Trailblazing at Dayton Town Hall

WAUPACA – Community members from the Town of Dayton started cleanup efforts on the Lyman Dayton trail, a one-mile trail system built in 2016 that is located at their town hall.
Dayton Community Connection (DCC) was created two years ago as an effort for people to get out and meet community members as well as help neighbors and create social connections.
Julie Mazzoleni, a member of DCC, said the idea to restore the trail came when the group got together on New Year’s Day for a party at the town hall and decided to walk the trail.
“Out of that kind of came the idea of ‘what if we restored this trail and made this like a community place where people could come together and gather and walk,’” she said.
Mazzoleni said the trail at that time was very overgrown with invasive plants like buckthorn and honey suckle plants.

With the abundance of invasive plants the group came up with the idea of making the trail a learning experience by showing environmentally sound ways of eradicating invasive plants, as well as documenting the process of how the trail was cleaned up.
Mazzoleni said Bluestem Ecological Services was brought in first to use a forest rake to clean up the north side of the trail, the trail is split with a half mile on the north side and a half mile on the south side of the property.
With the forest rake they were able to clear buckthorn, honey suckle and as much as the overgrowth as they could.
Mazzoleni said this is not a permanent solution, as the buckthorn and honey suckle will grow back which has led them to schedule goats, from Liberation Farmers, LLC, to come in and eat the invasive plants.
The land on the north side was split into ten segments, which was estimated to take up to 12 days for the goats to clear.
The group plans to wait to see what native plants come up without the buckthorn and honey suckle plants instead of replacing them right away.
The trail will also feature a restorative burn on part of it this fall, after which they will throw native seeds down which will allow native plants to grow with less competition from the invasive plants.
The seeds are coming from J & J Transplant and Aquatic Nursery.
There will also be a small area marked off where they intend to spray herbicide, as well as a section next to it using the black tarp method of eradicating invasive plants.
The black tarp method uses a tarp which will be secured as close to the ground as they can, which will kill anything that is underneath the tarp. The tarp stays secured for six to nine months.
This method, Mazzoleni said, will give you a blank slate to start fresh.
Mazzoleni said it is meant to show people how damaging herbicide is on the environment.
“We’re restoring it not only for the community but also just so that we have a piece of property here that is absolutely restored,” she said. “Our hope is that they see all kinds of native butterflies and bees.”
The trail is currently open for use and dogs are allowed on the trail as well.
Mazzoleni said they were able to accomplish the projects they started on the trail this year with two grants from Jim and Mary Grist Foundation of Waupaca and the James E. Dutton Foundation.
The focus in 2025 is the north side of the trail, then this fall Mezzoleni said they are going to start planning and looking for grants for the south side.
Mazzoleni said the group is hoping they are able to gather more volunteers to help with the project saying there are a number of ways that people can help, including assisting in cleanup, restorative efforts and administration.
People interested in volunteering can email DCC at daytoncommunityconnection@gmail.com.
Donations for the restoration and conservation efforts happening at the Lyman Dayton Trail can be sent to Dayton Community Connection, P.O. Box 124, King, Wisconsin, 54946-0124.