The Chalet at Our Nawakwa

The 2024 Chapter Annual Meeting will be held on Monday, November 18, at the Chalet at Our Nawakwa, near Cornell. The meeting will feature a pot-luck supper at 5 p.m., with hot beef sandwiches provided.

The Annual Meeting business will follow at 5:30 p.m. It will include:

• Elections for Chapter Secretary, Chapter Trail Coordinator, and Assistant Coordinator.
• A review of what happened in our chapter in 2024.
• A preview of what's coming up in 2025.

At our September Chapter Meeting, members chose the Chalet at Our Nawakwa, after Our Nawakwa offered us use of the property for a chapter meeting at no cost.

The pot-luck supper will feature hot beef sandwiches provided by the Chapter. Please bring a salad, side dish, relishes, chips, or dessert, along with your own beverages. Supper will be at 5 p.m. with the Annual Meeting following at about 5:30 p.m.

Please RSVP to Vicki Christianson at chippewamorainechapter@iceagetrail.org if you are planning to attend. We need to know how many will attend the dinner.

Monday, November 18, 2024
Location: Our Nawakwa, 25336 County Highway E,  Cornell, WI
Supper: 5 p.m. - Meeting:  5:30 p.m.

Wednesday, November 6th - 6-8 p.m. - Virtual ZOOM

The Volunteer Ramp Up (formerly the Regional Rally) will take place via ZOOM on Wednesday, November 6th, from 6:00-8:00. All members are invited to attend. This is your chance to hear an overview of all things Alliance and Volunteers:

• 2024 Achievements
• 2025 Previews
• Updates from Alliance Staff
• Success stories and updates from chapters
• Alliance Habitat Management
• Meet the new Director of Philanthropy

To Register for this ZOOM meeting, go to:

https://iceagetrail.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/iceagetrail/eventRegistration.jsp?event=1910&

Mill Yard Park Kiosk


Winery Kiosk

The carpentry crew led by Norm Card and Bruce France built two new kiosks for the Cornell Segment in October. These were installed at the two trailheads for the segment: Mill Yard Park by the Visitor’s Center and the Wisconsin Veteran Farm and Winery.

The Alliance is working on some standardized signage for kiosks around the state. These will involve trail-wide information. They will be providing this signage to the chapters. In addition, we will have local signage made for the kiosks as well. We have also contacted the high school shop teacher to have students make routed “Cornell Segment” signs to display below the metal IANST trailhead signs.

• Thank you to the kiosk crew for your hard work. The kiosks look great!
• Thank you to the City of Cornell for sharing the cost of the Kiosk at Mill Yard Park. We will share the kiosk.
• Thank you to Dan Osborn at the winery for sponsoring the cost of the Kiosk there.

This is our last event for 2024. Watch for information on next season’s events in the monthly newsletters.

Nov. 18           Chapter Annual Meeting

As of Nov 1, fifty eight of our chapter volunteers have renewed their volunteer agreements or signed up for the first time. Thank you very much for keeping up to date with your agreement. We could not achieve as much to maintain our beautiful trail segments without your help. If you have not renewed yet, please check your 2023 agreement to see when you are due to renew. You need to renew 1 year minus one day from the date the NPS signed and dated your agreement.

All volunteers need to have a completed Volunteer Agreement for the National Park Service each year in order to participate in our trail improvement days or to volunteer at events. There is a new form on the Alliance Website.

To access the new Volunteer Agreement, here is the link: https://www.iceagetrail.org/wp-content/uploads/Packet-Individual-301a-IATR-Staff_508.pdf. Please fill out the fillable form and email it to iatr_vip_ice_age_trail@nps.gov

NOTE: Fill in all the required boxes. The fillable boxes are on everything except the signature line. You can type your name and date in the date box next to the signature line. Save the document to your computer and then send it to NPS as an attachment. Or print off your completed document, sign it, and mail it to the NPS. The email address is on the directions page that comes with the form.

When you send in the Volunteer Agreement to NPS, they will sign it and return it to you. Please print a copy for yourself or save it in your files. Email us at chippewamorainechapter@iceagetrail.org to let us know that you have received your new signed Volunteer Agreement.

Monty the Mammoth, the mascot for the Ice Age Trail, appeared in the Independence Day Parade in Cornell, Wisconsin. Monty got a ride from Cross Plains from hiker Shawn Ramsey, a Thousand Miler Wannabe. Thanks for being Monty's Trail Angel!

Local Ice Age Trail hikers from Cornell joined Monty in the parade and handed out granola bars to kids along the parade route. One even brought her walking stick that she decorated at our Hike and Meet Monty event last October. We gave out 400 granola bars with our chapter contact information.

It was great to demonstrate that the trail is here for local people, too, and not just for visitors from other parts of the state.

A great crew of Chippewa Moraine Chapter volunteers installed a new 75-foot-long bridge at Lake Wissota State Park.  The bridge includes a scenic bench.  The Lake Wissota staff and Friends of Lake Wissota State Park are thrilled with this bridge that replaces an old bridge.  The new bridge is located just beyond the swimming beach on the Beaver Meadow Nature Trail.  

With crews of 7-14 people per day, the bridge was completed in 5 days. Norm Card and Bruce France headed the project and spent 4 days over the past 8 months on lay-out, planning, and prep work.  

Our chapter greatly appreciates the knowledge, skill, and leadership that Bruce and Norm share with our chapter. A big thank you goes out to the crew members who volunteered their time and skill for this project.

A big welcome to the new volunteers who participated on this project. We look forward to working with you in the future.  Welcome to our chapter.

New Route Through Mill Yard Park

Cornell is now a segment on the Ice Age Trail. The segment begins at the Mill Yard Park at the entrance by the Visitor Center on Hwy. 64. Stop to check out the historical displays. Along Bridge Street, you will find the sluice that used to allow the mill to float logs under the street to the mill (Look for the metal railings). There is also a State Historical Sign for the Stacker. Stop in at the Visitor’s Center when it is open. Just beyond the Visitor’s Center, you will find a historical sign featuring Jean Brunet and Ezra Cornell at the base of the Stacker.

Cornell has installed a paved walkway along the shoreline all the way to Park Road. There are blazes to guide you. When you reach Park Road, cross to Thomas Street where you will reach the Old Abe Bike Trail. Follow the signage through town. The street portion of the segment follows the old CR route and ends at the Veteran’s Farm and Winery on 8th Street.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to all that helped on the recent Hemlock Creek Ice Age Trail Event (MSC). With the help of many our members, along with the Superior Lobe and Chippewa Moraine Chapters, folks from around the state, and IAT staff, this event was a huge success. Thank you to all that helped plan, cut, build, install, cook and clean, loan trailers and ATVs - the list goes on and on. We have a great team and I look forward to working with all of you on future events. - Cory Wiese, Blue Hills Chapter Coordinator.

(Pictured above: carrying the massive stringers to the job location. 18 volunteers using Feldmans were able to transport the stringers on the narrow single tread trail.)

The Alliance has purchased a new piece of property within our eastern corridor. This beautiful undeveloped 76 acre property is now called the Otter Lake Preserve. It contains high-relief hummocky glacial topography, including a kettle lake, a marsh, a stream, and several small ice-walled lake plains. It is a hilly property that will connect 365th Street to County H at the southeast end of Otter Lake. It will take several years to get trail established, and once it is done, it will be a beautiful piece of trail to hike.


Thank you to Jared Wildenradt (8 time IAT hiker) for bringing this property to the attention of the Alliance and the Chippewa Moraine Chapter.

Please wait until the trail is finished before hiking on this property.

The Obey Center will be open from 9:00 - 3:00 throughout the year on Wednesday thru Sunday. The staff will host classroom groups on Wednesdays and Thursdays as scheduled. Rod Gont is looking for people to volunteer with the classroom groups throughout the school year. These visits run from 9:00 to 2:00. Time is allotted for lunch.

Volunteer work includes:

1. Staffing the front desk: greeting non-school visitors and answering their questions, selling IATA and park merchandise

2. Help Jeanette with the Exhibit Search. Students are divided into 3-person teams. They receive a worksheet. They have to travel to different stations within the displays and look for answers to questions. The volunteer has an Answer Key for the worksheet, and they check the students answers after they complete a station.

3. A volunteer may be scheduled to lead a hike.

Email or call Dave Hladilek if you are interested in volunteering. If you volunteer, Rod will contact you to find out when you are available.

Contact Dave Hladilek at Dave.Hladilek@wisconsin.gov or call him at 715-967-2800. Dave needs to do a background check because you would be working with school children. He needs your name, email, and phone number.

NOTE: Volunteers for the Ice Age Trail need to have a signed Volunteer Agreement from the National Park Service. If you do not have a volunteer agreement, you will need to get one from Dan Watson at the Wisconsin office of the National Park Service. See the article below for instructions on getting the agreement.

The Ice Age National Scenic Trail is now an official unit of the National Park Service!

The change in status was announced by National Park Service Director, Chuck Sams, during a press call with Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin. (The North Country Trail and New England Trail were included in the status change and are also now units of the National Park Service.)

Attaining unit status has been a goal of the Ice Age Trail Alliance for decades. Many, many people—Alliance leadership, board members, volunteers, and supporters—have championed the cause. And at last, your voices were heard. So, thank you.

Unit Status is Important Because…

It recognizes the work of volunteers like you, who donate their time to the Trail.
It opens up new funding opportunities for the Trail.
It levels the playing field: now the Ice Age Trail, North Country Trail, and New England Trail will be treated the same as other National Scenic Trails and National Parks.

As Tammy Baldwin said of the unit designation, “the Ice Age Trail and North Country Trail officially joined the ranks of the most iconic landmarks in the United States.”

So, here’s to the Ice Age Trail—an official unit of the National Park Service. And here’s to you. Thanks for everything you’ve done to make the Trail what it is. And for everything you’ll do to get it closer to completion.

The 2023 Annual Meeting took place on Monday, November 20th at the Chippewa County Courthouse. Reports were given on our well-attended hikes and various presentations that were held, our busy trail maintenance season (which included the big cleanup of winter damage on 5 segments in Rusk and Barron County, construction of a new bridge at Brunet Island State Park, and a half mile reroute at Horseshoe Lake, and many other projects), and the updating of our blazing from Firth Lake thru Chippewa Moraine (to meet new IAT standards). Our chapter hiking challenge patches (CHIP off the old MORAINE) have been popular and we have sent out 99 patches this year.

Vicki Christianson has been re-elected to another 2 year term as Chapter Coordinator. Tom Kolb has been re-elected to another 2 year term as Chapter Treasurer. All other officers will be up for election in 2024.

The Financial Report was given, and the Proposed 2024 Budget was presented and approved. The Chapter is donating $5000 (out of $20,000 needed) to keep the Obey Center open during the 2023-2024 school year. The Alliance is also donating $5000. Earlier in July, the DNR scheduled the Obey Center to be closed from Oct. 2nd to May 15th. With the donations from our chapter and the Alliance, the Obey Center is able to remain open and hold their classroom programs for schools in the Chippewa Valley.

Over a year ago, the Northwest WI Girl Scout Council announced the sale of Camp Nawakwa in NE Chippewa County. The Ice Age Trail travels through the camp on the south side of Picnic Lake. A non-profit group was formed on November 14, 2022, called Our Nawakwa, with the goal of purchasing Camp Nawakwa and continuing its purpose as a place for youth to be engaged with the out-of-doors.  They have a Board of Directors and working committees. They have engaged community youth partners, and designed a business plan to become financially sustainable. Their offer to purchase of the camp has been accepted, and they are proceeding with a fund-raising campaign. They will take ownership in early January. We have been partnering with the Girl Scouts at Camp Nawakwa, and will continue to do so with Our Nawakwa.
You can find Our Nawakwa on Facebook. Their website is https://ournawakwa.org/. You can email them at OurNawakwa@gmail.com.