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Rotary Club plans improvements at Big Springs

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Guttenberg Rotary Club members hiked the trail at Big Springs, north of Guttenberg on Great River Road, while discussing potential improvements for the coming season. Facing the camera from left are Nancy McClellan, John Finch, Emily Sadewasser, Dennis McNeal, Austin Coon and Janette Simon. (Photo submitted)

By Molly Moser

Members of the Guttenberg Rotary Club gathered for their weekly meeting at Big Springs Nature Park along Great River Road north of Guttenberg on Thursday, April 27. New member Dennis McNeal is coordinating a Rotary project to continue improving the park with more visible signage, handrails, upkeep on the Rotary-sponsored park shelter, and potentially even a portable restroom.

The Rotary’s ideas for improvement will add to Eagle Scout Logan Peterson’s recent trail project at Big Springs. Last July, Peterson cut down nettles and plants and laid gravel to help keep the trail from getting muddy from its base up to the springs. The project also included a natural crossing point across the water and trail work on its other side. “The last thing I want to do is disturb the flow of nature here,” he told The Press. 

Youth may be getting involved at Big Springs again this summer, with guidance from McNeal and other Rotary members. Clayton Ridge agriculture educator and Future Farmers of America leader Carolyn Ihde attended Thursday’s meeting and hiked up to the springs with Rotary members. 

“A big part of FFA is to service your community and others, and so we’re trying to build that relationship in the community,” Ihde explained. The group was looking for a place to start when she got a call from Rotary member Mary Waterman, requesting help with the Big Springs project. 

“There are eight different pathways we discuss in agriculture, and natural resources is one of them – my students just took a test on natural resources and forests today,” said Ihde. “I’ve been looking for a place to bring them that’s close, so this is exciting for me.”

McNeal spoke with city officials and learned that the park was originally meant to be a natural, no-mow area, and wild flowers were planted along Great River Road at the park entrance. “Since then they’ve done some road work and introduced weeds and multiflower rose, so we want to clean up that area. The city is going to get involved in seeding down wildflowers to make it more attractive from the road, and we decided to do more signage at the entrance into the park and in both directions on Great River Road,” McNeal told The Press. 

The park is currently denoted by one small sign on Great River Road, and its entrance can be difficult to see with prolific plant growth. 

McNeal and other Rotary members spoke of bringing their children and grandchildren to Big Springs, and member Emily Sadewasser even held her wedding on the trail last summer. 

The Guttenberg Rotary Club plans to fund the potential improvements with part of their annual endowment payout, $2,000, from the Rod and Mary Jo Tangeman Family Endowment for the Guttenberg Rotary Club. 

The other portion of the endowment will be used to purchase new flag poles and brackets for downtown Guttenberg, making installation easier.

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