[wisb] Re: Harvey & Wangsness ponds - wetland history
- From: "Mark and Sue Martin" <goosep@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pfissel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Wisconsin Birding Network" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:03:58 -0600
Hi
We have been gone but wanted to add our two cents worth regarding water
levels and history at Harvey and Wangsness Road. We have driving by the
wetland hundreds of times in the past 30 years.
It is our understanding that the previous owners purchased the property from
a farmer who had problems with all the water. Those owners pumped water all
the time to drain the wetland and to keep it drained. Water was pumped over
the hill and then ran into the neighbors barn. They also pumped water about
one mile east in a pipe along the road to a deep pond and raised water
levels to the height of the road. Luckily no one ever ran off the road into
the deep water.
There are probably over 100 acres and maybe as much as 120 acres of water in
the wetland basin. In 1994 the water was extremely high and King Rails could
be seen on the road. The reason is that the water is not high most years is
that water is pumped when necessary and the basin is dry most springs. Those
owners sold the land to the current owners.
A few years ago the current owners were going to enter the land in the
Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) and the land was surveyed out. You can still
see the corners with the WRP survey signs. However, they backed out from
signing the final WRP contract.
Last spring (2008) the water was high and no crops were planted. Luckily
the landowner did not lose the cost of planting the crops. Record rainfall
in June 2008 greatly increased the water and acres underwater. The new
owners do not pump water over the hill that runs through the neighbors but
needed a place for all the water. The basin has no outlet and is in
Columbia County near the county line. The landowners received permission
last year to pump water about 3 miles in pipes along roadsides until it
could flow into ditches that drain into the Crawfish River. Most of the
Crawfish River floodplain is in Jefferson County. My guess is that the
Jefferson County landowners in the floodplain probably have enough water but
had no say in with the additional pumping. Last year, Madison Audubon land
at Faville Grove Sanctuary that is in the Crawfish River floodplain was
greatly impacted with high water. Last year the owners pumped extensively
and water levels did not change much since water was running into the
wetland much of the summer and fall from seeps from hillsides. The
Harvey/Wangsness wetland has ground water discharge and is different from
Goose Pond where water mainly enters the pond from surface runoff. It is my
understanding that electric costs for pumping run over $3,000/month.
If the land would be entered into the WRP easement program at this time the
landowners would receive $4,000/acre and still own the property.
Yesterday our area received 2 inches of rain and a few miles south received
4 inches of rain. It will be interesting to see what happens with water
levels in the future.
Hopefully the Harvey/Wangsness Wetland would be preserved and restored in
the future and provide wildlife habitat.
Mark Martin
Goose Pond
Arlington
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter A. Fissel" <pfissel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Wisconsin Birding Network" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 10:25 AM
Subject: [wisb] Re: Harvey & Wangsness ponds
> Just to be clear, this IS a flooded ag field. In dry years, nearly all
> of it is under cultivation. Even the last two years, it's been
> cultivated up to the edge of the water. I can recall corn coming up to
> the edge of Harvey on the east side north of Wangsness as recently as
> three or four years ago. The 100"+ of snow in the winter of 2007/08,
> followed by record rainfall last summer and record snowfall this past
> December kept water levels much higher than I've ever seen it in the
> last 20 years. It used to be common for there to be a wet area through
> early summer on the east side of Harvey, and occasionally on the west
> side, but it usually was down to just a shallow area of water out in the
> center of the block by mid-summer.
>
> What I'm NOT sure about is the area on the north side of Wangsness Rd.
> east of Kroncke. That had seemed to be a semi-permanent wetland, with
> quite a covering of emergent vegetation. Last month, the farmer
> bulldozed the whole thing out and tore out most of the trees along
> Wangsness Rd., presumably to cultivate it. I don't know if it's the
> same landowner.
>
> Peter Fissel
> Madison, Dane Co.
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