Thirteen volunteers showed up on a cold Saturday and worked hard before wrapping up at noon for some hot dogs and cookies around the fire. Volunteers today were Steve Cox, Paul Mahler, Dave Kozlovsky, Tom Anderson, Jim Sackrison, William Mahler, John Skelton, Pat Sexton, Jim Tatzel, Tom Schnadt, Matt Janquart, Ben Toppel, and John Rock.
Randy believes that we will have one or two more workdays at this site before moving on to another location. Watch for an email midweek with details about the next workday. Don’t miss the opportunity to make a workday before we wrap up the brushing season in late March or early April. If you have questions about workdays contact Randy Arnold at randyca999@gmail.com
Buckthorn and box elder removal work will continue this Saturday (29th) at the Lee/Gibson site on the Kinni located at the River Drive DNR parking lot, with the handicap fishing pier, just down the road from the Earth Works Nursery. Work will start at 8:00 and go until noon or 1:00 with a lunch of hot dogs and cookies to follow. Thanks again to last week’s volunteers. Two fire piles are already set up and ready to provide some immediate warmth to the mornings chill. The current forecast is calling for a low of 13 and a high of 23 for the day with relatively mild winds, perfect conditions for the type of work planned. Randy can use the help of chainsaw operators who have completed the safety training and have a full complement of safety gear. Others with loppers or just some good work gloves are needed to further cut up the slash and drag it to the fire piles for burning.
We really could use a good turnout of volunteers on Saturday since there is much work to be done. There is some massive buckthorn growing at this site and, we would like to be able to finish up work here in the next couple of weeks and move on to another project site. Come for the entire time or just an hour or two if that is all that fits your schedule. Remember to wear old clothing which will not be ruined when the occasional hot ash falls on you. We are working on the far bank and have a Jon boat ferry set up to get workers and equipment to the work site. Please email Randy Arnold at randyca999@gmail.com if you plan to attend the workday.
Greenwood Elementary 4th Grade Service/Learning Day
Three workdays were held in advance of Friday, with volunteers from our chapter cutting the buckthorn and box elder, treating the stumps with herbicide and finally stacking the slash in multiple piles for when the 4th graders could drag the material to a bonfire to be burned up.
When they arrived, the students were given a short talk on safety. They were then formed into two groups, one headed by former DNR fisheries biologist Marty Engel ,who took the students on a nature hike to give them an opportunity to see, up close, the multitude of aquatic bugs present on rocks and woody debris in the stream and to hear about the importance of a healthy riparian corridor.
The other group of students quickly descended upon the brush piles, dragging the slash to the waiting bonfire. The weather was ideal for this event. Precipitation the night before, which had changed from rain to snow, served to wet down the nearby prairie grass and alleviate any chance of the bonfire getting out of control.
In talking with Steve Papp afterwards, he deemed this year’s event another roaring success. These students are also involved with TIC (Trout in the Classroom) at their school and made a recent trip in mid-November to the St. Croix Hatchery, where they got a tour and picked up their trout eggs for the program.
Thanks go out to those who helped cut the material on the 3 staging workdays and to the 8 who turned out to help on Friday: Perry Anderson, Tom Anderson, Michele Bevis, Steve Wardell, John Skelton, Jim Tatzel, Pat Sexton, and Marty Engel. I look forward to continuing this program with Greenwood Elementary for years to come. There will never be a shortage of buckthorn or box elder for these kids to help out with.
I don’t know about the rest of you but, I have been going ‘stir crazy’ from the lack of workdays due to this run of sub-zero temperatures. With a break in the weather forecast for this week, I would like to get out and work to begin wrapping up the brush and tree clearing which was begun at the Lueck site back in December. There is still a good 2-3 double shift days of work remaining before we are finished up here and can move on to another site. If enough volunteers are interested, I will hold a work session on Thursday morning starting at 8:00 and running till noon or 1:00. There will definitely be a workday this Saturday and hopefully there will be enough volunteers to justify both a morning and afternoon shift starting at 8:00 and noon respectively. Please email me at randyca999@gmail.com if you plan to attend either workday. I will let respondents know by Wed. whether or not there are enough volunteers to proceed with the Thursday workday.
Chainsaw operators must have completed the safety training and have a full complement of safety gear. For those of you dragging and burning brush, bring some good work gloves as well as some clothing which you won’t be upset when a few hot ashes fall on them and burn a hole or two.
Don’t forget that the online Kiaptuwish fundraising banquet is coming up on the 25th. You can visit the website to bid on auctions for gear and trips. Auction Link
You would have a hard time convincing some skeptics that our planet is in the midst of global warming given the temperatures we have been experiencing for the past week. I had hoped that milder weather would arrive for this weekend so that we could resume workdays but, the forecast for this Saturday is calling for an overnight low of -20 and a daytime high of -9 with a wind out of the north in double digits. If and when the weather moderates again, ,look forward to getting back out in the field and finishing up our clearing work at the Lueck site on the Kinni. I might even go so far as to schedule a mid-week workday just to get back in the swing of things. In the meantime, you can check out the auction items available for this year’s online banquet occurring on Feb. 25th. Thanks for all of your volunteer support. To contact Randy Arnold, our volunteer coordinator, or be added to our volunteer email list send email to randyca999@gmail.com
