Mahler Park Tree Planting

TOWN OF SHEBOYGAN – SHEBOYGAN ROTARY CLUB

ROOTS & LNRP KICKOFF EMERALD ASH BORER REFORESTATION PROJECT

Saturday April 23, 2022 | 8:00am

Rudy Mahler Park | N 10th St, Sheboygan, WI 53083

The Sheboygan Rotary Club through its Restoration Of Our Trees Sheboygan (ROOTS) joint initiative with its partner, Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP), has kicked off another of its collaborative urban reforestation projects in support local area governments. The project in collaboration with the Town of Sheboygan, provides for extensive urban forest restoration for Rudy Mahler Park, one of the Town’s most widely used recreational parks. The collaborative project is part of the Sheboygan Rotary Club ROOTS and LNRP initiative started in 2018 to combat the devastation of urban and rural forests throughout the County caused by the invasive Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).  ROOTS and the Town of Sheboygan are completing the second of a two-phased reforestation project through the planting of over 65 trees in the Township’s Rudy Mahler Park north of Eisner Avenue. The restoration project is being commemorated at a kickoff ceremony at Mahler Park set for 8:00 AM, Saturday morning, April 23.

Phase I of the collaborative project was completed in fall of 2021 at the Town’s Firehouse Park off County Highway Y.  The first phase of the project involved both municipal and matching private sector funding support driven by the Sheboygan Rotary/ROOTS and the Town’s Lion’s Club. The ROOTS - Township EAB mitigation effort is the first of a series of ROOTS – LNRP collaborative township – private sector projects now underway involving township lands throughout Sheboygan County. Nine other Sheboygan Rotary Club ROOTS projects are now in development to complement eight more completed in the past two years.  The reforestation projects are unique community-based public-private sector responses to the EAB infestation devastating eastern Wisconsin and the upper middle west.  The Sheboygan Rotary Club ROOTS and LNRP initiative has received strong support from both the U.S. Forest Service and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

In jointly announcing the project with Town of Sheboygan Board Chair Daniel Hein, Town Supervisor and Park Committee Chair Char Gumm;  Sheboygan Rotary Club ROOTS Coordinator Tony Fessler, noted that the ROOTS Community Investment Fund (CIF) and its partner, Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP), are making a cash grant of $8,000 to the Town in support of the reforestation the Rudy Mahler Park. The Rotary District 6270 is enhancing the ROOTS contribution through a component contribution of $3,000 for this Phase II of the project in addition to U.S. Forest Service funds administered through LNRP.  The Town Chairman along with the Lions Club and the Sheboygan Rotary Club/ROOTS have jointly developed collaborative contributions of labor, equipment, material, and cash for a total accelerated replanting project valued at $20,000.  Additional technical planning and assessment support have been provided through a 2018-2019 urban forestry grant from the Wisconsin DNR administered by ROOTS partner, the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP). 

 Town Chair Daniel Hein, Supervisor and Parks Chair Char Gumm, and Sheboygan Rotary Club President Mike Roth, announced that more than sixty-five sizable non-ash trees are being planted in Rudy Mahler Park in Phase II of the reforestation project.  This second phase of the collaborate reforestation project entails planting of diverse species, non-ash trees in Mahler Park north of Eisner Avenue northeast of the City of Sheboygan.  Chairman Hein noted that the Town’s Mahler Park recreational facilities serve both Town and City residents and is another example the joint municipal and private sector cooperation to address the urgent need for urban forest renewal posed by the emerald ash borer devastation to our forest canopy throughout the Lakeshore area.  

In rolling out the project during replanting kickoff at Mahler Park on April 23rd; Rotary, ROOTS, LNRP, Lions, WDNR, and Township leadership praised the close collaboration between both the public and private, including the non-profit sectors, to raise greatly needed additional resources to restore urban forestry canopies devastated by EAB. Recent tree inventories indicate that the at-risk ash canopy in public lands alone in Sheboygan County exceeds 17 million trees. An estimated 70% of the public tree canopy in the Town of Sheboygan is composed of ash trees  -most of which are now infected with the deadly EAB.   

In just three years since the program’s inception, in addition to the Sheboygan Rotary Club ROOTS collaborative reforestation projects with municipal government, ROOTS and its partner, the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP), have marshaled Federal and State grants valued at over $1,500,000 for canopy replanting in Sheboygan County and elsewhere along the eastern watershed of Lake Michigan. U.S. Forest Service and Wisconsin DNR reforestation grants specifically benefiting Sheboygan County are currently funding the replacement of tree stock in the Sheboygan Marsh, Esslingen Park, Gerber Lake, and a range of other public land holdings throughout the area. The Sheboygan Rotary Club/ROOTS and LNRP EAB collaboration is unique to Sheboygan County and surrounding eastern Wisconsin.

During the April 23rd project rollout, ROOTS Coordinator Tony Fessler was supported by Township leadership as well as Rotary and LNRP representatives in encouraging maximum support for this ongoing effort by area corporations, businesses, service clubs, and foundations with an interest in preserving our endangered forest canopy for future generations. Fessler noted that robust urban and rural forest assets are essential for most outdoor recreation pursuits, maintaining high property values, community esthetics, attracting and retaining our skilled workforce, and enhanced public health through removal of tons of pollutants and climate warming CO2.  “This continued EAB mitigation campaign requires an all hands-on-deck response by both the private and public sectors if we are to preserve our essential forests for present and future generations.” Fessler encouraged persons and organizations to support ROOTS. He noted additional information is available at rootswi.org or contact him at fessler.e.anthony@gmail.com.