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| LISMA July 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 [email protected] |
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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 [email protected] |
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| AIS Monitoring Snapshot Day 2021 |
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On August 21, 2021 volunteers all across the state of Wisconsin will come together for the largest citizen science event of the year to monitor their local lakes and rivers for invasive species.
Snapshot Day is a statewide, one-day event connecting volunteers, water lovers, and local groups in a search for aquatic invasive species. You can help protect Wisconsin’s rivers and lakes from these invasive plants and animals that negatively impact habitat, wildlife, recreation, and health.
No experience is required and training will be provided. A variety of skills are needed from drivers, to those who can lift equipment, to photographers. Information collected by volunteers will help with statewide monitoring and response efforts. Choose from one of 20+ local events hosted by local partners. This event is coordinated in partnership with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and UW Extension.
Glacierland will be the site leader for Manitowoc County and you can find events in other counties on the registration page. |
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| Partner Project Spotlight |
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| LISMA Partnership Intern Program |
| Glacierland RC&D, LNRP, and Stantec Consulting, Inc. are proud to introduce our 2021 summer interns. Five interns have been hired to treat Phragmites in the LISMA Region and spread the message to inspect and clean watercraft at boat landings in Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties as part of the Clean Boats, Clean Waters initiative. Our intern team consists of college students and recent graduates from all over Wisconsin (and even Pennsylvania) with differing conservation focused majors.
This intern program started as a partnership between LNRP and Stantec with the goal of giving students studying the environmental sciences hands-on fieldwork experience while still in school. This year, Glacierland has taken on the administration of the intern program with LNRP’s support and Stantec has provided the training and supervision of the intern’s fieldwork. The intern program is an opportunity for students to participate in a professional level of fieldwork beyond what they learn in class and provides us with additional seasonal workers to bolster our efforts in managing invasive species throughout the LISMA region.
The interns have been hard at work since late June, treating regrowth of Phragmites in populations that received herbicide treatment last year. All the interns completed herbicide applicator certification and received their applicator licenses in addition to completing fieldwork training with Stantec, and Clean Boats, Clean Waters training with Glacierland. The interns will continue to treat Phragmites through August until they return to school as well as inspect boats and talk to boaters at Manitowoc and Kewaunee boat landings on the weekends.
We hope that this intern program will continue to grow and we can involve more students in conservation work and further expand our ability to treat invasive species in our region. Job postings for the intern program will be posted in spring of 2022, so keep and eye out and please forward to any students you know that are interested in preserving the health of Wisconsin’s ecosystem. |
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| Woodland Dunes Control Project Update |
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| As summer comes to the Woodland Dunes Nature Preserve, we can see the results of the control treatment of buckthorn, honeysuckle, and Japanese barberry on 45 acres of the preserve. |
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| The pictures above show the project area prior to treatment. As you can see honeysuckle and Japanese barberry were so thick they were encroaching on the boardwalk as well as taking over the forest floor. This habitat is very important to many species of wildlife including migratory bird populations. |
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| In the winter of 2020, NES Ecological Services came and treated the target species with cutting and herbicide spot treatment. The herbicide has a blue dye mixed with it, so you can see where NES has treated in the picture above. |
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| Walking along the same boardwalk in 2021 we can see the dead remains of plants that once towered over the walkway. Spot treatments may be required for new growth, but the improvement is very evident. |
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| To promote the work being done in this project area, Woodland Dunes hosted a nature walk workshop where the public was invited to walk the boardwalk trail with Woodland Dunes director, Jenni Klein, and learn about the importance of this beautiful forest, the ecological threats it faces, and what LISMA partners are doing to protect and manage it. We had a small group of engaged citizens who enjoyed getting an inside look on how Woodland Dunes takes care of it’s gorgeous preserve. |
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| Collective Phragmites Control Fund |
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| Glacierland RC&D is looking to establish a fund for Phragmites control across the LISMA region beyond grant funding. We will be reaching out to townships, municipalities, businesses of all sizes, and private landowners looking for participation. The hope is that this fund will allow management of Phragmites in the long term, if grant funding ever becomes insufficient.
More details coming soon! |
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