BAY VIEW (October 12, 2019) –Volunteers in boots and waders braved chilly temperatures on October 12 to cut cattails below the water’s surface and remove other invasive plants from the shoreline at several areas along the 125-year-old lagoon in Humboldt Park. Approximately one ton of vegetation was removed in a four-hour period. The cattails and other vegetation are being composted by Compost Crusaders.
The work was done by members of Humboldt Park Friends (HPF), which is working with the Milwaukee County Parks Department and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in a pilot project to restore the four-acre lagoon in the center of the 73-acre park. Two years ago, volunteers cleared cattails and other invasive plants from two sections of shoreline. In spring 2018, they reintroduced native plants to those shoreline areas as part of a pilot project to restore the lagoon. They reintroduced native plant species to control erosion, filter stormwater runoff, provide wildlife habitat and improve the scenic vista of the lagoon.
About 15 years ago, cattails were introduced to control access to the lagoon by geese. The combination of little cattail maintenance and arrival of invasive species changed the lagoon from what it had been for more than 100 years. During the past 10 years, cattails went from a few access points to overtaking roughly 90 percent of the lagoon shoreline. In some areas, these plants extend 40 feet outward from the shoreline.
The result has been declining water quality and unfavorable conditions for fish survival, excessive nutrients in the stagnant water with a layer of scum on the surface, and blocked vistas of the once picturesque lagoon for park visitors. HPF cleared cattails and other invasive plants from two sections of shoreline in autumn 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Shoreline cleanup –Tim Richter (left) hauls a clump of cattails he just cut in the Humboldt Park lagoon while (left to right) Jason Haas, Allan Zehm and Chuck Luettgen remove cattails and other invasive vegetation from the lagoon shoreline on Saturday, Oct. 12. Approximately one ton of cattails and other invasive plants was removed.
Pulling the cutter –Ignacio Catral (left) and Tim Richter pull on a rope tied to a razor-sharp cutting bar that will slice through dense cattails below the water surface at Humboldt Park on Oct. 12. Chuck Luettgen set the cutter from a boat in the lagoon.
Cutting an island –Ignacio Catral (left) and Tim Richter cut their way through a 30-foot long island cattails that had taken root near a test plot of native plants on the north shore of the Humboldt Park lagoon.
Cutting cattails –Ignacio Catral (left) and Tim Richter cut through the roots of cattails they chopped from an island of the fast-growing plants near the north shore of the Humboldt Park lagoon on Oct. 12.