Last 160 acres on Mt Ashwabay

Your help is needed to acquire and protect the last 160 acres on Mt Ashwabay (shown in orange on this map).

Thanks to a Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund grant, the last piece of Mt Ashwabay can be protected with your help! Your donation will be matched 1:1 up to $100,000 to purchase this land for wildlife habitat, forestry and Nordic ski trails.

The option top purchase expires at the end of September. 80% of the funds have been raised! The BRC is working with Bayfield County and the Ashwabay Outdoor Educational Foundation to raise the remainder of the match required by the grant.

You may donate on line at our website and read more details here (click on Projects box in lower left corner).

Knotweed Results

Gene Brevold was one of seventeen people who helped cut and remove Knotweed (Elephant Ears)in Bayfield last Thursday. The plant is highly invasive and grows into a huge jungle in just a few months.

The treatment involved cutting the hollow stems and treating with a concentrated glycophosphate herbicide. For details on how to control this non-native plant, see the Homeowner's Guide to Knotweed.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the work and the sponsors: Apostle Islands Realty, National Park Service, Northwoods Cooperative Weed Management Area and Travel Green Wisconsin.

Knotweed Woes

Help control this invasive plant in Bayfield on July 11

9:00 a.m. Morning seminar indoors on Japanese Knotweed and its effect on our landscape and economy

Free lunch for participants thanks to Travel Green Wisconsin Program and area businesses.

1-3:30 p.m. Outdoor field work to remove Japanese Knotweed on the Brownstone Trail and other public lands. Bring loppers and work gloves.

Call to register. Space is limited and registration is required. There is no cost for this event. Please contact Ruth Oppedahl 779-5263 or email ruth@brcland.org to register or for more information.

Big Ravine Trail Improvements

Kenny Dobson is donating 70 yards of clean, sand fill on the Big Ravine Trail section off Martin Road. Those who hike the trail may recognize the huge pond that forms in the spring in the middle of the trail near the intersection fondly remembered as the "Fridge Trail". Luckily the fridge is no longer guarding the water monitoring well, thanks to clean-up work by Tim Hartnett, and now you will be able to walk down the trail instead of skirting way around through the woods.

C&W Trucking will cap the filled area with Brule Blue gravel which packs up nicely. They will also create a swale that will drain the area better. Many thanks to Kenny and to Phil Peterson who grabbed the opportunity of free fill material!

Lasagna dinner for kayakers

L-R:Arnie Carver, Shari Eggleson, Paige, Becky Carmel helped serve lasagna at the 5th annual lasagna dinner for the kayakers at the Inland Sea Society's kayak symposium in Washburn last week.

BRC members donated homemade lasagna's (ranging from vegan to venison) and desserts for a wonderful benefit dinner that raised about $1700.

Special thanks to the Village Inn, the Egg Toss Cafe, Ehler's General Store & Deli and Wild By Nature for donations of food. Thanks to Shari Egglseon, Mark Eggleson, Carol Lyons, Gene Lemmenes, Nickolas Oppedahl, Becky Carmel, Paige, Bill Bussey, Ann Riggs, Carl Savitsky, Arnie Carver and Lynda Nedden-Durst for all their hard work.

Highland Valley Farm featured on Public TV

Highland Valley Farm is featured this week on In Wisconsin, hosted by Patty Loew on Wisconsin Public Television. The special documentary called “Land Trusts” airs at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 14. It will encore at noon, Sunday, June 17, and 11:30 p.m. Monday, June 18. On Sunday, June 17 at 3:30 p.m. it airs on WDSE-TV in Duluth.

The show highlights stories about properties around the state that have been protected forever by private landowners working with land trusts. The documentary interviews Bayfield growers, Rick and Janet Dale (and one of their sons Chris) about Highland Valley Farm and the Town of Bayfield’s Farmland Preservation Program. The Bayfield Regional Conservancy administered the program for the Town and worked with the Dales to coordinate the preservation of their farm.

Landowners from other corners of the state, including Door County, Chippewa and Douglas Counties relate their experiences working with a land trust to preserve their land.

For more information click here.

Big Ravine Trails Work Party June 2

All interested volunteers should congregate at the Bayfield soccer field around 9:30 am. The soccer field is up the hill and past the fire hall on Washington Ave, at the end of Dump Road. Work will include putting up signs and general clean up. If you can,please bring rakes, shovels, and saws for trimming anything that is hanging too low over the trails. Please call the Bayfield Regional Conservancy at 779-5263 if you are interested in joining the work party.