Krotz Nature Preserve - memories from the early 1970s

I was one of the young people befriended by Ella Mae Chambers Krotz - first as part of the chess club that met in her home, later taking up her interest in birdwatching. I spent many hours maintaining the trails and watching birds in Krotz Nature Preserve, a mile south of Sparta. During my junior year and senior year in high school (1971-1973), I went to KNP approximately every other day. I did my junior and senior year science fair projects on the bird counts I did there - which are unfortunately lost. Around 90 species seen, as I recall. I made a good map of the area back then, but it is lost, too. I probably visited sporadically when I was a student at Carbondale (1976-1978), but after that I was there only once, in 1995.

I may never return, but I can do a little reminiscing on the internet, so that someday somebody interested in KNP might be able to find it.

I’ll begin by talking about the general layout of the property. As you can see from the aerial photo below, taken off of Bing in 2014, it is mostly forested now. But I have marked several areas that were fallow fields in the early 1970s: To see image, go to https://www.angelfire.com/md/mdmorrison/krotz1.jpg

A - This 5-acre section had grasses, goldenrod, and at the south end, some white sumac bushes.

B - Mrs. Krotz drove her big station wagon through this field. There was a barbed-wire gate at the northwest corner, with a swampy area in the extreme northwest. It was a pond in springtime, but dried up in the summer. Great for frogs. The car-path went south to the southern end of the property, then curved east and then to the northern end of that part of the field; there was a loop to turn the car around. About halfway on the east side of this field is the grave of her husband. I did not know him; he died shortly after I had started to attend the chess club. There were a few small trees along the western fence, and an occasional big one on the south end. This field had meadowlarks, dickcissel, quail, etc. A few large sumac bushes were in valley in the middle.

Field C - I usually saw only the north end, since the trail went through there, but I would occasionally walk its length. Nothing special that I can recall.

Field D - I rarely saw, since the trail did not go there, there was more highway noise, and I didn’t want the people in the house to the south to think I was snooping. There was a large KNP sign in the northeast part of the field.

E was the largest block of forest; this is where the trail started and the major stream flowed through here on its way to the city reservoir, on the other side of the highway. There were some unwanted honeysuckle vines in the southeast corner.

F was a brushy area, with some mostly young trees, difficult to get to and through, so I didn’t go there much.

G was another large area of forest, with the main stream flowing through it, roughly south to north, and once it reached the “E” block of the forest it turned east for a ways, then south, then east to the highway and from there to the city reservoir.

H was a narrow strip of trees along a small ravine, which rarely had water flowing in it. I didn’t go there very often.

Trails

I doubt that much of these trails can be discerned any more, but this is roughly where they were in the 70s. To see image go to https://www.angelfire.com/md/mdmorrison/krotz2.jpg

M was a track that could be driven by car, with a loop at the east end. There was an old mailbox on a stump there, containing a spiral notebook for visitors to sign. From there, the trail went down to the stream, on the south side of a dam that had long been broken. The concrete remnants are probably still there. One winter we built a small dam there, flooded part of the streambed, and it froze hard enough for us to play on it.

N - the trail then went on the top of an earthen part of the dam, which had a few large trees growing on it, and several groundhog burrows. At the south end of the earthen dam was a concrete spillway. That’s where I saw my first Red-Headed Woodpecker. The trail then turned southwest, up to a bank with lots of mayapples and chipmunks. I once wanted to do a science project watching the chipmunks, but they were too difficult to see, and so I began to watch some Tufted Titmouses, and that’s when I got interested in birdwatching.

The trail crossed a small gully (the gully that extends up forested area H). I learned to build steps there with two pegs and a cross log. The trail then went briefly into a meadow (could occasionally see a red-tailed hawk there), and then back into the forest at a point that overlooked the stream about 30 feet below. Then the trail went southward in the forest, but near the edge. It was a distinct edge, with remnants of a barbed-wire fence along it - the field had apparently been grazed in the past.

After a while the trail descended a medium slope and met the stream near a spring. There was a small amount of water coming out even in the summer, usually flowing at least to point O, although not always. Near the spring was also a good clay deposit, which I used to dabble in pottery.

After the trail crossed the stream, it climbed uphill and went along the top of a small bluff near Q. I used to jump off the bluff and slide down on the dirt. I saw a Pileated Woodpecker there, but it was just passing through; this forest was not large enough for it to stay. (Maybe it is large enough now.)

From there the trail went to the largest meadow. A person could follow the car tracks to the west and north, but there wasn’t much to do when you got to that end of the trail. Nor was there much variety in birds. There was a ravine running east between the road and point S, but it was not a good trail, and it was no fun walking on the gravel road to get back to the starting point. So the usual route went from Q to R (Mr. Krotz’s grave) and down the slope to S. The trail followed the stream for part of the way back. I liked to build small dams there because I liked the sound of the waterfalls. The dams were rarely more than 6 inches high - made of rocks, sand, with old leaves to stop up the holes.

My memory is hazy on where the trail split. One branch (U) went out to the meadow and went back to the starting point, where I used to park my car. That’s the route I would take if I was running out of time. But one branch followed the stream a bit further, and then went north. It crossed a small gully, which I attempted to fill in with a rotten tree, and then back to the sign-in mailbox. questions: spartakin@gmail.com