July 21, 2021

Trip 7 today. Today’s day trip was aboard Nahma, the National Park Service boat. Arranged as an intergovernmental courtesy between the Park Service and the DNR, this near annual cooperative endeavor has made a huge difference to our restoration efforts. The load includes needed plywood, dimensional lumber, an exterior door, a restored screen door, recreated shutters, a donated riding lawn mower, a generator, donated furniture, paint and more. The DNR came with the maintenance crew out of Grawn to help with the load and unload with FILA board members Cathy, Kathy and Linda rounding out the team.

The day wasn’t without disappointments, however. The DNR crew had brought out a front end loader hoping to spend a few hours moving stone. Nahma had difficulty getting in close enough at the traditional landing site so tried the “slab”. They could get in close, but at the cost of hitting stone. Joerg’s mapping had suggested stones at a depth of 1 1/2′ there versus Nahma’s 2 foot clearance requirement. Regretfully, Joerg was right and it wasn’t prudent to stay long. They dropped materials and departed soon after without having been able to do any stone removal or offload waste materials the resident keeper’s had staged for transport. It’s a lonely feeling to be left with most of the stow-away of a year’s worth of materials.