Adventures in Conservation

Transcript

Welcome to Discovering the Northwoods from the Manitowish Waters Historical Society. We will take you on a journey through our local history with the help of primary source documentation. To learn more about this rich history or about the historical society – check out our website at mwhistory.org. There you will find blog posts, show notes, our YouTube Channel, and a full transcription of this episode including maps and photographs.

Glyn Bud Roberts worked for the Wisconsin Conservation Department for thirteen years and loved his job. At the start of his conservation career, he worked for the Fish Management Division and looked forward to each day of work. The job created many adventures for him through his work from the Fish Hatchery in Woodruff, Wisconsin. 

The first story is about his work and experience at the Rest Lake Dam and Fish Hatchery in Manitowish Waters. Spider Lake (Manitowish Waters) became the first town to build a fish hatchery in Wisconsin and worked closely with the Wisconsin Conservation Department in keeping the Manitowish Waters well stocked with fish. 

The second article describes Robert’s experience in 1967, working with high school boys at the Youth Conservation Corps Camp at Statehouse Lake in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin. He was a supervisor and mentor to boys assigned to complete work at the Powell Marsh Wildlife Area. He worked each day with about a dozen boys and two counselors from the YCC Camp. 

They were assigned to complete various jobs that improved the wildlife habitat for attracting geese, ducks, and other waterfowl. They even worked with banding birds and clipping the wings of geese that were in a research study to become resident geese at the marsh. The boys worked hard and accomplished good work for the Wisconsin Conservation Department. Robert recounts quite the adventure when a big cat appears out of nowhere. canva

 

“Adventures in Conservation”

By Glyn Bud Roberts, September 8th, 2013 

 

During the thirteen years that I was employed by the Wisconsin Conservation Department Fish Management Division, I became literally captivated by the interesting and varied nature of my assigned duties. Each day as I arrived at the Northeast Area Woodruff Headquarters and Fish Hatchery there were often new and challenging tasks waiting. 

As one example was on an early spring morning during the 1950’s when I accompanied fellow employee Bill Frandy to Manitowish Waters where one of the department’s seasonal fish hatcheries was located. Each spring Bob was in charge of hatching quarts of walleye and common sucker eggs for area rearing ponds. The hatchery building was located on piling in the river below Rest Lake dam on Hwy. W. 

Fresh lake water was supplied for the hatching process by way of an aluminum pipeline tapped into the wooden plank of the dam under the highway bridge. Each season at the close of the hatching period it was necessary to dismantle the many lengths of aluminum piping. Salt-laden water and ice from the highway above would otherwise collapse the pipeline. Reinstalling the pipeline required two or more people. We wore chest height waders and rain jackets as we climbed beneath the highway bridge. We reached the floor of the concrete dam which was wet and slippery with algae. The flow of water was closed on that spillway by heavy planks. 

Our goal was to insert the aluminum pipe into a precut opening in the top plank which was blocked. Water from other open spillways continued to rush downstream within a short distance. Off to one side of lower quiet water we had tied a sixteen-foot wooden work boat. Suddenly the boat was drawn into a swirling pool below the dam. As we watched, the workboat disappeared from sight, and we waited for it to surface.

Several minutes later it came up several hundred yards downstream and was pushed onto the riverbank. An interesting sidelight to this event is that before we had begun installing the pipeline, we saw dozens of sturgeon swimming side by side in the turbulent water beneath the dam. I would guess that their length ranged from three to five feet. Their journey to a spawning ground ended at the dam where their passageway was blocked. 

Because of the many wonderful experiences like these, it took me thirteen years to leave conservation work and seek a career in industrial education. However, I returned for seven summers to work with the DNR and the Youth Conservation Corps in waterfowl management at the Powell Marsh.

 

“YCC story 1967 Cougar Sighting: Big Cats Have the Right of Way”

By Glyn Bud Roberts, July 17, 2006

 

During the summer of 1967, I returned to work for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources after completing my second year of teaching at Three Lakes High School.

 

I had previously worked for the Fish Management Division until 1962 when I had begun college. This time it was with the Game Management Division. As a seasonal employee, I was assigned to the Powell Marsh Wildlife Project near Manitowish Waters. My job was to supervise Youth Conservation Corp. YCC crews in various activities related to attracting migrating waterfowl such as ducks and geese.

Each working day, seven to twelve high school-age boys together with one or two college-age counselors arrived at the Homestead Lake location. Similar size crews were sent to other job locations to work on stream improvement, snowmobile trail clearing, forestry projects, park maintenance, etc.

After the initial orientation for axe and saw safety on the first day, the crews were assigned job locations by the week. My groups were usually divided into a variety of projects such as cutting brush, peeling cedar fence posts, burning brush, setting field rock on marsh dikes, clipping geese, banding wild ducks and construction of a corn crib and machinery storage building.

The Powell Marsh is an interesting and relatively open area covering several thousand acres in size. Centuries ago it had been a glacial lake with islands. Various water level control devices together with a network of raised dikes, allow water levels to be raised or lowered over large surfaces. Drawing the water down permits the seeding and vegetation to be regulated. Flooding at other times is used to attract migrating birds such as waterfowl. One central area was enclosed with ten-foot-high fencing of wire to confine a captive flock of about eighty Canada geese. The adult geese were transferred from and returned to Green Bay annually to “decoy in” migrating transient flocks and to encourage the captives to nest and hopefully produce offspring that would return to the marsh. 

Natural predation from owls, hawks, and eagles, however, weighed heavily on eggs and young that hatched. The high fence barrier was only effective in containing geese if the feathers on one wing was reclipped every ten days. That practice impeded their balance in flight enough to keep them enclosed. Part of the huge pen had a screened section that tapered to a dead end. By driving the flock into that space, it was possible to pick up and hold the individual geese. 

The YCC crew members were instructed to hold each goose firmly with its head tucked under an arm. At that point, DNR staff members would spread a wing to sheer outer tip feathers being careful not to cut too far back which would cause serious bleeding and death to the bird. Upon returning to camp with scratches and pink marks each camper gave a report following the evening meal. For most, it was a day’s high point.

In nearby forested land, Eastern Cedar trees were thinned as part of timber stand improvement work. The trees were cut into post lengths and had to be hand-peeled with draw knives to remove the shaggy bark. Knots projecting from the posts had to be trimmed flush with a hatchet. Although few posts were needed at the marsh, the bulk of the posts were traded by the truckload for ear corn grown at the southern area of Horicon Marsh.

Earthen dikes are subject to erosion from wave action as well as the tunneling habits of muskrats. By hand setting rock on dike banks the need for frequent repairs was reduced. Many youthful hands and energy completed the task quickly. Islands within the marsh were often connected by roads and dikes. It was necessary to clear cut the islands of trees and brush to allow limited farming of short-season grains. Cleared space was tilled, planted, and fertilized after the brush and stumps had been burned. Corn required a long growing season and was not a practical crop. 

One day, several piles of tree stumps were sufficiently dry to burn on an island. It was necessary to secure a burning permit before starting a fire. The nearest fire warden was located at the Little Star Garage on Hwy 51. I left the crew with their counselor and drove my truck there. The garage owner routinely saved discarded tires for me which I loaded after securing the permit.

I began my return trip to the marsh by taking the Powell Road. Soon, I ran out of blacktop and was driving the dusty gravel surface. As I rounded a curve, a huge cat leaped from the left side touching down once on the road’s center and bounded gracefully on to the sandy hillside at the right. It disappeared from sight in an instant. Braking the pickup to a slide stop raised a dust cloud momentarily. I sat in the middle of the road pondering the sight I had experienced. I had just seen a huge slate colored cat trailing a long fully furred tail cross my path. After a short attempt at recovering my senses I continued to drive.

The event kept replaying in my mind until the truck tires rumbled over a railroad track. I realized that I had driven a couple miles past my turn-off at the Homestead road and I was at the Powell siding at Hwy 47. When I got back to the crew and related my experience I was kiddingly accused of having stopped for a drink or two. Word reached the headquarters office at Woodruff about my sighting. I was advised to go back and look for cougar tracks and cover them with a pail or box so a plaster cast could be made. When I checked the hillside only deer prints were present.

Similar sightings were made at Mercer and Hazelhurst within a few days. I remained wary while driving the Powell Road ever since that day. 

 

 

Outdoors Magazine “Signs found of first cougar in Wisconsin since 1908: Other “sightings” fabricated”

By Nathan Bortz of The Lakeland Times, circa 2007-2008

 

Department of Natural Resources biologists in southern Wisconsin verified that suspicious animal tracks found by a DNR warden in Walworth county last week were made by a cougar —- the first such evidence of a cougar in Wisconsin since 1908. 

A visual confirmation has not been made of the animal. But the tracks were found 23 miles souther of where a cougar was reportedly sighted in January. Though it has been more than 90 years since a cougar has been confirmed to have been in the state, DNR biologist Ron Eckstein said enthusiasm over cougar sightings is increasing in recent years. He said most of these “sightings” are hoaxes communicated through email. The most recent hoax involves an email message alerting the reader that an unnamed man in a photo, found a cougar that was hit by a car near ST. Germain.

“What we see here in the DNR is that in the last five or six years, the number of photographs coming through the internet with claims of off animals all over the place have really increased,” Eckstein said. “Of course the latest one claims that a cougar was hit between Eagle River and Woodruff.” 

The body of the email offers the following story. “This lion was hit between Eagle River and Woodruff, Wisconsin by a car. Fish and Game had to come and put him down. He charged at the Fish and Game guy in the process.” 

In reality, the cat depicted in the photo was hit by a tow truck on Hwy 64 near Williams, Arizona. Eckstein said hoaxes like this most recent on are easy to recognize because of several reasons. The first tip readers of these emails should be suspicious of is vocabulary not used in the Northwoods. “You can tell it’s fake right away because it says “the fish and game guys came over.” Eckstein said “Nobody in Wisconsin says fish and game. That’s what they say in the western states.”

Eckstein said other things to look for in these photos includes any evidence that would suggest that the photo was not taken in Northern Wisconsin. “If you look in the background of the photo, you can see some mule deer antlers in the other room,” he said. 

A final item that readers of these emails should be wary of is the lack of information offered in the message. Readers should think twice before believing any email about an off animal that does not provide, at least, the name of the person in the photo or the person who took the photo. “If it’s a real picture, the person sending it will give the name of who really took the picture,” he said. “With any of these off animals, one of our wildlife staff from the DNR would instantly call that person and ask and get the exact details.” 

Eckstein addressed another email that has been showing up in inboxes of folks in the Northwoods for the last several years. “We’ve had calls on a number of these cougar emails,” he said, “there’s the email that shows the cougar with the ‘evil eye’ peering through some patio doors. That one really was from a wildlife guy in one of the western states who took that picture.” Eckstein said he is glad people are enthusiastic about photographing wildlife and that a lot of good information comes from people submitting photos that have taken themselves or with trail cameras to the DNR. 

He said it is just rare to find an animal like a cougar in the state. “We, in the DNR, are really interested in odd animals,” he said. “We would be interested in verifying a cougar or an albino moose, or anything like that. But what we need is the name of the actual person who took the picture and the actual location so we can go and verify it.” 

 

 

Gallery images: Several images of the fish hatchery below Rest Lake dam. Fish hatchery building. Picture taken from on top of Rest Lake dam, looking downstream toward Vance Lake. Circa 1932-1960. Catalog Number 2017.1.002.