FOIL receives REI stewardship grant

FOIL is proud and excited to announce that we’ve been awarded a 2016 REI Stewardship Grant. With this $5,000 award, FOIL will construct a new hiking/snowshoe loop in the Halfway Prairie wildlife area (by the stone buildings across Highway 19 from the main park entrance road), plus new trails in the existing portion of the park. We plan to finish by early 2017, and in fact work has already begun on the Halfway Prairie hiking/snowshoe loop. This past weekend we carved out a winding trail section through the woods, revealing a rugged ravine. This trail, and more like it, will make Indian Lake a prime all-season destination. See photos of this first workday, and keep looking for progress at Halfway Prairie. If you’d like to help build trails, contact us at trail@friendsofindianlake.org to get on the work party e-mail list.

Dane County Healthy Parks tour on July 23

FOIL will be hosting the Dane County Healthy Parks tour on July 23, 2016 from 10:00-1:00. The tour’s goal is to “highlight the role of parks in promoting and advancing physical and mental health. We want to encourage healthy lifestyles using some of the most beautiful venues in Dane County.”

Join FOIL and the Friends of Dane County Parks Endowment Committee on a tour of your choice! You’ll have four options. How do you want to enjoy the park?

1. hike through restored prairie, oak savanna, and sedge meadow with restoration expert Denny Connor
2. walk around Indian Lake and learn about FOIL’s lake restoration efforts from fisheries biologists Dave Marshall and Pete Jopke
3. explore the new (and partly under construction) Halfway Prairie hiking and snowshoe trail
4. run 5 miles through the wooded hills of the park

Firefly walk on July 9

FOIL is supporting a fun family event at the park. Join Outdoors123 for a firefly walk on Saturday, July 9, at 6:30 pm at Indian Lake county park. Make crafts and enjoy smores, learn about fireflies with UW entomologist P.J. Liesch (aka the bug guy), and take an evening stroll along the lake to a field full of fireflies. The event is free, but space is limited. Reserve your ticket here!

Lake planting in the news

The local media noticed that July 11 was a busy day at Indian Lake. About 35 volunteers came out to plant native vegetation along two segments of shoreline. We then constructed goose exclosures to make sure Canada geese don’t eat our plants before they’re established. Channel 15 filmed a story (Improving Indian Lake, part 2: Planting aquatic vegetation), and a planting preview appeared on Madison.com (Volunteers wanted to help Indian Lake restoration).

Friends of Indian Lake workday at the lake – Saturday, July 11

We hope you can join us on Saturday, July 11 from 8 am-noon for a special workday at Indian Lake county park. Over the past few years we’ve been working to restore Indian Lake. On July 11 we’ll be planting native aquatic and wet prairie species. The goal is to establish a more diverse plant community and benefit fish and wildlife. With the guidance of Dane county and DNR biologists we’ve targeted areas in and along the lake for this planting.

We’ll have more than 2000 aquatic plants to plant along the shore and in shallow water areas of Indian Lake. Species include sweet flag, marsh marigold, duck potato, swamp milkweed, wild senna, prairie cord grass, various bulrush species (hard-stemmed, green), waterlilies (yellow, white), and sedges (broom, bottlebrush, crested, owl-fruited, fox). (More…)