By Topf Wells

When Jim Hess and I visited the DNR restoration on Hefty Creek last year we were dismayed with the equipment the DNR crew had to use. They had lost days with broken equipment and  faced days awaiting repairs.

SWTU had the chance to help this summer. We received notification from the DNR that a bookkeeping error of 7 or so years ago had resulted in an SWTU donation for the Neperud restoration not being used. The project was completed but with a different source. SWTU had about $11,000 in funds remaining in that account. The Board had to decide on a good use for it.

The DNR Southern District fish folks requested that we consider donating an equipment trailer for the use of the restoration crew. In a special meeting the Board met with Dan Oele, the fish biologist, and Scott Harpold and Vince Schmitz, the biologists and mainstays on the restoration team. The conversation and questions were detailed and thorough. The Board concluded that the DNR badly needed this trailer and had no chance of obtaining it in the foreseeable future. We donated the funds for the purchase of that trailer.

It’s been ordered and should arrive in time for the crew to use it on the Black Earth Creek project. It will haul other equipment and some of the material for trout habitat. It will be a big help for DNR stream restorations in this area for many years.