LISMA Spring 2022 Newsletter

Project sites include Woodland Dunes Preserve, Fischer Creek State Conservation Area, Lower Henry Schuette Park, Walla Hi County Park, Mariner’s Trail, Weber Woods, Rahr Memorial School Forest, Mishicot School Forest, Two Rivers High School Forest in Manitowoc County; and Amsterdam Dunes Preserve and Gerber Lake Wildlife Area in Sheboygan County.

These projects will treat targeted invasive species and restore natural habitats by planting diverse tree and shrub species that are adapted to expected future conditions and are pest resistant. Restoration efforts will provide habitats for a variety of wildlife, improve water quality, and provide recreational activities among other benefits. In addition, our plan is to engage and educate the community on invasive species, restoration, climate change, and forest management through planning, volunteer events, educational workshops, and general outreach.

More details on upcoming events this summer will be announced soon!

The primary duties of this position will be mapping and data entry for target invasive species within the Kettle Moraine State Forest Northern Unit and conducting invasive species treatments with Stantec Consulting Services Inc. ecosystem restoration crews, including application of aquatic-approved herbicides in Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac and Ozaukee counties.

This position is anticipated to begin in June 2022 and run through August 2022 and will pay $15-$18/hour

These positions will remain open until filled.

Primary Duties will include

·     Complete Clean Boats Clean Waters training workshop.

·     Inspect watercraft and trailers for invasive species at public water access sites

·     Educate the public on how to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.

·     Distribute informational materials to boaters.

·     Conduct a verbal survey and enter data to the SWIMS online database.

·     Participate in State-wide led efforts including Drain Campaign, AIS Snapshot Day, Landing Blitz, and Project RED.

Inspectors are required to work during peak boating hours including weekends and some holidays. Compensation for this position is $15-$18 per hour.

This position will remain open until filled.

Saturday, June 4th 2022 9:30am – 2:30pm

Friends of the Manitowoc River Watershed, LNRP, Stantec and the Manitowoc Parks and Recreation Department are working together to pull invasive Garlic Mustard and Dame’s Rocket. We need all the assistance we can get from the community, please consider joining us.

Dear Stewards of the Northern Kettle Moraine,

I hope this finds you healthy and ready to focus on things outside. We are planning our spring schedule to do invasive species removals and I hope you can join us.

After speaking with Doug Stadler, who will be leading some of the volunteer work, we decided to hold the garlic mustard pulls for an additional week. We will have the first one on Tuesday, May 3rd and continue until Saturday, May 28th. The goal is to thoroughly survey all of Haskell Noyes State Natural Area.

The volunteer days are as follows:

Tuesday, May 3, Thursday, May 5, and Saturday, May 7

Tuesday, May 10, Thursday, May 12, and Saturday May 14

Tuesday, May 17, Thursday, May 19, and Saturday, May 21

Tuesday, May 24, Thursday, May 26, and Saturday, May 28

Tuesdays and Thursdays, we will begin at 4 pm and work until 7 pm and Saturdays from 9 am until noon. Please join us for all or part of the time.

Please contact me for any questions or concerns at 920-533-8939. I will be sending out another notice about the workdays as it gets closer to May.  We will also be working on the reed canary grass at Spruce Lake Bog State Natural Area in June. This will be our third year there and we have made a lot of progress.

Thanks so much for helping to preserve our Northern Kettle Moraine for ourselves and future generations. It is also a great way to meet new people and get outside!

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

My Best,

Connie Ranthum

Haskell Noyes Memorial Woods is a classic example of southern dry-mesic forest dominated by sugar maple and red oak, with smaller amounts of basswood, white ash, bitternut hickory, and ironwood. The site lies on an interlobate moraine formed between the Green Bay and Lake Michigan lobes of the Wisconsin stage of glaciation with numerous kames, kettles, and ridges. The forest was never clear cut or heavily harvested during the logging era of the 19th century leaving red oaks that established during the 1860’s and 1870’s. And unlike other forests, fire has not occurred on these moist soils for the past several hundred years. The forest understory is open, with few shrubs but a rich spring flora and diversity of ferns. Plants include maidenhair, fragile, cinnamon and lady ferns, hepaticas, clustered black snakeroot, large flowered trillium, red trillium, may-apple, large-leaved shinleaf, large-leaved bellwort, and wild geranium. A small area to the north is composed of swamp hardwoods and tamaracks. A high percentage of gravel is found in the soils and steep slopes are thus prone to erosion. The land was purchased in 1947 to prevent imminent logging. Haskell Noyes Memorial Woods is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1952.

Driving directions

From the intersection of Highways 67 and F in Dundee, go southwest on 67 0.4 mile, then south on County G 2.1 miles, then east on County SS 0.9 mile, then south on County GGG 0.1 miles to a parking area and historical marker west of the road.

Dame’s rocket has simple leaves that are long and lance-shaped, and feel downy. The stem also has rough hairs on it. Its flowers are purple, white, or pink in color and have four petals.

Once you have pulled it, place the plant in a bag for safe disposal. Dame’s rocket should be disposed of within plastic bags in the landfill, or burned, as it can set seed and reproduce if placed into compost piles or left on the ground after being pulled.

Click Here to Practice Identifying Dame’s Rocket

The Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership has successfully secured a Federal Forest Service grant and two State Aquatic Invasive Species grants to help control invasive species.

EAB Mitigation: $198,000

This project will mitigate emerald ash borer impacts in public parks and conservation properties in Manitowoc and Kewaunee Counties through selective removal of hazard dead/dying ash trees and planting up to 2,000 trees across the watershed.

Coastal Ecosystem Restoration: $200,000:

This project will install up to 5,000 trees to diversify degraded forests, restore canopy cover, provide critical migratory pathways, enhance riparian and shoreline habitats, and enable ecosystem resiliency within coastal ecosystems in Manitowoc and Kewaunee counties.

Calumet County Collaborative Phragmites Control – Phase 2: $150,000

This project will build upon a successful region-wide effort to control invasive Phragmites populations, through expansion in Calumet County, as part of the Phase 2 project area (Phase 1 is on-going). Project partners will work collaboratively with stakeholders to provide education and outreach, secure landowner permissions, use GIS-based mapping to track and monitor invasive population data, treat target invasive species, re-vegetate treated areas, and develop long-term control strategies.

City of Manitowoc Japanese Knotweed Control: $21,926.82

The project will target invasive Japanese Knotweed (JKW) throughout the City of Manitowoc, by treating approximately 5 acres along the Lake Michigan shoreline, Silver Creek, Manitowoc River, Little Manitowoc River and localized infestations in inland areas. The majority of JKW is located on public park properties and is significantly degrading park access, wildlife habitat, and is a public and park management nuisance.

The Wisconsin Woodland Owners Conference is an event where landowners gather to learn about forest health issues. This year’s speaker topics included enhancing shoreline habitats, climate change adaptation, funding opportunities for forest management, updates from the WDNR on forest health, tax law and other policies, boundaries, easements and woods roads and a panel on Forest Industry Markets.

Thank you to Northeast Wisconsin Technical College for allowing us to use their facilities and thank you to all of our wonderful speakers for providing an engaging and informative conference.

The Wisconsin Woodland Owners Conference is held annually each spring, keep an eye out in early 2023 for details on next year’s conference!

Tree & Shrub Planting

With spring making a late appearance this year, careful timing for tree planting with awareness for ground conditions and hazardous weather are critical. Stantec is partnering with Woodland Dunes Nature Center and Preserve to continue restoration efforts at the Kaas Restoration Site, which is located on the Preserve, approximately 600 ft. from Lake Michigan in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In April, Stantec installed 1,755 bare root trees and shrubs, within a remnant Great Lakes ridge and swale natural community complex. After two days of planting, Stantec staff were able to cover the 13-acre project area, which was partially flooded in the swales, which typically hold and infiltrate large amounts of water in the spring. The Kaas Restoration Site is in the beginning phase of restoration, but in time, these planting efforts will protect this site in a changing climate.

Stantec installed a diverse mix of native tree and shrub species at Kaas. The tree canopy is currently dominated by green ash, leaving it vulnerable to climate stressors like increased temperature and precipitation extremes, and invasive insects like the emerald ash borer, which is decimating ash trees across North America. Kaas is now home to native species such as witch hazel, pagoda dogwood, hazelnut, basswood, white cedar, black cherry, paper birch, redbud, buttonbush and others that will thrive in this Great Lakes ridge and swale complex. The ridges provide slightly drier conditions for upland species while the slopes and swales provide refuge for species that like to get their roots wet.

Planting diverse species is a step toward planning for the future with climate change in mind. Ridge and swale habitat is the perfect opportunity to plant a wide range of moisture and temperature tolerant species that will be able to handle future conditions. Having too many of one species can lead to problems that limit the adaptability of an ecosystem to respond to changing site conditions. With extreme weather becoming more common, careful and deliberate planning is needed to consider how a site will respond to changes. The trees planted on the ridges at Kaas were selected for the higher and drier ground, but they have a threshold for how much flooding they can tolerate – some more than others. Knowing which species can handle wet conditions but thrive in dry sites (or vice versa) is important in sustaining the ecosystem benefits of a restoration project for decades (the life span of a tree) rather than just through the next flood or drought. The species chosen for this site were selected to thrive under both current and future conditions and were chosen using resources such as the Climate Change Projections for Individual Tree Species for Northern Wisconsin, developed by the Northern Institute for Applied Climate Science, and the Lowland Reforestation Species Guide, developed by Wisconsin DNR. Many resources for developing a more adaptive forest can be found at: Climate Change Response Framework and Emerald Ash Borer Silviculture Guidelines.

(From Left to Right: Chris Caplan,

Jordan Meddaugh, Collin Travis,

Matthew Knickelbine, Richard Sanderson, Everett Grosskopf, Alex Solawetz,

Brooke Dreshek, Andrew Wokosin and Erica Gerloski)

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Our primary target invasive species is non-native Phragmites, which is found in wetlands, riparian areas, shorelines and other wet areas such as roadside ditches. Invasive Phragmites takes over large areas, pushes out native vegetation, and reduces habitat quality for wildlife. Long-term control over the course of many years is essential to protect habitat quality, water quality, access to shorelines and property values.

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We have made significant progress mitigating the spread of Phragmites. Without multiple years of consecutive control, Phragmites will re-establish and the momentum gained will be lost. Our grant funding is ending after the 2021 growing season in Manitowoc and Sheboygan counties, and we need additional funding to support on-going efforts in Ozaukee, Calumet and Fond du Lac counties. Therefore, we are seeking your financial support to establish a long-term control fund to continue our efforts where needed across all counties. This Phragmites fund will directly support on-the-ground control efforts and the professional development of student interns who are completing the bulk of the re-treatment efforts.

Our goal is to make your county Phragmites-free, by raising at least $300,000 to support on-going control efforts over the next 3 years. A strong collective Phragmites fund will ensure the investment of time and resources will be protected for the benefit of future generations. Please help us contribute to keeping Wisconsin’s ecosystem healthy and thriving.

click here to donate to use a credit card

or send a check made payable to Glacierland RC&D to

Glacierland RC&D

P.O. Box 11203

Green Bay, WI 54307

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For more information or questions, contact Glacierland at 920-465-3006