Starting on Saturday, the Kangaroo Lake Association, in partnership with the Nature Conservancy, will begin placing “fish sticks” in Kangaroo Lake near Baileys Harbor. Fish sticks are mid-sized trees that have been harvested elsewhere, transported to a lake and placed in the near shore, shallow water where they can be anchored to the shoreline. The project is being funded, in part, by the Department of Natural Resources. The Nature Conservancy owns land on Kangaroo Lake and is donating about 14 trees from a planned tree thinning project, which Harbor Lumber of Baileys Harbor will cut and drag to the lake. Volunteers will move trees by hand and with all-terrain vehicles across the ice and place and secure them in eight locations. Each location will have a fish stick complex of two trees placed perpendicular to the shoreline, crossed and secured to each other and to the shoreline with cable to prevent movement after ice-out when they will sink into the lake. The partially submerged trees will provide habitat for fish and invertebrates in the lake, protect the shoreline from erosion, and provide calmer waters where submerged plants can be established, helping to develop even more habitat for fish and other creatures.
