Mud Lake Boardwalk
A long-anticipated goal was checked off the Friends' list in the fall of 2016 when a rustic boardwalk was completed leading into the south end of the Bog. Volunteers spent several workdays assembling sections in the UWM Field Station workshop. In mid-October, they muscled the sections along newly-laid boardwalk as a trail was pushed out from the shore, through dense cattails, to a small bay of Mud Lake. The trail was dedicated on a snowy day in December. Thanks to all the...
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Handicapped Trail at the North End of the Bog
When the DNR purchased the Watts property at the north end of the Bog, the trail to Watts Lake was too steep to be considered handicapped-accessible. In 2009, the Friends wrote a grant to pay for excavating and leveling the initial stretch of the trail. This trail leads to an accessible fishing pier and has interpretative signs.
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Osprey Nest Platforms
In the winter of 2007-2008, Friends' Board member Sue Schumacher contacted the American Transmission Company to find out if they would erect Osprey nesting platforms around the Cedarburg Bog during their winter work period in the area. Osprey, also known as Fish Hawks, are one of the species of birds of prey that were hit hard by DDT use. On March 4, 2008, this platform was raised at the south end of the Bog near Mud Lake, one of five that were...
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Boardwalk Work Days
After the National Guard delivered materials for the final section of boardwalk through the string bog, there were several work days before mid-November of 2007, when the water started to get icy. The boardwalk wasn't finished until 2008.
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National Guard Fly-in and Fly-out
The final section of boardwalk starts a half mile from the edge of the Bog. Rather than asking our super volunteers to muscle the materials out over two islands and two boardwalks, then Friends president Dan Kline contacted the Air National Guard post in West Bend and asked them if they could help. They had transported materials into the string bog for the original boardwalk, 30-plus years before, and they agreed to take it on as a training exercise. Materials were organized...
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