Rotary Club joins effort to improve Port preserve

The Rotary Club of Port Washington-Saukville is embarking on a partnership with Restoring Lands to improve the Sauk Creek Nature Preserve in Port.

Club members will join Restoring Lands staff and volunteers next Wednesday to plant native plants near the Moore Road entrance to the preserve, a project intended to stabilize soils, protect water quality and add habitat for wildlife.

“The Moore Road entrance is the first thing many visitors see, and this partnership with Rotary lets us give it the attention it deserves,” Carryn Sami, chief philanthropy officer for Restoring Lands, said.

Rotary President Peter Vander Velden said the nature preserve is a special place that needs to be nurtured.

“Sauk Creek Nature Preserve is one of the places that makes Port Washington special, and it belongs to everyone,” he said. “This project lets our members put Rotary’s commitment to the environment into practice right here at home, working alongside the people who care for this land every day.”

The 27-acre preserve — a peaceful oasis created in 1994 by what was then the newly formed Ozaukee Land Trust (now Restoring Lands) as its first sanctuary — is undergoing a multi-year restoration project intended to help improve the forest and habitat, increasing diversity by planting trees and eliminating invasive woody shrubs and plants that have been crowding out native species. 

This Rotary Club project will complement that work, helping to create a more welcoming entrance to a popular recreational area.

Vander Velden said the club received a $3,000 annual grant from Rotary District 6270, matched the amount and is using it for the project, which supports Rotary’s new environmental mission.

The choice of projects was easy, Vander Velden said, noting there are a number of club members who live near the preserve and he enjoys hiking through there as well.

“I think it reflects a lot of the appreciation I and the club members have for the preserve. A few steps in and you feel like you’re somewhere else,” he said. “The buy-in from the club was immediate. Everyone was happy to make this happen.”

In addition to next week’s planting, the project includes work to replace gravel along the trails through the preserve, something Vander Velden said will likely be done in November.

Drainage improvements will also be done then.

The work will help improve accessibility to the trails for families with strollers, people with mobility issues and bicyclists.

Vander Velden said this isn’t the first time the club has supported the Sauk Creek Nature Preserve. The group provided funds to help support the trails and stewardship work in 2020.

Anyone who wants to help with the planting project, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, is asked to email contact@pwsrotary.org.