in Blue Mound (Moderator: Walt Hougas)

The weeds have grown in fast this spring at Blue Mound. But while I was out sick, Gary Schweisthal helped out around the bridge in Over Lode, and in the first mile or so of Holy Schist. Big thanks Gary.

We also got help from dccody cleaning up Pokerville. Thanks!

Rich Parker and Mike Meccia have offered to help too.

I got out and cut some dead fall on Holy Schist today. I hope to cut weeds soon. The scythe is itching for mayhem.

Thanks for the help.

Walt

Thanks all. We were working last night and encountered all of wild parsnip, nettles and poison ivy. I figured I'd point them out here in case riders and diggers aren't aware.

On Thursday, I whacked all of Basalt and Pepper, and Serpentine Climb from five corners to the clearing. On Friday I did Home Stretch from the campground to the first gravel road crossing. Home Stretch was done earlier, but those thorny cane things grew in with a vengeance.

On Thursday, I whacked all of Basalt and Pepper, and Serpentine Climb from five corners to the clearing. On Friday I did Home Stretch from the campground to the first gravel road crossing. Home Stretch was done earlier, but those thorny cane things grew in with a vengeance.

Thanks Mike! How did the hedge trimmer work? I'm thinking about putting in a request with CORP for one.

If anything got cut on Home Stretch, I didn't do it. Heading out this AM and will finish Home Stretch and start into Holy Schist from the camp ground end.

The big canes with thorns are blackberry.

Thanks for the poison plant pictures William.

Walt

The Stihl Hedge Trimmer = Maximum Destruction. It will need to be sharpened soon.

I cut the rest of Home Stretch today.  I spent 6 hours on it. Sounds like too much, right?

This section of trail, between the gravel road crossings, used to be known as South Park. William Lorman and John Marks did most of the work. It saved us many hours of work about 4 years ago when we rerouted away from the original camp ground trail, which had been situated in an wet zone. Due to everyone involved having bigger fish to fry-I was in a hurry to get back to other trail work, John and William were making a way to get to some jumps-nobody spent much time brush cutting an adequate corridor.

In the last 2 years the weed growth in this area has become dense. But it's a lot of work to cut because of all the brush. Small diameter wood tears the string off of weed whackers. I can chop through wood up to ~3/4 inch with the scythe, but much larger and I'm circling around it trying to cut weeds.

Gary and Mike have put in enough time cutting weeds that the park isn't a disaster.  So I was able to cut dozens of small trees out of the trail corridor today (using a folding saw) and huge amounts of smaller brush. This will make the trail better for riding due to improved sight lines. It will also be easier to maintain, I will be wasting less time picking my way around brush.

Walt

I cleared a bunch of spoke-sticking, rim-bashing, small stuff from the trails while I was riding today. Lots of 1/2"-2" chunks on Overlode, but it should be pretty clear now.

I cleared a bunch of spoke-sticking, rim-bashing, small stuff from the trails while I was riding today. Lots of 1/2"-2" chunks on Overlode, but it should be pretty clear now.

Thanks Aaron!

Walt

More stuff done:

On Tuesday night, I cut weeds on more of Holy Schist, from Joe's Nose to Toilet Bowl. I used the scythe and hand saw to cut brush too. This section of trail was built prior to 2002, and has only been cut for weeds once that I know of.

Walt

On Tuesday afternoon I finished clearing Serpentine Climb. Somebody had already done most of Cherp Dip " NICE JOB ". Walt cleared quite the corridor for the second half of Home Stretch "NICE JOB ". Stihl a few short sections of overgrowth, but this trail ROCKS.

On Tuesday afternoon I finished clearing Serpentine Climb. Somebody had already done most of Cherp Dip " NICE JOB ". Walt cleared quite the corridor for the second half of Home Stretch "NICE JOB ". Stihl a few short sections of overgrowth, but this trail ROCKS.

Rich Parker (BikeBoy) cut weeds on Chert Dip on Monday. Thanks Rich. Thanks for the cutting on Serpentine Climb Mike.

Blue Mounds Stihl has ROCKS.

Walt

I cut weeds and brush on Holy Schist between Toilet Bowl and the 2 big roots.

Hopefully this completes the weed cutting at the north end of Holy Schist.

Still need to cut Pokerville, past the connector road crossing.
South end of Holy Schist, the last 1/4 mile or so.
Over Lode, start of the single track and other open areas.

Walt

Hey, watch who you're calling weeds!

Before I say anything else, I again want to express my deep appreciation to Walt and others who have been and still are working on these trails. However...

I was out for a short ride at BM yesterday, and I have to say I was a little upset by the really aggressive trail trimming I saw. Lots of uncommon and highly conservative plants like interrupted ferns (and many other kinds of ferns) and poke milkweed were dead on the ground. There are a lot of high quality plants right on the trailside at Blue Mounds, including some state listed plants like the large yellow ladies slippers, this is one of the reasons I like riding there. Even some of the nettles, the wood nettles with the wide, rounded leaves are pretty uncommon and desirable. These plants (as well as the weedier tall nettles) are larval hosts for the red admiral butterflies (the ones that were out in the tens-of-thousands this spring) for example. Often these plants have to grow along trails and roads because of  tree clearing, these are the only places they can get enough light to do well. The tree canopy in the park (and much of southern WI) is unnaturally overgrown with adventitious trees blocking out light to the ground in what was originally an open oak woodland and savanna. The maple and basswood trees that dominate the canopy in many areas are largely NOT indigenous the the park!

Check out the links to just a couple of the MANY interesting plants you can find on the trailside:

http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=LAPCAN
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=ASCEXA
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=OSMCLA
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=CYPPARvPUB

Anyhow, can we cut back on the cutting a little bit. Obviously raspberries and multiflora rose need to be knocked back. And even those conservative wood nettles will need to get pushed back away from the trail (just as long as we leave the bulk of the patch alone). On the other hand, I personally really enjoy having the huge interrupted ferns brushing past my thighs and hips as I ride down that one section of Serpentine Climb right after Basalty Bail. Makes me feel like I'm in some wild, primordial wilderness. At very least they could just be cut back enough to not hang over the trails, plants aren't going to be putting on much more growth from this point in the year onward, they don't have to be mowed to the ground.

With the new park management being more critical of the MTB trails in the park, it would be wise to have a little lighter touch with the 'weed' cutting. I'm sure this botanical sanitization is exactly what they're worried about with some of the rare plants found in the Pokerville area.

Plus, I think sufficient work could get done from a bike with hand tools, rather than walking along with a brush cutter (less gas used and air pollution). I have been using the below Brushking Christmas Tree Trimming knives for years for weeding and trail trimming. They easily cut through any herbaceous plants, and woody stuff up to about 1/2" diameter. Its basically the light saber of trail trimming. With this and maybe a ratcheting hand clippers for larger woody stuff, you could have all your tools fit in a camel bak (or off of your belt) and prune the trails, moving quickly from one area that needs trimming to the next, rather than having to walk the whole thing with a brush cutter. I have a couple of these Brushking knives, I'd be happy to lend one out for a little while if anyone wants to try one.

^ Sounds to me like someone needs to get involved in the trail management at Blue Mound

It is hard to get people to help with the maintenance that needs to get done. Trail Stewards are usually happy to get it done any way they can with whomever will volunteer to do it. A training and working session would do a lot more and be more educational than lots of posting.

Hey, watch who you're calling weeds!

Before I say anything else, I again want to express my deep appreciation to Walt and others who have been and still are working on these trails. However...

I was out for a short ride at BM yesterday, and I have to say I was a little upset by the really aggressive trail trimming I saw. Lots of uncommon and highly conservative plants like interrupted ferns (and many other kinds of ferns) and poke milkweed were dead on the ground. There are a lot of high quality plants right on the trailside at Blue Mounds, including some state listed plants like the large yellow ladies slippers, this is one of the reasons I like riding there. Even some of the nettles, the wood nettles with the wide, rounded leaves are pretty uncommon and desirable. These plants (as well as the weedier tall nettles) are larval hosts for the red admiral butterflies (the ones that were out in the tens-of-thousands this spring) for example. Often these plants have to grow along trails and roads because of  tree clearing, these are the only places they can get enough light to do well. The tree canopy in the park (and much of southern WI) is unnaturally overgrown with adventitious trees blocking out light to the ground in what was originally an open oak woodland and savanna. The maple and basswood trees that dominate the canopy in many areas are largely NOT indigenous the the park!

Check out the links to just a couple of the MANY interesting plants you can find on the trailside:

http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=LAPCAN
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=ASCEXA
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=OSMCLA
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=CYPPARvPUB

Anyhow, can we cut back on the cutting a little bit. Obviously raspberries and multiflora rose need to be knocked back. And even those conservative wood nettles will need to get pushed back away from the trail (just as long as we leave the bulk of the patch alone). On the other hand, I personally really enjoy having the huge interrupted ferns brushing past my thighs and hips as I ride down that one section of Serpentine Climb right after Basalty Bail. Makes me feel like I'm in some wild, primordial wilderness. At very least they could just be cut back enough to not hang over the trails, plants aren't going to be putting on much more growth from this point in the year onward, they don't have to be mowed to the ground.

With the new park management being more critical of the MTB trails in the park, it would be wise to have a little lighter touch with the 'weed' cutting. I'm sure this botanical sanitization is exactly what they're worried about with some of the rare plants found in the Pokerville area.

Plus, I think sufficient work could get done from a bike with hand tools, rather than walking along with a brush cutter (less gas used and air pollution). I have been using the below Brushking Christmas Tree Trimming knives for years for weeding and trail trimming. They easily cut through any herbaceous plants, and woody stuff up to about 1/2" diameter. Its basically the light saber of trail trimming. With this and maybe a ratcheting hand clippers for larger woody stuff, you could have all your tools fit in a camel bak (or off of your belt) and prune the trails, moving quickly from one area that needs trimming to the next, rather than having to walk the whole thing with a brush cutter. I have a couple of these Brushking knives, I'd be happy to lend one out for a little while if anyone wants to try one.

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your interest in maintaining the trails at Blue Mound.

Due to the strong growth in the understory plants on the trails this year, it's been necessary to cut more plants and back farther than we've done in the past. However, if you wish to take over some or all of the work so the job is done better, I'd be happy to hand it off to you.

Walt