By Kayla Barnes
Cleaning up is not a job one likes to do. But when it comes to cleaning up a space for all to enjoy, it has a sweeter feeling. Steve Hermanson told the Blanchardville Village Board at their meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8, that there is an opportunity for grant money to help clean up a portion of the Pecatonica River, east of the snowmobile bridge.
Hermanson is looking to apply for a grant from Fishers and Farmers, a funding source that awards funds to local, farmer-driven projects in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, working together to protect soil and reduce nutrient runoff to streams.
Funding from them would help remove several trees along the river bed east of the snowmobile bridge on the south side of the river, adjoining Mckellar Park.
Most of the trees are box elders and silver maples. Taking out the trees, the banks, which are nine feet tall, would be resloped, at a 3-1 slope. They would need to go back about 27 feet and gradually slope down to the river, seeding down the area with native grasses, trying to prevent erosion and protect fish habitats. Around where Gordons Stream joins the Pecatonica River there will be rip rap rock. There is a lot of erosion in that area.
Hermanson already talked with Preston Doran, who helps run the Driftless Valley Disc Golf Course in the park, and mentioned that they work around the frisbee golf in the area to not disturb the playing field. The goal is to go from the snowmobile bridge down to Richard Kundert’s property. Hermanson mentioned that Kundert has done something similar and it took him three phases. The same thing will be done with this, if they are awarded the grant funding. If the funding is approved, the project could begin by October of next year.
This would be all done at no cost to the village. When the banks are sloped, there would be black dirt available for the village to sell, so they could gain monies from this project. Hermanson is looking to try to get other organizations involved, such as Trout Unlimited or NRCS to help. At the next village board meeting, he hopes to have a rough idea of how much it will cost and have additional information.
Pond updates
The bathhouse at the pond is almost complete. Railings are being built by Gene Kolb. The countertop is being built and installed soon. The inflatables came out of the pond on Sept. 10. The committee purchased a hand jack to move the inflatables in and out on the pallets. They are looking to extend the sidewalk between the bathhouse and pond due to complaints of having to walk back into the sand after showering. They hope to have that completed this fall.