Building Access to the Outdoors
Our partnership with Bayfield Area Tails was focused around providing access to public lands through boardwalk construction.
Written by David Wastart, Operations and Training Manager
Earlier this season WisCorps crews had the opportunity to install a new 330’ boardwalk just south of Bayfield along the Salmo Lake trail. This is a beautiful little trail along a portion of old railroad that takes users through wetland and mixed forest before reaching the shores of Lake Superior.
Bayfield Area Trails reached out last year with the request, a new partner for WisCorps! Through early communication and coordination, a date was set for a pre-project site visit. After a successful visit with staff the project was “all systems go”.
One of those systems is Custom Manufacturing, a boardwalk and bridges prefabrication operation. WisCorps has been fortunate to be a part of boardwalk projects that are utilizing a prefabricated kit from Custom Manufacturing. As such, after initial assessment Bayfield Area Trails confirmed the order. After delivery of material Bayfield Area Trails organizers and volunteers set off to stage frames, decking board and hardware closer to the actual build site. We are endlessly grateful for their hard work; it set a strong tone for the project!
Next to do was to assign crews to the project which featured two in the first week of the build. They even had the luxury of camping near the shores of Lake Superior with a broad view of Madeline Island and downtown Bayfield a short jaunt away.
With ripe blueberries, thimbleberry and wintergreen the crews and staff sauntered their way into day one in late July. After two weeks and some change, hard work and dedication, the boardwalk install was complete. Some of the more difficult challenges of the project included water crossings along the route, old boardwalk demolition, and stopping for blueberries.
This was a really fun project with many highlights. The city of Bayfield presented plenty of fun for folks with really good Whitefish dishes! Hoops Dockside restaurant even gifted the crews with a free dinner as a thank you, and we thank them right back.
The above photos show the before and after of our completed boardwalk project. A special thanks to Kate Kitchell of Bayfield Area Trails who worked hard to organize, drum up funds and create momentum that WisCorps could follow.
This is what these projects are all about, helping communities with their public lands while building new skills, overcoming challenges and enjoying new spaces.