WILD Center — Update 1

This is the beginning of a new era for Wild Ones, and as Greater DuPage (IL) Chapter member and National Board member Pat Armstrong says, “I’m excited for us!”

The fourth year, we started with the natural landscaping we had envisioned.

WILD Center Entrance Gardens Taking Shape

As we began moving into the Wild Ones headquarters, our many volunteers extended their hands and hearts to our efforts here at the WILD Center. At that time, the entrance gardens, including another rain garden, were top of mind. We used the new water pavers for our entrance path. The H2O Pro Pavers allow rain to infiltrate through the full perimeter joints of each paver into specially designed sub-base materials, sustainably managing rainwater runoff. The pavers were donated and installed by Wild Ones business member, Lake Shore Cleaners, Fox Valley Area (WI) Chapter.

Like-Minded Organizations

Things were moving along at the WILD Center slowly but surely. Coordination of efforts with other like-minded organizations continues. Steve Petznick of the Northeast Wisconsin Bird Club stopped to check out our site in anticipation of doing some bird monitoring in the spring. Jon Motquin of Motquin Associates offered to do a marsh bird count in the spring.

GW Partners (the renters of the upland, whose lease allowed us to pay off our mortgage on the Center) have completed the restoration of the topography and planting of the winter wheat in anticipation of a future planting of prairie savanna. Unfortunately, no top soil was left on the berm, so our observation point over the lake has disappeared. We are now mulling over other options. And, because of the rainy weather, they weren’t able to get sand delivered to complete the turtle-nesting area.

Fox Cities Greenways members (our facility renters) helped us install temporary solar lighting in the parking area so it isn’t so pitch dark when members leave from late-night meetings. Rick Buser of Fox Valley Technical College’s Wildlife and Fish Management Department came over with two classes of students to view our woodland for forest management and see the open canary reed areas for prescribed burning.

Students of the Fox River Charter School conducted a woodland identification course at the Center followed by a picnic.

Thanks to Dave Edwards we had many Leopold benches, and even a picnic table available for their use. Lisa Picconi painted the entrance ramp with Herculiner, a liquid, which when applied provides a rough surface on which to walk, in hopes of reducing the slipping and sliding during icy, snowy weather.

Oh, and we’ve had some new non-human visitors. Besides the ever-present deer, we now also have turkeys visiting us on a regular basis.

WILD Center Wish List

In the Wild Ones Journal, I used to include the wish list for materials and equipment required by the headquarters. People were generous to a fault. Many people asked about things we might need at the WILD Center – besides money for the remodeling – so we asked for things we needed, and they came. Electrical, plumbing, construction, etc. were all handled by the volunteers. The things that the volunteers brought:

First aid kit • Wooden rocking chair suitable for porch sitting • Vacuum cleaner • Rain gauge • Gardening tools (pitchfork, bow rake, McLeod rake, trowels, shovels, pruners, pruning saw(s), etc.) • Garden tractor and small trailer • Gator or Mule type 4-wheel vehicle • Trailer for hauling debris with car • Benches for outdoor seating • Ladder (16-foot extension and five-rung step) • Heavy-duty shredder or chipper • Rain barrels • Conference-type table(s) • Conference-type stackable chairs • Double bed or twin bed, or better yet, one set of bunk beds • Dressers (two each) • Materials for storage shelves in storage area • Driver for native plants • Tree fencing • Tree tubes • Library materials • Bat houses • Seed sorter • Canoe• Small maple and oak trees.

What We Have Learned So Far

Here’s what we have learned so far:

• Too much water can damage a rain garden. This past year we were inundated with huge amounts of sump-pump water from early rains – so much so that it broke the wall of one of our rain gardens and shoved over the stone fence adjacent to the eastern edge.

Thanks to the Wolf River (WI) Chapter volunteers, we were able to fix that during the late summer, but in the meantime our wet mesic plants suffered through a dry spell. We saw how they came back this year.

• Hail damage doesn’t destroy native plants. We were pleasantly amazed to see that the plants that were so badly beaten by this past summer’s hail storm, bounced back. We had cut the stems back to below the damaged areas, and new growth sprouted from the remaining stems – even the  blazing star surprised us with this new regrowth.

• Fence a transplanted tree immediately – don’t wait until the following day. Whether it’s deer or rabbits, or some other species of wildlife, they apparently watch until you walk away and then move in to taste that inviting stem immediately.

• Mulch decomposes whether in an unused pile or spread in a garden.

• Black-eyed Susans. We scattered black-eyed Susan seed into our newly planted rain gardens with the idea that we would have some blossoms for the public to see the following growing season. Well, every seed must have germinated because the black-eyed Susans were definitely the predominant species showing in one of our rain gardens. Later we learned from the Tallgrass Restoration Handbook for Prairies Savannas and Woodlands, that, “If planted too heavily, some early-successional species such as wild bergamot, common and whorled milkweed, and black-eyed Susan can stunt the emergence of slower-germinating species.”

Would the black-eyed Susans continue to dominate? No, they didn’t.

If you are a Wild Ones member, read the H2O Pavers article in the Wild Ones Journal, page 5.

The Home page sketch for this blog post is courtesy of John Klossner.