A lot of AmeriCorps help on the way

Federal and state workers will be back in a big way this fall to work in Ozaukee County parks, one year after it was feared they wouldn’t come at all.

Last year in the spring, workers with the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps were nowhere to be found due to federal spending freezes. Eventually, a dozen or so arrived in September and stayed until mid-December, a month longer than expected thanks to another federal shutdown.

This year, another dozen will arrive in September and also stay into December, Ozaukee County Planning and Parks Director Andrew Struck told the county Natural Resources Committee last month.

They’ll be joined by another dozen workers with WisCorps, a state version of the federal program.

“Normally, a team is just six workers,” Struck said. “We’re very fortunate. We’re looking forward to a very, very busy fall.”

AmeriCorps was created in the mid-1990s under the Clinton administration and focuses on disaster relief, aid to veterans, environmental services and education.

The county Planning and Parks Department routinely uses workers from the program to remove invasive plant species, plant trees and perform a myriad of other tasks.

Struck said they’ll do more of the same this time around, especially planting trees at the Clay Bluffs Cedar Gorge Nature Preserve that is under development in the City of Port Washington.

They also will be used to expand the trail system at Hawthorne Hills County Park in the Town of Saukville, he said.

They will be housed at the H.H. Peters Youth Camp and the multipurpose building at Hawthorne Hills, except in September when some will camp at Waubedonia County Park in Fredonia.

Struck said he also is preparing work for them to do indoors when the weather turns cold, including painting and maintenance projects.

Past projects for the workers have included constructing a split rail fence at Oakland Green Park in Port Washington, planting trees at Covered Bridge Park in Cedarburg and other locations and developing a wetlands at Virmond Park in Mequon.

AmeriCorps workers are provided free to the county, while WisCorps charges a fee.

The county has to pay for feeding and housing the workers.