Fish Like a GIRL

October brought the awarding of grants distributed by two organizations to which I belong.

I sit on the Lumberjack Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council as the Vilas County representative and I an also on the Besadny Grant Committee as a member of the Natural Resources Foundation. Both of these entities recently awarded grants for 2025.

Lumberjack is the RC&D for 10 counties in Northern Wisconsin. We cover Oneida, Vilas, Forest, Florence, Langland, Lincoln, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto and Shawano counties.

Readers may have seen pieces I have written about Lumberjack in the past. I have been covering their meetings for several years. Last year I was asked by Vilas County to be the representative for that county, which I gladly accepted. It has been a great experience thus far, and I have learned a lot about grants, the elements of a good grant application. Maybe the coolest part is learning about all of the great projects that people and organizations have going on in and around the Northwoods. 

It is heartening to see so many people caring for not only the natural resources we have here, but also caring enough about ensuring that those resources are accessible to all to create these projects. From pollinator gardens to water education trailers, I have seen quite a few great projects come to fruition at least partially with funding from a Lumberjack grant. 

It is interesting, though, that this is the second year I have been part of the grant approving process (I started last year just before grants were due), and this is the second year in which we had more money to give than the total of the applications that came in. 

I feel as though all of the projects were worthwhile, but I mention this because I know there are organizations out there who have projects going on. There are organizations that are doing fundraising for projects. If a reader who is reading this belongs to one of those groups, I would highly recommend they take a look at Lumberjack RC&D’s grant page to see if their mission and vision aligns with a project they might be doing.

Lumberjack is more than grants, so I should probably highlight the other facets of its work, for those who may not be familiar with the organization. Lumberjack RC&D is a non-profit organization concerned with natural resources conservation and development —hence the “RC&D.” They are a fiscal sponsor for three Cooperative Invasive Species Management Areas (CISMAs), including the Wisconsin Headwaters Invasives Partnership (WHIP), that covers Oneida, Vilas and Langlade Counties. These organizations, including WHIP, do terrestrial invasive species work.

Lumberjack is also the fiscal sponsor for the Wisconsin Young Forest Partnership (WYFP). The WYFP is a consortium of conservation groups “working to build young forests on suitable public and private land in Northern Wisconsin,” according to the Lumberjack website. Species such as the American woodcock, golden-winged warbler and many more benefit from the habitat young forests provide. 

The FLOW AIS program also has Lumberjack as their fiscal sponsor. Derek Thorn is the head of that program. He does aquatic invasive species (AIS) work in Forest, Langlade, Marinette and Oconto counties.

Lumberjack also holds the contract for the Forest Inventory for the State of Wisconsin. The inventory foresters also contract to do inventories on county forests, including Bayfield and Iron counties. Each year up to 10 Lumberjack inventory foresters work to fulfill Lumberjack’s obligations under these contracts, and they have been responsible for the WDNR Forest Inventory Contract since 2002. Two contracts, the Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) and the Wisconsin Continuous Forest Inventory (WiCFI), provide Lumberjack’s sustainability. So while many RC&Ds were shuttered shortly after the 2008 recession, Lumberjack was able to keep going strong.

The organization also employs two certified and licensed pesticide applicators. Pesticide application is used only as a last resort in the fight against invasive species, but there are some cases where they are the only viable option. Many organizations in the Northwoods have had great success ridding areas of terrestrial invasive species with these services, and then replanting or encouraging growth of native species in those areas that were once taken over by invasive bullies.

We had five grants that came to us at Lumberjack this year. One of those was for an outdoor classroom at Trees for Tomorrow. Another interesting one fairly close by for some is an I-Lids program that would be put to work on Franklin and Butternut Lakes. I-Lids, for those who have not seen them, are basically cameras that are placed at launch ramps with an audio message reminding boaters and anglers to check their boat, trailer and equipment for any vegetation or debris and to remove that before entering or leaving the waterbody.

Butternut Lake, unfortunately, has spiny water flea. This invasive species has not made its way to very many waterbodies in the Northwoods yet, so the hope is to keep it contained to those few lakes where it has already made a home.

Spiny water flea are super small and hard to see with the naked eye. But they cluster up on anchor ropes, fishing line and other items that make contact with the water. Once this happens, they are easy to spot. 

Like most invasive species, they disrupt the food web, and can wipe out the bottom layer of the food chain. When small fish feed on these invasive water fleas, the spine can get stuck in their throat or gut, meaning they can potentially cause blockages that will cause the fish to starve to death.

For that reason alone, I thought the I-Lids were a good idea. 

There is something called the Hawthorne effect that says that even people who may not do the right thing otherwise will do the right thing if they think someone/something is watching. These cameras have been in use at several boat landings in the Northwoods for some time now. 

I think I encountered the first one I knew about somewhere on the western side of the state when my late husband Rod and I were fishing the Western Division of the Upper Midwest Bass Challenge Series (UMBCS). I thought it was kind of cool.

I know some of the council members were unfamiliar with these and one even thought it felt a little “Big Brother-ish,” and I get that, but it’s no different than getting a ticket in the mail because some unmanned speed trap caught a person speeding. I feel, especially in today’s world, that any time you are out in public, there is just an assumption that photos or video of you might be taken at any time. Ultimately, that project was funded, as well, I was happy to see. It received over 300 of the 450 points available, which indicated to me that some people still were not super happy about funding it. But I thought it was a worthwhile endeavor. The Franklin and Butternut Lake Association asked for $10,000 to help with the project, which was approved. These cameras are an expensive undertaking, certainly, but in some cases I think they are the best bet. A lake association cannot have someone at the launch ramp for hours at a time every day, so these cameras do provide a presence to help fight aquatic invasive species.

Once again, though, readers should keep in mind that it has been two years now that we have had more funds to give out than people have asked for. Do you have a conservation or natural resources project that might fit? Find out at lumberjackrcd.com. 

In next week’s outdoors section, I will get more into the Besadny Grants and the Natural Resources Foundation (NRF) in general. 

I will be helping the NRF to get more exposure in the Northwoods and hopefully helping organizations in our area to learn about grant opportunities through them as well. 

Beckie Gaskill may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].