Hello,

Three weeks after buttoning up the MSC tool trailer on a glorious fall afternoon, the Waupaca County chapter reports glowing comments from Ice Age Trail users for the work we accomplished at the Skunk/Foster Lakes State Natural Area.

On behalf of the Mobile Skills Crew project team, thank you for your many efforts to create this new section of the IAT.  Whether you helped as greeters, cooks, duff-haulers, 4-step-ers, with tool inventory, trail signage, site clean-up, crew leading, as entertainers (that category pretty much encapsulates the show!) or in other important ways, thank you very much.  From project beginning to end 111 participants selflessly contributed 1,911 hours towards making the Ice Age National and State Scenic Trail a premier hiking and conservation experience in the great state of Wisconsin.

The list is long and we are hesitant to name names for fear of omitting anyone, but we are compelled to acknowledge the efforts of our DNR partners for providing courtesy camping at Hartman Creek State Park (Mike Bergum), planning and participation (Steve Hoffman, Randy Hoffman), and the Departments on-going support statewide for the Ice Age Trail; T.W. Martin’s Public House in Waupaca for a delightful repast Wednesday evening; the Waupaca Co. Parks Department for project tracking, media relations and advance chainsaw help; the many bakers, cooks and project support helpers who rose with smiles at 5am to serve coffee and were still standing at moonrise cleaning dinner plates and more; neighboring Portage and Waushara County chapters for sending reinforcements; WATVA representative Bud Auer for working shoulder to shoulder with us to better understand the processes involved in building and maintaining a sustainable footpath; Sweetlips Theater troupe for all the laughs; everyone involved with Saturday evenings campfire activities; the National Park Service for their on-going support of the IAPTF Mobile Skills Crew program, and lastly Debbie Krogweld, Butch Siegel, and the entire Waupaca County Chapter of the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation for twelve months of sustained teamwork to create this new section of the IAT and make the MSC season finale a safe, fun, memorable event for all.  Butch adds:

To all of you wonderful participants at Waupaca's MSC Skunk Lake Project: This was the first encounter for many with the Ice Age Trail, the Mobile Skills Crew, Project Support, and putting in actual trail tread. The project was covered by Channel 11 out of Green Bay, and news stories appeared in Stevens Point's "Portage County Gazette” and the "Waupaca Post" newspaper (pre and post articles). Thanks to your hard labor there is now about 2&1/2 miles of trail in the picturesque Elderon Recessional Moraine and Kettle Lakes of Wisconsin State Natural Area 312-Skunk/Foster Lakes.  You have helped jumpstart and re-invigorate old and new volunteers in Central Wisconsin. The Chapter has gained new volunteers and tools to further our maintenance and developing new trail tread.   Each and every one of you was an integral part of the whole crew to make IAT tread on!!! ~~~~~~ A Hearty Thank-you to each of you; Happy Trails, Butch.

Watch “Mammoth Tales” and your inbox for the 2006 MSC calendar and updates.  Have a great holiday season and we look forward to seeing all of you again soon. 

Happy Trails!

The IAPTF Mobile Skills Crew Skunk/Foster Lakes Project Team

Tim Malzhan

Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation

SC Field Coordinator

Mobile Skills Crew Program Manager

608.592.1433 (tel)

Join on-line at www.iceagetrail.org