Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
SNOWSHOERS HEAD back toward their cars Thursday after a guided hike at Interstate Falls in Kimball, Wis. The hike was sponsored by the Northwoods Land Trust and Iron County Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts.
By RICHARD JENKINS
KIMBALL, Wis. - Even if the temperatures seemed bitterly cold Thursday morning, the sun came out in the afternoon and it warmed up a little for the snowshoe hike to Interstate Falls in Kimball - which may have helped with the good turnout.
Local naturalist John Bates led the hike, which the The Northwest Land Trust and Iron County Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts sponsored.
Around 30 people attended the event, filling the small parking lot at the trailhead near the scenic waterfalls.
"We had a pile of folks, it was cool," Bates said after the event, noting attendees came from as far away as Rhinelander and Presque Isle to explore the waterfalls and surrounding park that the Eagle River-based land trust purchased in 2015 and later gifted to the town of Kimball.
Bates led the group around part of the 38.7-acre property, which includes the 18-foot waterfalls on the Montreal River, 2,500 feet of river frontage and roughly a quarter-mile corridor on Kaminski Creek.
Bates talked about the biodiversity of the area, including animals such as pileated woodpeckers and the stands of hemlock trees on the site.
Bates told the Daily Globe after the hike that hemlocks used to be prolific in the region prior to its settlement, but many were harvested to be used for tanning hides.
There was also information on additional improvements planned for the park.
Northwoods Land Trust Executive Director Bryan Pierce told the Daily Globe the group plans to build an informational kiosk at the trailhead with a map and history of the site, as well as benches along the trail.
He also said the group was looking at putting deer exclosure netting around some of the Canada yew growing on the site, which he described as an eight-foot high nylon mesh fence around the trees.
The yews are a favorite snack for deer. "It's rare in areas where there is a fair deer population. With the deep snows in the Hurley area, we find more of it, but lately we have been seeing some evidence of deer browsing on the Canada yew that is there," Pierce said. "So we thought it would be a good opportunity to try and protect it there before it goes away."
