Aug 20th, 2016 WPR
Article written on 2016-09-02 by: Michael Renish
John, Peter and James Tilleman
On August 20th, 2016, Green Bay Trout Unlimited ( GBTU ) teamed up with Wolf River Trout Unlimited ( WRTU ), Oconto River Trout Unlimited ( ORTU ), Marinette Trout Unlimited ( MTU ) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource ( WDNR ) to continue our work on the Ninemile Creek which is a tributary that empties into the Wolf River just north and west of Langlade. We’ve worked on this section many times before and the results are good and getting better.
If you visit the Wolf River Chapter of Trout Unlimited on their Facebook site, you’ll see some of the big trout caught, and released, in the last year. There are reports of catching, maybe not landing, Brown Trout upwards of 24 inches !
The job consisted of working on three sections of the Ninemile with brushing touch up on the section between the old railroad bridge and 55 and then 55 up to East Hollister Road. The heavy lifting for the day included narrowing a section with brush bundles and sediment cover above East Hollister where there were some old logs, remnants from an old snowmobile bridge. The brush bundling continued up about 250 yards above the road; maybe a little farther. I’m a little biased by it turned out beautiful.
Harold Becks & Mike Sikorski on break
What was really amazing, at least it continues for me, is to see how past brushing really fills in and vegetation takes hold in a mere 2-3 years. The stream has really transformed to a meandering beauty with much improved channel depth and deep holes.
As Wayne and I were walking, and inspecting the excellent work done by our volunteers, we were kicking up an amazing number of fish. There are several spring seepage points along the way above East Hollister. I can’t tell you how proud I am of the efforts and immensely grateful to take part in such a collective effort.
We congregated at the usual parking lot LOCATED HERE starting around 8am. This parking lot is located north, on 55, of the intersection of 64 and 55 at Langlade ~ 5.6 miles on the left. The parking lot is clearly seen to the left and you’ll see many a car starting to congregate. If you cross Hollister Road, you passed the parking lot by about .3 miles.
Crew leads, of Kyle Siebers and Jonathan Pyatskowit, described the details of the work and then broke us down into two subcrews of about 9 and 13.
The forecast was for some heavy rain in the area, and we did get some heavy downpours, but mostly the weather cooperated. It was really no big deal as there was no lightning. Going home though, we had to slow down to a crawl, with wipers at max, as the heavy rain made visibility sketchy.
Doug Erdmann having a blast
The tools for the job were waders, boots, gloves, long sleeve shirts, hats, loppers, small hand saws, pruners and spade shovels. Kyle and Jonathan worked the chain saws, with most of the work coming in above East Hollister.
Lunch was generously provided by the Tilleman family, at their cabin right off the Ninemile and the Wolf River itself. The Tilleman’s cabin is located just down the road from the project. CLICK HERE for directions. They tell any TU member to stop in and say hello, if you see a car parked on the hill. Their dogs are welcoming to conservationists and they know the difference 😉
The list of 21 attendees, in alphabetical order, were Harold Becks, Wayne Czypinski ( ORTU ), Dennis Dugre, Byron Dugre ( ORTU ), Doug Erdmann ( MTU ), Brian Heikener ( WRTU ), Jeff House, Andy Killoren ( WRTU ), Dave Lengas ( MTU ), Bill Livingston ( WRTU ), Jon Ostanek, Jon Pyatskowit ( WDNR ), Mike Renish, John Rose ( WRTU ), Kyle Siebers ( WDNR ), Mike Sikorski ( WRTU ), Dan Sumnicht ( ORTU ), James Tilleman, John Tilleman, Peter Tilleman and Don Wagner ( ORTU ).
We are incredibly blessed and fortunate to have such a devoted group to power through the heavy weather all in the name of conservation. Thank you !
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