Paradise Springs Workday
On Saturday, August 28, 2010, over 70 volunteers from the Southeast Wisconsin, Gary Borger, Lee Wulff, and Oakbrook Chapters of Trout Unlimited, as well as the Boy Scouts of America, and others, gathered at the Southern District of the Kettle Moraine field station under the supervision of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for a massive workday.
At the workday, volunteersdivided up into three groups.
The first group set forth as part of an Eagle Scout project into the meadow which parallells Paradise Springs Creek, and gathered local, native prairie seeds, to establish a seed bank for use in future work. These seeds will be used to create natural wild areas, planed with native, non-invasive species.
The second group set into Paradise Springs Creek, and raked invasive elodea from the stream's channel. This invasive weed chokes the strea corridor, raises the water level, and warms the water as a result. It also robs coldwater species of valuable room to survivie and thrive, and in general distrupts the river.
The final group stayed at the field station and constructed LUNKER structures. These structures will be used to provide bank cover and fish holding locations as part of a 2 mile project which is being undertaken by the DNR. As part of this project, a section of the Scuppernong River will be removed from a ditch into whcih it was placed at some point in time before 1940, and will be restored to its original stream channel.
In sum, this was a fantastic workday, which concluded with an incredible lunch put on by the Gary Borger Chapter of TU, and Oakbrook TU. The event received some nice press coverage as well. Thanks to everyone who came out to help.
