Year: 2018

Don’t miss this free presentation on wolf management presented by Northland College assistant professor Eric Olson,  sponsored by the Friends of Lincoln Community Forest with grant funding provided by the Four Cedars Environmental Fund and the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

Monday December 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Grand View, WI Community Center.

On Saturday, thirteen Friends of the Lincoln Community Forest volunteers conducted trail maintenance on the hiking and ski trails.  Volunteers cut through fallen trees that blocked the trail; cut away brush and low hanging branches that slap your face; cut or removed stumps, rocks and roots that trip you up; and spread wood chips into ruts by the trailhead entrance left by logging machinery many years ago.  We wrapped up the afternoon with hot soup and desserts.  It was a great day in the Forest.

The trails are ready for snowshoeing and skiing.  Now we just need snow.

Pictured left to right in the featured image is Ed Johnston, Chris Lindsey, Mark Dryer, Art Techlow, Mark Belknap, Jack Wichita, Irv Berlin, Jan Berlin, Steve Sorensen, Jim Pedersen, Ed Isaac.  Missing from the group picture is Pam Dryer, Dorothy Lagerroos and Teri Isaac.   

The second annual Friends of Lincoln Community Forest Appreciation Picnic was a huge success and a wonderful event for our neighborhood.
“THANK YOU” to everyone who attended (over 100 people) and all the volunteers. We would not have been so successful without you.

It was successful for several reasons. The picnic was an unprecedented financial success (netted $2,200); many people learned about the Forest and several became new members.
Most important, there was a feeling of community, of coming together for something so close to us, right here in Lincoln Township.
Thanks, also, to all who donated items and found other people to donate items to the Silent Auction. Lots of variety.
And thanks, of course, to all the buyers. I hope you are enjoying the many different offerings from under the tent.
With much appreciation,

Mary Maguire, Fundraising Chair

The environmental education program titled Predators! sponsored by the Friends of Lincoln Community Forest was fun and successful.  32 people attended including 16 kids.  And yes, most of them touched the snake!

Stories and explanations about predators and their prey, their life cycles, and how they hunt, eat and survive were presented by Haley Appleman of the Cable Natural History Museum in the Grand View Community Center.  She brought a live hawk, a snake, and a tiger salamander and explained how they catch their prey in very different ways.  Audience participation in these stories and explanations made the learning interesting and fun!

This was the first of four wildlife education programs that will be sponsored by the FLCF.  Funding was provided by the Four Cedars Environmental Fund and the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

Keep a look-out for the next program which will be held in early December

Check this out on September 29th at the Grand View Community Center.

Hosted by The Friends of Lincoln Community Forest.  Made possible through grant funding provided by the Four Cedars Environmental Fund.

Friends Group volunteers recently mowed and trimmed the hiking trails on the Lincoln Community Forest, and replaced the trail marker maps.  The misquote index is low so get out and enjoy i ts beauty.

Friends Group volunteers made and froze 50 pizzas last week just in case we eat more than the 50 fresh pizzas coming hot out of the oven on Saturday.  Left over frozen pizzas will be made available for a donation at the end of the picnic.

The Friends of the Lincoln Community Forest initiated a new wildlife conservation initiative with the construction and installation of bat houses at two locations on the Community Forest.  Friends group volunteers put up the first of two bat house poles in May.  Each pole has two different styles of houses attached to it.  The second pole will go up as soon as the trail to the site dries out.  Bat houses provide bats a safe place to roost and raise their young in the summer.

Bats are an integral part of the ecosystem. Because of their feeding habits, bats are an important form of pest control and also pollinate and spread many important foods we eat every day.  Bats have voracious appetites, and a single bat can eat thousands of insects every night.

Building a bat house is a great way to help these threatened animals. Because of their slow reproductive rates (typically 1 baby per year), bats of all species are at risk of population decline. Habitat loss, pesticides and an invasive fungus that is associated with White-Nose Syndrome are all negatively impacting bat populations. Providing alternative roosting habitat with bat houses can help lessen the impacts of these threats.

While creating habitat, the Friends of Lincoln Community Forest will contribute to monitoring of bat health and status by enrolling in the WI DNR Summer Bat Monitoring Program.

Wisconsin’s four bat species that might roost in bat houses include: little brown bats, big brown bats, eastern pipistrelle bats and northern long-eared bats. The little brown and big brown bats are the most likely of the four species to take up residence in bat houses.

Friends of the Lincoln Community Forest volunteers and Turtles for Tomorrow had a great work session in May restoring a protected turtle nesting site near the Marengo River.  Wood turtles are threatened in Wisconsin and are the primary reason for building this site.  Sites like this draw female turtles away from roads and provide them with larger sites where greater nesting success is expected. This site is protected by electric fence to exclude predators that feed on turtle eggs.  Friends group members will monitor the site for use by turtles.

The Friends of Lincoln Community Forest volunteers are making it easy and free to borrow books on animals the environment by building a little library at the trailhead of the Lincoln Community Forest.

The library will include natural resource or nature-based books only, especially books for kids and youth.  We encourage people to read a book to a child and activate a desire for them to explore.

Anyone will be welcome to donate books and take a book to keep or return.

Our Education Committee (Teri Isaac and Kathy Zuelsdorff) will keep it maintained, and ensure appropriate material is provided for use.  All materials were donated and built with volunteer hours.