Group Trout Stream Therapy

Posted on June 8, 2014 by paulmozina

When DNR Fisheries Biologist, Ben Heussner, contacted me last week about a workday on the Scuppernong River, I didn’t dare to imagine the fantastic outcome we would realize yesterday. “Fix the water“, that’s what Tracy Hames, executive director of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, preaches and we put that mantra into action with a Group Trout Stream Therapy session.

Ben set the table last December with 2 workdays on the river where the DNR fisheries team, along with help from Southeast Wisconsin Trout Unlimited, installed dozens of coconut hull biologs to re-establish the river’s natural meander. Then Mike, a trout unlimited volunteer from Wilmette, IL, and Ben coordinated to bring a group of volunteers from Trinity United Methodist Church up to help us fill in the wet areas behind the biologs. I can say unequivocally that this was the hardest working team of volunteers I have ever had the pleasure to work with. They were filled with the spirit for sure!

Above that is Ben Heussner, Pastor Brian Smith, Donna McCluskey, Bob Meyers, Sarah Jacobs, Ella and Elliot Torres, Carol Meynen, Tom Board, Ward Reeves and Mike Jacobs seated in front.

Ben Heussner met Ben Johnson, Dick Jenks and myself to scope out the situation and plan the day’s work.

He is a very busy dude, and shortly after he introduced us to the group from Trinity United Methodist, we were on our own. It didn’t take long to establish a system to deliver the aspen I had cut to the locations on the river where it was needed.

Our first site was the major westbound bend in the river, where we constructed a V-shaped wedge to define a single stream channel.

We were literally on a roll and the team from Trinity was not shy about getting wet and dirty, which ironically, I found very refreshing.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling On A River!

Thank you, thank you! Look what you accomplished. The views below begin at the first site we worked and proceed downstream.

We hope to work with volunteers from Trinity United Methodist again. What a great group!

On our way to take a walk up the river and inspect our work, Ben Johnson and I ran into this sand hill crane and chick, who were also checking it out.

This is the point downstream of the recent activity where sand and marl is collecting after being flushed down the river.

We continued to walk upstream and review the day’s work.

The meadow on the south side (right side in the video above) is especially lush with native plants and flowers.

Ben and I agreed that the velocity of the river had definitely increased as a result of the work. Confirmation bias?

We’re not done yet! Ben Heussner will be back in the next couple weeks to do an elevation survey of the area around the hotel springs bridge. He is confident that, with a little excavation of the river bottom here, we can get a headcut traveling. This will flush out the marl and sand that collected in the riverbed upstream, while it was under it was under THE PONDS OF THE SCUPPERNONG. The result will be significantly improved trout habitat and restoration of the headwaters to its natural condition. I can’t wait!

See you at The Springs!

The Mighty Oaks of Ottawa Lake

Posted on April 12, 2014 by paulmozina

“I got to liberate an oak tree! It felt great.” I was struck when Cameron Barker, a volunteer from the UW-Whitewater environmental group S.A.G.E., said that when introducing himself at the State Natural Areas workday at Little Kestol Prairie.

He was referring to the work he did at the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening back in February and it made me feel as John Nada, the protagonist from the science fiction classic They Live, might have when he encountered another person that could see.

I’ve had that liberating feeling as well these past two weeks cutting buckthorn on the steep hillsides between Ottawa Lake and the campground. Dick Jenks and I started in the area just below the handicap accessible cabin and worked our way south past site #388 to where the bluff gives way to the beach.

We continued this past Wednesday and Friday, working both south and north of the cabin. On the map below, the upper red line represents the area we cleared last year, and the lower line shows where we have cleared this year.

Alfred Korzybski said: “The map is not the territory”, but the bird’s eye view below will help bring it closer to life. Zoom in and note the contrast in water color near the shore. I thought the map was fuzzy there, but it is the surprising emerald color of the water that threw me off.

The views of the lake from the bluff, sans buckthorn, are simply beautiful. I wish I could show you the pictures I took on Wednesday, but I unconsciously deleted them somehow. Below are before and after videos and they do capture some of it.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day with a steady west wind pushing waves across the deep blue center of the lake into the emerald eastern shore.

There are some mighty oaks indeed along the shore and bluff below site #388 and I couldn’t wait to get back there yesterday to finish liberating this regal specimen, which, until Wednesday, had been completely encircled on the north side as well.

The buckthorn look puny compared to the massive oak, but they were huge for their kind.

It’s hard to capture a big tree in a single photo. I’m going to have to learn how to stitch multiple shots together into a panoramic view to do justice.

I then moved to the hillside below campsite #382 to continue the clearing we began in front of the cabin.

There were some massive buckthorns at the base of the hill.

Yes, “I got to liberate an oak tree. It felt great!”

The view from the deck in front of the cabin is glorious; and what a great place to watch birds from! I accidentally deleted the incredibly classic “sun setting over Ottawa Lake” pics I took on Wednesday, so I’ll leave you with the return of garlic mustard instead.

I’m not spraying any poison on the garlic mustard, so I’m hoping you will come out and help pull it.

See you at The Springs!

Adventure in South Africa

Posted on April 3, 2014 by paulmozina

When The Buckthorn Man retired early from the Quiet Company back in February 2012, he made a deal with his mate that he would help her with her business. Pati always dreamed about taking her work as a Guild Certified Feldenkrais® and Anat Baniel Method™ for Children practitioner on the road, and she recently accepted an invitation to work with special needs children in South Africa. I’m going to put my chainsaw down for the month of May and help Pati on her big adventure. We’ll be staying at the beautiful Umtamvuna River Lodge, just upstream from the Indian Ocean on the eastern side of South Africa. We plan on doing a week of touring after 3 weeks of Pati’s intensive work with the children. I can’t wait!

Is it just a coincidence that I was listening to Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs when Pati first heard about the opportunity in South Africa and decided to pursue it? And was it just a coincidence that I listened to Mark Twain’s classic time travel novel, A Connecticut Yankee In King Aurthur’s Court, just prior to embarking on my own trip through time? Think twice before you pick out your next book!

Well, I’m going to get my licks in on the buckthorn that is crowding the hillside on the east shore of Ottawa Lake before I go. Anne Korman, Assistant Superintendent of the Kettle Moraine State Forest–Southern Unit, asked us to focus on the area below the handicap accessible cabin at the Ottawa Lake campground.

I’m trying to learn how to use my Canon G15 camera and accidentally left it on a weird setting, so all of my “before” shots are hopelessly blurry. But, Dick Jenks can back me up when I say there was a lot of nasty buckthorn there.

It was a gorgeous day; perfect for cutting buckthorn! Ben Johnson and I are planning on returning this Saturday with a brush cutter to clear the little stuff and do some piling. The “after” pictures below are of the area around and below the cabin panning from north to south.

I was glad to have Dick Jenks and his dog Zeus there to help!

I had scheduled a week camping at My Shangri-La in April and May, but with the trip to South Africa, I’ll have to wait until August for my next reservation. I’m looking forward to seeing the stars, skies, sunrises and sunsets from the perspective of the southern hemisphere; I’ve never been south of the equator.

From Ottawa Lake I headed over to The Springs to rake out ash rings from all the brush piles we burned. DNR trail boss, Don Dane, is going to give us some seed to sow on the barren soil. He also has seed for the sand prairie that we will be sowing. Is there anything more fun than sowing seed?

I took a nice, meditative, walk after my labors were done.

See you at The Springs!

The Buckthorn Barrow

Posted on April 1, 2014 by paulmozina

Don’t miss the Kettle Moraine Natural History Association’s annual meeting at 10:30am on Saturday, April 5, 2014 at the Kettle Moraine State Forest-Southern Unit Headquarters, located 3 miles west of Eagle on Hwy 59. We couldn’t do the work we do at The Springs without the support of the KMNHA! Come and see what this great organization is all about.

Conservation Biologist Matthew Zine, Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation (formerly the Bureau of Endangered Resources), will present a program on “State Natural Areas in the Kettle Moraine”. The program will cover the 12 State Natural Areas found throughout the area of the Southern Kettle Moraine and describe their special qualities and their management concerns.

This program is open to all members and their guests (If anyone asks, tell them The Buckthorn Man sent you.) Membership applications are available at the State Forest Headquarters.

A short business meeting will follow the program.

Refreshments will be served and door prizes awarded.

The brush pile burning season at The Springs is finally over and, unfortunately, Matt Wilhelm, a volunteer with the North Prairie Fire Department, who also works for the DNR in the Kettle Moraine State Forest–Southern Unit, had to put out the last fire. I was wandering around the sand prairie watching the sun go down, and Marty driving his skid steer loader north, home bound on Hwy 67, when I saw the lights of his 4-wheeler heading to the site where Dick Jenks, Rich Csavoy and l burned piles earlier in the day.

It was a calm night and there was no chance of any of the fires spreading, but the glowing embers from a few of the fires were visible from Hwy 67 and someone called it in. That prompted a call from Paul Sandgren, the Superintendent of the Kettle Moraine State Forest–Southern Unit, and he explained that the DNR was reviewing their prescribed burning procedures and that no more burning should be done until that review is complete. That’s OK with me, the conditions this past Sunday were a little dicey and we stopped lighting piles early because of our safety concerns. Thanks to Matt for completing the mop up!

We are looking for a wheelbarrow donation! If you have one, new or used, we’d like to leave it at The Springs near the buckthorn firewood piles that Dick Jenks is preparing.

I want to paint The Buckthorn Barrow on the sides and hopefully campers from Ottawa Lake will utilize it to haul the buckthorn firewood to their vehicles. Thanks Dick!

Sunday was a busy day at The Springs and I met many new and old friends. I was on my way to clear a large red oak that had fallen across the trail near the Emerald Springs (thanks to John Hrobar for notifying me!) when I met Lester Crisman. Check out his photos, including this beautiful shot of the river just upstream from the gaging station bridge.

I was soon joined by Dick and Rich and we commenced to prepping, lighting and tending brush piles along the north east rim of the loop trail between the old barn site and signpost #13.

Ben Johnson, and his wife Karen, stopped to visit on their tour of all the birdhouses to collect fresh GPS points. Ben was not satisfied with the accuracy of the data he got the first time around. Let us know if you spot any birds moving in!

As we broke for lunch, I happened to look up and see a line of flames spreading east into the woods from one of the brush piles. We put the creeping fires out quickly and focused on tending the burning piles from that point on.

As I was mopping up, I was greeted by the friendly faces of Mark Duerwachter and his daughter Karri. Mark is the son of Robert Duerwachter, the author of THE PONDS OF THE SCUPPERNONG and Karri helped Robert format and edit the book. Mark agreed to help me persuade Robert to meet me at The Springs for a video interview!

As I was taking my equipment back to my truck along the trail near the old barn site, I saw someone standing in the river. Who was that? I loaded my gear and drove over to the main parking lot on Hwy ZZ just in time to meet Scott C., the trout fisherman. That was the first time I saw anyone fishing in the river!

After chatting with Scott, I headed down the trail for my evening stroll.

When I got into the the upper river valley, I could hear the sound of Marty’s skid steer loader and I hastened to the south end of the trail hoping to talk with him about his plans to repair the damage done by his heavy machine. Marty, with lots of help from Carl Baumann, has been harvesting dead black locust trees for firewood.

I missed him and was surprised to see him from the sand prairie driving his machine slowly north on Hwy 67 to his home some 3 miles away. Marty called me last night and assured me that as soon as the frost is out of the ground and things dry up a bit, he will return to clean up the slash and repair the skid steer scars.

As I was watching the sun go down, I heard the call of a sand hill crane behind me to the east and turned to watch in amazement as two birds glided overhead not more than 20 feet above me. I watched hundreds of cranes lazily floating north in wave after wave all afternoon. It is remarkable to contrast the apparent effort exerted by cranes versus that of geese.