fell a week behind on updates, this should catch us up to current.

willow work in the refuges
Hi All
well another busy week with a lot of movement from Vic’s crew
First off I’d like you all to take a look at the 2 pictures I have attached pic. 1555 is a picture of willows growing in the north east refuge on Prior rd. Brian Siess and John Bakos have spent the last month cutting these willows, it doesn’t take long for willows to choke out a marsh, and this marsh is very critical to holding birds for the flats,Brian has made this a pet project for 30 years now, in various marshes through out the area. thanks to Brain our marshes have provided very good habitat for waterfowl. the sad part is he has had very little help doing this he was out there by himself this past weekend and except for a limited few he has had little help. This Saturday the 28 th SFCHA will have a work det. on the area. Projects will include preparing the pull overs cutting the grass(weeds) and putting out the boards on the pullovers also I’ll be there with paint and brushes to paint all pullover post. so if you can spare a couple hours Sat morning we will meet at the Ott farm on Prior Rd. at 9 am. WE NEED YOUR HELP
Monday: we started the day moving equipment off the Spillway project we completed last week. After getting the excavator up to the B-2 pump (north end of 6 thru 14 ) we dug out the Swan Creek side of the pump gate ( we put a coffer damn in there couple weeks ago) to see why it was leaking so badly , it turned out that the tapered locks on the gate had broken, so Vic ordered new ones, so we should be putting those on next weeks , then we can start putting more water in Wahl Rd. marsh. Also Monday our rented equipment finally showed up so we spent the rest of the morning moving it in place, we received an end loader, off road dump truck and a 60 ft reach excavator. Ray got to working on the B-2 sump right away , removing sledge that has built up in there, Vic,Glenn,Gary and myself started the project in 1 thru 5 area, what we are doing there ,is filling the low area north of zone one, with the dirt from the outskirts of this area, the spoils from 10-15 yrs ago when the ditches we dug in this area, this will allow aprox 10 -12 acres of farm land added that previously could not be farmed.
Tuesday: Vic, Gary and Barry Sova (Tech from Crow Island on loan to help us move dirt) were moving dirt in zones 1-5 , Ray got back to cleaning out the B-2 sump and Glenn and I got back on our project of coring the 6 thru 14 dike.
Wednesday: Again same as Tuesday
Thursday: Again same as Wednesday
Note: Waterfowl season is not far off . Crop wise it is the best I’ve seen in years with the band on spinning wing decoys and the crop condition I predict a banner season. Wednesday the Shiawassee National Refuge manager Steve Kahl gave the SFCHA a guided tour of the Shia Nat’l Refuge, he showed us the Moist soil project we invested $10,000 in, it is coming along very nicely he also showed us all the moist soil units and gave us incite to his plans for them, and he assured us he would be having water moving on the units that are ready by Sept 15, this is something that has not happened in quite some time due to water levels and pump and gate problems,but he has repaired everything and is ready to proceed . I don’t minded telling everyone this has really adversely affected our waterfowl population in recent years, especially in the Fed Marsh (Turner marsh) area. and river blinds. as well as the area.
Steve also took us on the new ,in progress, road tour which will open in 2011, I’m sure it will be very well used by many people, it runs though the refuge area for 7 1/2 miles and will be open to public traffic.
Note: SFCHA fund raising banquet is set for Sept 9 at Albie Township hall on M-13 ,south of Saginaw, dinner tickets are $ 40 you can order tickets on the Shiawasseeflats.com web site they are limited to 150 and are going fast so don’t hesitate get yours now ,help us out , Dinner , raffle tables, auction and open bar included. always a very good time.
Thats it for this week
Regards Butch

willow work in the refuges