Job well done for Ranger Rick at Beaver Creek Reserve [The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.]

Dec. 18--FALL CREEK -- Last week, a 33-year old woman from Massachusetts stopped at the Beaver Creek Reserve. She had been to the nature area as a child as part of the summer "Nature Nuts" program. She now leads outdoor adventures for challenged youths.

"Is Ranger Rick still here?" she asked.

"She attributed her interest in the outdoors to her 'Nature Nut' year," said Rick Koziel, also known as Ranger Rick, with a smile of satisfaction, although he admits he can't remember the little girl who grew up to be the outdoor adventure leader.

In Koziel's 33 years as director, many boys and girls have passed through the doors and walked the trails of Beaver Creek Reserve along Highway K, four miles north of Fall Creek. Now he is at an age when the youth he instructed early in his career during school visits are bringing their own children out there.

But the woman looking for Ranger Rick just barely caught him. He expects to retire soon, probably by the end of the year. The support group Friends of Beaver Creek Reserve is in the process of hiring a new director.

This actually is the second time he has retired. Two years ago he ended his career as an Eau Claire County employee, as part of a continuing process of the county weaning itself from involvement in the reserve. He was then rehired at about three-quarters time by the Friends group. Now, at 62, it's time to move on, he said.

From camp to environmental center

When Koziel joined the reserve 33 years ago it was called the Eau Claire County Youth Camp. It featured rustic sleeping cabins and a main lodge -- with an impressive stone fireplace -- that doubled as a dining area and nature center.

The youth camp is still there, but now there is an observatory, built, then expanded, with the help of the Hobbs Foundation.

There is a citizen science center, built with assistance from area homebuilders, where regular folks learn to conduct research on subjects ranging from bats to earthworms to monitoring water quality on local creeks. The science center also doubles as charter school with an emphasis on environmental research.

The largest building on the property is , south of Highway K, overlooking the valley of Beaver Creek. It was built in 1985 with a combination of support from the county, foundations and private donations.

Associated with the nature center is a greenhouse, where native plants can be grown, and a butterfly house, where native butterflies have temporary residence before being set free at the end of summer.

Down the trail from the butterfly house is an area for boiling maple syrup, a popular spring program in which participants have a chance to sample the fruits of their labor. The locally made syrup also is used at the reserve's annual French toast breakfast.

The nearby Henke Farm, a donation from the Henke family further upstream along Beaver Creek, also is used for programs.

Several clubs are now based at the reserve -- a bird club, a photo club, a quilting club, the Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society and a watercolor artist club.

Koziel said one of his first tasks at the reserve was to help build the observatory. He wasn't an architect, but he could haul cinder blocks.

"I wasn't very handy, but I was a good gofer," he said.

Koziel graduated from Northern Illinois University and taught high school science in Illinois before deciding that wasn't what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

"I wasn't teaching biology, which was my passion," he said.

He then attended UW-Stevens Point, where he studied resources management. After graduating, he convinced the Eau Claire County Youth Camp board to apply for a federal grant to develop an environmental education program at the center. The board got the grant and hired two naturalists -- Koziel and Karen Kushman, now Karen Wise.

The grant was for two years, and Koziel wasn't sure where he was headed after that, but a year later director Lloyd Nelson left for Arizona, and the county hired Koziel as the new director.

As the reserve grew, the director's job became more of a desk job -- writing grants, working on budgets -- but one thing he cherished about the job was that he still got to work as a naturalist and have face-to-face contact with youths.

Kids and Beaver Creek

It is a little harder now to get youngsters to focus on the natural world than it was 30 years ago, before the digital revolution, Koziel said.

"It's harder, I think, to excite a kid because of all the other media the kids are bombarded with daily," he said.

But youngsters' eyes still light up when they come into the nature center and see the exhibits, he said.

Another challenge is that schools, mainly for reasons of cost, are cutting back on field trips. Students in the Eau Claire school district used to visit the reserve as third-graders and again as fifth-graders. The fifth-graders had an overnight stay, which was exciting for the kids as well as the parents who got to chaperone.

Now only second-graders come, and there is no overnight stay.

"I'm disappointed for the kids," he said. "Not just because of the field trips here. It's a shame they're limited to one field trip here, but it's also a shame they're not going to see other places in the community."

Augusta, Altoona and River Falls schools have continued the overnight visits.

Gregg Moore, an Eau Claire County supervisor and a member of the Beaver Creek Reserve Foundation's board of directors, said some of the money raised by the foundation is being used for subsidies to help cover the transportation costs of schools coming to the reserve.

Koziel is a strong advocate for hands-on nature education.

"Kids need to feel the wind in their face and smell the flowers, hear the birds, hear the mosquitoes buzzing in their ears -- a video game just doesn't do it for them," Koziel said.

The future

In 1985, Friends of Beaver Creek Reserve formed to provide volunteers and support for the reserve. It has grown to around 1,100 members.

The foundation established a trust fund, realizing that county support in the future was uncertain. There now is about $1 million in the fund. The "Giving Tree" at the reserve has 31 leaves -- each indicating a commitment by an individual to remember the reserve in his or her estate planning.

In 2008, the Friends group and the county agreed to a five-year contract in which the reserve receives $160,000 annually to cover two staff positions and needed maintenance work.

Moore said the Friends group and the county are moving in the direction of having the Friends cover all the staffing and the county take care of the facilities, although currently two staff members still are county employees and the Friends are helping with building repairs.

The original buildings are more than 50 years old and in need of some upkeep, Moore said. The kitchen has just received upgrades.

The buildings generate some income when they are rented to outside groups, Moore said. For example, when the Sierra Club holds a statewide meeting in western Wisconsin, group members stay at the reserve.

Moore said he didn't know what would happen when the current contract is up, but he hoped the county would continue some commitment for maintenance and capital improvements. The reserve is on county land, he noted.

County Supervisor Howard Ludwigson, who recently announced he will not be seeking re-election after 30 years on the County Board, said the reserve should anticipate reduced funding in the future, and the Friends and users of the facilities are going to have to step up.

"In the type of environment we're in right now, I think we have to take a look at all of those programs that are not mandated," he said. "We have increasing expenses on our mandatory side -- the new jail being among them. We can't keep increasing the county's tax rate at above inflation, as we have been doing for many years now."

Bob Schmidt, president of the Friends board of directors, said although the level of future support from the county is uncertain, he is optimistic.

"We've got so many people in the community supporting us ... Our mission is to connect people with nature, and I think we do that on a lot of different levels," he said.

Schmidt said they are in final negotiations with an individual they expect to be the next director.

"Rick is a tough act to follow ... considering what he's done in 30 years. Clearly many other people have had a hand, and continue to have a hand, but Rick has been the common source," he said.

Gone fishing

Not surprisingly, Koziel has a number of outdoors hobbies, and he is looking forward to having more time for hunting, fishing, nature photography and travel, along with some home maintenance projects.

He hopes to keep involved in Beaver Creek -- this time as a volunteer. He wants to continue bird banding and a bluebird house project coordinated by the reserve, but he also plans not to be around too much for at least six months after the new director starts work.

"I don't want the new director to think I'm looking over his shoulder," he said.

Knight can be reached at 715-830-5835, 800-236-7077 or joe.knight@ecpc.com.

Beaver Creek Reserve: LeaderTelegram.com/links

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