Et cetera : NCCC’s Maple 4 Ends Their Service Year Strong in Milwaukee

Maple 4 corps members work together to remove large brush from an area cleared with Wisconsin TNC.

Maple 4 CM Aidan Potter harvests Bottle Brush.

By Jill Ament

The final project for NCCC team Maple 4 is coming to a close. They’ve spent the past two weeks serving in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Wisconsin and Milwaukee County Parks.

“It’s surreal,” said corps member J.J. Moses. “It’s exciting to be a part of but bittersweet. This is the last time we’ll be able to show a sponsor and a community just how much service we can accomplish for them and have that connection.”

The team in fact did accomplish quite a bit while serving with TNC for their first week on the project. They braved through the buckthorn and other prickly invasive species, and cleared a 15 foot by 750 foot corridor on the Meyer Nature Reserve outside of Milwaukee using chainsaws, brush cutters and loppers. This corridor will be used to help local fire stations access water from a nearby lake on the preserve. The team also cleared fire lines on another reserve and harvested seeds from native plants to aid in prairie restoration. TNC land steward and project sponsor Jerry Zeigler said the team accomplished much more than he had anticipated, pointing out that tasks like clearing the corridor would’ve been impossible to do alone.

Maple 4 is spending their last week restoring trail and planting trees with Milwaukee County Parks in a section of the park system located on Lake Michigan.