Green Notes: Volunteer Homecoming at Crossroads

Sturgeon Bay High School graduate Sarah Bridenhagen and members of the Wisconsin Lutheran women’s basketball team spent a morning at Crossroads at Big Creek learning about native plants and fighting the nonnative reed canary grass. Submitted.

The volunteers keep rolling in for the Habitat Healers program at Crossroads at Big Creek. Each Saturday starting around 9:30 am, anyone may show up to help with the many restoration projects at the nature preserve and woodland at 2041 Michigan St. in Sturgeon Bay.

This month, Wisconsin Lutheran women’s basketball team members, including Sturgeon Bay High School graduate Sarah Bridenhagen, spent much of the morning learning about the diverse habitats at Crossroads and helping to control a destructive, nonnative plant.

Bridenhagen, her teammates and Coach Klay Knueppel included the volunteer work in an off-season, team-building retreat.

“The women’s basketball team did a great job on the reed canary grass,” said Laurel Duffin Hauser, Crossroads’ assistant director. “They were able to deadhead viable seed pods from over an acre of infestation. This is part of our plan to restore the Big Creek corridor.”

The Crossroads organization has short-term plans – such as planting native plants and shrubs and removing invasive species – and long-term restoration and maintenance plans for native habitats, including a newly planted arboretum and Midwestern prairie.