If you walk in the Mahon Woods area of the Arboretum you may notice a potentially hazardous tree between the asphalt trail and South Circle Drive, east of Nicolet Drive.
We are aware of this tree and have made arrangements with a tree service to safely take it down. Unfortunately, this work won’t happen until the last week of November.
Until then, we believe it’s safer to close this section of trail. We apologize for any inconvenience. It’s possible to walk up to Circle Drive and back down to the trail (past the deer statues) to avoid this closure.
barricade blocking the Arboretum trail with hazardous tree in background
CCB’s Conservation Biologist, Andrew LaPlant, and graduate student assistant, Sam Gerarden have finished the boardwalk! The trail is open again with a sturdy way to pass over this muddy spot.
One of the bark paths in the Niagara Escarpment area will be temporarily closed this week. CCB staff will be replacing a small section of boardwalk. The trail should be open by next week!
This past October, 2022, the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity hosted a native seed collecting activity for the UW – Green Bay Day of Service. After this bountiful harvest of seedheads from a variety of native species, including purple cone flower (Echinacea purpurea) rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium), yellow coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), and more, we have been working the past couple of months on “cleaning” our seeds.
Over the past couple of months we have held several work sessions both by hand and with a hammer mill in the UWGB Greenhouse.
Eco-Friendly Phoenix volunteers hand divide seeds and dried flower debris into separate bins. December, 2022. Photo credit: Bobbie Webster
UWGB students, Sam Gerarden and Patrick Brodhagen, load bags of previously collected native seedheads into a hammermill, which breaks the seeds apart from the dead seedhead. January, 2023. Photo credit: Andrew LaPlant.
As of this week, we are almost 90 percent finished cleaning our native seeds! We now have over eight pounds of native seed which will be used to further enhance pollinator habitat in areas like the Keith White Prairie, the Cofrin Arboretum Gateway, Wequiock Creek Natural Area, and possibly the Shorewood Recreation Area!
CCB staff Andrew LaPlant and Bobbie Webster presented a poster this past fall at the Natural Areas Association Conference held in Duluth, MN.
The poster captures not only our ecological restoration and biological monitoring efforts at the Wequiock Creek Natural Area, but also our partnerships with First Nations people in the area and how we are attempting to infuse Land Back practices into our restoration work.
Thumbnail view of the poster presented at Natural Areas Association Conference, 2022.
Click the thumbnail or link below to see the pdf of the poster.
Construction workers are making good progress on replacing the bridges in the Cofrin Arboretum! Helical bases have been installed and bridge parts are tentatively planned to arrive the week of January 24th.
UWGB Natural Areas Crew members and staff hung a few posters (see poster here:NewBridgesComingPoster_Update) around the Arboretum today to remind the community that bridges are in progress and will be finished by April. There’s a possibility the project is completed before then, but by April is a safe estimate.
Keep checking our blog for the latest updates on bridge construction!
Students Patrick Brodhagen and Olivia Salm (the designer) install a poster in the Arboretum to update the community on the bridge progress
The “New Bridges” poster in the wild. See the pdf linked above to read the full text
Construction equipment staged near one of the bridges to be replaced
Construction workers have begun removing old bridges and are in the beginning stages of constructing the new bridges in the Cofrin Arboretum! You’ll notice several areas in the arboretum with signs alerting you to ‘Keep Out’. Please help us out and abide by these signs for your safety and to avoid impacting the construction work.
Bridge Out
Please be aware that ‘Bridge Out‘ means there is NOT a crossing and you will need to turn around and go back the way you came.
‘Bridge Out’ sign
It’s important to remember that the Cofrin Arboretum is a research natural area that is managed for biodiversity and habitat, education and research. The hiking trails are a community benefit, but are a secondary use of this area. Please stay on the hiking trails and abide by posted trail use requirements; this includes not bringing your pets to the arboretum.
One less bridge
It’s important to note that one of the bridges will not be replaced. Because bids came in much higher than we expected, difficult decisions needed to be made.
It’s not too late; we can still include this bridge if enough funds are raised by Nov. 19th. We would need at least $60,000. To donate, visit www.uwgb.edu/arboretum or contact Jacob Depas at depasj@uwgb.edu.
The southwest area of the arboretum showing the location of the bridge that will not be replaced
In the past few weeks, we’ve installed two new interpretive signs in the Cofrin Arboretum that are focused on educating visitors about watersheds.
The sign near Mahon Creek which describes what a watershed is.
These signs are one result of a recently completed watershed planning project conducted by CCB staff and a former graduate student in partnership with UW Sea Grant.
The sign near the Cofrin Overlook, which describes UWGB’s place in the Green Bay watershed. Olivia Salm, the student who designed both signs is pictured with the sign.
The watershed planning project was funded by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program and the signs themselves were funded by the UWGB Sustainability Committee.
CCB Natural Areas Crew member and Environmental Science major, Olivia Salm, designed both signs and incorporated content and ideas from Erin Giese, Dr. Robert Howe, Julia Noordyk, Lynn Terrien, and Bobbie Webster.
Olivia Salm and Dustin Sablich with sign they just installed.
We hope these signs will raise awareness about the small watershed of Mahon Creek, which flows through the south part of the UWGB Campus, as well as the larger Green Bay watershed that our campus is located in.
New England aster on the Sager Tract of the Cofrin Arboretum, September 2021
The Cofrin Center for Biodiversity manages the Cofrin Memorial Arboretum, which we acknowledge is located on the ancestral homelands of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. In light of this week’s police presence at the Arboretum, we would like to share our continued commitment to keeping the Arboretum a safe and welcoming place for everyone. We have been assured that this is an isolated incident and the public is not in danger. Still, we believe it’s important to emphasize to the UWGB community that we have been and are in the process of taking steps to maintain and improve safety in general in the arboretum.
The Arboretum is meant to protect natural communities and habitat, and to promote the appreciation and study of natural resources. We appreciate and honor that the Arboretum is also a vital resource to our community for recreation and wellness.
Some of the steps we are taking to ensure the Arboretum is safe and welcoming are:
• We meet monthly with Facilities and UWGB Police to share information and discuss infrastructure and safety issues.
• We work closely with Facilities to maintain trail surfaces and clear hazards such as downed trees.
• We are working with Facilities to replace the bridges, likely in the next few weeks.
• We recently competed for strategic funding to make trails more user-friendly and inviting, with new kiosks, and improved trail marker, trail distance, “you are-here,” and interpretive signage. We are now seeking private support from the community and getting closer to being able to bring these ideas to fruition.
• We are diverting parking from the sides of busy roads to established parking areas on campus and will eventually include trailheads and signage for these areas.
• We have made efforts to maintain communication with and are committed to promoting involvement by Athletics, University Recreation, First Nations Studies, Inclusive Excellence, the Center for Civic Engagement, and others as we pursue trail safety and improvement projects.
• We recently began volunteer workdays as a pilot project that we hope can develop into an Arboretum friends group.
Building relationships and communication with the surrounding community is one of our ongoing priorities for Arboretum management.
If you have questions, concerns, or are interested in volunteering, you may contact CCB staff. For volunteer opportunities, you can also visit us at CueGB. If you are interested in donating, visit our secure giving page. We thank you for supporting the Arboretum and being a part of this community.
For safety reasons, roadside parking will no longer be allowed within the UW-Green Bay campus. Beginning on August 23, 2021 UW-Green Bay will start enforcing the UW System parking rules resulting in fines up to $200.00. Please understand that this change is being made to keep everyone safe as they access the Cofrin Memorial Arboretum. Thank you!
