‘Fish Sticking’ Continues on Kangaroo Lake this February

The Kangaroo Lake Association, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and partially funded by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, will continue placing “Fish Sticks” in Kangaroo Lake on Feb. 11, according to Tom Schneider, Kangaroo Lake Association president. “The Fish Sticks project attempts to balance homeowners’ desire to enjoy their lake property with habitat and shoreline where aquatic plants, large and small fish, birds, reptiles, animals and all of nature in general can thrive,” said Schneider. Fish Sticks are mid-sized trees that have been harvested elsewhere, transported to a lake and placed in the near shore, shallow water where they are then anchored to the shoreline. The Nature Conservancy owns land on Kangaroo Lake and is donating an additional 31 trees (for a total of 44 trees the last two winters) from a planned tree-thinning project, which Harbor Lumber of Baileys Harbor will cut and drag to the lake. Volunteers will move trees by hand and with a truck across the ice and place and secure them in 11 new locations. “This innovative conservation project will have multiple benefits for Kangaroo Lake,” said Mike Grimm, conservation ecologist with The Nature Conservancy. “The partially submerged trees will provide habitat for many fish and invertebrates in the lake, protect the shoreline from wave erosion, provide calmer waters where submerged plants can get established, providing even more habitat for fish and other creatures. They will also provide resting and feeding sites for frogs, turtles, dragonflies and many lakeshore birds, particularly flycatchers and kingfishers.” A three-year Shoreline Preservation and Restoration Planning grant, which the Kangaroo Lake Association received from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in 2014, supports the Fish Sticks Project and the Bulrush Restoration Project already under way on Kangaroo Lake.