Frog Celebration

Posted on April 22, 2013 by paulmozina

Welcome back to The Springs! I was lucky and fortunate to spend both this past Saturday and Sunday at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail. I don’t know if the health benefits derived from the fresh air, sunshine and cold spring water can be objectively measured, but by the end of the day yesterday, I was in a blissful state.

Rich Csavoy joined me bright and early yesterday morning and we loaded up our backpack sprayers and got after the garlic mustard in the area around the old barn site. Rich showed me what the seeds look like when they first emerge and we tried to hit some of these, which literally formed a carpet in some areas. The DNR intends to burn here if conditions permit, but “the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray”, and we are not assuming this will happen. We also sprayed some spotted knapweed on the Sand Prairie that covers the Indian Campground.

After spraying we commenced girdling aspen trees at the old barn site. I refer to them as “clones” in the video below, but the correct term is clonal colony.

We are refining our techniques but this type of hand work is laborious. This is my first attempt at girdling aspen in this way, without using poison, and I want to give it a fair shot. I must confess though that the prospect of girdling the clonal colony of huge aspen at the old hotel site by hand is a little daunting. When I was working at the Hartland Marsh, I used my chainsaw to girdle a clonal colony of 40-50 huge aspen and I sprayed some glyphosate into the cuts. This worked perfectly and to this day there is nary an aspen in sight. I’m inclined to use the same approach at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail except for switching from Glyphosate to Transline, which the DNR uses for black locust, which spreads by putting out suckers from it’s roots . We’ll see how it goes.

After dispatching that clonal colony of aspen, we grabbed some heavy duty garbage bags and picked up litter on both sides of Hwy 67 south of where east-bound Hwy ZZ leaves Hwy 67. I had noticed a lot of trash when I was spraying garlic mustard along the highway on Saturday. This was a good opportunity to get some nice views of the springs and river.

Finally, Rich loaded his van with cherry, oak and buckthorn firewood and I headed over to the cut-off trail with my chainsaw. Here is a view of the area from across the river at the old hotel site. You can see a swath of buckthorn amongst a large sugar maple tree.

I was chomp’in at the bit to finish this last stretch of buckthorn between the cut-off trail and the river and slashed and flailed with impassioned vigor. Three tankfuls later…

The view across the freshly cut area from the cut-off trail.

And the view from the old hotel site.

By the time I loaded my gear back in the truck and began my ritual walking tour, I was very relaxed. The Marl Pit bridge is one of my favorite places to hang out. In the summer, I always take a bath here in the river and do a little yoga to relieve any muscle stress. Here is panorama video from that location.

The highlight of the day however was the sound of the frogs; a veritable din! Listen to the Spring Peepers and Western Chorus frogs in this video.

The frogs are very active in the wetlands and old cranberry bogs along the cut-off trail. Last spring it was so dry, there was barely a peep from the frogs. Check them out if you get a chance.

The Indian Spring.

Sunset at Ottawa Lake.

See you at The Springs!

Pile on many more layers

Posted on April 14, 2013 by paulmozina

Welcome back to The Springs! Yesterday, Saturday, April 13, I was joined by a group of volunteers organized by DNR Visitor Services Associate Amanda Prange. We started the day with a walk around the springs looking for places to install Warbler houses that the volunteers, including Rich Csavoy, made. It was a great feeling to share the appreciation I have for the Scuppernong Springs with other like minded souls. DNR Ranger Elias Wilson and Amanda settled on this spot under a weeping willow by the Hotel Springs.

Roberta “Berta” and Amanda.

We continued our walk around the springs but did not find another suitable location. Warblers need lots of space! Then we headed over to the cut-off trail and were joined by Amanda’s boyfriend Justin, and his mother Beth, and we began piling brush.

I was amazed that we made 13 piles in a little over an hour!

Here is the crew from left to right Beth, Amanda, Justin, Berta and Elias.

In the afternoon I relocated to the area just north of the old barn site to continue cutting buckthorn around the perimeter of another spring that is at the base of the slope below Hwy 67. This one needs a good cleaning out, which we plan to do once the weather warms up. Here are a few shots of the area before I began cutting.

Three tanks of gas later.

Here is the view of the old barn site as seen from the bridge over the Scuppernong River at #5 on the trail map, where the stream gaging station is.

The sun made a few brief appearances that were much appreciated, one of which occurred as I was passing the Hatching House Springs.

I can’t wait for warm, sunny, green days to arrive.

See you at The Springs!

Let it Rain

Posted on April 12, 2013 by paulmozina

“Let it rain, let your love rain down on me.” It’s been a long time since we had a good soaking rain! “Only love, can make it rain”; the love of The Creator that is. As of February 2013, we’re still in a moderate drought in Southeast Wisconsin and the recent rains are much appreciated. I caught a break from the showers today and cut 8 cubits of buckthorn just north of the old barn site.

The Kettle Moraine Natural History Association is holding its annual meeting at 10am, Saturday, May 4, 2013 at the Kettle Moraine State Forest-Southern Unit Headquarters, located 3 miles west of Eagle on Hwy 59.

DNR Fisheries Biologist, Ben Heussner, will present a program on “Fishes of the Mukwonago River.” Learn about the tremendous diversity of fish that can be found there and what is being done to preserve this fishery,

The DNR is stocking Wisconsin waters with trout. Here is the statewide report. Zeroing in on the Scuppernong River watershed we see:

Waukesha Ottawa Lake RAINBOW TROUT 1071
Waukesha PARADISE SPRINGS CREEK BROOK TROUT 125
Waukesha Paradise Springs Headwater Pond RAINBOW TROUT 250
Waukesha Paradise Springs Headwater Pond BROOK TROUT 200
Waukesha SOUTH BRANCH SCUPPERNONG RIVER BROOK TROUT 83

Hopefully some of these trout will venture over to the Scuppernong Springs. I have not seen any trout in the river since last fall. John Hrobar suspects that all the disturbances to the river in the past year have chased the trout away. Say it ain’t so John!

I dallied this morning waiting for the rain to stop and tested out one of my new aspen tree girdling tools. The bark came off better than last time, but I think it will get even easier in the next few weeks. This one took 10-15 minutes.

I visited the stream gaging station and uploaded .33 to Crowd Hydrology site. You can see the correlations with the USGS data.

The rain let up and I wheeled my gear along Hwy 67 to the work-site, just north of the old barn ruins.

It was a fine day to cut buckthorn!

The rain returned as I was loading up my gear, but I still enjoyed a walk around the nature trail.

There is an interesting pond of primordial ooze by the Hatching House Springs.

The garlic mustard, catnip and spotted knapweed are starting to show some green. Skunk cabbage and marsh marigolds are coming up too but it’s still mostly dormant. Hopefully the DNR will get a chance to burn the Scuppernong Springs Nature Preserve this spring; it is definitely on the agenda.

See you at The Springs!

Scuppernong Spring House

Posted on April 3, 2013 by paulmozina

The headwaters of the Scuppernong River were coveted by early settlers to harness as an economic engine. Chester Smith built a saw mill there around 1847 and Curtis Mann and Talbot Dousman created THE PONDS OF THE SCUPPERNONG for their trout farm and built a cheese factory in 1870 at the site of Chester’s mill. As the reputation of ponds, trout and serene location grew, so did the number and frequency of visitors, prompting Mann and Dousman to convert the cheese factory into a hotel, which they called the Scuppernong Spring House. You can read all about it in Robert Duerwachter’s great book, THE PONDS OF THE SCUPPERNONG where he explains “The Last relic of the Scuppernong Ponds, the building which at one time had been a saw mill, a cheese factory, a hotel, a restaurant, and a club house, was destroyed by fire on August 21, 1972, the work of an arsonist.”

Looking south from the site of the Scuppernong Spring House.

Since the fire, the hotel site has been colonized by huge aspen trees and buckthorn. There are some very fine oak and hickory trees on the slopes above the site and these too were under assault from buckthorn. Here is a view of the area as seen from Hwy 67.

Down at the hotel site there was a buckthorn thicket laced with huge fallen aspen and cedar trees; a lot more work than I thought!

I took my time with this mess and when I finished the 6th tank of gas it was almost 4:00pm.

A strolling tour.

Revisiting the view from Hwy 67.

A close up study of the gnarly oak.

I enjoyed a nice walk around the trails and stopped at the stream gaging station to upload .30 to the Crowd Hydrology site. The sunset was beckoning, but I was tired and a little chilled so I headed for home back in Milwaukee.

See you at the Springs!

WDNR Awarded $75,000 NAWCA Grant

Posted on March 30, 2013 by paulmozina

There was quite a buzz at the South Kettle Moraine State Forest Headquarters as news of the $75,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act award echoed in the surrounding oaks. Phase IV of the Scuppernong River Habitat Area restoration effort will proceed full speed ahead thanks to the efforts of Project Officer Matt Zine and Grant Preparer Dave Hoffman, who did an excellent job on his first grant proposal. The majority of the $75,000 matching funds required to secure the grant is being provided by the Kettle Moraine Natural History Association. Our volunteer efforts are as good as gold and will also be used to help make the match.

The NAWCA grant represents another step in the leadership transition at forest headquarters as they try to do the impossible and fill Ron Kurowski’s shoes. Dave Hoffman was a limited term employee when I ran into him at the Scuppernong Springs last October and since then he has accepted a full-time position as an Wildlife Technician (Advanced) working for the Bureau of Endangered Resources in the Southern Unit. He is back “home” in Eagle and couldn’t be happier. I think he deserves a raise!

Here are a couple pictures of the north and south sections of the Scuppernong River Habitat Area showing the work described for Phase IV in the grant proposal.

We share the “buzz” with the DNR staff and look forward to seeing the Phase IV goals realized!

Meanwhile, back at “The Springs”, there is plenty of buckthorn that needs cutting. There are a couple of gaffes in the narrative below: Robert Duerwachter wrote THE PONDS OF THE SCUPPERNONG (not William!); and no, this was not the last of the buckthorn that needs to be cut.

Lindsay and I cut a heap of buckthorn and Pati helped pile the brush.

Later, Pati and I took a dreamy walk visiting all the springs.

The cut-off trail has some wet spots so be prepared if you want to take that path. Hopefully, the DNR will be able to make improvements to complete the resurrection of the “lost trail“.

See you at the Springs!

West End Story

Posted on March 14, 2013 by paulmozina

Winter is definitely the most challenging time of the year to work out at the Springs. It has its advantages as well, enabling access to normally wet areas and the opportunity to burn brush piles; we’ve lit 284 so far this season. Between burning piles, we’ve been focused on opening up the cut-off trail, which had been obliterated by flooding and overgrown with a buckthorn thicket.

Don Dane helped us with the first step to restore the trail by marking the route, which you can see on the map above. Then we cleared the buckthron path moving from east to west eventually re-establishing the trail. All the while we were struck by the beauty and majesty of the huge oak trees and the lovely view of the Scuppernong River, both of which were still obscured by thickets of buckthorn overlaid by fallen trees.

The next step was to expand the views from the trail; first to the south to show off the river, and then to the north to reveal the huge oaks. I worked this past Monday and Wednesday (yesterday) and finished clearing the west end of the cut-off trail between the trail and the river. A couple of huge oaks laid down amongst the buckthorn thicket complicating the clearing, which is done now except for the piling and burning. I also cut some on the north side of the trail to open up the perimeter of an old cranberry bog. We are negotiating with a local prison to get inmates to come out and help us pile brush. I hope it works out. Imagine being incarcerated and getting the opportunity to spend the day at the Scuppernong Springs!

Here is a before video of the work-site taken this past Monday, March 11th.

I had to switch to my rubber knee high boots to wade through the slush, but I got a lot cut on Monday.

Hanging out at the bridge later.

The weather was much nicer on yesterday, bright sun and blue skies, as I made the last cuts on the west end of the trail.

The view after.

Here are a couple pics of the brush that was laid down.

And the oaks along the trail.

In the afternoon I relocated to approximately the mid-point of the cut-off trail to continue clearing the perimeter of an old cranberry bog on the north side of trail, which is surrounded by huge oaks.

There is nothing quite so edifying as clearing buckthorn to reveal giant oak trees. It gives me great joy; my work is play.

Later, I meditated by the river and spent some quality time strolling the trails in contemplation waiting for the sun to set. Here are the Hidden Spring, Scuppernong Spring and Indian Spring.

Sunset at the Indian Campground.

See you at the Springs!

Om is the Bow

Posted on March 7, 2013 by paulmozina

…the soul is the arrow, and Brahma is the target. I listened to Siddharta, by Hermann Hesse, recently and it really warmed my heart. In his quest for enlightenment, Siddharta learns to wait, and fast, and think but it is not until Vasudeva, the ferryman, teaches him to listen to the river, that he finds it. I thought of that today and spent some time in the late afternoon meditating and listening to the Scuppernong River… Ooooooommmmmmmmm.

The sand hill cranes are back at The Springs along with migrating geese and ducks. I felt like I was intruding when I showed up this morning with my gear and flushed them from the comfort of the river.

This buckthorn along the trail has got to go!

Anne, from Waterville, and her friend Terri (or Terry) arrived around mid-day clad in snowshoes to explore the newly opened cut-off trail. Later, Dan and Lou Ann Brown, who hike often at the Hartland Marsh, emerged from the cut-off trail after their first passage. The’ve been coming to the Springs for over 30 years and really like the new look.

After a good days work, the buckthorn is almost all cleared in the area between the cut-off trail and the river on the west end of the trail.

I took some time to relax and listen to the river in the late afternoon.

Sunset at the Indian Springs.

See you at the Springs!

Parry Road Spring

Posted on March 2, 2013 by paulmozina

It was a quiet and peaceful winter’s day at the Scuppernong Springs except for the bluebirds, robins and geese noisily reminding me that spring is around the corner. I stopped at the Parry Rd. Spring on the way out to fill our collection of 5-gallon jugs. We have been drinking this fluoride and chlorine free spring water at home for over 12 years and it sure beats Milwaukee tap water! I had the water tested in September 2011 just to be sure and it passed with flying colors.

Its been snowing a lot lately and it was nice to see the sun again. I took this video at the marl pit bridge before heading to the work-site on the cut-off trail.

We are making great progress clearing the buckthorn between the cut-off trail and the river. I’m focusing on the west end of the trail now so we can be out of this area before the sand hill cranes start nesting by the marl pits.

I didn’t see a soul while I was working and I really enjoyed the peace and solitude. Here is what it looked like after I finished cutting.

After loading my gear in the truck, I took a very relaxed stroll on the Nature Trail. Here are a couple shots from the bridge over the Scuppernong River at #5 on the map.

One of my favorite views is from the old hotel site.

The robins and bluebirds find lots to eat in the spongy moss at the springs we recently cleared at the site of the old hatching house.

This is the Hidden Spring’s channel.

I never miss a chance to watch the sun go down.

See you at the Springs!

McKeawn Spring

Posted on February 24, 2013 by paulmozina

McKeawn Springs flashes by pretty quickly as we speed along to where ever we’re going on Hwy 67. It is located halfway between Piper Rd and Road X just a bit south of the Scuppernong Springs. Until recently, I didn’t know this spring had a name, but after I documented our encounter with the intersection of the channel that flows from McKeawn Spring and the Scuppernong River, Mike Kuhr, from the South East Wisconsin Trout Unlimited group, provided the missing moniker.

As I was cutting buckthorn on the cut-off trail this morning, I thought today is the day I slow down, get out of my car, and take a closer look at the McKeawn Spring. But first, there was a little work to do…

I had the pleasure of meeting Anne, from Waterville, and Steve, from Milwaukee, while taking breaks to refuel with cookies and gas. I really do like to “See you at the Springs!” Pati arrived just as I was finishing the 6th tank of gas and I told her about my idea to follow the outflow of McKeawn Spring to where it joins the Scuppernong River. She was all over that.

Pati dragged my sled back to the truck and we loaded the gear and drove over to McKeawn Spring.

This is a perfect time of the year to explore wetlands and we walked right down the channel avoiding all of the brush. I took this video about half way to the Scuppernong River junction.

When we got to the river we were greeted by a Sand Hill Crane, our first sighting of the season.

We followed the Scuppernong River back to the marl pit bridge.

As if this wasn’t all too exciting, we heard the whir of a distant chainsaw when we got to marl pits and guessed that someone might be harvesting firewood down on the south end of the loop trail. We hastened to the sound of axe on wood and found our new friend Carl Baumann hard at work on a huge red oak that had recently fallen.

We had to leave Carl to his labors to catch the sunset and moonrise.

See you at the Springs!

A Child of Nature

Posted on February 17, 2013 by paulmozina

Steve Brasch grew up at the Scuppernong Springs. His mother used to drop him off there with his friends in the morning with a promise to pick them up for supper. All day they ran wild; building forts, floating on rafts in the ponds, catching creatures, running, hiding, looking, simply being in the woods. He never lost his love of nature and, armed with a degree, he pursued a career in forestry. Those were the Reagan years and budgets were tight; Steve had to make some tough decisions and leave the forest behind.

Over the years Steve found opportunities to volunteer with many organizations working on land restoration and his passion for the outdoors never flagged. He moved into the Scuppernong neighborhood and, noticing the changes taking place at the Springs, decided to get involved. Lindsay and I really appreciated Steve’s help and camaraderie yesterday as we worked the piles on the cut-off trail. Welcome Steve!

Here are a few pictures of the brush piles we intended to burn. This wood was cut and piled within the last month, which is pretty fresh as brush piles go, but they contained enough dead wood that we thought we could start them.

The plan was to get the existing piles lit and then continue piling the brush we cut last week.

Despite the cold, we got warmed up fast and the layers started coming off. Lindsay brought his leaf blower and that proved to be the difference between success and failure; there’s nothing like a jet of fresh air to kick-start a green brush pile.

We made a few new brush piles too.

We hope to finish clearing the buckthorn and brush between the cut-off trail and the river before spring. The cut-off trail passes through the loveliest woodlands in the whole Scuppernong Springs Nature Preserve and it is a joyful thrill to open this area up.

See you at the Springs!