By Topf Wells
Jim Hess made sure we ended the 2019 work days on a high note. He arranged for perfect weather on Saturday, December 7, and about 30 SWTU members and friends showed up to continue brushing and clearing on Milum Creek.

Milum is a small brook trout stream and the last trout tributary to the West Branch of the Sugar River. Not at all well known and seldom fished, one might wonder: Brook Trout? Really? We certainly couldn’t see any trout in the stream because our work muddied it. After about 90 minutes, though, one of the crew said something like, Well, look here. Some creature had snatched a small brook trout out of the stream (teeth marks on the char’s underside) but then abandoned the meal about 30 feet from the stream (as seen in this photo courtesy Zach Oluf).

The purpose was to clear some box elder, invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle from the stream banks so more native vegetation could stabilize those banks. While wood is great cover for trout, these box elders had about filled the stream; too much of a good thing. The brook trout were going to have to grow beaver-like incisors to prosper.

The sawyers and haulers did a great job. All of us were amazed at the amount we cleared. Jim returned on Sunday to sow some native grass, sedge, and wild flower seeds. Besides the trout, we were delighted to see several small springs enter the creek where we were working. Those same springs made the footing iffy at points. One of our sawyers went in over one knee and was stuck for a while. Thankfully we did not have to use the winch.

Special thanks:

• To Jim, Tom Krauskopf, and me – we spent a couple of hours on Wednesday clearing about 100 feet of barbed wire fence that ran along side the stream.  Working around that fence would have been somewhere between miserable and dangerous.
• To Don Ferber – this was a site where the best option for the brush was burning it. Don, a long-time and most dedicated Dane County Parks, Ice Age Trail, and Sierra Club volunteer, tended the fire and stayed to make sure as much brush as possible burned and that the fire was put out safely.
• To Jim – for another superbly organized work day and a fun, productive year of trout stream assistance. He promises 2020 will be even better.

What a difference an hour (and an amazing crew!) makes

Many thanks to Jim Beecher for these photos of impressive work. (view Jim’s full album)

And a photo of the hearty crew courtesy Jim Hess!