Special Notes: The Vosters Park Redevelopment Project

Hey, Neighbors!  This special post is for neighbors of Vosters Park and anyone interested in the happenings in the wooded area of this park.  In this post, I will share 1) a summary of the issue, 2) some of the concerns and considerations that came up at our first neighborhood meeting regarding the initial changes proposed by the city for the woods there, and 3) a notice of a follow-up meeting for concerned neighbors in this regard.

The Issue

The vicious Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has destroyed some and is continuing to destroy the balance of the ash trees in this beautiful District 13 neighborhood park.  The wooded area of this park is made up of 75 - 80% ash trees so this poor wooded area has been a buffet table for the EAB since they arrived in Appleton in 2015.

The City Forester, Mike Michlig, and his staff of arborists and foresters have known about the arrival of EAB in the United States since their presence was first confirmed in Michigan in the early 2000's.  When EAB became a nationwide issue, city forestry staff ceased planting any more ash trees (of course), began identifying and selectively treating those more easily save-able ash trees in the city's tree inventory (remember... they need to consider all trees in all of the city's parks and trails and all of the street-side boulevard trees in the entire city!), and began cutting down and replacing individual ash trees where necessary to proactively take this food source from the EAB. 

Since the early 2000's, Vosters Park has been on the radar for the forestry folks in the city due to the large quantity of ash trees there.  However, the handwriting has always been on the wall for these trees.  There are limited methods available to save and protect ash trees and those methods are costly and often end up failing in the long run.  The 100 or more ash trees in Vosters Park could never have been saved without excess expense and, even with all the money in the world for prevention and treatment, were likely to succumb to EAB in the long run anyway.  Without any other options, the city's plan for the ash trees in this park was "let's watch and see" how things go and how long the ash trees can survive before there are safety issues in the park.     

In early 2022, Michlig sent an email to the city's Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation, detailing his increasing concerns about safety in Vosters Park and the "advanced state of decline" in the ash tree laden wooded area.  Shortly thereafter, the mayor proposed (and the full council approved) a 2021 excess funds distribution of $150,000 for the remediation of the EAB issue in Vosters Park.  Due to increasing safety concerns with dead and dying trees falling in the park, the time has arrived for the removal of all of the ash trees in this park.  Everyone (including the mayor and city staff) who has heard about the issue and those who attended the meeting agree on this: That this is devastating news as the beautiful woods in Vosters Park will essentially no longer be a woods but... regardless how much we wish it weren't the case, the ash trees must come down. 

Concerns and Considerations -- and there are many...

Below is the graphic explaining some other issues at the park (low lying invasive species galore and low grade causing drainage issues and boardwalk deterioration) and the initial plan the city had for this portion of the park.  Please note that this was a first iteration of the city's plan for the wooded area at the park and these plans have already changed and are currently again being revised based on feedback from you, neighbors!  I'm just sharing this here to document that the ground elevations and drainage issues in this wooded area are also issues to be dealt with, no matter what's done about the current ash tree removal and what the short-term and longer-term plans for the park may be.  

When I first began receiving feedback from you all regarding the notice above, the wheels went into motion for me to work with city staff to put off this plan for a short period of time so that we could all rethink this plan and see what could be done to save even a small portion of this wooded area.  The city's Finance Committee was set to approve a $97,000 contract ($111,000 with contingencies) to clear and fill this woodland area; but I convinced city staff and the committee to hold this contract approval for at least two weeks (until the next committee meeting) so that neighbors could gather to discuss this with city staff.  

While some of you expressed frustration at a short-notice neighborhood meeting on Wednesday, 01/25/2023, there were still nearly 50 people present to discuss the issues in the park and how we, as a community, can address them together.   

At the meeting, the following map was presented, showing the elevations in the area.  The wooded area is between 2 and 3 feet below the grade of the rest of the park and this has caused drainage issues.  The drainage culvert for the park is near the southern boardwalk entry into the wooded area.  This is one of the reasons the boardwalk was initially installed way back when -- some of the lowest portions of the wooded area do not drain properly as they are opposite the drainage culvert.  This makes those areas less or not at all accessible to some park users.  In fact, we have a neighbor in the area who expressed to me her concerns that, once the boardwalk is removed, she will no longer be able to be pushed through that area in her wheelchair. 

The boardwalk is now in terrible condition and would require replacement.  The city's most recent quote for boardwalk replacement was $150,000 (and that was before recent inflationary pressures).  With the limited excess funds available at this time ($150,000), there is no room in the budget for boardwalk reconstruction.  These combined issues make it very difficult for the city to address all of the issues in this area of the park that come with the ash tree removal.  

City staff consulted with the DNR and received an official statement that none of the park is official wetlands area.  So there is no concern that leveling or adding fill to this area will impact any designated or protected wetlands.  This is how I came to refer to the low lying areas as swamp.  That term was never intended to be taken as a negative comment about the natural value of the area.  It was meant to simply term the low lying area without calling it wetlands (as it officially is not).   

Many neighbors at the meeting and through Facebook and email communications have expressed a desire to leave the elevations as-is during the process of ash tree removal.  The concerns with that are the accessibility issue mentioned above (the park has to be as much for everyone as possible!), the fact that reforestation of the area will be more difficult as not all trees enjoy having their roots in wet swampland, and... yet another complication with this wooded area -- ground growth of invasives. 

The exact quote from the city forester regarding ground growth in this area (which is also reflected in the initial graphic above) was: "The undesirable understory species will expand and take over the park once the area is exposed to sunlight following the tree removal."  Buckthorn and all other invasives in this wooded area will be hard to control, even once the trunks and branches of the existing growth is removed.  They self-seed and the seeds are just lying in wait in the moist, not well draining soil in the lower elevation areas.  This would be a continuous issue requiring much attention by the city's Parks and Recreation staff... and our neighborhood has to share this staff with the multitude of other parks throughout the city.  I fear that if the city does not take good care to remove these invasives and then grade the area for best drainage, we as neighbors will be disappointed in the upkeep and care shown this wooded area and only trees which enjoy being rooted in wetter soils would grow successfully in any reforestation efforts. 

Also presented at the neighborhood meeting was the map below showing the non-ash desirable (hardwood) trees that could be saved in the clearing of the ash trees.  The city is more than willing to consider saving these trees; but this saving of these trees makes it more difficult (and therefore more expensive) for a contractor to clear the dead and dying ash trees.  We are still facing a $150,000 excess funds budget for this first step in dealing with the wooded area of the park and the one thing that must be taken care of is the removal of the ash trees.  A clear cut contract (including removing the boardwalk, the stumps, and grading the area) is on the table for nearly $100,000 and another small portion of the budget has already been spent for consulting and plotting/mapping, etc.  So there's very little more budget with which to work after the ash tree clearing.  The saving of the trees marked below is estimated to add about $22,000 to the contractor bid.   

You can see by the below that there will be a very sparse woods remaining once the ash trees are cleared.  They are most definitely worth saving as large old-growth trees.  It just must be noted, though, that the saving of them comes with all of the other mentioned complications.  

The ash tree removal also leads to the question of whether stumps of ash trees can and/or should be removed from the ground.  If the stumps remain, they will eventually rot and cause sinking of the ground in and around each stump.  This is a long-term concern for safety but can be tolerated by many of you who have the desire to leave as much of this area as-is in the ash tree removal process.  Regrading of the area (or even a portion of the area) would also require stump removal.  Replanting of any trees in this area is also more difficult in an around old ash tree stumps and roots.  And many of you are very interested in the "reforestation" of this area.  These are just some things to ponder as this process moves forward.  

Since neighbors to this park (including me!) very much enjoy the owls which frequent the park and are concerned about their nesting (as Great Horned Owls lay eggs and nest in the winter months), I also asked city staff to consult with a DNR wildlife expert to determine whether there are any active nests in the park at this time.  This is a snapshot of the results from the expert's recent visit to the park (01/26/2023):

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The good news is that, while the many birds which enjoy the wooded area in Vosters Park will no doubt be impacted by the changes in the park, no owl families will lose eggs or babies in this ash tree removal process this year.  The one ash tree with the stick nest will remain untouched until we are safely out of nesting season(s) and then be removed.  The city will instruct any tree removal contractors to leave untouched any nests not already found and marked by the DNR consultant as per this email.  

These are all (or nearly all, as far as I can recall at this time) of the issues brought up in the early stages of this process through Facebook comments and email feedback from neighbors and at the first neighborhood meeting.  At the meeting, the mayor and city staff began to see how deeply this neighborhood feels concern for the natural landscape and beauty of this wooded portion of our  neighborhood park.  Before the meeting, they had already pulled back on their original plans for clearing the entire wooded area by marking and considering the added cost (but value) in leaving the desired non-ash trees in the area.  After further discussion and consideration at the meeting, the mayor, who was present at the neighborhood meeting, made a promise to this neighborhood to reconsider further the city's plans and to come back us with a revised plan that takes as many of our concerns and desires for a reforested, as-natural-as-possible now partially wooded area of this park.  I am looking forward to the new proposal and I hope you are as well.  

We all still need to keep the budgeted dollar figure in mind as there is not currently additional budget dollars in the city's 5-Year Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) budget for Vosters Park.  What we do now will greatly impact the park for the immediate and short-range future and will need to "tide us over" for a period of time to include the next five years or more. 

If you are interested in the full video or audio of the neighborhood meeting, please contact me directly and I attempt to share it via email.  (It is a large file as it was over an hour-long meeting.)  I did not share it here or online as I feel that the neighborhood voices were well heard by the city and we are now at a point where the city is moving to work with our desires and concerns for the park now that the meeting is concluded.  And we are on the next meeting coming up soon!

Upcoming Follow-Up Meeting Notice

If you have any fact or bit of information to share that you feel did not get addressed or mentioned here, please let me know so that I can add it to share here with those who are just getting up to date from this post.  If you have any further questions or concerns for me in this regard, please also let me know.  As I hope you can tell from this process, I am here to listen and am working very hard to represent the interests of District 13 neighborhoods and neighbors.

I look forward to seeing those who are interested at the February 9th meeting!