Pheasant Branch Conservancy is a great place to hike, bike, birdwatch
A thousand years ago, Late Woodland people were burying their dead on a hill on the northern outskirts of what is now Middleton. They created a group of effigy mounds on the knoll, one a bird form with a wingspan of more than 140 feet.
They chose that hill in part, anthropologists say, not only for its outstanding view of the surrounding countryside, but also because it rose above a spring they believed was a sacred portal to the underworld. That natural fountain, which pumps out an estimated 1.6 million gallons of water each day, fed a creek and marsh that drained into Lake Mendota — a remnant of Glacial Lake Yahara.
The Ho Chunk later thrived there in what settlers called the the Pheasant Branch watershed, where they harvested milkweed blossoms, wild plums, blueberries, blackberries, acorns, cattail lily pad roots and wild rice, which still grows in the marsh.
Today, thanks to the foresight of Middleton residents more than half a century ago, that knoll — now known as Frederick's Hill — the spring and wetland remain mostly intact, key pieces of the 500-plus-acre Pheasant Branch Conservancy.
Once part of a farm, it now attracts hundreds of hikers, birders, cyclists and others — to say nothing of the numerous volunteers engaged in the never-ending task of removing non-native plants such as garlic mustard, buckthorn and dame’s rocket.
Susan Gruber, a retired special education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, grew up in Middleton and played on farmland in the conservancy as a child. A former official with the Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy group, she now lives in a condo on Lake Mendota and hikes or bicycles in the preserve frequently.
“A friend’s family farmed there, so that was our playground when we were youngsters,” said Gruber, who graduated from Middleton High School in 1960 and has chaired the Friends’ restoration committee in recent years. She continues to volunteer on conservancy projects.
“My dad was involved with getting the conservancy started, and that means a lot to me. I especially love being able to walk up on that hill early in the morning when few people are around and see all the flowers. I also like to kayak up the stream to the springs after the birds are no longer nesting. It’s my passion.”
When Gruber retired from UW-Milwaukee, she moved back to Middleton and helped raise money to buy the 20-acre, old-growth oak savanna John C. Bock Community Forest in 2006. It’s in the southeast corner of the preserve off Highland Way and is part of the conservancy.
The first purchase, of 100 acres, occurred 52 years ago — mostly with grants from the state and federal governments. This effort occurred during the tenure of former Middleton mayor and environmentalist Wally Bauman. The western end of UW-Madison’s Lakeshore Nature Preserve is named for Bauman, as is the outdoor Middleton city pool, which is just a stone’s throw from the Pheasant Branch Creek corridor of the conservancy.
Community members who were concerned about erosion along the creek and sediment deposits in Lake Mendota from stormwater runoff pushed for the purchase of easements to control runoff. They also were successful in stopping construction of a marina and a 300-lot subdivision in the marsh.
Over the next few decades, more land was added, and trails, bridges and boardwalks were built. But it wasn’t until 1995 that the Friends group was founded to halt construction of two sewer lines through the conservancy. They fought the city and were able to stop one line entirely and reroute a second one to the side of the preserve, said Lloyd Eagan, president of the Friends’ board of directors. Eagan, a retired Department of Natural Resources employee, also lives near the conservancy and uses it frequently.
After the bruising sewer-line fight, Gruber said the city and Friends group declared a truce and joined forces to protect the conservancy and its watershed.
“Our organization also began working with Dane County and the DNR to remove invasive species,” she said. “We got a lot of grants as well, to study both groundwater and surface flows using the research of several scientists. More than 50 stakeholders were involved to protect the recharge area. As a result, the city adopted strict storm-water and infiltration standards.”
Part of the credit, she said, goes to Ken Potter, a retired civil engineering professor at UW-Madison who served on the city’s water resources commission. Several retention and confluence ponds were built to protect the watershed, and land along the creek was purchased around Morey Field, Middleton’s airport, to limit development.
Many members of the Friends group, as well as other volunteers from the area such as the Audubon Society, frequently can be found pulling unwanted plants and doing other tasks in the conservancy, she said. College interns who are shared with several other preserves also work there on construction and other projects one day a week, she added.
“In pre-European times, the Indians would have burned off the vegetation around the effigy mounds to preserve them and prevent trees from growing,” she said. “We’ve recently had Scouts cover them with carpet to kill the brush and re-seed so you can see their forms.”
The conservancy, she said, is a major asset to not only Middleton but the entire region. Students study the conservancy and its watershed as part of research projects, runners use it for training and musicians entertain strollers during the Tunes on Tuesday events in June.
“I love that there are so many different aspects to the conservancy and that it’s right at our community’s backdoor,” she said. “But it also attracts people from all over the area. We’re truly lucky it was preserved.”
More information: See pheasantbranch.org to download a map of the conservancy.
The final Tunes on Tuesday will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. June 27. It begins at Orchard Heights Park and follows a path lined with musicians playing tunes.
Getting there: The conservancy is in Middleton, about 90 miles from Milwaukee via I-94, Highway 113 and County Highway M.