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In 50-year honor
Lofy PFD donation

Dora and Frank Lofy (right) donated $1,000 to the Platteville Fire Department in honor of Ron Boldt (left) and Dick Klinger and their 50 years each of service to the Fire Department.

Watershed Council collaborates with Gays Mills around sewer plant challenges
Tainter Creek
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TAINTER CREEK Watershed Council is partnering with the Village of Gays Mills to facilitate conservation practice installation upstream of the village’s Waste Water Treatment Facility. The newly reinvigorated watershed council now pulls from the greater Tainter Creek Watershed, which includes four subwatersheds.

The Tainter Creek Watershed Council (TCWC) assembled about 10 members for a meeting with Gays Mills Village President Harry Heisz and Village Trustee Ethan Eitsert from the Gays Mills Village Board on Wednesday, May 7. The subject of the meeting was how the farmers and rural landowners in the watershed could help the village with conservation practices that could buy the village time to plan for replacement of the Waste Water Treatment Facility (WWTF).

“It’s not just about the village – we also want to make this work to improve the creek,” Harry Heisz said. “WDNR has ultimately said we have to relocate our WWTF away from the banks of the Kickapoo River, but the village is grappling with the costs of that. In the meantime, while we plan, we are looking to offset the very low phosphorous in effluent requirements of the state and the federal government through partnering with farmers and rural landowners on conservation practices that can measurably reduce phosphorous in the Kickapoo River.”

Heisz explained that the village would pursue loans and grants to pay for the practice installations in order to buy time and avoid costly WDNR fines.

The Village of Soldiers Grove at their May meeting approved upgrades to their WWTF which, if grant  and low-interest loan funding is approved, will result in an increase of residential sewer rates (average of $580 per year per user) by between $100 to $200 per month in order to meet state and federal requirements.

“To meet WDNR’s phosphorous requirements would cost the village $3 million if we don’t pursue these conservation projects,” village trustee Ethan Eitsert commented.

TCWC grazing project

Longtime TCWC member Chuck Bolstad weighed in on the topic.

“TCWC, through a portfolio of projects like cover crops and our Pasture Project, undertaken partnership with the Wallace Center Pasture Project, and using $1.15 million in funding from U.S. EPA’s Gulf of Mexico Division Farmer to Farmer Program, has already lowered phosphorous in Tainter Creek,” Bolstad said proudly. “We have a proven track record, supported by years of water quality monitoring in the creek.”

Locally, the Grazing Project program was implemented by Valley Stewardship Network (VSN), with technical support from two experienced local grazers – Jim Munsch of Coon Valley and Dennis Rooney of Steuben. Former VSN employees Dani Heisler and Monique Hassman worked extensively on the program, coordinating with farmer participants and Munsch and Rooney, creating maps to support the project, and more.

“We blew our initial goals out of the water with this project, and it has been a wild success,” Dani Heisler (now the DATCP Producer-Led Program Manager) told the group. “Through this project in the Tainter Creek Watershed, we achieved 135 percent of our goal for reduction of phosphorous leaving fields in the watershed, and 170 percent of our goal for reduction of sediment leaving fields in the watershed.”

Heisler said this meant that phosphorous leaving farm fields in the watershed each year is reduced by 2,300 pounds (initial goal was 1,700 pounds). Reduction of sediment leaving fields in the watershed each year as a result of the project is reduced by an estimated 1,600 tons (initial goal was 940 tons).

Need the points

“We know we have to get the points, and we’ve just applied for another five-year waiver from WDNR,” Heisz said. “By the end of five years, if we receive the waiver, we hope to have a new waste water treatment plant.”

Heisz said that any eligible project would have to be documented by soil samples – before and after.

One of TCWC’s founding farmers Grant Rudrud, asked Heisz where the conservation practice installations could occur and still be eligible. Heisz responded that anything upstream of the sewer plant, and below any other WWTF would be eligible.

TCWC member from the Trout Creek Subwatershed, Monique Hassman, asked who is responsible for maintenance and repair if the project is damaged?

“The village has to maintain it and repair it if it is damaged,” Heisz responded. “We will also have to have access on an ongoing basis for maintenance, and for soil sampling.”

TCWC member from rural Soldiers Grove, grassfed beef farmer Bruce Ristow, shared several prospects with landowners he had identified.

TCWC farmer member Jesse Blum shared that fixing sinkholes and ditches could be a good avenue, that would meet the village’s needs and also meet the needs of farmers.

“It doesn’t have to be right on the creek,” Heisz responded. “I think putting in some small dams (farm ponds) could be a good option, and could help with the village’s flooding problems as well.”

Heisz summed up saying, “the next step is to meet with the landowners with the representative of our engineering firm present.”

The Tainter Creek Watershed Council is planning another meeting in June at the Kickapoo Orchard.

At their March 18 meeting, held in Readstown, the group attracted over 65 participants. This drew from the newly-expanded boundaries of the watershed to include four subwatersheds – Tainter Creek, Reads Creek, Trout Creek, and Kickapoo River/Caswell Hollow in Gays Mills. The area now includes the municipalities of Readstown, Soldiers Grove, Gays Mills and Mt. Sterling. Look for more information coming soon about this dynamic group.

Village must meet phosphorous levels or find alternative
Gays Mills
gays mills village board

The Village of Gays Mills Board received a report on the status of the Wastewater Treatment Project from Evan Chambers, a project engineer at Town and Country Engineering.

The proposed new Wastewater Treatment Plant to be built in the village is planned, but cannot presently be built because of cost. Town & Country is working with the village to find  funding in grants and loans to build the plant.

While some new treatment plants built in the state can meet the latest very low level of phosphorous discharge required by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, others cannot. The treatment plant as proposed for Gays Mills will be a big step forward, but it will not include the filtration equipment to get to the required level.

With or without the completion of the treatment plant, Chambers pointed out the village will need to get credits for projects elsewhere in the area. These can be used as water trading credits to fulfill reducing phosphorous elsewhere to offset the amount the village cannot achieve at the current or future plant.

The village is seeking to renew its five-year variance with the DNR by using water trading credits from other projects it funds upstream from the plant.

Chambers Told the board they needed to sign up some new projects that might include rip-rapping streambanks to prevent soil erosion carrying phosphorous into the stream. Calculation of soil erosion reductions would show how much phosphorous is being kept out of the river and ultimately the village would get credit for reducing phosphorus with project to offset what is exceeding the current limit.

Chambers told the board he had soil sample lined up with potential partner and would know more soon.

“The village will need partnerships no matter what,” Chambers said.

Village trustees Art Winsor and Kevin Murray expressed concern that the partnerships would be a workable solution.

Winsor questioned, if figures obtained for the credits needed to comply with the lower phosphorus level requirements, were accurate. The trustee asked if was possible to overshoot with some sort of treatment and get more credits than needed.

Chambers explained, in the event that happened, the village could trade the extra phosphorus to another municipality that needed it.

Murray noted that the plant is no closer to being built than it was before the plant was created. He pointed out the cost of building the plant has skyrocketed year after.

In answer to a question, Chambers said the current cost to build the new sewer plant as designed is estimated to be $13 million and the village could not do it without getting 70% of cost financed by grants.

“You can’t get there without grant,” Chamber the engineer also noted that grant funding has dried up.

The variance the water trading credits obtain for the village keeps it going. Chambers said the village can’t afford to not get a variance and be found out of compliance and face large fines.

“We’re getting good results with what we’re doing,” Chamber told the board.

After some discussion trustee Larry McCarn made a motion to approve the Town & Country’s Scope of Service for the Final Phosphorous Report and Pollutant Minimization Plan. Winsor seconded the motion and the board passed the motion.

In other business, the Gays Mills Village Board:

 • approved Mara O’Brien as new lifeguard at the pool and learned the pool lost the services of two other lifeguards

• learned that Ray and Danielle Strong, the pool directors, will be available to serve as life guards

• heard that the plan is to open the pool on Saturday, June 7

• learned that the building inspector has been contacted to report on the nuisance properties at 200 Main Street and 208 Main Street

• approved a temporary Alcohol License for wine and beer for the Friends of Gays Mills for May 16 at the Community Commerce Center for the Alice in Dairyland event

• clarified the sewer hookup fee waive extension would be allowed for all hookups–not just for homeowners, who had filed an application with the village

Snyders encourage outside play through new series of childrens books
Snyder books

         As with many parents, Kayla and Justin Snyder of Fennimore often struggle with balancing their three children’s (Aliana, Michael, and Matthew) screen time with real world/outdoor play. 

“Their bodies need to move and we (parents in general) struggle with getting the kids out of the house and away from their screens,” Kayla explained. 

“As parents, we see the pull of screens every day. We encourage our kids to get outside, move, and connect with the world around them because we know how important it is,” Justin said “We wanted to create

Something that would not just inspire our own kids, but families everywhere.”

So Kayla and Justin began creating a children's book series, Don’t Leave Your Body Behind, to cover that very topic, with Justin as the author and Kayla as the illustrator. 

The series was designed to remind young readers that their bodies matter, their words have power, and their feelings are valid. Research shows that today’s children spend twice as much time looking at screens as they do playing outside—a trend that affects their physical health, mental wellness, and emotional growth.

The books’ creation began a little over a year ago, but the publishing of them began when Kayla and Justin became involved with the online community, The Purpose Pusher Academy, a “culturally responsive professional learning platform offering virtual courses designed to equip and empower educators and other adults working with children in the K-12 setting,” according to the academy’s website. 

Now having tools and resources more available to them, Kayla and Justin first two books of the series, “The Day Jay Found His Body Again” and “Kay’s Garden of Words: The Power of Positive Affirmations” were released last month.

According to the Snyders, “The Day Jay Found His Body Again” tells the story of a boy who rediscovers the joy of outdoor play after losing himself in screens and boredom. 

While, “Kay’s Garden of Words: The Power of Positive Affirmations”  follows a young girl who learns that speaking kind, powerful words can change her world from the inside out.

Each story is paired with a matching coloring and activity book to help families engage even more deeply with the lessons through creativity and play.

“We live this every day with our own three kids. In a world pulling kids toward screens and negativity, we believe in pulling them back to their bodies, their hearts, and their dreams. We want children to know and

understand that your body matters, your words have power, and your feelings are valid. You are growing into

something beautiful—one thought, one feeling, and one brave step at a time,” Kayla stated. 

The “ever growing series” as Kayla described it, has a third book in the works covering emotions and coping/self soothing skills. 

The “book business” isn’t just limited to Kayla and Justin, as their eight year old Matthew, has a coloring book published entitled, “The Mattastic World of Monster Affirmations,” which Amazon describes as “Join Matthew’s cheerful, quirky monster friends in a magical world filled with fun and uplifting affirmations. This coloring book is packed with adorable cartoon monsters teaching kids the power of positivity, self-confidence, and kindness.”

11 year old Michael also is currently building t-shirt designs through the family’s website.

“We always wanted something we could do together as a family,” Kayla explained. “This is our ‘big family thing’ that helps us and our children fulfill their dreams.” 

The Don’t Leave Your Body Behind series, as well as Matthew’s coloring book is available on Amazon and featured on the family’s website, www.kayluvsjay.com.

The Snyder’s “big family thing” was been doing well on Amazon as recently, “The Day Jay Found His Body Again” was a number one best seller on Amazon in two categories: children’s books and fitness. 

“Jay’s Backyard Adventures Coloring and Activity Book”  sat at number 16, and “Kay’s Garden of Words” coloring book was ranked number two in cut and assemble”, and the storybook version was at number 35 in children’s inspirational.

Land Conservancy celebrates 25 years
Driftless Area
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ROSE AND JIM SIME were present for the Driftless Area Land Conservancy’s 25th Anniversary celebration on May Day. The two are the conservation easement partners in DALC’s most recent acquisition – The Big Rock Preserve. The 140-acre property near Castle Rock in Grant County is located in the heart of the Snow Bottom State Natural Area. As Jim Sime explained, “it was always the plan to protect Big Rock from development, and to hand it off to someone who could care for it.”

The Driftless Area Land Conservancy gathered to celebrate their successes and share their plans for the future to a packed house at Wintergreen Resort on May Day. The Conservancy (DALC) is working to raise funds to purchase the Wintergreen Resort and establish it as the trail head for their 50-mile ‘Driftless Trail.’

Three speakers provided comments to the 400 people present for the celebration – Jordy Jordahl, Jen Filipiak, and Mark Cupp.

“I am humbled and honored to have been the DALC executive director during our awkward teenage years,” DALC executive director Jen Filipiak said in her address to the group. “Now, our organization is coming of age, and with lots of strategic thinking and planning, we’re about to make a big transition and step up to meet the hopes and dreams of our community for the next 25 years.”

“I want to tell you all that when we started this organization back in 2000, I don’t think any of us expected to be here today with almost 400 people and be able to say that our land trust has protected almost 10,000 acres, own seven preserves, is actively working to build a 50-mile walking path, and is now working to protect this gem on the bluff over the Lower Wisconsin River!” Jordahl enthused.  “And in addition to the folks here, there are many members and supporters who couldn't join us today!  Wow. I had some high hopes but wow.”

“All affiliated with DALC should be proud, incredibly proud, of the accomplishments we’ve heard ticked off today,” Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Executive Director Mark Cupp observed. “This is rare. Not every organization has this level of success, and is able to sustain it and continue to grow. Look around. Hundreds of people have gathered today to celebrate DALC’s 25th Anniversary, and last week, Governor Evers visited Wintergreen Resort to learn more about DALC’s work, recent initiatives, and those on the immediate horizon. The best is yet to come – I can feel it in my bones.”

Mixed in with the exhibits detailing key milestones of the group’s first 25 years and booths inviting interaction with partner organizations, was information lauding the positive impacts of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program. The State of Wisconsin program has funded parks and trails, protected lakes and rivers, and conserved special places across Wisconsin for over 30 years.

Through this funding, up for reauthorization in the state biennial budget for 2025-2027, 750,000 acres have been protected, and more than 4,200 grants have been awarded to local governments and non-profit organizations to support parks, trails, boat launches and campgrounds.

Overall, in the last 30 years, this represents a $1.3 billion investment in Wisconsin’s land, water and way of life, and is estimated to cost each Wisconsin taxpayer only $11 per year. Supporters say that through this investment, $2.5 billion is returned to state residents every year through air and water filtration, carbon sequestration, recreation opportunities and flood protection. In addition, the funding supports 96,000 outdoor recreation jobs and the state’s $24 billion forestry economy.

Key milestones

• 2000-2005: DALC got its start in the year 2000 when a group of dedicated individuals gathered in Richland County. That group developed a collective vision to protect land and preserve the unique landscape and ecosystem of the Driftless Region. In 2001, they became a non-profit with a passionate team of volunteers. By 2003, they hired their first staff member, Doug Cieslak, as executive director and completed their first conservation easement. In 2005, DALC partnered with Prairie Enthusiasts and DNR using NRCS funding to protect farmland – a groundbreaking step that set the tone for future collaborations.

• 2006-2010: Despite the economic challenges of the 2008 recession, DALC persevered with safeguarding of vital lands. During these years, DALC employed two staff members, and had protected 2,287 acres. By 2010, they succeeded in protection of their largest parcel – the 548-acre Schuelke Easement. The effort was part of a broader initiative to connect properties within the Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area.

“I can’t imagine a better place to live. I’ve seen so many beautiful farms disappear, and this was my chance – our chance – to make sure that our family says ‘thank you’ to those before us, and those to come, by making sure it will never become a sea of houses or paved over,” conservation easement partner Wayne Schuelke said.

• 2011-2015: Now with five staff members and 5,860 acres protected, DALC’s reach expanded. During these years, they protected six contiguous conservation easements, collectively known as the ‘Dry Dog Ranch’ in Iowa County. In 2012, they acquired the Erickson Conservation Area, their first owned preserve, and extended their efforts into Green and Lafayette counties. By 2015, DALC completed the Lowery Creek Watershed Plan, underscoring their focus on community centered ecosystem-level preservation and watershed health.

• 2016-2020: In these years, DALC relocated their offices, launched the Bloomfield Prairie Partnership, and publicly opposed the Cardinal Hickory Creek Transmission Line. In 2017, DALC earned the prestigious Land Trust Alliance accreditation and was named Wisconsin Land Trust of the Year. This recognition coincided with the formation of the Driftless Trail Advisory Team, a testament to DALC’s commitment to creating publicly accessible natural spaces. By 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, the group expanded their portfolio with the Wild Oaks Preserve in Dane County, and established Iowa County CLEA-N, responding to the community’s desire to work on locally sourced and locally used clean energy.

DALC’s vision for the Driftless Trail is a 50-mile hiking trail, hosted mostly by private landowners, that creates a corridor for land conservation, climate resiliency, exercise, education and connecting with nature. Though the trail is a long-term project that will take many years to complete, multiple trail segments are open now, including the Weaver Road Trail, a 1.1-mile loop located just north of Governor Dodge State Park, the Welsh Hills Trail, a two-mile loop on the Taliesin property, the Phoebe Point Trail, a 1.1-mile loop offering stunning overlooks of the Wisconsin River, and the Knobs Road Trail near Mill Creek. For more information and maps, go to www.driftlessconservancy.org.

• 2020-2025: During the last five years, DALC has grown to 11 staff members, and 9,550 acres protected. They facilitated their first land protection assist with Ringelstetter Wetland, which was later donated to the DNR. In 2023, they secured ‘Grasslands of Special Significance’ funding from the federal government for a conservation easement, and by 2024 had hired a development director and acquired two more properties – Dragon Woods and Big Rock.

Giving thanks

Jordy Jordahl was among the group of folks who came together to form the Driftless Area Land Conservancy, and served on the initial board until 2003. Over the last 25 years, Jordahl has worked on projects to protect special places like the Baraboo Hills, Lower Wisconsin Riverway, Military Ridge grasslands, and the Mississippi River watershed, while working as policy advisor to the Governor, legislative policy aide, director of intergovernmental relations for the Wisconsin Department of Administration, and for The Nature Conservancy.

Jordahl kicked off the 25th Anniversary celebration, giving thanks where thanks are due.

“Wow, what a great day in the Driftless,” Jordahl exclaimed. “I want to start by thanking the event sponsors, and the staff and volunteers of DALC for their hard work to make this celebration happen. I particularly want to thank Terry and Suzanne Shifflet, the owners of the Wintergreen Resort where we are gathering today, for allowing us to celebrate in this amazing place.”

Jordahl said that DALC is “all about the land,” but said that his comments would really be more about the people. He thanked the founding members of the group,  Gathering Waters, Wisconsin’s alliance for land trusts.

“The support of Gathering Waters has been instrumental over the years,” Jordahl stated. “We wouldn’t have been able to do what we’ve done without their support.”

Jordahl also thanked DALC’s conservation partners, like the Nature Conservancy, Mississippi Valley Conservancy, and countless others.

“None of our key milestones would have happened without people working together,” Jordahl said. “And, the landowners we’ve partnered with have brought the land to the land trust. Owning land means caring for the land, and so that means we also need to thank our many volunteers, without whom our work wouldn’t be possible. It takes a community to protect a landscape.”

Jordahl said that Governor Evers, during his Earth Week visit to Wintergreen Resort, agreed that “we have to work together to protect places like this.” Jordahl explained that DALC is currently fundraising for $6 million to purchase the Wintergreen Resort.

Accomplishments

DALC’s Executive Director Jen Filipiak followed Jordahl’s comments, and touched on several big projects that the group had worked on in the last few years.

“We opposed construction of the Cardinal-Hickory Transmission Line after folks in our area asked us to do so,” Filipiak said. “Even though that transmission line is now up and running, the rallies we held were the biggest events we’ve ever held, and our efforts resulted in several modifications to the route so that it doesn’t cross conservation easements, and we’re still in court opposing the line’s crossing of the Upper Mississippi River Fish & Wildlife Refuge.”

Filipiak waxed particularly enthusiastic about their group’s development of the Driftless Trail, a walking trail intended to connect the Lower Wisconsin Riverway to Mt. Horeb and Governor Dodge State Park.

“In planning for the trail, we undertook a feasibility study with the National Park Service, and found out that, yes, we could do it,” Filipiak said. “In southern Wisconsin, 97% of the land is privately owned, so there’s a need for publicly available spaces.”

Filipiak said that the Driftless Trail encompasses “our entire mission in one project,” and enthused that “maybe one day the main trail head can be right here at the Wintergreen Resort.”

A worthy project

Last up to speak was Mark Cupp, executive director of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board.

“I offer my sincere gratitude to the DALC founders for their vision, and the current and former board members for their continuing commitment to a vision for conservation in the Driftless,” Cupp said. “I offer my sincere gratitude to Jen and her team, and all former DALC staff members, for their commitment, their energy, their sacrifices, blood, sweat and tears in making DALC a great success. To the landowners, donors, partners, and supporters of DALC for the last 25 years, my thanks as well.”

Cupp pointed out that the Wintergreen Resort is located in the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, a 92-mile riparian corridor and 10,000 acre property of both public and private lands extending from Prairie du Sac to Prairie du Chien.

“Thank you to Terry and Suzanne Shifflet for your incredible patience in working to fulfill your vision for the Wintergreen Resort, to ensure that it will be a place to be enjoyed by the public, and not a playground for the affluent,” Cupp remarked. “At this hour, on this first day of May 2025, I am optimistic that this special place will be acquired by DALC, and will become a destination within the Riverway.”

Cupp said that the Wintergreen Resort is one of the top three, if not the number one priority acquisition remaining in the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. Reasons for that, according to Cupp, include aesthetics, native plant communities, fauna, wetlands, a mile of undeveloped shoreline, trails, and a building with potential that is “limitless.”

“However, we need to ensure that the dream is realized – we need to push to the finish line, and raise the necessary dollars to achieve the goal,” Cupp stated. “We need to support reauthorization of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, we need to speak to legislators and local officials, and our friends and our neighbors about the importance of this acquisition.

“There’s a lot of negative noise in the world these days, and frankly, I have to tune it out and focus on other things – things I can change, things in my sphere of influence,” Cupp said. “These things include the Riverway or the family farm – places where I can find a refuge.”

Cupp said that in a recent moment of reflection, he thought of a favorite passage from Wendell Barry, ‘The Peace of the Wild Things.’

“This is why we need places to go to restore our soul, to calm our psyche, to hear a bird sing or see a Pasque flower in bloom,” Cupp said. “A place such as Wintergreen, or Big Rock, or the Driftless Trail. This is why we bond together and fight for those things in which we believe – to leave this world a better place for the next generation, and the generation after that.”

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JEN FILIPIAK, executive director of the Driftless Area Land Conservancy, speaks to a capacity crowd at their 25th Anniversary celebration on May Day. The event was held at the Wintergreen Resort, a property DALC is working to acquire.
Paper’s anniversary celebrates 120 years
Party planned
CCI Anniversary

There’s no way around it, being in business for a 120 years is a notable achievement. So, we’re going to celebrate 120 years of publishing The Independent with an anniversary party on Friday, May 23 at our Independent-Scout office in the Gays Mills Mercantile Center.

For the record, T.F. O’Neil put out the first issue of Volume 1 of ‘The Independent’ in Gays Mills on May 23,1905.

Our party will be held Friday, May 23 from 2 to 6 p.m. It will feature refreshments, prizes and more. Plans include grilling some local brats and wieners, as well as having lots of other food.

Some special guests will include our columnists, our current staff and maybe some alumni staff. We’re also inviting editors and staff from the other 10 publications in Morris Newspapers Wisconsin. Our publisher John Ingebritsen is expected to make the trip up from Lancaster for the occasion.

Look for a few more details in next week’s edition. So, remember to come and see us for the Independent’s 120-year Anniversary Party on the afternoon of Friday, May 23, 2025 in Gays Mills.

An older river flowed east, geologist says
Lower Wisconsin River
Tipsaukee
WHERE THE FARM FIELDS end, and the forested hillsides begin, according to Dr. Eric Carson, is indicative of the line where harder, uneroded bedrock would define the extent of the east-flowing Wyalusing River.

A group of about 30 citizens enjoyed a tour of parts of Tippesaukee Farm near Port Andrew on Sunday, April 27. Dr. Eric Carson of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey discussed how natural features on the landscape provide clues about how the rivers that flowed shaped the landscape.

Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them, both on Earth and on other planets. It focuses on understanding how natural forces like erosion, deposition, and tectonic activity modify the Earth's surface.

Ben Moffat, descendant of John Coumbe, the first European settler in Richland County, welcomed the group to the farm.

“Tippesaukee Farm has always been a gathering place, first for the Ho-Chunk and Meskwaki people, and now as the Crosscurrents Heritage Center,” Moffat said. “Right now, the Center is entirely volunteer powered and funded through donations. Throughout 2025, my brother Bruce and I will match any donations of $100 or less.”

Most of the citizens present had heard Dr. Carson’s lecture-style presentation at the farm in the fall of 2024.

“We’re not going to sit around in the barn today – we’re going to go out and walk and look at the features on the landscape,” Carson said. “However, I’ll give a short overview of what I discussed in my presentation last fall.”

Carson said that evidence suggests that between 1-1.5 million years ago, before human habitation on the planet, another river flowing from the west had carved out the valley where the Lower Wisconsin River currently flows. He said that geologists refer to this river as the ‘Wyalusing River.’ That river, he said, flowed from west to east, and ultimately flowed through Green Bay into the St. Lawrence Seaway, and then into the Atlantic Ocean.

“I just want to make clear that the Wisconsin River never flowed west,” Carson was quick to clarify. “The Wisconsin River, after the glaciers that held back historic Lake Wisconsin melted, grabbed the bed of the historic Wyalusing River like a hermit crab, and then joined with the newly created Upper Mississippi River to flow west and the south after the confluence with the Upper Mississippi River at Wyalusing.”

Carson said that terraces, like the one where Tippesaukee Farm is located, provide some of the evidence supporting the existence of the Wyalusing River. In flowing west for millennia, that river had eroded its course down and into to the bedrock.

“The terraces closer to the river are filled with 150-200 feet of sand and gravel, outwash from the glacial melt,” Carson explained. “Terraces like the one on this farm have only 10-15 feet of sediments overlaying the bedrock.”

The bedrock on the terrace at Tippesaukee Farm continues to near Frank’s Hill, and Light Detection and Ranging, a remote sensing technology (Lidar), shows us that this bedrock is eroded to tip down to the east. This, Carson said, demonstrates that an east-flowing river, over the course of millennia eroded the river course. He said that the level of the terrace used to be the level of the entire valley floor.

The farmhouse

The group exited the barn, and walked to the yard in front of the Coumbe family farmhouse, overlooking the Wisconsin River.

“Historically, the elevation level of the Wyalusing River would have been the same as the front yard we’re standing in now,” Carson said. “Another piece of evidence for an east-flowing river is that the tributaries of the Lower Wisconsin River flow to the east, and are referred to as ‘barbed tributaties.’ Water will always flow from the higher point to the lower point, and this is another piece of evidence demonstrating that the elevation of the bedrock of the current Wisconsin River bed decreases in elevation from west to east.”

One participant pointed out that the Kickapoo River doesn’t fit this pattern, and asked why.

“The Kickapoo River is a weird river, unlike anything else in the region,” Carson responded. “As a tributary it is much larger, and flows a longer distance from its headwaters in Monroe County than the other Lower Wisconsin River tributaries. Given this, the Kickapoo River had the power to carve down into the sandstone layers to the level of the valley floor.”

Getting back to the Wyalusing River, Carson said that at a point in time, a glacier descended from the north and east, and blocked the eastward flow of the river. Carson said that would have created a glacial lake, backed up all the way to Wyalusing.

“Twenty-to-thirty thousand years ago, the glacier melted, releasing melt and debris, and the cataclysm reversed the flow of the river, carved further down into the river course, and over the course of 10-15 thousand years, pumped out sand and gravel which filled the river course in.”

According to Carson, there was a glacier at an even earlier time that came from the north and the west, and blocked the river’s flow near Bridgeport, creating another glacial lake.

“That glacier was the one that covered areas in Iowa and Minnesota that are often referred to as the ‘Driftless,’ but aren’t, and the glacier that defined the boundaries of the true Driftless Region (unglaciated) in Wisconsin and Jo Daviess County in Illinois”

Carson said that the terrace where Tippesaukee Farm is located is a remnant of the bed of the Wyalusing River from 1.5 to 2 million years ago, before humans were present.

Walk in the woods

Leaving the yard of the farmhouse, the group walked into a woodlot on the eastern edge of the farm. At the edge of the woods, the view opened up into farm fields that extended to the edge of forested hillsides.

“The top layer of bedrock on this terrace, which extends east to Frank’s Hill is the Tunnel City Sandstone, characterized by a distinctive green color,” Carson said. “From here, if you look to the north, you can see where the edge of the terrace is as the type of bedrock changes to harder rock formations – that’s where the agriculture ends and the forested hillsides begin. So, when the Wyalusing River was flowing east millions of years ago, where you’re standing would have been the valley bottom and in the river.”

As the group continued to walk through the woodlot, Carson explained that, for Wisconsin, some of the geological artifacts on the terrace are very old. He said the edge of the glacier that had come from the north and east can be found near Verona and Cross Plains, and the geological artifacts there are about 15,000 years old. By contrast, the geological artifacts on the terrace where Tippesaukee Farm is located are 1.5 million years old, or older.

“In this area, when you use a probe to go down 1.2 feet, you find a very strange soil, with lots of little pebbles, which is not present elsewhere in the river valley,” Carson said. “Historically, when the Soil Conservation Service mapped the soils in the area, the soil scientist doing the mapping reached out to elders in the Ho-Chunk Nation to select a name for the soil type.”

Typically, the names of soil series are limited to 12 characters, but an exception was made for the Nuxmaruhanixete series, which contains 18 characters.

Fire pit stop

The last stop on the tour was at one of two partially cleared areas in the east woodlot where oak regeneration projects are in progress. The second location is also being developed as a permanent location for fireside talks.

Carson pointed out that, though it is partially concealed by vegetation, the landscape on the terrace has a disorganized look to it, with lots of ups and downs.

“During the glacial times, in this northern latitude, it was very cold, and the ground was frozen with permafrost 1,000s of feet deep,” Carson said. “This inhibited the growth of vegetation, leaving the area bare. Glaciers produce a lot of clay, silt and sand, and when they melt, and things dry out, then it gets picked up by the wind and moved.”

Carson said that clay is the finest particle, and when picked up by the wind can be lofted high in the air and travel globally. Silt, he said, is the next finest, and can be carried quite a way by the wind, but then tends to fall back to the earth. This silt, referred to as ‘loess,’ is the source of the fertile farm soils in the region. Sand, he said is the biggest and heaviest of the particles, and can’t be carried very far by the wind before falling back to the ground.

After the climate warmed and the glaciers melted, then because there were no living roots in the wind-deposited soils, they would be moved around in a very chaotic fashion. Eventually, it would become vegetated, and then the shape of the land would become locked in place.”

Carson said that silt is the smallest material made by the grinding of glaciers. He said that by contrast, clay is not formed by glacial grind, but rather by a chemical process of the weathering of rock.

Upcoming events

Ben Moffat shared some upcoming events planned for 2025 by the Crosscurrents Heritage Center:

Sunday, May 18: Ho-Chunk music and dance by the ‘Wisconsin Dells Singers & Dance Troup.’ Pre-registration is required at crosscurrentsheritage.org, and donations are gratefully accepted

In the late summer or early fall, a Nature Walk on the Farm, and a Farmhouse Tour are also planned.