Tom Gross got hooked on the Ice Age Trail when fellow folkdancer Dan Wallace recruited him to volunteer at the Brooklyn Wildlife Area on a rare balmy December day. Since then he’s served the local chapter of the Dane County Chapter of the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation as both chair and secretary. For the last few years Tom has been the Verona segment monitor, a task he shares with Ken Kenyon. A segment monitor plans and leads workdays and monitors trail conditions. At many of our workdays along the Ice Age Trail, Tom has served ably as supervisor, site-interpreter and motivator of volunteers.

Working with Dane County Parks, Tom has hacked honeysuckle, buck-

thorn and the dreaded multi-flora both at Prairie Moraine (Tower) and in the Junction area north of Badger Prairie Park. Though the pace of work is slow, Tom enjoys seeing the visible evidence of all that cutting, lopping and pulling. He gets a distinct sense of accomplishment when volunteer efforts beat back the damage done by overgrowth. It’s also gratifying to see people get enthused about the Ice Age Trail and its pre-settlement habitat. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the scenery is so beautiful.

Tom’s favorite part of the Ice Age Trail is the Lodi Marsh Wildlife Area. He describes it as quite hilly, with surprising vistas all the way to the Baraboo Hills. He says that working with Dane County Parks has been

The County Board resolution authorizing the purchase of the land will be working through committees over the next few weeks and will likely be before the County Board on January 21, 1999. We anticipate closing in February.