Steamy heat is expected to dominate the Wisconsin State Fair’s closing days, so the DNR park at the southwest corner of the grounds might get more visitors than usual.
DNR outreach coordinator Trisha Nitschke says 120,000 people wander through its shady lanes every year.
Nitschke says the green space dates back at least to 1948 when we were the Wisconsin Conservation Department. "Actually the Wisconsin Historical Society has a fabulous aerial picture of this property from back then, and it did not have the trees that we have now,” she says.
Nitschke says DNR staff from around the state stream in to cover shifts throughout the State Fair cycle. But there’s probably just as many volunteers who keep the place humming.
“The master gardeners aren’t from the DNR. They take care of the flowers and native plants. As it gets hotter more and people want to come in and just sit,” Nitschke says.
Many of the 120,000 visitors who seek out the shade might not realize there’s less to go around, unless they notice the occasional tree stump sticking out of the ground. They’re the remains of ash trees infected by Emerald ash borer.
This is DNR urban forester Kim Sebastian says she wants visitors to notice the missing trees.
“When the ash trees were removed they were left at six foot stumps. If you’re only visiting this parcel once a year, it’s hard to recognize what is missing and to we tried to leave these larger stumps so that it would draw attention…but all of the treated trees have been marked too so people know what kind of an impact there is if those trees would be lost as well,” Sebastian says.
The DNR removed 25 trees and treated the remaining 25 ashes. Sebastian says an additional 50 trees of various species are scattered throughout the small park.
As they die, the DNR is diversifying the canopy. Sebastian says the oasis tells the story of the tough life of an urban tree and its limited space.
She urges the public to give theirs a little TLC.
“Watering and mulch are a tree’s best friend. No matter the age of the tree. And you can water trees well into the fall, even established trees, well into the fall. But one of things that will help trees in the watering process is if you have some sort of mulch, like woodchips or bark, I’m not talking about rocks or pieces of charcoal,” Sebastian says.
And, she advises, don’t dig up the earth around the tree’s trunk.
“The majority of the tree’s root system is in the top 18 inches of the soil, so you don’t want to take a rototiller in there and go to town and pull all of the grass, because you will be damaging the tree. And when you have a tree that is a little stressed anyway, we don’t want to put anymore stress onto the tree by disturbing that root system,” Sebastian says.
She admires a lush sugar maple and the 60 foot cottonwood towering behind it – a survivor.
As much as she might love every limb, Sebastian is standing on borrowed pavement. Although DNR has had a presence here during the fair for decades, the agency only has an annual 11-day run.
