The Friends of Starkweather Creek manages, maintains, and restores several areas in our watershed ranging from rain gardens and pollinator gardens to woodland and riparian prairie restorations. 2024 saw the addition of several hundred new native plants as well as over a dozen trees and shrubs along the west branch of Starkweather Creek. Two areas in particular will be given special attention this year: the “Starkweather Woods” and “Landsness Legacy Park*” (note: park is the unofficial term as this is technically owned by City of Madison Engineering).
The Starkweather Woods is located directly west of the Carpenter-Ridgeway Park across the bicycle trail and has been ground zero for our organization’s restoration initiatives. Walking trails lead visitors to a surprisingly remote, wild section of the creek. This area is well known for its bird watching opportunities, particularly in the spring and fall.
Work here began in 2016 with clearing invasive honeysuckle and buckthorn shrubs that were abundant throughout the woods. Significant progress has been made removing these invaders along the walking trail near the creek, but the majority of this site is still under invasion. A visit to the Starkweather Woods will reveal large piles of stacked brush cut by our volunteers over many winters (a favorite activity amongst our most diehard volunteers). These piles seem to provide lots of cover for wildlife and birds. Many volunteers were surprised to see uncommon native plants rebounding once these shrubs were removed such as nodding trillium, bloodroot, and jack-in-the-pulpit.
One success story is the near complete eradication of garlic mustard from the Starkweather Woods. It took our volunteers nearly 6 years of pulling and bagging a seemingly endless supply of this invasive species to completely eliminate it from the site. This seemingly impossible task could not have been accomplished without the help of dozens of diligent volunteers. Our new goal is to eradicate our next spring invader: Dame’s Rocket.
The other location along our creek that will be getting a lot of attention this year is the Landsness Legacy Park*. Located at 538 McCormick Ave, this site is named after the late co-chair of the Friends of Starkweather Creek, Carl Landsness. Owned by City Engineering, this park* features two handicap accessible art picnic tables, an Aldo Leopold bench, bridge murals, a rain garden, and creek restoration. This spring, we will be adding almost 500 native plants to expand our restoration. The goal is to completely surround the benches and seating area in wildflowers. Please visit this site and enjoy a lunch there. There are often minks and great blue herons sighted from this location.
If you are not a volunteer already, please consider joining us for a restoration workday. They are fun, educational, informal, and often highly social. No prior experience is needed (unless specified such as for burning or pesticide use). To join our email list, please send your name and email address to restore@starkweatherfriends.org