2011 WGA Earth Week Celebration! Gibraltar Rock CITO and Potluck – WGA Regional Event
Thank you to all who attended our second Annual CITO event at Gibraltar Rock. In spite of the snow and rain mix, approximately 25 brave volunteers turned out. The park was left much better for your time and help. There were so many kind and wonderful people who came together to make this event possible. Even though we had fewer volunteers than last year, I’d speculate that even more refuse and recyclables were gathered.
A special team of certified sawyers, known as Sawdust, focused on removal of invasive trees. Other teams were dispatched to the bottom of the cliffs to haul out all of the accumulated cans, bottles, and other refuse. A number of volunteers helped out with the potluck luncheon to support the team efforts.
Thanks again to Lion’s Fan Larry and 08 Rock Lady for all of their coordination efforts this year. Their knowledge of geocaching and the community proved invaluable. They located the temporary caches, found lots of terrific prizes, coordinated volunteers, and helped with the potluck.
Thanks also to the Wisconsin Geocaching Association and Ralph Ruok, our event sponsors. Congratulations, Ralph, on making this event your 15,000th geocaching find. Unbelievable! WGA made the day by helping to publish and promote our event. The WGA made our prizes possible. I genuinely appreciate their support and involvement.
Bill Welch, Patti Herman, and the Friends of Scenic Lodi Valley again sponsored the potluck luncheon, provided the tables and supplies. Working with FSLV this year and getting to know so many wonderful local people has really made this effort a pleasure. The Friends of Scenic Lodi Valley proves once again their commitment to environmental preservation. We couldn’t have organized the event without their support and encouragement. Wendy Soucie came through again this year and volunteered as our documentary photographer. She even brought a jar of honey from her neighboring farm for the prize pool!
Daniel Pertzborn helped our efforts this year by producing new copies of his documentary film, Rocks of Gibraltar. All proceeds from the sale of the film go to support the Gibraltar Rock team. Thank you, Daniel!
A round of applause goes out to or Town of West Point Chair, Dean Schwarz and his wife, Marcia. They cleared our access to the top and delivered the collected recyclables and refuse to the transfer station. Though they weren’t able to stay for the event due to other commitments, we were glad to see them and appreciated their post event round up efforts.
Steve Schmelzer, the Devil’s Lake Superintendent, made our day possible by approving our park cleanup efforts. He also arranged to have Diane Pillsbury, the Devil’s Lake Naturalist, provide a presentation for our event. Diane gave a fireside chat on the geology of the region, including Devil’s Lake and Gibraltar Rock. We were so glad she could join us.
Thank you for your support the Friends of Gibraltar Rock team! If you are interested in joining our ongoing efforts at this beautiful park, please contact me. If you have any suggestions on how to build on our second annual event’s success, your ideas are welcomed. Any feedback on when to hold the event will help us in planning next year. April was great with a lack of mosquitoes, poison ivy, and plant overgrowth. July had the advantage of no rain or snow. We look forward to greeting old friends and making new at next year’s event.
For further information on Gibraltar contact Courtney Olson at (262) 377-0194 or colson1987@gmail.com.