By Topf Wells and Dyan Lesnik

Jim Hess organized a grand opening to the SWTU workday season. The morning was chilly but sunny with mild breezes. The work site was a Dane County easement on Pleasant Valley Creek upstream of the most downstream bridge on County H. James Brodzeller of Dane County helped Jim organize the workday.

One of the creek banks andthe adjoining hillside were overgrown with old growth honeysuckle. Our task was to clear as much as possible. As Yogi Berra said (sticking with baseball), “It was deja vu all over again.”

About 15 members and friends began the clearing with brush and chainsaws and clippers. The stacking and treating the stumps were tough but necessary tasks. The creek is one of the prettiest small creeks in Dane County and well worth fishing but we did not want to revisit the steep hillside. If the stumps aren’t treated that would happen.

SWTU does not need spring training. Thanks to Jim, Wayne, and Dyan all the equipment was repaired, cleaned, gassed, and on site. The sawyers and haulers were at peak productivity. The creek and hillside are now ready for some native grasses, flowers and shrubs to replace the wretched honeysuckle.

One of our volunteers made one of the best nature discoveries on a work day, which Dyan was able to confirm with some handy, new-fangled app. He found a woodcock nest with two eggs. It looked new and the eggs fresh. No one saw the hen; we hope she’ll be back. That nest reminds of why we work in stream corridors besides the obvious reasons to improve the creek and improve access. A healthy creek corridor and nearby upland habitat can support a variety of native flora and fauna. The woodcock did not nest in the honeysuckle but in a narrow strip between the infestation and the creek bank. When the hillside has a good mix of native vegetation, it will be a much better site for the hen and chicks to forage and flourish.

Quinn Huff was our new (and youngest) volunteer. Great kid and super helpful! Jumped on the brush piles to pack down until they got TOO high. He came with his dad Chris. Quinn was also the finder of the bird nest and eggs.

We volunteers certainly flourished with Dyan’s homemade cookies and brownies. Huge thanks to everyone who attended, especially the young fellow on top of the brush piles who kept them as compact as possible. Jim and James are a great team for the work days on Dane County properties, a great double play combo.

Enough baseball but more on the next spring work day: Saturday, April 11, on the Upper Yahara River in DeForest near the scene of last fall’s work day. More details to follow; we hope to see you there.

See more of Dyan’s photos below. Jim Hess provided before/after photos that really show the difference made, noting that what looks like standing honeysuckles in the “after” photo are actually large burn piles.