>> Hello, everyone.
Welcome to our summer season,
of In Wisconsin.
I'm Patty Loew.
This week, we're at
Mirror Lake State Park.
And oh man, is this place
beautiful!
The park covers 2,200 acres
and features the oldest
man-made lake in the state.
The lake was created in 1857
when a dam was constructed.
We'll bring you more sites from
the park throughout the show.
But first, meet some city kids
who got a lesson
in river restoration,
and how along the way,
made this beautiful natural area
accessible for all.
Discover how state officials
are trying to keep this
tiny insect from destroying
hundreds of millions of trees.
And find out why some fires
in wild places,
like this prairie,
are not necessarily bad.
Stick around for that and more
from Mirror Lake, In Wisconsin.


>> Major funding for
In Wisconsin is provided by
the people of Alliant Energy,
who bring safe, reliable
and environmentally friendly
energy to keep homes,
neighborhoods and life
in Wisconsin running smoothly.
Alliant Energy, offering
energy-saving ideas on the Web.
UW Health, providing specialty
and primary care for all ages
throughout Wisconsin.
Information on UW Health
Physicians and Clinics, and on
University of Wisconsin Hospital
is available on the Web.
And Wisconsin's
Technical Colleges,
providing local education
for the crucial occupations
essential to our communities.
Wisconsin's Technical Colleges,
communities first.
Additional support
for coverage of the Great Lakes
is provided by the Wisconsin
Coastal Management Program
and the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration.


>> For some people, enjoying
nature is as simple
as stepping outdoors.
For others, it's a bit
more complicated.
People with disabilities,
particularly those
in wheelchairs, can find it
impossible to sleep in a tent
or navigate a trail
covered with roots.
For an experience that
everyone can enjoy,
Mirror Lake State Park
offers a number of options.
If you visit, you'll find
this wheelchair accessible pier
and a handicapped accessible
cabin, the first
built in the state park system.
You'll also find
asphalt paved hiking trails
and nature programs.
More and more places
around the state are making
natural areas accessible.
In our first report,
you'll meet a group of teens
who helped create an accessible
trail along the Milwaukee River,
and along the way, learned
an interesting nature lesson.
>> Good morning.
Don't you look pretty?
>> Liz Koerner: The morning
comes extra early for these
Milwaukee high school students.
They're reporting for a summer
job that will not only
benefit their bank balance,
but benefit the environment
for decades to come.
>> So, we're going to start
over here.
Then we have some plants to
plant in the flats over on the
other side, so we'll do that.
So, let's start walking
down the trail.
>> Koerner: The students are
working on a project for the
River Revitalization Foundation.
They're restoring native plants
and in turn cleaning up
the water and improving habitat
for animals.
The job site is along the
shoreline of the Milwaukee River
a few miles north of downtown.
>> Let's pull out
some of this reed canary grass.
Remember how we were doing it
before?
Just throw it behind us, okay?
>> Koerner: The day starts with
a search and destroy mission.
But the students are also
adding something back
to this riverside landscape.
>> We're basically taking out
non-native plants
and planting in native plants.
I like the planting,
but like taking out
other plants, like buckthorn
and stuff, I don't like,
but the transplanting
and all that, I enjoy.
>> The garlic mustard,
that's the first thing to appear
in spring, so it's already
growing and shades out
everything else.
This is the reed canary grass
root system.
And it creates this thick mat.
There will be nothing else
growing, because nothing can
grow through this root system.
>> Koerner: They are trying
to reverse the damage
to native plant communities
along the river, damage caused
by 150 years spent under water
behind the North Avenue dam.
The dam was removed in 1997.
>> This whole area where we're
standing right now was river,
the buildup behind the dam
of water.
So when the dam came out,
the water went back
to its natural river valley
and exposed these mud flats,
which also gave us
this opportunity
to do this restoration work.
>> We have probably four trays
left of wetland species,
wetland prairie plants
that will go on the side.
So, we have these,
the culver root.
They get about this big.
And they get those white
cone flowers on them.
>> Koerner: Nisa Karimi
is a crew leader
for the high school students.
For Karimi,
this project is personal.
>> I grew up in Milwaukee.
When I was little, you know,
every day we'd be out
in the fresh water.
It's really unfortunate
that we can't be --
that you can't swim
in this river.
It should be clean enough.
>> Koerner: Karimi says
her job isn't easy.
She's not only fighting
the forces of nature.
She's trying to teach
these urban students
a few environmental lessons
along the way.
>> This is called
Culver's root.
It will create colonies.
And so, hopefully, it will
create a big enough colony
that it can hold back
the reed canary grass.


I was a little worried at first,
because they just didn't
seem to really care.
But then the more I would
teach them things, they would
snap back and they'd say,
"Miss Nisa, you already taught
us that."
And so, I'm actually really
impressed about how much
they've learned this summer.
Let's go back
to the invasive species.
Because what did we do
at the beginning of the summer?
>> Garlic mustard.
>> Okay, very good.
So now, why do we want
to remove the invasives?
>> Because they're not native.
We want the natives.
>> Koerner: The Milwaukee River
itself has a story to tell.
The river flows through
the heart of the city, emptying
directly into Lake Michigan.
Before the Clean Water Act
in 1970, industry used the river
as a convenient way
to get rid of waste.
>> The river was
really, really polluted.
And people were ignoring it.
And it was seen as a real
contaminated resource.
>> Koerner: The river
still takes in waste
during heavy rainstorms,
human waste that overflows
the sewage system.
To reduce the number
of sewage overflows,
the Milwaukee Metropolitan
Sewage District created
a storage system
called the deep tunnel.
>> Before it went in, there were
probably 60 overflows a year.
Now with the deep tunnel, that's
down to two or three a year.
So, that's been
a huge improvement.
>> Koerner: The River
Revitalization Foundation
is partnered with the sewage
district on other projects.
Gleffe says that in spite of
the occasional sewage overflow,
the river water
has become cleaner over time.
>> We've seen fish species
increase from about seven
or eight while the dam was in
to about 38 to 40
native species of fish.
And that's an indicator of
the water quality improvement
that's occurring in the river.
>> Koerner: The restoration
of native plants along the shore
will improve the water quality
even more by holding onto the
soil and filtering storm water
before it enters the river.
>> How do you like the trail?
>> Good.
>> Great.
>> Koerner: What brings it
all home to area residents
is the opportunity
to visit this urban oasis.
To make the area accessible,
the students also helped build
a riverside trail.
>> I love nature.
And there's so many places
that people in wheelchairs
you're not able to get to,
to get really out into nature.
And this is just really exciting
for me.
>> Koerner: The students' work
building the trail
and putting in native plants
is the first step
on the road to recovery
for what was a desolate stretch
of the Milwaukee River corridor.
The benefits of their summer's
work will multiply over time,
improving water quality,
increasing diversity of plants
and animals, and inviting more
people to visit this special
place in the heart of the city.
>> You know, you'll see it
and you'll just know,
like, yeah, I played my part,
and everybody else
kind of did theirs.
And collectively it adds up
and that's something good.
>> I hope they come back
to this site years down the road
and say, "I planted that tree,"
or "I cleared reed canary grass
out of this area,"
and have some pride in that.
And that it instills in them
an environmental ethic
and stewardship that they will
use the rest of their lives.
>> The anemone needs to go
on the trail edge.
Okay.
Let's go, please.
>> The River Revitalization
Foundation's next project
includes building a trail
along an old Milwaukee Railroad
right-of-way.
It'll connect to the trail
featured in Liz's report.


Our state parks are filled
with great trails and trees.
And park officials work hard
to keep them looking great
by protecting them
from invasive species.
If you visit a state park
this summer, you may notice
some purple objects
hanging from trees.
They're emerald ash borer traps.
While the invasive pests haven't
been found in Wisconsin yet,
researchers are checking
the traps throughout the summer
to see if any of the pests
have been snared
in the trap's sticky surface.
The emerald ash borer
is a destructive little beetle,
and if it infiltrates Wisconsin,
it could devastate
600 million ash trees.
In Wisconsin student intern
Laura Kalinowski
produced this next report.
It looks at how
even in the dead of winter,
the state still works
to detect the pests.
>> Laura Kalinowski: Scott
Neuberger and Trent Miller
are bug detectives.
The forestry technicians
are investigating a wooded area
near Suamaco in Brown County.
>> Just barely going through
the bark, we'll girdle it.
>> Kalinowski: They're on
the hunt for an elusive,
dangerous creature.
One that could completely
destroy Wisconsin's
ash tree population.
The culprit, small enough
to fit on the face of a penny.
>> It's very minute.
>> Kalinowski: Meet
the emerald ash borer,
seen here in its adult stage.
This tiny insect is causing
a big uproar, sending officials
from the Wisconsin DNR
and Wisconsin Department
of Agriculture scrambling to
protect Wisconsin's ash trees.
>> The Emerald ash borer is
an exotic invasive insect pest.
It's native to Asia.
It came into this country,
we're not sure exactly, probably
on imported forest products.
Should it become established
in Wisconsin, all 700 million
ash trees in this state
are at risk.
>> Kalinowski: The emerald
ash borer was first discovered
in the United States
near Detroit.
Scientists predict
it had actually been there
since the early 1990s.
So far, the pest has destroyed
25 million ash trees.
Entomologist Chris Williamson
explains why the borer
is so deadly to ash trees.
>> It's the larval stage
that really is the damaging
life stage, that causes damage
to trees, because it feeds
in the cambial area,
cutting off the vital flow
of nutrients and water
in the plant.
So it really destroys
the conductive tissues
in the plant, which causes
the mortality to the trees.
>> Kalinowski: To avoid a fate
similar to Michigan's,
Wisconsin officials adopted
a state-wide survey process.
Forestry technicians set traps
by girdling some trees,
scraping off a small area
of bark to make it attractive
to the ash borer.
>> At least it's designed
to attract the bug
to come to this area, because
this tree is now wounded.
>> Kalinowski: After a few trees
have been girdled, workers
begin the felling process.
>> Pretty much what we've got
to do is different
than when we were girdling it.
We're just taking off
the top layer.
We don't go too deep into it.
And what this does,
it allows us to actually see
if there's potential bugs
in the area.
>> Kalinowski: Approximately
6,000 trees were girdled
and felled state-wide
in the winter of 2006.
The surveys were mainly
conducted in high-traveled
and state border areas.
Those areas
were deliberately targeted.
Like most other members
in the beetle family,
the emerald ash borer
is not a strong flyer.
On its own, the borer moves
no more than a few miles
per year, a pretty slow rate.
But officials say the pest
is getting some help.
>> All of these pests spread
by traveling under the bark
of trees.
When firewood is transported,
this is a major conduit,
a major highway for these pests
to move from one area
to another.
When people transport firewood,
it can travel hundreds of miles,
make huge leaps.
It can travel
from state to state.
>> Kalinowski: Wisconsin's DNR
and Department of Agriculture
have imposed new rules
for state parks and lands.
No firewood is allowed in
from more than 50 miles away.
>> Some of the firewood
from Michigan has been moving
in the last several years.
And if you draw that line
up through Wisconsin,
you start to hit southern
and southeast Wisconsin,
and that's where we are looking.
So it could be here.
We hope it isn't,
but it would be foolish to
just put our heads in the sand
and hope it's not here.
We have to look.
>> Kalinowski: One community
is not waiting for the borer
to be found.
Portage city forester Tim Raimer
proposed banning the planting
of ash trees on all public
and private lands in Portage.
>> So we're just telling people
just don't plant them anymore.
Because when the bug
does get here, someone has to
pay for the cost of the tree
coming down.
And why put yourself in that
situation, where we know
this is coming.
It's going to happen.
It may be five, ten years
down the road.
But let's plant a tree
that's not going to be affected
by the bug when it gets here.
>> Kalinowski: Portage
City Council passed the measure
unanimously.
Is a moratorium on ash trees
too drastic?
State officials say no.
>> I think it's a good idea
that communities start planning
for this in some way,
whatever makes sense
for an individual community.
>> Kalinowski: The Portage model
has many other communities
intrigued, including the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
More than 150 trees
are scheduled to be removed
from campus,
and firewood restrictions
imposed in campus picnic areas.
However, all these preventative
measures taken by communities
and state officials may not
be enough to keep the emerald
ash borer out of Wisconsin.
>> Ash trees will be no more
in the state of Wisconsin
for a period of time.
That's what's going to happen.
Every expert, the state
tree pathologist, the head
of the state in that division
says it's not if it comes,
it's when it comes.
Top people in the country
say this is the biggest thing
for trees in a long, long time.
It's going to eventually spread
across the whole country.
>> Kalinowski: And it's not
just the borer.
With increased globalization,
invasive insect species may be
a problem for years to come.
>> With the globalization
of the economy,
greater movement of goods
between North America
and Europe,
North America and Asia,
there are many more pathways
for exotic invasive species
to come into our state.
>> It can be something
as harmless as a bag of mulch,
or a small container
of potpourri made from products
from some other country
that may contain
some insect that is, you know,
foreign to these lands
that could be a problem.
>> Kalinowski: But in Suamaco,
concerns about globalization
aren't the focus
for Neuberger and Miller.
Their hunt for the ash borer
is centered around
this one particular forest
where they continue
to comb for clues,
one tree at a time.
>> While the emerald ash borer
hasn't been found yet
in Wisconsin,
state park officials
aren't taking any chances.
As Laura mentioned
in her report,
unless you've cut your firewood
from within a 50-mile radius
of the park you're visiting,
there's a ban on bringing
firewood into the park.
The fear is that the beetle
will hitch a ride in the wood.
As an alternative,
you'll see stands like this,
offering firewood for sale
on site at the parks.


Five years ago,
this beautiful prairie area
at Mirror Lake State Park
was a corn field.
Back in 2003, park staff
started prescribed burns,
purposeful fires,
to seed and restore
the native prairie habitat.
In this report,
reporter JoAnne Garrett
shows you how a burn is done.


>> JoAnne Garrett: School days
in one of the more unusual
schools in Wisconsin.
>> Do you want to light
some more fire?
>> Whoo!
(laughter)
>> Garrett: It looks like
an arsonist's convention.
But the official title of
the curriculum is:
"Fire on the Prairie,
Prescribed Burning
in Land Management."
>> You may want to step into
the black if you can.
>> Garrett: Most people
know this two-day class
as "Burn School."
>> No infernos on the first day.
Maybe the second day.
>> Garrett: Jeb Barzin is
the director of Field Ecology
for the International
Crane Foundation,
one of the school's co-sponsors.
>> I love doing fires, yeah.
>> Garrett: Jeannine Richards
is the coordinator of the
Aldo Leopold Foundation's
Woodland School,
the other co-sponsor.
The instructors at burn school
love doing fires,
not just because it's fun,
but because of what fire,
properly prescribed,
can do
for landscapes like these.
Prairies require roasting.
They need a good burn.
The term used is fire adapting,
and it's fundamental
to our state.
>> Well over two-thirds
of the ecosystems
native to Wisconsin
are fire adapted ecosystems.
And yet, most of that area
does not have prescribed fire
operating on it any longer.
And that's causing huge changes.
>> The burning helps to keep
the habitat open,
keep it in grassland.
Whereas if we stop having fire
on the landscape,
it will tend to get
really brushy and shrubby
and turn forested.
>> Garrett: Which is why
ecologists use
prescribed burning as a tool
in land management.
And why for two days
in March of 2006, 24 students
with varied backgrounds
signed up for burn school
at the International
Crane Foundation near Baraboo.
>> It's a requirement
of my job.
I'm a soil conservationist
with the Natural Resources
Conservation Service.
>> If you have a thick layer on,
you may want to just
take it off.
It's going to get warm
near the fire.
>> I'm a landowner, and
I want to use fire as a tool,
a management tool.
>> That's a lot better
than yesterday.
>> Good.
>> Thank you.
>> Yesterday, we spent
in lectures, just sort of
talking about what plants
are out here,
what responds to burning,
what doesn't.
It's been a great
learning experience.
>> Garrett: After a day of
instruction on the intricacies
of fire behavior
and how to plan a burn,
they got into their
fire retardant Nomex suits,
and saddled up with their
water-filled 50-pound pump cans.
And they headed off to the
hands-on portion of burn school.
They start the fire
with the touch of a torch,
control it with water
and a tool they call a flapper.
And then they burn-in a border,
what they call a black line,
to contain the fire.
>> Double back out,
check your line all the way back
to the point of origin,
make sure you head out,
then go fill up with water.
And there's a need
for a fire break to go around.
Give it a little bit of water
to help her out.
There you go.
>> You've got a much safer line
to work with now, right?
>> When you talk about
prescribed burn,
everything becomes fuel
or not fuel.
And the thing that directs how
hot that fuel is going to burn
is how much moisture is in it.
The thing that directs how much
moisture is in it
is wind speed,
the wind direction,
the amount of humidity
that's in the air,
how long it's been
since the last rain.
All those things have
an influence on moisture content
to the fuel.
>> There are so many
different factors
that you need to calculate out.
>> We'll go over there
and work back into the wind.
>> It can be kind of like
a puzzle to figure out.
>> You work with the wind.
It's just really hard
to control.
>> You have to be
thinking critically about
what you're doing at all times.
>> Garrett: Everything matters,
even where you place your feet.
>> This is black
because it's already burned.
There's no fuel, so it is
a lot safer place to be
rather than being out in
that stuff that still can burn.
>> Garrett: It's all part of
learning the patterns of fire,
patterns that can be predicted,
patterns that must be predicted.
>> You certainly can predict.
And that's the whole basis
for a prescribed fire,
is that you have to be able
to predict.
Or you better have your
DNR fire ranger on speed dial.


>> Well, you're always
scared to death that
somebody will make a mistake
that's serious.
Anytime you're using fire
on the land, there's a potential
that you could have a wildfire
that gets away
or somebody gets hurt.


>> We also do a spot fire
training to teach people
some suppression techniques for
if a fire gets away from them.
>> Garrett: It's the nightmare
scenario,
a spot fire breaks loose.
To fight it, the fire team must
stay in constant communication,
to rotate each member in,
each taking their turn battling
against the heat of the blaze.
>> They're using a lot of water.
And they're in a hot place.
And they're in a smoky place.
And you only can take that
for so long.
>> Garrett: This is the time
when teamwork
and training tells.
>> The better that team
is working together,
the better that you
can accomplish the job.
You can burn an area
that's 100 acres in size
with six people quite readily
and quite effectively
if they're well trained.
>> Garrett: Well-trained
fire teams,
that's the goal of burn school.
>> It's not an easy experience.
I mean, there's smoke
in your face the whole time.
You have to figure out
where you can stand
without being really hot.
And these packs are really
heavy, so there's that.
But it's also fun.
>> Garrett: It's also important
if these prairies
are to survive.
>> These prairies are
just gorgeous in the spring.
And when you see them after
you've done a prescribed burn,
you just fall in love with them
over again.
It's like being married.
You know, you just fall in love
with them over and over again,
when you see butterfly weed
blooming in July,
or compass plant
blooming in August,
or that sort of thing.
It's just grand.
>> We want to emphasize
a controlled burn
is not something you
should undertake by yourself.
As we learned in Jo's report,
it takes years of training and
education to learn that skill.
And that's our report
for this week
Thanks to the people
at Mirror Lake State Park
for hosting us.
If you want to learn more
about Mirror Lake,
just go to our Web site at:
wpt.org/InWisconsin
We leave you
with this video postcard
from Mirror Lake.
It was shot last fall
on a gorgeous day.
For In Wisconsin,
I'm Patty Loew.
Thanks for joining us.
See you next time.


>> Major funding for
In Wisconsin is provided by
the people of Alliant Energy,
who bring safe, reliable
and environmentally friendly
energy to keep homes,
neighborhoods and life
in Wisconsin running smoothly.
Alliant Energy, offering
energy-saving ideas on the Web.
UW Health, providing specialty
and primary care for all ages
throughout Wisconsin.
Information on UW Health
Physicians and Clinics, and on
University of Wisconsin Hospital
is available on the Web.
And Wisconsin's
Technical Colleges,
providing the people
of Wisconsin with the knowledge
and skills they'll need
for the economy of tomorrow.
Wisconsin's Technical Colleges,
communities first.
Additional support
for coverage of the Great Lakes
is provided by the Wisconsin
Coastal Management Program
and the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration.