Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance (Page 2)

You can often find Linda enjoying the outdoors.

Living on the west side of Green Bay, Linda grew up around water. “It’s just a fundamental part of who I am,” she explained. But the water of her youth had such poor quality, she couldn’t wait to leave.

She recalls waterskiing on the Fox River in the 1970s. “It was green. Once it was entirely covered in slime. I don’t know what exactly that was, but we never did that again,” Linda said. “And you weren’t allowed to fish either. You couldn’t eat them.”

Family trips took her to Potawotomi, Sturgeon Bay, and the Wolf River, and she saw what clean water could look like. As an adult, she got her wish and moved away. She lived in Los Angeles, but made sure she was near the water. Eventually she made her way back to Green Bay, because this is where her family is.

Linda and her husband Alex settled down, building a business and having kids. “The longer we stayed,” she explained, “the more we cared about making sure we gave back to our state.” Linda didn’t want to leave anymore; she wanted to change it for the better.

“It started with Kavarna,” she said, talking about the restaurant she and Alex established. “The most sustainable thing you can do is to use what already exists.” And if you look around, you’ll notice that the decorative cubbies are a repurposed chicken coop. She and Alex also implemented composting with local farmers and insisted on using renewable energy – even when it cost a little more.

These days, sustainability looks like a mission to make the world’s first carbon-emissions-free hummus with their new business, uBu Foods. It was a no-brainer for Linda to register the business with 1% For the Planet.

As part of that registration, they had to select an environmental non-profit to partner with. “We wanted someone from Wisconsin,” said Linda. She found Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance and “we immediately got involved. I love these people! It’s been really fun.”

Of course, it can also be a lot of work to put in the time and money to make sustainable choices. Why make that a priority? “Look at Wisconsin on a map,” Linda said. “It’s just blue. There’s so much water here. We care about where we live and the future of the next generation. Why wouldn’t you make it a priority!”

Linda’s kids are old enough to be thinking about their hopes for adulthood. And they’re not planning to leave the state. “It’s easy to live here. It’s affordable to live here,” she explained. “When I was a kid, I wanted to leave. Now I’m here and I’m invested.”

And if you ask her, she’ll tell you to get involved with Fox-Wolf for yourself. “Membership is affordable, and you can volunteer too,” she said. “It feels like a community of people who care about the state of Wisconsin and the environment. Do it, because it’s so easy!”

Watershed Moments is a publication of Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, sharing the stories of how your donations have impacted lives in our community. Read our latest project updates, make a secure online donation, or become a member at www.fwwa.org

Brenna and her dog planned to visit all of Wisconsin’s state parks in a year.

Brenna Spear went to college for something she loved, but when she graduated, there were no full-time jobs in her field. She had to rethink how to include her love of nature in her life.

Brenna grew up on a hobby farm near Omro and was outside all the time — climbing trees, running through cornfields, and caring for the animals. “I was always tromping around in puddles and stuff,” she said. She took all the ag and plant classes the high school offered.

So it wasn’t a huge surprise that Brenna decided to study forestry in college. After graduation, she was excited to get into the work. “But they were not hiring when I graduated.”

After dabbling with some different contract work and part-time jobs, her dad encouraged her to come home and work for a good company outside of her chosen field. Brenna found a good job, but it was not what she had planned. With a job inside, sitting in an office, being outside became an after-work hobby.

Working mostly nights, Brenna needed a way to be active (and outside) during the day. She also needed to find a way to help her dog be active. So she and her pup set out to visit all of the Wisconsin State Parks in a single year.

“They’re all my favorite!” Brenna declared. But seeing so many great parks opened her eyes to the fact that there were amazing outdoor spaces closer to home. “I challenged myself to get outside more without having to drive many hours,” she said.

For several years now, Brenna has been doing just that with the annual Fox-Wolf Watershed Cleanup. The first year she did it by herself, but lately “I’ve been stealing friends to do it with me. It makes it really fun to bring co-workers and their families.”

It turns out, the cleanup combined Brenna’s longing to be outside with her desire to be more involved with the community.

Ironically, it was through her non-forestry job that she first heard about the cleanup. Her employer actively promotes volunteerism, giving employees time and information, but also matching their donations of both time and money.

Brenna figured out how to make the most of this system and looks forward to the cleanup every year.

“I’m starting to recognize faces at the Cleanup,” Brenna said. “I don’t really know them, but people are nice. Everyone is there for a common purpose. And Fox-Wolf staff do a great job connecting with others.”

Brenna readily sees the connection between her time cleaning up trash and her time visiting the state parks.

“I want to visit them all again in 20-30 years to see how it changes. I hope there will be more parks, more green space, more opportunities for people to be out in nature and find their spot.”

Brenna hopes that not just for herself, but for you as well. She likes helping others find their favorite spots. “You have to set yourself up for success,” she advised. “Find the right thing that brings you joy, so that you will enjoy it. And get a snack first.”

Watershed Moments is a publication of Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, sharing the stories of how your donations have impacted lives in our community. Read our latest project updates, make a secure online donation, or become a member at www.fwwa.org

Ken and Megan Karth are citizen scientists, collecting data for use in assorted projects.

Ken Karth made a living making dirty water clean. “When I started working in the business, the Wisconsin River was a sewer,” he said. That was before the clean water act when industrial wastewater and raw sewage were commonly dumped into open rivers. In the last 50 years, that river has seen a 95% decrease in oxygen impairment in the water.

Eventually, Ken and Megan moved to the Fox Valley, and he noticed the same dedication to improving the water quality. He worked at Consolidated Paper, and there was political pressure to keep the mills running at high capacity. But there was also pressure to do the best job you could. The owner of the factory lived on an island in the Fox River, so he was known to tell his employees “I want the river as clean as we can possibly get it!”

As volunteers with Fox-Wolf, Ken and Megan care deeply about our water quality. They’ve lived through polluted water and the process of cleaning up. But they’re aware of the current threats to our water, and they don’t want to see things get worse.

Looking out at the Fox River from Jefferson Park in Menasha, Ken said, “Water means so much here. You wouldn’t have the Fox Valley if you didn’t have water.” From recreation, to drinking water, to business, “it touches every aspect of our lives!”

Ken recalls that in his early days on the Wisconsin River, you could smell which walleye were local. The sulfides from the polluted water seeped into the fish. At a fish fry, the smell of sulfur would escape, and local fish never won the taste test competitions. The waters of the Fox-Wolf Watershed are considered a premiere walleye fishery, and Ken hopes it stays that way.

When Ken and Megan visit their son in Kewaunee County, they have to buy drinking water. Many residents of the county rely on untreated well water. The combination of a high density of farms and shallow soil mean they are constantly monitoring for unsafe water conditions.

“I don’t want that to be true here,” said Megan. “We don’t have to think a lot about turning on the tap. There are places that is such a luxury.” Megan is thinking not only about water safety, but the availability of water. In such a water-rich area of the country, Megan has “the luxury of not having to think about every drop. I can water my vegetable garden.”

To keep tabs on the water, Ken and Megan volunteer with Fox-Wolf. They check for invasive plants about three times a year, and once a month they take water samples. “We go on a nice day and pack a picnic lunch,” Megan said. They also help with planting and maintaining plots of native shoreline plants.

They love having a way to help that fits into their calendar. “The annual cleanup is a one-day thing, and that may not work for us,” Megan said. Collecting water samples “has a window, and we can work it around our own schedule.”

“Water connects everything,” Ken said. “You’re doing things we believe in, and we really like the people that we’ve met. We’re grateful for Fox-Wolf, that you’re there.”

Watershed Moments is a publication of Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, sharing the stories of how your donations have impacted lives in our community. Read our latest project updates, make a secure online donation, or become a member at www.fwwa.org

Bridget Kufner, cleaning the banks of the Fox River.

“The visual of green sludge and litter, along the shoreline or floating, it makes me sad.”

Bridget Kufner grew up along the Branch River in Manitowoc County. She knew that sometimes you could swim and play in the river, but other times you didn’t want to go near it. As she got older, she realized why it was like that. “I don’t know all the complex causes,” Bridget said, ”but I know there is impact of people using fertilizer on their lawns or farm fields.”

Now living in Appleton, Bridget sees that Lake Winnebago is the same. Sometimes people can play in the water and enjoy it; sometimes they avoid it. “It makes me sad for the creatures that rely on the fresh water,” she said. “If I don’t want to be in it, they don’t want to be in it. But they’re wildlife and don’t have a choice.”

So Bridget decided to make a difference. “I started on walks with my dog,” she remembered. “I would see trash everywhere and get angry. Frustrated. Why do people do this?”

Instead of staying angry, she decided to just start picking the litter up.

“You see groups do adopt-a-highway, but there isn’t a similar program for waterways,” Bridget said. “That seems important.” (Fox-Wolf has created this in our Adopt-A-Launch program. See below.)

Then three years ago, she got connected to Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance when she heard about the Annual Watershed Cleanup. She signed up for a spot where she cleaned the riverbank from a kayak. “I was hooked!” she said.

Because of her positive experience, Bridget decided to earn her Master Naturalist accreditation. After completing the classroom portion, she was required to begin hours of ongoing service to the community. Those hours need to be completed with an organization. Bridget immediately thought of Fox-Wolf and called Kelly, the Trash Free Waters coordinator.

“Meeting with Kelly was life-changing, really,” said Bridget. “I was trying to find a community of people that really have a passion to help. I never saw anyone else doing this on their own, on a regular basis. I never found them before Kelly.”

As Bridget provides her 40 hours of service a year, she is now connected to more people every year. She completes most of her hours in our watershed, in Appleton city parks or High Cliff State Park. She has purchased and donated trash pickers to High Cliff State Park for volunteers to check out. She is building her own community by making it easy for people to join her in keeping our waterways clean.

Bridget is excited to continue to work with Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, meeting people and building her community. “People should check out one of Fox-Wolf’s events,” Bridget said. “I hope to go to every event from this point on!”

Adopt-a-Launch Program

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance has created the Adopt-A-Launch program to keep our launches clean and safe while also improving our lakes and rivers. Similar to the Adopt-a-Highway program, volunteers visit their launch multiple times a year to complete basic tasks:

• Look for invasive species at boat launches
• Remove plants from boat launch area
• Remove litter around boat launches
• Report any issues with the boat launch or surrounding areas

In addition to improving the boat launch, adopters get their name up for all to see! Every adopted launch has a sign posted that prominently displays the name of the group that cares for that place.

There are currently 13 launches adopted from Fond du Lac to Green Bay, with more inquiries in process. Launches can be adopted by individuals, clubs, organizations, or businesses.

To learn more

• visit www.fwwa.org/launches
• contact Chris at 920-460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org

The annual Fox-Wolf Watershed Cleanup takes place every year on the first Saturday of May. This event brings over 1,500 volunteers to over 50 sites across our watershed. Thanks to their efforts, thousands of pounds of trash are removed from the shores of our waters every year.

Since 2021, volunteers have removed 23,094 pounds of trash!

Watershed Moments is a publication of Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, sharing the stories of how your donations have impacted lives in our community. Read our latest project updates, make a secure online donation, or become a member at www.fwwa.org

Nick Ruzek organizes a neighborhood cleanup in his community every year.

Maybe you’ve never seen Nick Ruzek walking around with a garbage bag hanging out of his pocket, but it’s probably only a matter of time. He joyously describes the annual Fox-Wolf Watershed Cleanup by saying, “I got to walk around in nature and pick up garbage!”

Nick first moved to Oshkosh just before the pandemic struck. At the time he was hoping to learn more about his new city, it was closing down. That was only a minor obstacle for Nick.

“During Covid, I got to know the city by walking around with a garbage bag,” he said. Every evening, he held his own personal cleanup event, taking a walk while picking up any litter he saw on the way.

He started cleaning up the ground as a kid, growing up on a farm in Manitowoc. Every spring, after the snow melted, one of his jobs was to clean up the property. Along the road, there was always garbage that had been dumped by passing cars. It was disheartening for Nick and his family. “I don’t want to believe that litter is deliberate,” he said. “But it’s real and it happens.”

Nick knew all about the Adopt-a-Highway clean up events in the community, and he was glad to see trash getting cleaned up. But it’s different when the litter is on private property. “No one is coming around to clean it up, but lots of people are coming around to throw trash and tires into the ditch,” he said.

Volunteers remove trash during the Annual Fox-Wolf Watershed Cleanup

Nick didn’t know about the Fox-Wolf Watershed Cleanup or how well it matched his personal mission to clean up trash. Last year, when he saw an ad on Facebook, he knew he had to get involved. Right away, he knew he wanted to bring all his friends and co-workers along with him.

“I was hoping to get a big group together,” Nick said. When he could only find a couple other folks to join in, “it turned into a fun double date instead.”

That wasn’t the only last-minute change of plans for Nick’s first Watershed Cleanup. As the end of the cleanup arrived, Nick took his last two garbage bags and went to another site in town that he knew needed a little love. It only took two minutes for Nick and his wife to fill both bags. They also removed a garbage bag – already full of trash – from the nearby retaining pond.

Because he grew up on a farm, Nick is keenly aware that there are more challenges to our local waters than just litter. “I’m thankful for living in a place where the soil and water are relatively clean. There may be some issues, but we have people working on it. I know there are pollutants, but they aren’t visible. They don’t clog up the flow of the river.”

Reflecting on his years of cleaning up Oshkosh, Nick has a theory about which places stay clean. “Public parks have families and staff who want them to be clean,” he said. But people take less pride and ownership in industrial, semi-commercial retaining ponds.

Maybe that’s one of the benefits of having the Fox-Wolf Watershed Cleanup in so many communities across the region. “There’s always going to be a site near you, where you can feel ownership,” Nick said. “I may only see one site, but I know there are over a thousand volunteers along the watershed on the same day. It gives you a sense of hope that you’re not alone.”

Doing something together with all those volunteers builds the sense of community and ownership that helps keep our communities clean and safe. “It’s hard to believe there’s something else more worth your time,” said Nick.

Watershed Moments is a publication of Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, sharing the stories of how your donations have impacted lives in our community. Read our latest project updates, make a secure online donation, or become a member at www.fwwa.org