The SWTU Board recently and unanimously approved $3,750 to help fund a DNR intern for a summer of work. A generous donation from the Wisconsin Smallmouth Alliance covered the remaining funds for the position. The request came from Kim Kuberly and Camille Bruhn, the DNR Water Quality biologists for this part of the state, for an intern to help them complete their summer stream and river surveys. They need the intern to complete the work and some budget problems put that hire in doubt. Read More

Minutes from SWTU Board of Director meetings can be viewed in this Google Drive. If you have questions on what you read in them, reach out to one of the Board members listed on the last page of each newsletter. (Note that you may need to click the “Last Modified” header at the top to sort the list with the latest minutes at the top.)

By Topf Wells

You’ll read and hear a lot about our Spring Fair Fundraiser. Great, great fun but some of you might wonder what we do with the money?

Some recent examples:

• $3,750 for a DNR summer intern to help complete stream surveys (see the article in this newsletter).
• $500 for native grass seed for a DNR easement on Conley Lewis Creek. As the DNR and we prepared for a work day, the Fish Biologist convinced the landowners to convert a 3.2 acre streamside area from row crops to a buffer with native vegetation. We’ll buy a variety of native grass seeds for the 500 and our Nohr friends will provide an excellent mix of native wildflowers. The results will be less runoff, more infiltration, less pesticides in the creek, less erosion and more bugs in the stream.
• $2,500 for expanded and improved water quality monitoring on Black Earth Creek. We became a member of a group of local governments and conservation organizations to enable the USGS to improve round the clock monitoring of the trout water on BEC. The DNR and others will receive immediate notification if certain problems arise, like a dangerous change in water chemistry.
• $3,000 to help the Nohr Chapter restore a headwater stretch of the Blue River; one of two big projects we’ve supported on the Blue River this year.
• $1,000 to help The Prairie Enthusiasts transform 10 acres of row crops and sediment into a wetland within a few feet of the Williams Barneveld Branch. We held a work day on the creek with TPE two years ago and saw how much that wetland would benefit the creek.

Read More

Annual elections to the SWTU Board will occur at the April meeting. We have three Board vacancies to fill. Service on the Board is great assistance to SWTU. It’s a nice mix of work and the satisfaction of helping us get a lot of cool stuff done. Any interest? Please contact Topf Wells or any board member listed at the end of the newsletter. You can also contact any of those folks if you’re a member who wants to help us find new Board Members – we need some members to serve on that committee.