In nature, plants and insects have a symbiotic relationship insects and animals will eat from the plants, and then help the plants by by spreading things like seeds and pollen needed for the plants to grow and reproduce.

Over at Wyalusing State Park Saturday afternoon, a different symbiotic relationship was on display as members of the park staff, as well as representatives from the Friends of Wyalusing group unveiled a new interpretive sign to draw attention to their new Plants and Pollinators section of trail, as well as to talk about the next phase of their project, starting in 2024.

Wyalusing Property Manager Chad Breuer and Park Naturalist Josh Kozelka were joined by Friends of Wyalusing members Ruth and Bruce Klange and Kathy and Randy Paske as they unveiled an interpretive sign is titled “Prairies Need Pollinators and Pollinators Need Prairies.”

The sign is just one part of the greater project to reintroduce prairie at the park.

Kozelka noted that hundreds of years ago, the park would have been filled with prairie plants, which thrive when things like fire come in to clean out woody vegetation and create nutrients from the burnt plants.

However, the landscape changed as settlers came to the area, and wanted to avoid widespread fires that may endanger what they were building.

“Settlers came to the area and look to reduce wildfires,” Kozelka said. “If you have a log cabin, fire is kind of the biggest fear you have.”

That allowed trees and shrubs to overtake the grasslands.

The prairie plants still have seeds in the ground, and when given a chance, look to return. An old farmstead that was stopped from being used in the 1960s has shown to reestablish native plants, and the section they reseeded that is part of the trail the sign is on has flowering plants they never planted popping up, in addition to the plants they put in for the project.

Breuer tapped Kozelka to design the interpretive sign, which is in the shape of a butterfly, with the pollinators on one side, and the plants on the other, showing there dance of working together.

“We are going to continue to add to what we have,” Breuer stated.

That will include a section that will be started in spring 2024 near the entrance of the park. In a bushy area that was once a walnut tree grove, the section will be prepped and burned and planted, as they work to reestablish a prairie there.

Several state departments will be working together on the project, as will the Friends of Wyalusing.

“Things like this wouldn’t happen without that cooperation between the organization and state parks,” said Bruce Klnage, who is the President of the Friends of Wyalusing. “This is a big day for us.”

Bruce talked about how, over the years, the friends group, a non-profit, has worked with the park to help improve items like signage, create the interpretive center, and help cover costs of projects like the prairie project.

“This is what we are for, this is key to our mission goal,” continued Bruce.

Bruce made his pitch to try and get new members in the group, since they had a generational shift coming, with a lot of longtime members getting older. “it needs to keep going for generations, so we need those future generations to get involved,” Bruce continued.

He noted things like the prairie are things that need constant work to thrive.

Much like the prairie - a lack of maintenance and fire, and the woody vegetation looks to take over.

Randy Paske, who is on the board for the Friends of Wisconsin State Parks, noted a lot of support for the parks by different groups.