Spring 2027 Habitat Restoration Field Demonstration
Aspen Habitat Restoration Field Project
A multi-year private-land restoration, field learning & monitoring case study
Follow one New Richmond property from planning through mechanical treatment and multi-year monitoring.
Start here
This project was built to be used.
Follow one New Richmond property from planning through mechanical treatment and multi-year monitoring. Everything documented so far sits in the field notebook below.
Four groups get something different out of it. Choose yours and the notebook opens where it matters.
Project Story
Origin
This didn’t start with a machine.
It started with a wetland.
In August 2024, the property owner began contacting conservation and wetland organizations regarding about seven acres in New Richmond, Wisconsin. At the time, much of the property was understood to contain or be influenced by wetland conditions.
The original objective was not a demonstration and not a marketing exercise. It was to understand what the land actually needed, and what was realistically possible on it.
The questions that started it
- Restoration opportunities
- Preservation
- Wildlife habitat
- Native vegetation
- Conservation funding
- Educational opportunities
From the beginning, the property owner also expressed interest in the site potentially becoming a learning resource for the community — the idea that eventually grew into this field project.
Project timeline
A multi-year record, not a single day.
The demonstration is one milestone inside a longer documentation cycle. Select any milestone.
Conservation outreach & initial private-land consultation
The landowner contacted conservation and wetland organizations about the property. A U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service private-land site visit took place in September, and correspondence with the Wisconsin Wetlands Association followed in October.
Site observation & continued learning
The property continued to be observed and evaluated as the long-term restoration concept developed. No mechanical treatment was carried out as part of the project during this period.
Expanded conservation consultation & phased planning
Planning expanded through technical consultation with private-land conservation professionals, and a documented group field consultation in July walked the site and discussed a potential phased sequence.
Pre-demonstration planning, outreach & site documentation
Pre-treatment site documentation, outreach to potential participants and supporters, and confirmation of what can realistically be demonstrated.
Habitat Restoration Field Demonstration
Selected mechanical treatment methods carried out and documented in actual field conditions. A specific date has not been announced.
Initial post-treatment observation
First look at the treated surface, residue condition and site access once the ground has settled.
Vegetation response documentation
What is coming back, where, and how quickly — recorded rather than predicted.
Seasonal follow-up
A full season of weather across the treated ground, including any follow-up treatment requirements that emerge.
Year-one comparison
The same ground, same angles, one year on — the first genuine before-and-after this project will publish.
Long-term follow-up & project archive
Continued observation and a public archive of what the site did over time, including anything that did not work.
View consultation details
2024
The consultation record
The first year of the project was conversation, not equipment. These are the documented points of contact that shaped the direction of the site.
- August 20, 2024
Friends of the St. Croix Wetland Management District responded and indicated that a private-lands biologist could provide additional guidance.
- August 29, 2024
Caitlin Nagorka with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Partners for Fish and Wildlife program reviewed aerial information and offered a private-land site visit and resources.
- September 23, 2024
Documented U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service private-land site visit with Caitlin Nagorka.
- October 2024
Wisconsin Wetlands Association Executive Director Tracy Hames corresponded regarding restoration, land-management and educational considerations. A site visit was scheduled.
2026
From restoration idea to field learning project
What began as a single landowner’s restoration question developed into a structured, documented field-learning project with a defined treatment area, a monitoring framework and a public education component.
Caitlin Nagorka
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — private-land conservation guidance.
KaYing Vang
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service — private-land conservation planning.
Cody Tromberg
Pheasants Forever — habitat and conservation input.
Field Plan
Live project status
- Project
- Aspen Habitat Restoration Field Project
- Location
- New Richmond, Wisconsin
- Project period
- 2024–Present
- Next major field event
- Spring 2027
- Current phase
- Planning, documentation & pre-treatment preparation
- Status
- Spring 2027 demonstration planning underway
- Subsoil equipment
- Expected for Spring 2027 field workFinal delivery date pending
July 2026
Field planning on the ground
A documented group field consultation walked the site and discussed how a phased approach could work. The sequence below is a set of planning concepts — not a fixed schedule, and not a guarantee that every step will occur.
- Identify and preserve desired vegetation and species.
- Address larger undesirable or invasive woody vegetation.
- Conventional forestry mulching and mechanical treatment of smaller woody vegetation.
- Evaluate future below-surface or subsoil mechanical treatment.
- Where appropriate, separately evaluate prescribed fire with qualified professionals.
- Monitor vegetation response over time.
- Evaluate native seeding or other follow-up management.
Equipment
Subsoil equipment status
Aspen plans to introduce an additional below-surface mechanical treatment option as part of the Spring 2027 field-learning project.
The equipment delivery and demonstration date are still being finalized. Once delivery and site-readiness dates are confirmed, this page will be updated.
Status field last reviewed for the Spring 2027 planning cycle. Expected Spring 2027 — final delivery date pending.
Some treatments require separately qualified or licensed professionals. Full boundaries are set out under Project boundaries and disclosures below.
Demo Day
The main event
Spring 2027 Habitat Restoration Field Demonstration
The Spring 2027 field demonstration is planned as an opportunity to stand on a real private-land restoration site and watch mechanical vegetation management happen in actual field conditions — then follow the same ground as it is documented over the months and years that follow.
Attendees may be able to observe:
- Site conditions before treatment
- Conventional forestry mulching
- Mechanical vegetation management
- Onsite processing of woody material
- Site-preparation considerations
- Treatment documentation
- The follow-up monitoring framework
Subsoil treatment demonstration
A below-surface mechanical treatment demonstration is planned as part of the day. Whether it takes place depends on equipment availability and final site conditions, and it is not confirmed.
Field learning display
On site
Field learning display
A roadside field learning display is planned at the project site so the work is legible to people who pass it, not only to people who attend a demonstration.
Its purpose is to identify the project, show before imagery, allow visitors and passersby to view the active site, provide QR access to this project page, recognize approved sponsors separately from any agency acknowledgment, and direct visitors to project progress updates.
Not yet installed
Final placement, setbacks, engineering and permitting will be confirmed before installation. No permits, approvals or placements are claimed at this time.
Planned demonstrations remain subject to scheduling, equipment availability and field conditions.
Monitoring
Monitoring approach
We are not starting with the answer.
We are starting with the questions. Filter by when each observation gets recorded.
- Treatment date
- Weather and basic site conditions
- Machine hours
- Production time
- Treated area
- Number of passes
- Fuel use
- Vegetation type
- Stem-size observations
- Surface residue
- Site readiness after treatment
- Project and treatment cost where appropriate
- Visible vegetation response
- Woody regrowth
- Follow-up treatment requirements
- 30-day observations
- 90-day observations
- 180-day observations
- One-year observations
- Year 2+ observations
Field record
Observation log
Choose a stage to open its field note. Every line reads pending until the treatment happens and the observation is actually made.
Field note 01
Treatment day observation
- Pre-treatment conditionsPending
- Method used on the dayPending
- Material processed on sitePending
- Retained vegetationPending
- Access and ground conditionsPending
Pending treatment
Field note 03
90 day observation
- Vegetation responsePending
- Woody regrowthPending
- Surface residuePending
- Follow-up requirementsPending
Pending treatment
Field note 05
Year 1 and beyond
- Native cover establishmentPending
- Invasive re-encroachmentPending
- Canopy and understory structurePending
- Long-term follow-up needsPending
Pending treatment
Documentation framework
Before, during and after — on the same ground
The value of a field project is the comparison. These modules are built now and will be filled with real project photography as the work happens.
Pre-treatment conditions
- Vegetation
- Access
- Woody density
- Existing site conditions
Treatment in progress
- Treatment method
- Machine time
- Field notes
- Mechanical observations
Post-treatment & follow-up
- Treated surface
- Residue
- Accessibility
- Visible regrowth
- Follow-up requirements
Participate
Participate
Research & education participation
Aspen welcomes conversations with universities, technical programs, conservation organizations and qualified professionals interested in helping document or interpret field conditions associated with the project.
The site is a working private property, not a laboratory — but it is a real, accessible, multi-year record of one restoration attempt, and that is genuinely useful to people who study this work.
Potential participation may include
- Vegetation surveys
- Native-plant identification
- Soil testing
- GIS mapping
- Drone documentation
- Ecological monitoring
- Student learning
- Photography & video documentation
- Field interpretation
- Project follow-up
Acknowledgment
Conservation consultation & project development
The private-land restoration concept has developed with guidance and consultation from conservation professionals and organizations over multiple years.
Organizations and professionals that may be referenced based on documented consultation include:
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Pheasants Forever
- Wisconsin Wetlands Association
- Friends of the St. Croix Wetland Management District
Consultation or participation does not imply endorsement or a formal research partnership.
Support
Support
Help build the field learning project
Aspen is funding the mechanical side of this project itself.
Aspen is contributing its own mechanical expertise, equipment and operator resources, project coordination, site access, field documentation, treatment planning and time.
What outside support makes possible is the part a land-clearing contractor cannot fund alone: the ecological input, the measurement, and the public learning that turns one property into a usable record.
External support may help expand
- Native seed & plants
- Ecological and native-plant expertise
- Soil testing
- Vegetation surveys
- GIS & drone mapping
- Licensed herbicide services, if part of a future approved management plan
- Prescribed-fire expertise, if later appropriate
- Photography & video
- Monitoring
- Student & educational materials
- Field signage
- Seating & tents
- PPE
- Sanitation
- Printing
- Long-term project documentation
Sponsorship
Sponsor the field project
Sponsorship supports the education, monitoring, restoration inputs, documentation and long-term follow-up around the project — the work that makes the site useful to people who are not standing on it.
-
$500
Community Supporter
Backs the everyday costs of keeping the project documented and open to the public.
-
$1,500
Field Demo Sponsor
Supports the Spring 2027 field day itself — signage, materials and on-site logistics.
-
$3,000
Restoration Learning Sponsor
Funds restoration inputs and the educational materials built around them.
-
$5,000+
Presenting Field Sponsor
Underwrites a significant share of the field-learning program and its documentation.
- Lead
$7,500–$10,000
Field Learning Display Sponsor
Supports the permanent roadside field learning display and long-term project record.
Funding, grants and sponsorship are not guaranteed.
Latest field note
Planning stage
No treatment update published yet. Field notes will appear here as the work progresses.
Project boundaries and disclosures
Consultation is not endorsement. The entries in this record describe consultation, correspondence and technical guidance associated with private-land planning. They do not describe a commercial engagement, and Aspen Land Management LLC is not sponsored, endorsed, approved or backed by any agency or organization named on this page.
No research partnership currently exists. Nothing on this page should be read as indicating that a university, school or research institution is formally partnered with the project.
Funding is not guaranteed. Aspen is developing the project to support future grant, sponsorship, conservation and educational funding opportunities. No award, sponsorship or cost-share is guaranteed, and eligibility decisions rest with the administering body.
Equipment is subject to delivery. Subsoil treatment is planned and remains subject to equipment delivery and field conditions. No treatment depth, ground pressure, hydraulic flow, production rate or ecological result is published for that equipment, and those figures will only appear once they have been observed in the field.
Some work sits outside Aspen scope. Aspen does not apply herbicide and does not perform prescribed fire. Where those methods are appropriate they would be carried out by separately qualified or licensed professionals.
Nothing here is a completed result. The treatment has not happened. No before-and-after imagery or results from this project are published yet, and nothing on this page is a representation of completed project results.
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