the fruits of their collaboration via this wide ranging discussion, where they intersect their respective life’s work and boil it down to the essence: The Great Work. Hear them out, you won’t be disappointed.

Meanwhile, last Saturday, back at The Springs, I continued to pursue my modest version of The Great Work pulling and slashing weeds on the Sand Prairie. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and I think my immune system is getting the upper hand on borrelia burgdorferi.

Blazing star on the sand prairie.

Purple lovegrass.

Melanie and Tara arrived just as I was starting to pull spotted knapweed.

They were joined shortly thereafter by Jim, who was carrying a new sign post for the Indian Spring. I was so busy the rest of the day, I never got a chance to checkout the final touches they made to the new set of trail signs.

I pulled spotted knapweed for a couple hours and moved on to the purple nightshade that is overrunning the hillside on the south end of the loop trail. The DNR 2-track access road that merges with the trail there was getting pretty overgrown, so I “mowed” it with the brush cutter and then spent the afternoon cutting weeds on the west edge of the sand prairie.

I’m trying to keep a huge batch of weed seeds from maturing and being blown up onto the sand prairie.

I’m still thinking about the fate of the Scuppernong River where it crosses Hwy 106, a bit north and west of Palmyra, and I went there to get a water sample for Doctor’s Data Inc. to perform a heavy metals analysis on. I already have the results from the Scuppernong Spring and there are no detectable traces of any heavy metals at the source of the Scuppernong River.

I parked at the boat launch at the Prince’s Point Wildlife Area, put my chest waders on, and walked upstream crossing the first two drainage ditches from Steel Brook, and continuing past the confluence of the Bark River, which was very hard to identify from the south bank of the Scuppernong.

I stopped on the way home to enjoy the sunset.

See you at The Springs!

The Right Seed

Posted on August 11, 2013 by paulmozina

I’m still absorbing the wonder-full wisdom Atina Diffley eloquently expressed in Turn Here Sweet Corn; I’m definitely going to have to read it again. She tells beautiful stories about miracles manifest in the life cycle of seeds, and the imperative of planting the right seeds. Every seed planted at Gardens of Eagan has a story and was planted with attention in just the right soil, location and time. Getting and preserving the right seed is an art, one that our good friend Rich Csavoy has been practicing while feeding his family from their organic garden for over 30 years.

I raised the question about how we wanted to approach reintroducing native sand prairie plants and now the importance of the seed we use is much clearer to me. Don Dane said they did not have any appropriate seeds gathered at the time and that only locally harvested seeds could be used. I’m looking forward to seed collecting adventures with Don and Amanda! In the meantime, we’ll let the native plants that are thriving on the sand prairie contribute their seed. We do need to review whether or not the native plants we currently find there are simply highly adaptable, opportunistic plants, from a different ecosystem, or, are they the right seed for a sand prairie. Any botanists out there?

My Lymes test came back positive showing active antibodies fighting a current borrelia burgdorferi invasion. I can feel it in my head and body and am pursuing a remedy in earnest. The sunshine, fresh air and water at The Springs provided some relief and I was chomp’in at the bit yesterday to try Don Dane’s idea to use a hedge cutter to remove the cattail and phragmites seed heads before they mature. After the ponds were drained, invasive cattails and phragmites began to dominate the valley along the Scuppernong River headwaters.

The hedge cutter was like a hot knife through butter and, just like when brush cutting the sand prairie, slowly “hedging” the valley gave me a perfect opportunity to look closely and carefully at the land. I’m encouraged by the variety of native plants, like joe pye weed, goldenrod and blue vervain trying to make it just below the canopy of cattail and phragmites; their blooming flowers will become very evident in the next few weeks.

Now, I just need to learn how to keep the hedge cutter sharp!

I’m looking forward to getting my truck back tomorrow and thank Pati for letting me use her Subaru Outback.

See you at The Springs!

Fish Count

Posted on August 9, 2013 by paulmozina

Hello, welcome to The Springs!

I feel so much better about my work at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Preserve since making the commitment to go organic. One barometer of healthy human consciousness is whether or not your thoughts, emotions and actions are in unity. The cognitive dissonance I was feeling about using poisons in the restoration effort is gone now and my thoughts, emotions and actions are unified in a renewed commitment to take care of the land; naturally.
Yesterday, it was my great pleasure to participate with a dedicated team of Wisconsin DNR Water Resource specialists as they conducted their annual fish count of the Scuppernong River. Fish Count in that they are viewed as key indicators of the quality of the water, the health of an ecosystem and even global climate change. We made significant changes to the Scuppernong River headwaters and valley last year by removing water cress dams, which freed the river’s flow lowering its depth 4-6″, and cleaning out springs to allow the water to join the river more directly. In theory (because I don’t have any data to prove it) these efforts should have reduced the “thermal pollution”, i.e. the temperature increase caused as the water warmed while slowly filtering through dense mats of water cress, which is a good thing because native brook trout like cold water. The downside is that we reduced a source of food and cover (water cress) and we disturbed a lot of muck. Did we inadvertently tip a delicately balanced system out of favor for the brook trout? I’ve been waiting for this year’s fish count with nervous anticipation since we heard about it from Craig Helker last November.

Meet Craig, Rachel, Adam and Chelsea.

Craig and Rachel explain the fish count.

And Adam provides the safety explanation.

That was on Tuesday, August 6, and unfortunately, there were problems with the equipment that could not be resolved and we had to reschedule for Thursday. I’m waiting for the crew at the gaging station bridge and here they come.

We reviewed what the problem was on Tuesday (a faulty probe) and I got a more detailed explanation of the system. The generator in the white boat creates the electrical current that flows from a plate on the bottom of the boat, which acts the cathode, to the probes held by the shockers, which act as anodes (I mix this all up in the videos) creating an electrical field. There is a separate system, powered by a battery, that shuts the current off if either of the shockers looses control of their probe. The current flow is also stopped if a probe stops working for some reason, which did happen again on Thursday, but this time the team was prepared and simply reverted to using only one probe.

Here is my first attempt to use iMovie to string a couple videos together showing our shocking actions. Note that Shelly, also from WDNR Water Resource team, has joined us.

We finished at the Hotel Spring and they setup buckets and began sorting the fish.

Adam, Craig and Rachel measure and count the fish.

Chelsea gives us a close up look at four of the eight different fish species that were collected.

And Rachel delivers the final tallies.

I got 2010 – 2012 data from Craig. Let’s see how we’re doing (note that we may have also impacted the 2012 numbers since we began our work that spring).

2010

Mottled Sculpin – 240
Brook Stickleback – 59
Central Mudminnow – 69
Fantail Darter – 2
Brook Trout – 121

2011

Mottled Sculpin – 169
Brook Stickleback – 25
Central Mudminnow – 72
Fantail Darter – 10
Brook Trout – 213
Green Sunfish – 1
Johnny Darter –2
Grass Pickerel – 1

2012

Mottled Sculpin – 211
Brook Stickleback – 11
Central Mudminnow – 15
Fantail Darter – 8
Brook Trout – 92
Green Sunfish – 1
Johnny Darter – 1

2013

Mottled Sculpin – 86
Brook Stickleback – 1
Central Mudminnow – 5
Fantail Darter – 9
Brook Trout – 66
Green Sunfish – 1
Grass Pickerels – 4
Northern Pike – 3

The numbers are definitely down from previous years and I wonder if the appearance of Northern Pike is significant. There are a lot of variables that could affect the number of fish collected, including the changes we made to the river last year, but I don’t know if we can go beyond speculation to identify specific cause and effect relationships. We are assuming that removing as much water cress as we did last year did reduce the food and cover that brook trout need, and hence we are letting it grow this year, but not to the extent that it forms dams like it used to. We did collect some “young of the year” brook trout, which indicate that they are still spawning in this area of the river.

Anne Korman, Assistant Superintendent of the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest stopped over to say hello and take this picture of the crew (Craig, Paul, Chelsea, Rachel, Shelly and Adam).

I managed to pull a few weeds yesterday before meeting the DNR team. I got this queen anne’s lace along the first bridge over the river downstream from the Scuppernong Spring.

And some of this purple nightshade on the south end of the loop trail

Rachel showed me this chara plant, which is the source of the calcium carbonate that forms into marl.

I spent the rest of the afternoon pulling spotted knapweed, common ragweed and hoary alysum on the sand prairie, which is poised for an explosion of color from rough blazing star, golden rod and many other flowers. Come and see the prairie!

Summer is flying by and you no longer have to walk way out along the marl pit channel to see the sun going down. I got these pictures from the marl pit bridge.