Et cetera : Cedar 5 builds trails with Lac Lawrann Conservancy

Lac Lawrann director Craig Hoeppner on a promontory overlooking Lac Lawrann.Entrance to a new trail

by Dakota Bloom

Cedar 5 has spent their second round serving with the Lac Lawrann Conservancy in West Bend, Wisconsin cutting trails, removing invasive plants, and performing prescribed burns. The team has taken an active role in improving natural areas by pulling buckthorn to allow native plants to flourish and by constructing boardwalks to allow public access to remote parts of a preserve. Cedar 5 has truly enjoyed the vast natural beauty of Wisconsin during their service.

The Lac Lawrann Conservancy is a West Bend municipal preserve centered around its namesake lake. In one week alone, Cedar 5 moved flowerbeds, broken concrete and destroyed hundreds of autumn olive invasive shrubs. The team’s biggest accomplishment has been completing a 410’ connection between two parallel trails. The trail had been mulled by the Lac Lawrann leadership for 30 years, but until Cedar 5 came along, they did not have enough manpower to create the trail, which runs up the side of a steep ridge. With Cedar 5’s energy, enthusiasm, and guidance by Forest Service-trained trail bosses, the trail was completed in just two days.

“One thing I love about Lac Lawrann is that we are building off the work of decades of volunteers, and making permanent changes for improvement everyday”, said Andrea Sears, of Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Lac Lawrann was founded by Lawrence and Ann Maurin, who eventually turned the preserve over to the city of West Bend to make sure their work continued after their death. The preserve is managed by the city, with a committed Friends of Lac Lawrann group helping the preserve provide educational, interpretive, and recreational opportunities to both West Bend and the greater Southeast Wisconsin region.