The landowner, Ann Koval, who's family has been farming and caretaking this piece of ground for decades was excited to know that horses would once again be put to work on the landscape.

North Fish Creek, located in Bayfield County in northern Wisconsin is an important stream that provides high quality habitat for brook trout and other native fish, as well as a great recreational fishery for species such as coho salmon and steelhead trout. This fishery is being significantly reduced through increased flooding, erosion, sedimentation and environmental damage due to past land use practices. The creek's sediment load is approximately 22,500 metric tons per year, and of this 2/3 is estimated to come from 17 large and unstable bluffs. Restoration work performed at the Koval site will affect approximately 500 feet of North Fish Creek and reduce sediment to the stream and fish spawning sites on approximately 17 stream miles, as well as the Fish Creek estuary and Lake Superior.

Restoration of North Fish Creek required a combined approach which encompasses reduced land runoff and increased channel stability with reduced sediment load. The Fish Creek Submerged Vane Stream Restoration Project uses hand constructed ?vanes,? rock weirs and large woody debris to stabilize the toe of the large eroding bluff. The vanes, high density plastic sheets anchored to the stream bottom with rebar, are installed in the stream channel bed and deflect flow away from the base of the bluff while directing the deposit of sediments at the toe, thus aiding bank stabilization. Similar approaches have been used at two other sites on North Fish Creek with good results thus far. Monitoring data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey from these two sites has shown that the vanes have moved the channel away from the base of the bluff, allowing the bank and toe to build out into the channel.

At this particular site, large boulders were blocking the preferred path engineers and biologists wanted the water to take, and that is where Dolly and Cher came into the picture. No, not the popular county-western and pop artists, but two 1,800 pound Belgian draft horses with a penchant for pulling!

Dolly and Cher had logged hundreds of hours pulling logs, but this would be their first crack at stream work and extended periods in the water. After some expert horse whispering by Jacob and his partner Kearston Galazen, they were pulling like clockwork. Once they had pulled most of the ?easy? large woody debris and 'small? boulders into place they hooked into the huge one-ton plus boulder. It was touch and go at first.

Budging the behemoth boulder out of the hole it had rested in for thousands of years was no easy task. The horses strained into their harnesses, men and women bore down on the boulder with pry-bars and after multiple adjustments of the chains we had only moved the mammoth rock a few inches. Just when it looked like all hope may be lost, a last adjustment to the chain location was made, the horses gave a great lunge and the boulder slid free of the stream bottom's grip. Cheers went up from the river-valley which were heard all the way to Lake Superior.

This project is a shining example of the power of partnerships. Engineers, biologists and biological science technicians spent more than a week of hard labor on the site working to stabilize the steep slope and restore the instream flow to a historic channel away from the steep and eroding bank. Dr. John Hoopes lead a team of University of Wisconsin and U.S. Geological Survey Personnel. Dennis Pratt of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and his habitat restoration crew worked at the project site for two full days and Northland College provided a crew of students with strong backs to join in the fun. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge provided assistance and Ted Koehler from the Ashland Fishery Resources Office coordinated and assisted with the horse work. Other supporting partners in the project include the Bayfield County Land Conservation Department, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Inter-Fluve Incorporated.

Collective partnerships of strong backs, hardy animals and human ingenuity, have been for the most part pushed aside by fire breathing modern marvels, but is this always the best solution? With ever increasing modernization and mechanization we tend to dismiss or forget about the old ways of getting things done. While not practical to use the relatively low impact methods of yesteryear on the majority of projects, these days many people assume that if you can not get a backhoe or bulldozer to a job such as this, it can?t be done. It's good to know there are a few outfits left such as the Rocking O? which can get the job done in remote locations without destroying that which we are trying to protect.