New supervisors on the county’s Parks and Facilities Committee got to go on a field trip Thursday. Director Wayne Spritka and Chair Dan Austad led the group on a tour beginning at LaSalle County Park and winding across southern Door, including the hotly debated Forestville Millpond. Members of the Friends of the Forestville Dam, who oppose the county’s drawdown plan, were also there to help rescue a deer trapped to its shoulders in mud. Member Christine Reid says that even after a hot and dry July, there was still plenty of moisture in the flowage. It takes only a little rain for great sums of water to funnel towards the flowage from the surrounding areas and the Ahnapee Watershed.

Reid says that the county’s plan requires the flowage to dry out completely, and nine months after its start, that is a long way from happening. Additionally, when the dam valve is finally closed, and the flowage returns, the Friends group predicts it could be another five years before the area’s ecosystem gets back to normal.

Forestville flowage on Thursday, August 6th.