| Volume 1 | January 18 2021 |
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| LISMA January 2021 Newsletter |
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| LISMA will be distrbuting a quarterly newsletter that features our upcoming events, partner news, and important invasive species topics and resources for stakeholders in the LISMA region. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can subscribe by contacting the LISMA coordinator at jake.divine@glacierlandrcd.org. |
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| Help Build the LISMA Resource Hub |
| LISMA has set a goal to create an online resource hub for invasive species issues within the LISMA and the surrounding region. We need your help to collect existing resources such as project summaries, management plans, control techniques, and research findings. If you have any documents or other resources that might benefit others working to manage invasive species please send them to jake.divine@glacierlandrcd.org |
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| Environmental Planner Position Available |
| The Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission is currently seeking a full-time Environmental Planner. This position will work closely with local communities and Bay-Lake RPC staff members to create planning documents for a variety of natural resource-related projects, including coastal resiliency, outdoor recreation, water trail, and restoration planning work. The position will remain open until filled.
Click Here to view the full job posting and download the application |
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| Partner Project Spotlight |
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| New Volunteer Group for Managing Invasive Plants
in the Kettle Moraine State Forest – Northern Unit |
| During the winter of 2019, Connie Ramthun, a board member of the Friends of the Kettle Moraine for more than 20 years, contacted numerous Wisconsin State Park System Friend’s groups to ask how they manage their properties for invasive plants. She found out that some of the Friend’s groups applied for grants or conducted fundraising events for invasive species control. While others organized volunteers to help control buckthorn, garlic mustard, and other invasives in their State Forests and Parks.
For more than 15 years, Connie has worked with the Friend’s board to designate funds for controlling invasive plants within the Northern Unit. Funding for this was severely cut after the reorganization of the Dept. of Natural Resources under then Governor Walker. Since 2017, very little or no invasive species work was done by paid staff within the Northern Unit. Because of this, she organized three consecutive years of volunteer efforts in Haskell Noyes State Natural Area. Garlic mustard crept its way throughout this parcel. This year the volunteers were successful in removing garlic mustard from several large areas within the State Natural Area. A big help was Doug Stadler, one of the volunteers, who organized and led four additional days of garlic mustard work. In total, 24 volunteers contributed over 130 hours of time. Many of the same people return each year to help with Haskell Noyes. |
| This year Connie also asked for help to control reed canary grass in Spruce Lake Bog State Natural Area. Reed canary grass is an aggressive non-native plant that chokes out the diverse native vegetation of the bog. Volunteers met for two Saturday mornings in June and bundled 276 clusters of reed canary grass to aid in the application of a herbicide. This effort took 35 hours of volunteer time from ten different people.
An additional workday focused on Little Mud Lake, a Habitat Preservation Area, east of New Prospect. With eight people providing 20 total volunteer hours, they cut and treated woody shrubs and trees that invaded the remnant prairie near the lake. The remnant serves as an excellent example of what the Kettle Moraine looked like before European settlement. |
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| The continued invasion of garlic mustard, buckthorn, Japanese barberry, spotted knapweed, wild parsnip and other invasive plants is having a significant impact on the Forest ecosystem and threatens to diminish the richness of the Kettle Moraine State Forest-Northern Unit. In addition to these plants, Japanese hedge parsley recently became established here and continues to rapidly spread throughout the area.
We plan to organize more volunteer workdays in 2021 and would appreciate your help. In light of the pandemic, we easily maintain at least six feet from each other while working in an outdoor environment. It is a great way to learn native plants, get outside with like-minded people, and accomplish something positive for the Northern Unit.
For more information and to sign up for email announcements of workdays, please contact Connie at connieramthun@gmail.com. |
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| Friends of Crescent Beach Control Invasive Species
and Restore the Shore |
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| Crescent Beach and Boardwalk is a city park located in the center of Algoma on the shore of Lake Michigan. The Friends of Crescent Beach (FOCB) formed as a watershed partner of Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP) to provide volunteer support for the protection and improvement of the beach. The control and removal of invasive plant species is a primary focus of FOCB’s efforts. LNRP has provided essential planning and fundraising assistance.
LNRP partnered with the Woodland Dunes Nature Center to successfully apply to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program for a 2017 grant that funded identification of the areas of Crescent Beach appropriate for restoration and habitat enhancement. LNRP also used support from the Fund for Lake Michigan and the DNR Great Lakes Protection fund to further support project design and implementation, as well as hands-on assistance and training of City employees and volunteers. The result is a long-term and sustainable effort to control invasive species and improve habitat.
The project focused on the southern half of the beach (approximately 3.5 acres). With financial resources in hand, LNRP contracted with Stantec Consulting Services to create a management plan for the restoration. The plan outlines long-term management strategies, provides background on specific invasive species controls, and a dune planting guide.
The first phase of restoration work was carried out between 2017 and 2020. Invasive species removal included honeysuckle, phragmites, and other non-natives. Beginning in October of 2017, FOCB organized volunteer work days to remove invasive plants and plant beach grass plugs, creeping juniper, flowering shrubs and other native plants. Over sixty volunteers, including Algoma School District science students and their teacher, contributed more than 250 volunteer hours to the success of the project so far. FOCB purchased informational signs to mark the restoration areas and inform the public about the project and its purpose. |
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| Going forward in coordination with the City of Algoma’s Parks and Recreation Department, FOCB plans to form a team of volunteers to maintain and enhance the work that has been accomplished so far. FOCB Committee member Debbie Kiedrowski will lead this effort which will begin in spring of 2021. Members of this volunteer team will visit the beach weekly from spring through fall to work on controlling invasive plants. FOCB will arrange for volunteer training and provide all of the necessary tools and supplies. FOCB Steering Committee Coordinator Cathy Pabich shared that “the professionally prepared management plan combined with the expert advice and assistance from LNRP and Stantec provided the structure and training essential to transitioning to an ongoing volunteer led effort.”
The Friends of Crescent Beach Restoration plan can be considered a management resource for other beach communities along the Lake Michigan shoreline and is part of the resource hub being developed by the Lakeshore Invasive Species Management Area or LISMA. You can access the plan by clicking here and going to the LISMA website hosted by Glacierland RC&D. |
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| Invasive Species Treatment Project
Concludes in Kewaunee County |
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| In October, Bay-Lake Regional Planning Commission concluded invasive species treatments within Kewaunee County. This third and final year of treatments was provided by the EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grant that Bay-Lake RPC received back in 2017. During the 2020 treatment season, 274 acres of invasive species were treated within the county.
Over the past three years, Bay-Lake RPC was able to treat 1,002 acres of invasive species within Kewaunee County. A table showing the final treatment acreages is shown below. These treatments occurred within rights-of-way, along river corridors and over the properties of 470 individual landowners! |
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| Collaborative Control Effort Continues on
Japanese knotweed and Phragmites |
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| A collaborative team has been working on control efforts on Japanese knotweed and an invasive type of phragmites that originated in Europe. The team of the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership, the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust, Glacierland RC&D, and Stantec Consulting Services has been working throughout the LISMA service area as well as Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties.
The team works on public land and with private landowners wherever colonies of the invasive plants are identified. Crucial to the bid against the destructive growths are partnerships with local municipalities and their residents. For the last three years, letters were sent to people whose properties contain Japanese knotweed or invasive phragmites. Most recipients responded with enthusiasm, but others may choose not to respond because the offer might seem out-of-the-blue or illegitimate considering it’s free to participate in. |
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| However, that concern is anything but the truth – to date, our team has secured more than $2.2 million in grant funding for the invasive species programs in Manitowoc, Sheboygan, and Ozaukee Counties. The team has two pending grants with the DNR for Calumet and Fond du Lac Counties. Funding to fight against the invasive species was secured through the Department of Natural Resources, the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and the Sustain our Great Lakes program.
Japanese knotweed and invasive phragmites tend to grow in clusters or “colonies,” with deep-rooted systems. They spread with ease to new areas and often create monoculture (single species) zones by outcompeting native species for space and resources. These zones become biological deserts and negatively impact the quality of the habitat. |
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| It takes two years of herbicide treatment to kill the underground rhizome system of these invasive species. In 2020, Stantec crews started with hand spraying treatment of sites treated in previous years. First time treatment sites were treated with machine crews later in the summer and early fall. The treatment crews do one township at a time as they work throughout the three Counties. Some of the sites recently granted permission by the landowners was not treated if their application was too late.
In order for you site to be treated with this grant, a written permission form must be returned to Melissa Curran from Stantec, Melissa.curran@stantec.com. If your sites have not been mapped or you have not received a post card you would need to contact us. We have had landowners discovering new sites on their property that were not in our program and some folks are hearing about the project from their neighbors.
To see if you site has been mapped, check out the public website at: bit.ly/InvasiveWebMap |
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| Control Treatment Begins at Woodland Dunes |
| With funding provided by a grant from the USDA Forest Service, Glacierland RC&D and Woodland Dunes Nature Center are treating 45 acres of the Woodland Dunes State Natural Area for buckthorn, honeysuckle, and Japanese barberry that have been covering the habitat and walkways and conducting an educational invasive species workshop for the public.
The Woodland Dunes Preserve contains a 387 acre state natural area that features richly bio diverse ridge and swale topography that is incredibly important for migratory birds. The Preserve is a designated Important Bird Area, a Wisconsin Wetland Gem and has 7 miles of recreational trails. To learn more about the preserve you can visit www.woodlanddunes.org
NES Ecological Services began cut stump herbicide application treatment in late December 2020 and will be wrapping up this first phase of the control project in winter of 2021. Follow up foliar spray treatments will take place in fall of 2021. |
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