Go Marengo!
Last month, Friends of Lincoln Community Forest volunteers in partnership with Landmark Conservancy improved aquatic habitat in the Marengo River by anchoring large trees at six sites.
Guidance was provided by Wisconsin DNR and Trout Unlimited, and Superior Rivers Watershed Association and adjacent landowners were also contributing partners.
Log-tong train moving trees.
Enormous floods in 2016 and 2018 caused severe bank erosion and sedimentation, and the high flows washed away many of the trees and other large woody debris that are naturally found in the river channel and floodplain. These materials provide critical habitat for all life stages of fish by providing hiding places, feeding areas, and protection from ice and extreme flows. Additionally, large woody debris can help reduce erosion and slow down flood waters allowing sediment and gravel to settle out.
Several of the 22 volunteers who helped move and anchor the large woody debris.
“This project, “Go Marengo,” is named after a short story written for Field and Stream magazine in 1936 by Gordon MacQuarrie,” said the Friends’ project coordinator Mark Dryer. I have many fond memories of fishing, hunting and exploring the Marengo River since before I could drive a car. Thank you, partners, volunteers, and donors for your support of this project.”
In the coming months, Friends volunteers will monitor and maintain these sites. Next summer, these same partners will plant 500 trees along the river to help stabilize the stream banks and establish more future shade along the stream to help keep the water cooler for native fish.
Anchoring a tree so it extends into the river.
