OCONTO COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Storm damage cleanup crews are finally seeing real results, after weeks of non-stop work in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
“There’s a lot of folks that have been calling, ever since the storm, wanting to know when that was going to be open. And there’s a lot of happy people,” said Greyling Brandt, U.S. Forest Service Assistant Ranger for Recreation and Lands.
Some popular recreation sites in Oconto County are starting to reopen.
“There really was no specific ground-zero. There was substantial damage in quite a few spots,” said Brandt.
Brandt says damage stretches for about 50,000 acres of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. After the July 19 storms, most campgounds, all recreational trails, and the Mountain Fire Lookout Tower were closed so crews could work.
“The tower up here at the site, it wasn’t too bad. But the road coming up to the tower was hit pretty hard,” said Brandt.
In addition to the lookout tower, other recreational sites are starting to reopen across the national forest. A few miles to the south, Bagley Rapids Campground is once again welcoming visitors.
“It took us about a week in the campground, just going through, making sure that all the hazard trees were safe for campers,” said Brandt.
Campers like Ed Dutka and his family, who are on vacation from Michigan.
“Just on a last-second hunch, we decided to swing through here, and we found it open. So it worked out to our benefit, because we got all this wonderful firewood laying around. So we had a nice fire all night,” said Ed Dutka, Cadillac, Michigan.
Forest officials say the cleanup continues, at the campgrounds, the tower, and all across the Northwoods.
They say it could still be a couple weeks before a decision is made on when those trails may reopen.
