Ground Water Monitoring Project at the Springs

Posted on November 16, 2012 by paulmozina

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny, and, dare I say, exciting, day at the Springs yesterday (November 15th). I began cutting brush and cattail at location #9 on the map, the site of the old Trout Hatching House, which is between the Emerald Spring and the Hotel Spring. The last time we worked in this area Lindsay and I noticed there were a couple of old boardwalk sections buried in the brush and, along with all of the Water Cress in the area, these were sure signs that there might be some hidden springs there.

Here are a couple of before shots.

And after.

I pulled a handful of cress aside and you can see running water by the first boardwalk.

There is a bubbling spring by the second boardwalk.

This Saturday, November 17th, we plan to pull the cress out of these springs and open them up and pile the brush. I can hardly wait!

Around mid-day my good friends Ed and Jim Brown, stopped by. Ed has been involved in developing organic food sources and distribution networks for over 30 years (edward@organicbydesign.com) and currently makes his home in Spokane. Ed introduced me to the Paradise Springs way back in the late 70’s. He is an Enlightened Being. Ed is going to connect us with some people who may be able to use the abundant firewood that is available and also to harvest some Water Cress. Thanks to Jim for bringing Ed out to the Springs!

Ed noticed these roots from a Cottonwood tree by the marl pits enveloping the concrete foundation.

Just as Ed and Jim were leaving, along came a crew loaded with cameras and backpacks. Mike Parsen, a Hydrogeologist from the Wisconsin Geological & Natural History Survey, John R. Karl, a Videographer and Science Writer with the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, Craig Helker, Water Resources Management Specialist with the DNR and Anne Korman, Assistant Superintendent of the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest were making their first visit to the site as a team. They are going to make a documentary describing their effort to update the state-wide ground water monitoring network. Listen in as they explain. From left to right below John R. Karl, Mike Parsen, Anne Korman and Craig Helker.

When we interviewed Tracy Hames, from the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, he stressed the importance of monitoring the river so we are very excited that Mike will be installing a water flow meter and temperature gauge. Craig has been shocking the river to do fish surveys for 8-9 years and we are very interested in any changes he may measure as well.

To top off a most excellent day, Pati came out to help pile brush and participate in the interview. It was a day full of fun and surprises!

I make piles with a little help from my friends

Posted on November 11, 2012 by paulmozina

Thanks to my good friends we almost finished piling all of the brush at the Indian Springs that Rich and I prepped Last Thursday. This area was one of the nastiest Buckthorn thickets we’ve ever had the pleasure of cutting.

While I was still working at Northwestern Mutual, I often told my coworkers about my work in the Kettle Moraine and today Chakry Indlamuri and Sriram Raghavulu came out to check it out and pile some brush. Here is Sriram in action.

Sriram and Lindsay.

And Chakry.

Later John and Sue Hrobar joined in. Sue gave me a thumb drive with hundreds of pictures she took at the Springs and we’ll post some of them here soon.

And finally my ever lov’in mate Pati arrived with some awesome peanut butter cookies and took this picture.

We made around 20-25 piles and Sriram and Chakry both plan to come back and help again!

It was a warm, sunny day and a lovely breeze kept us refreshed. Speaking of which, Chakry brought a bottle of Champagne and a bit of Chivas Regal and we “partied” by the Scuppernong Spring. “…I get high with a little help from my friends…”.

Firewood, Wood for Artists and Water Cress

Posted on November 4, 2012 by paulmozina

As Lindsay and I begin brush piling in earnest, we are reminded that there is a lot of wood at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail that would be better used to heat someone’s home, than simply consumed in a burning brush pile. Lindsay burns wood to heat his home but there is no way he could use all the wood that is available. So, I’m cautiously advertising here that there is excellent firewood available, mostly Black Locust, but some Red Oak as well. Of course there is a ton of Buckthorn too, and I know people who have had success with this type of wood in their furnaces.

You will need to get a permit to collect firewood at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail from the DNR. I have reviewed this with DNR Forester, Mike Seeger, and he was very supportive. There is a DNR, two-track, access road that will take you very close to the wood sources.

Forest Headquarters
S91 W39091 Highway 59
Eagle, WI 53119
262-594-6200

I mentioned in a previous post that there is an excellent assortment of Red Oak, Hickory and Cherry trees that are ready for you to take home and “turn” into works of Art. The trees range from 8″ to 16″ in diameter and 10′ to 30′ long and all side branches have been pruned. The artist would probably want to cut the pieces to the length desired at the site and then haul them out with a wagon, or something, to where they could be picked up via the aforementioned DNR access road. We have one interested person so far, but again, there is a lot of wood available.

Please contact me prior to getting any wood so I can meet you out there to review the situation.

We pulled a lot of Water Cress from the Scuppernong River this past Spring and Summer. It is impossible to completely eliminate cress unless you take extreme measures, and the cress has returned in many places along the river. When DNR Fish Biologist Ben Heussner visited the site he reminded us that some cress is OK, and the trout like it. With that in mind, we are not going to try to completely remove the Water Cress from the Scuppernong River. Instead, we’ll simply make sure that it does not impede the flow of the water, as it was prior to our recent efforts, and that it does start taking over any area.

There are many places between the Scuppernong Spring and the Hotel Spring where fresh patches of Water Cress have returned. This is young, sweet cress that would go perfectly in your salad or juicer. I encourage you to go out and harvest some Water Cress to help us keep it under control and for your own health benefits. You might want to wear knee high rubber boots, but there is a lot of cress available along the edge of the river. We have cleared a path through the cattail and phragmites along the river, that is pretty dry, to make it easy to follow its course. Please help your selves to some Water Cress!

See you at the Springs!

Brush Piling by the Scuppernong Spring

Posted on November 4, 2012 by paulmozina

Lindsay and I piled the brush that I cut back on October 21rst by the Scuppernong Spring today. I added the Google Earth Map below to the Maps and Brochures page on this site. The imagery is old, predating all of the cutting I did right along Hwy 67 some 9 years ago, but it is still useful. Can you find the Scuppernong Spring?

Here are some before images.

We had lots of visitors today and got a chance to explain what we are doing and refer people to this site. Just as our strength was giving out, Anne Sylvan arrived to help us finish the last piles. Thanks Anne!

We made around 20 piles. We’ll have to wait for an East wind and good snow cover to burn them.

Morning Has Broken

Posted on October 28, 2012 by paulmozina

Don’t tell anyone, I still have my Cat Stevens records.

The Springs were beautiful this morning.

There is a very nice sand dune hilltop just West of the Hillside Spring covered with some large Oak, Hickory and Cherry trees. The last time we worked Lindsay pointed out how cool this hilltop would look, especially a prominently featured huge Red Oak, if we cleared the brush and I took up his suggestion today. The area in question is marked in white on the map below.

After enjoying the beautiful sunrise, I whacked some Buckthorn and Black Locust to highlight this prominent sand dune hilltop. We are going to cut as much as we can until November and then focus on piling everything to prepare for burning this Winter (if we get some snow!). Here are some before shots taken from the top of the hill.

And looking up at the hilltop from the trail.

And after… the next two shots are looking up at the hilltop from the trail.

And views from the hilltop.

Thanks again to the Kettle Moraine History Association for covering all of our equipment expenses!

River Views

Posted on October 26, 2012 by paulmozina

Dave Hoffman completed the grant request to get a slice of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act pie for the Scuppernong River Habitat Area restoration effort. We’ll find out in March 2013. The volunteer hours we are putting in at the Springs would be used to help provide the matching funds required for the grant. Thanks Dave!

Lindsay and I ignored the threat of rain today and had some fun by the River. The first thing I worked on was taking down these two huge Willows by the Hotel Spring.

I had to get a 25″ bar for my chainsaw to attack these monsters.

Meanwhile, Lindsay mowed the Phragmites by the Emerald Spring that had regrown since we cut it back in July. We are hoping this will make the plants more vulnerable to die off this Winter.

After I finished the two Willows, I went down by the Scuppernong Spring to finish cutting some buckthorn that I was not able to get to on the 21rst.

Lindsay proceeded to clear some Willow shrubs between the Emerald and Hotel Springs.

And I cut a huge patch of Phragmites on the West side of the River (you can see it in the center of the picture below).

The rain held off all day and we had a great time!

Buckthorn Cut At The Scuppernong Spring

Posted on October 22, 2012 by paulmozina

The Scuppernong Spring is where the Scuppernong River starts. It is set in a bowl near the base of a long moraine. There are huge Red and White Oak and Hickory and Cherry trees along the slopes. Approximately 9 years ago I cut the Buckthorn along this slope from Hotel Spring, South, almost all the way to the Scuppernong Spring and yesterday I resumed this effort on the slopes around the Scuppernong Spring. Pati came out later to help pile brush and bring my camera/phone, which I had forgotten. So, no before pictures this time. There are still a few trees to cut and lots of piling to do. Below is a map with the work area marked in white and some pictures taken after the cutting was done. In case you were not aware, you can click on any of the images below to see the picture in full size.

Scuppernong River Walk

Posted on October 19, 2012 by paulmozina

One of our favorite stretches of the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail is along the River from the Scuppernong Springs to the Hotel Springs. To the East is a steep slope covered by Oak Savannah. To the West the views of the River and Wetlands were obstructed by a lot of brush including Buckthorn, Honeysuckle, Willow, Aspen and the witch’s brooms from charred stumps of Cherry and Red Oak. The area in question is marked in white on the map below.

On Wednesday, October 17th I spent the day working in area between signposts #7 and #8 above. Here are some before pictures.

After a little effort with a brush cutter and chain saw…

I still had a little energy left so I put on my chest waders and grabbed my shovel. There were a couple of places by the Emerald Spring, where the observation deck is, where the River was spilling over its banks. On his last visit with us, Ron Kurowski suggested we get some bio-logs from the DNR to shore up the banks and keep the River in a narrower channel. I contacted Ben Heussner and found out there were no more bio-logs at the moment, so I decided to just try a low tech solution for now. Here are some views of the areas in question before I started and after.

And two blisters later…

On Thursday, October 18th, Lindsay joined me and we worked on the area just North of where I had left off on the 17th and made it all the way up to the boardwalk leading to the Emerald Spring. In addition to the brush mentioned earlier, we cut a huge patch of Phragmites. Here are some before shots.

And after…

Here is a view of the work area from the bridge over the Scuppernong River down by the Hotel Springs.

We still have some brush piling to do but the views into the Wetlands along the River are much improved.

Phragmites Spraying and Indian Campground Cleanup

Posted on October 13, 2012 by paulmozina

On Thursday, October 11, Lindsay and I returned to the Hidden Spring to spray the Phragmites that had grow up since we cut it back in July.

Lindsay used the following recipe:

3 gal. clean water
20 oz. Habitat herbicide
2 oz. non-ionic surfactant

Pour 1.5 gal water into sprayer or storage container. Add Habitat. Add surfactant while pouring in remaining water. He used and even flat fan tip on the sprayer.

While Lindsay sprayed, I cut phragmites by hand that was right in the Hidden Spring and along its channel (shown below, before and after). I made the cuts as close to the ground as possible and then carefully dripped Habitat poison into the cut stems, some of which were 1/2″ in diameter. I also pulled some water cress that had regrown.

After that, we resumed our effort to prepare the Indian Campground/Sand Prairie for mowing focusing on an area where Ron Kurowski showed us a huge patch of Lupine growing last Spring. This is in the North West area of the Sand Prairie.

Here are some before pictures.

And after.

Later, we took a walk around to enjoy the scenery, as we usually do, and I got this picture at the Indian Springs looking back up stream towards the source.

There are a lot of Asters, Golden Rod and other flowers in bloom. We are looking forward to when the whole area we are recovering around the Indian Springs is carpeted with native grasses and flowers.

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.