Volunteers Flood Restoration Site For Clean Up

On August 21, 2012 about 40 volunteers from the community joined together at the Menominee Park Shoreland Restoration site for a clean-up project.  We successfully removed all of the ragweed and the few other undesired plants from the area, including disposal of all of the pulled weeds.  The Northwestern featured a front page photo of the clean up.  No city staff assistance or resources were needed or present (though Parks staff were informed and supportive of the project day).

Photos are from the restoration day of two different native plant species at the site:  blue vervain (above) and cone flower (below).  Overall, the installation is doing remarkably well - especially considering the dry summer and the reality that no manual watering occurred.  

Native Plant Species at the Restoration Site

Our shoreland plant seed mix includes the following:

Native Prairie plants:  Lavender Hyssop, leadplant,butterfly milkweed,sky blue aster,smooth blue aster, lanceleaf coreopsis, white and purple clover, pale purple coneflower, round headed bushclover, rough blazingstar, wild lupine, dotted mint, smooth penstemon, black eyed susan, stiff goldenrod, showy goldenrod, ohio spiderwort, hoary vervain, side oats grama, little bluestem, june grass and prairie dropseed.

Native Shoreline plants: prairie cordgrass, hardstem bulrush, softstem bulrush, three square bulrush, sweet flag, swamp milkweed (photo), carex spp., blue flag iris, burreed, marsh marigolds,wool grass. 

Seeds have exclusively been provided through Marshland Transplant, with technical assistance provided at each planting session.  

Local Scientific Community Support for Restoration Project

UWO Students, Menominee Park neighbors and restoration professionals work together on phase 1 of the Menominee Park Restoration effort. 

The following is an email send to city officials on October 8, 2011 from a local biology scientist and neighbor of Menominee Park in support of shoreland restoration efforts:

Dear City Leaders,

As an aquatic biologist, educator and Menominee Park neighbor, I strongly support the shore land restoration effort in Menominee Park and ask that you consider this project for full support.  This project will provide unique educational opportunities for our students at UW Oshkosh, including hands-on opportunities to participate in an ecosystem restoration project.  In addition, the project will likely result in improved water quality in Millers Bay, as numerous studies from the peer-reviewed scientific literature have shown that wetlands and wetland plants improve water quality by filtering out various chemicals, including nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen.   Finally, this project will increase biological diversity which provides numerous benefits to ecosystems and people.

Sincerely,

Bob Stelzer

************************
Robert Stelzer
Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator
Dept. of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
www.uwosh.edu/biology/contact-us/stelzer-folder/dr.-robert-s.-stelzer
Oshkosh, WI 54901
(920) 424-0845