|
Due to years of neglect the infrastructure at the Kemmerer Wetlands has degraded, this was once a really cool educational tool for local educators to use to show students the importance of wetlands not only to wildlife but also to the health of the ecosystem. There used to be a well maintained board walk, educational signs, bat houses, and goose nesting areas, but over time in the harsh Wyoming weather and little to no maintenance this infrastructure is in need of some work to get it back to what it once was. Replacement of boards on the board walk, and educational signs would be the starting point along with trimming or removing vegetation that has grown over some of the infrastructure. Adjacent to the wetlands is the youth fishing pond, and here the pier would us maintenance starting with being sanded and stained this would be a minimal cost, also putting in some picnic tables for families while the kids are fishing. The last thing would be to put in a screen on the fishing pond, this would make it so fish that are stocked by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department would stay in the pond and not be able to get into the Hams Fork River providing more opportunity for the youth of Kemmerer to catch them.
In Kemmerer the teachers use to take the students to the wetland and they learned about the natural world. This helped to lead some of our students into careers in wildlife conservation working for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The hope is not that kids choose this field as a career but to learn that there is a world outside of the house and away from the T.V. and that they would gain an appreciation for the wildlife and landscapes of Wyoming. Kemmerer is lucky to have an area like this in town for public enjoyment not many small towns have something like this and it should be fixed up and made nice for the citizens to enjoy.
The time line for the project would be to start this summer (2025), the signs would also be purchased in 2025 but the process of making them takes a while so they probably would not be installed until 2026. Rotary is planning on having one or two volunteer days where the community would get to come and help get involved in maintenance of these wetlands.
| 
