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Currently Viewing: Spring 2008
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Rib Lake community volunteers and technicians from Organic Sediment Removal Systems in Necedah work to remove waste sediment left behind from long-gone timber operations. The sediment will be tested for how well it supports plant fertility this summer.
Photo by Arlen Albrecht
Taylor County Cooperative Extension helps a community travel in a new direction
When the Rib Lake Improvement District and local development foundation asked Cooperative Extension community resource development educator Arlen Albrecht for help in improving Rib Lake, Albrecht knew what to do.
The lake is "the heart of the community," according to Albrecht. The 324-acre natural resource provides economic, cultural and recreational value to the village and surrounding areas. A small hotel, restaurant and campground operate on its shores.
"But most important, it improves our quality of life," says Albrecht.
Education and implementation assistance
In Taylor County, where he's worked and lived for 24 years, Albrecht counsels area business and industry groups, conducts environmental programs, and works with county government on a variety of issues. "My role is to provide education and help implement a process," he says.
The village wanted to deepen Rib Lake and increase its clarity by countering the effects of more than 100 years' worth of industrial timber-waste dumping. Though logging ceased in the 1940s, everything from horse manure to sawdust ended up in the water, creating a 30-foot layer of sediment.
Bringing people together to find solutions
"Different community groups had worked on the problem," Albrecht says, "but they weren't talking to each other."
Bringing people together is key to finding solutions, he says. "When you live in the same place, shop at the same stores, attend the same churches, and follow the same athletic teams, you know who to bring to the table when issues need to be addressed."
As the community began to learn more about the lake, support coalesced around efforts to improve it. People discovered that Rib Lake might even hold buried treasure in the form of old-growth logs lying beneath the layers of sludge. This was good news, since potential profit from the logs might fund lake-improvement activities.
University experts provide information
Albrecht worked with UW-Eau Claire professor of geography Harry Jol and his students to bring a ground-penetrating radar system to Rib Lake to map the lake bottom. Results looked promising, but community members wanted to see for themselves where the logs were located, so they built a barge to probe beneath the lake's surface. Meanwhile, the community managed to secure Wisconsin's only permit to extract submerged logs.
These efforts made it clear that finding and removing the logs would prove to be difficult, so the community took a new approach: What about removing the layers of sediment first?
Again, Albrecht brought university research to bear by enlisting the help of UW-Madison soil scientist Dick Wolkowski, who conducted a study on what turned out to be very fertile lake-bottom sediment.
Based on this information, Rib Lake was awarded an applied soil waste-reduction grant to study the sediment more thoroughly this summer.
Helping a community determine its future
"Our work in Extension is never done," Albrecht says. "Rib Lake is not a community sitting with its hand out. People here want to drive their own futures. My goal is to help identify university and community assets so people can tackle problems themselves."
For more information:
Arlen Albrecht
Community Resource Development Educator
Taylor County Cooperative Extension
(715) 748-3327
arlen.albrecht@ces.uwex.edu
By Meg Gores, public information specialist, Cooperative Extension