BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!

BAYFIELD SUGAR MAPLE

Saturday, 9:30 AM.  -4 degrees F, wind WNW, constant and biting. The humidity is low at 69% and the barometer is quite high, now at 30.41".  It is a chill but visually glorious winter day
   Aa volunteer forester for the City of Bayfield, I wrote a grant request proposal to the US Forest Service Great Lakes Restoration Initiative well over a year ago.  I heard nothing about it for months and when I finally contacted the grant authorities last summer I was told we did not make the cut.  So I was amazed a few days ago to receive a phone call telling me that our proposal would be funded after all, due to another grantee being unable to continue.  The project overview is as follows:
  The Chequamegon Bay Urban Forest Restoration Project is a joint effort between four communities located directly on the shores of the Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin.  The cities of Ashland, Washburn, Bayfield and the village of Red Cliff on the Red Cliff Indian Reservation all have seriously challenged or depleted urban forests due to the effects of late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century logging, then Dutch elm disease, and now extreme budget constraints.  The Emerald Ash Borer infestation will undoubtedly have adverse effects in the future. For all these reasons the urban forest canopies of these communities are greatly in need of restoration. 

   Challenged and inadequate urban tree resources of these communities have a direct negative effect on the quality of water running off into the bay and Lake Superior.  This project will plant 142 new trees in parks and along city boulevards where they will directly intercept and ameliorate contaminated road water runoff before it enters storm drains and ravines discharging water directly into the lake.  The three cities all have recent tree inventories and management plans which will direct the restoration process, and Red Cliff will take a first step towards creating an urban forestry program.

   The grant proposal was submitted as a joint request by the four communities of Lake Superior's  Chequamegon Bay.  It is a non-matching grant, so it puts no additional strain on the budgets of the participants.  The total dollar amount will be nearly $50,000 and will significantly improve the urban forests of these small communities on Wisconsin's North Shore.  I am particularly pleased that these separate communities could cooperate in this worthwhile environmental effort, and that the Rez was able to participate.

   Better late than never!