Supervisor Jim Baum remembers an earlier conservationist
We sometimes forget the past work and effort of others. While most of us understand that Charles Broughton and Sheboygan County played a key role in developing and preserving Sheboygan County Marsh, it took hundreds of supporters to make it happen. One was George Ira Wilterdink who in 1937 penned a poem that was found by his son Kenneth after the death of his parents. It might be worth repeating as we begin another new phase with the building of the Sheboygan Marsh Observation Tower.
George Ira Wilterdink loved to hunt and fish. Because of the economics of the time, he left the family’s Waldo farm early in life and got a job with the Wisconsin Power and Light Company, a good move that provided steady employment as the Great Depression reached Wisconsin.
Early on, he joined the Izaak Walton League and, with others, he worked with Charles Broughton to preserve the 14,000-acre Sheboygan County Marsh. Ken Wilterdink thought the poem important and obtained a copyright of it in October 2007. It is with his permission the poem is being printed here. We hope you enjoy it.
The Marsh
A tour, let’s say, is what we’ll take
And a little lunch, for it might be late
Because there is so much to see
Out at the marsh for you and me.
Now let’s suppose that I’m the guide
And at the marsh we have arrived.
The car is parked, we’re at the dam
That saved the purpose of this land.
Take time, my friend, to look around.
Enjoy the beauty of these grounds
Where nature holds the winning hand
When not destroyed but helped by man.
Now, if you wish, we’ll take a ride,
By boat this time, on channels wide
That interlock, from side to side,
This wood-hemmed haven o’er which we’ll glide.
To row the boat by hand is best
Because so much of interest
At sound of motor tends to flee
To places of obscurity.
On either side, as we row along,
There’s signs of life and muskrat homes;
And now and then we get a glimpse
Of the furry occupants.
‘Round yonder bend we’ll go with care
And watch the wild ducks feeding there.
They swim, they drift, they dive for feed
That grows ‘neath water: root and weed.
The vegetation growing here,
O’er all this marshy plain so dear
Provides them food and sheltered nest,
Invites migrating flocks to rest.
Now let’s proceed toward marsh’s edge
Where trees and brush form water’s hedge
That would have perished, had it not been
For those who fought and built the dam.
It’s where the woods and marsh streams meet
That Mr. Beaver will complete
A dam to hold the waters back
In which he’ll build his family shack.
And as in numbers they do grow,
More dams they build, and this we know
Will provide waters deep and wide,
The ideal place for fish to thrive.
In speaking of the fishy clan,
Which we will know was helped by man
When building the present dam
Re-flooded channels o’er this land.
Increasing numbers caught each year
Is proof to those a-fishing here
That future years will help realize
So good a fishing paradise.
The adjoining swamps and woods, you’ll note,
Induces other wildlife folk:
The squirrel, the coon, the cottontail,
As well as pheasant, partridge and the quail.
And in the future we will behold
Still other members in this fold:
The deer and friendly porcupine
Are two of those I have in mind.
Let’s bear in mind, as we homeward wend,
That success in future all depends
Upon the group who joy and interest find
In conservation of this kind.
Now to the sportsman we might say,
“While sporting, think of future day
By taking only rightful share,
So sport of others you’ll not impair.”
It is our duty to impress
The need of places such as this
Upon the minds of those yet young,
That life found here will continue on.
Now as we part and go our way,
Let’s plan to come some other day,
For things of interest you’ve found here
Will keep increasing year to year.
With county’s purchase of surrounding land
And conservation’s helping hand,
The planned improvements now in store
Will preserve this haven ever more.
George Ira Wilterdink,
1937
