PHOTO OP ED: Healthy fires for the good of nature

A crew sent by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service set fires last week in the federal agency’s waterfowl production area at the junction of Six Mile Road and Jay Road in the Town of Belgium. The burning was done to stimulate the healthy growth of grass and other plants in the 278-acre natural area that is named after Armin O. Schwengel, a 1935 graduate of Port Washington High School. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Schwengel studied under Aldo Leopold, the legendary conservationist who is considered the founder of the American environmental movement. Schwengel went on to work for the Fish and Wildlife Service where he was instrumental in reclaiming more than 10,000 acres of wetlands in Ozaukee County and elsewhere in southeastern Wisconsin, and was recognized for that service with the naming of the Belgium wildlife area in his honor. Shorebirds, marsh birds and ducks frequent the ponds in the Schwengel area.
                              Photo by Sam Arendt