Non-profit partners with city parks and rec department
By Olvia De Valk
STEVENS POINT – The non-profit organization, Wild Ones partnered with the Stevens Point Parks and Recreation Department to put in 1,500 native plant species along the bank Wisconsin River in Pfiffner Park.
The plants will play a critical role in preserving the shoreline which in some spots in both Pfiffner and Bukolt parks has eroded within a few feet of the Green Circle Trail. Paul Skawinski is the President of Wild Ones, Central Wisconsin Chapter. The nonprofit promotes landscaping practices that preserve biodiversity and establish native plant communities.
“The soil that’s eroding into the water is polluting the river, smothering fish and habitats along the shoreline and impacting the water quality of the whole river system,” Skawinski said about the erosion along the Wisconsin River.
In keeping with their mission, Wild Ones selected only native plants to put in along the river bank, among these are purple cone flowers, sweet black-eyed susans, and butterfly milkweed.
Native plants were a key choice because they are adapted to withstand the frosty nights that come with a Wisconsin spring.
The plants were put in on the second week of May and have already started to take root and flourish, thanks in part to regular watering done by the City of Stevens Point. Wild Ones will continue to weed the plot after the first year, and the plants won’t need to be watered at all once their fibrous roots grow deep enough to tap into the groundwater.
Skawinski hopes Wild Ones will partner with the City again next year to keep this kind of preservation work going.
“As we’ve been planting, we have had tons of people stop by and tell us they like what we’re doing . . . of course the Parks Department needs to hear about it in order for something to happen again,” Skawinski said.
Skawinski said people can support the work Wild Ones is doing along the river bank by contacting the Parks department and voicing support for their efforts to preserve the river bank.
To learn more, email the Parks department at [email protected].