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 The Most Dedicated Volunteers Receive Bayfield Area Trails Mugs as a BIG THANK YOU!! On Saturday June 7th, sixty folks gathered at the Bell Town Hall and Community Center in Cornucopia to celebrate World Trails Day at the Bayfield Area Trails annual trails forum. The day started at 7 am with a guided nature/bird hike led by Ted May and Neil Howk at the Siskiwit River Preserve. The Forum festivities began at 9 am where attendees had the opportunity to enjoy world-class baked goods and coffee while mingling around information tables hosted by Bayfield Area Trails Committee members and other partners. The Bell Town Hall was a fantastic venue for the event: many thanks to the Town of Bell for allowing the opportunity to host the Forum!
The 20 most dedicated volunteers and partners were thanked and recognized with cobalt-blue mugs adorned with the Bayfield Area Trails logo. The meeting hall resounded with applause and cheers. Thank you volunteers! We would be nowhere without you! The morning wrapped up with four break-out demonstration sessions where participants could take deeper dives into the following topics:
 Mike Passo, keynote speaker, chats with the audience. Thanks to the fabulous work of several volunteers on the planning, logistics, set up, and communications, the Forum was a SUCCESS! We were happy with the great turn out, especially on a day with so many other activities going on. It’s always wonderful to see our Bayfield Area Trails supporters; and 15 new people joined us at the event! To help make this a better forum in the future, we hope participants will take a few minutes to provide feedback to this online form.
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 Saturdays crew by the new steps. Even though the first trail projects of the year started on Friday the 13th, a great crew of volunteers accomplished several priority projects before the start of the high-use period on the Big Ravine Trails in Bayfield. We were excited to have six new volunteers join the fun!
“We moved a lot of rocks during these projects. It’s good that the creek has an ample supply,” chuckled Gene Lemmenes, one of our stalwart volunteers, known for his propensity to mess around with rocks in the creek. Newcomer Pete Havlik from the City of Bayfield Parks and Recreation Committee joined the crew on both days, sharing the following thoughts “Connecting with neighbors I've never met while maintaining trails that keep us all connected (to each other and our surroundings) was pleasant and fun. I'm looking forward to participating more often and discovering new trails and friendships.” Make a note: Bayfield Area Trails is leading trail projects on Friday and Saturday mornings from 9 am to noon during the 2nd & 4th weeks of each month from June through October. Email reminders will come out the week prior. Upcoming projects will include:
Thank you volunteers!
By: Mary Anne Welch Lavin  Strike a pose birders!! Click any image in the post to enlarge. As part of National Trails Day on June 7, a nature/bird walk at the Siskiwit River Preserve was added to this spring’s series of walks co-sponsored by Bayfield Area Trails and the Chequamegon Audubon Society. We met our guides from the Audubon Society, Ted May and Neil Howk, at the trailhead.
Later in the hike, Neil added a few more bird “phrases”:
The land was placed into conservancy in 2018 by two families. Trails have since been established throughout the preserve by Bayfield County’s Department of Forestry and Parks, Bayfield Area Trails, and other community volunteers.
 Examining the beautiful forest floor.
In 2024, a severe flood deeply impacted this area, shortly after volunteers had finished refining the trail. Torrential waters rose above the banks, carrying sand and stones downstream. The force washed gravel from the path, stripped bark from cedar trees and vegetation from the red sandstone. A felled tree whose years-long spot on the river’s edge had seemed permanent was carried 40–50 yards downstream. Sand deposits made the kettle hole shallower, and the buildup of rock at a turn in the river is slowly altering the river’s meander toward the lake. It’s all still quite beautiful--and volunteers quickly restored much of the gravel! 
A hiker asked about the bat houses in the meadow. Neil said they get used and added that this was the weekend of the annual statewide bat count. They’ll count again in July after the pups are born. Numbers, he said, are slowly improving after being devastated by White-nose Syndrome.
Trail Notes The east trail to the river actually has three entrances:
Credits: Birdsongs and bird images are from the Cornell University’s Cornell Lab | Macaulay Library.
Helpful Resource: The Merlin app lets you ID birds by sound. |
