Friday, October 11, 2024
Bob Welch was an educator and naturalist who touched many lives in the Waupaca area and beyond.
He died on Dec. 22, 2023 at the age of 69. His life’s work and legacy is the Waupaca Field Station, a 165-acre nature preserve on Emmons Creek Road. It is a parcel of restored prairie of great environmental significance. Now that he is gone, what will happen to this land?
His brother Jim Welch is one of the trustees and is overseeing his late brother’s estate. Bob left a detailed will and Jim has a things-to-do checklist that runs long. The biggest item on the list is the land itself. Bob stipulated that the land to go to the state of Wisconsin and be a place like other state parks, forests and natural areas where all people can go and experience the outdoors.
“It is in a trust and the way Bob wanted it, majority of the property – the larger prairie and woods – is to go to the state. It’s been offered to the state right now. It has to go down to Madison and it’s a political decision whether it gets bought or not,” said Welch.
Welch walked the property with a DNR employee to put it into a project that is presented to decision makers in Madison. It will then be reviewed if the state wants to spend money to buy the property. Welch said that the property transfer should be through sale.
If the state does not buy it for whatever reason, the property stays in the possession of the trustees. Bob planned for this possibility and in that case, then the trustees could donate portions of the land to the state over a number of years and that could be deducted from taxes.
“Bob said one way or another it will be going to the state. It can’t be developed. It is already registered a natural area and can’t be built on and that’s the way it’s going to stay. There’s a small area around his house and outbuildings and that is going to be sold,” said Welch.
The land adjoins Hartman Creek State Park on one side and the Emmons Creek Fisheries Area on the other. The parcel acts as a bridge between the two state properties.
Wisconsin is the last stronghold of the Karner blue butterfly, an endangered species. The world’s largest population of this butterfly resides in Wisconsin and the Waupaca Field Station is one of its main sanctuaries. The Karner blue caterpillars feed only on wild lupine and Bob Welch planted wild lupine every year to help propagate this symbiotic relationship. Jim Welch said that the boots-on-the-ground biologists are big supporters of the state purchasing this land to protect this unique habitat.
Buildings, machinery
Welch said he’s been approached by people who have asked if the house and buildings could be a place for graduate students stay while they conduct their field research. This was one of Bob Welch’s original intentions, that the Waupaca Field Station would host researchers from all over. He even built a guesthouse for this purpose. The outside of the cabin has hand-carved trim work adorned with acorns that Welch carved himself. Jim Welch said that’s beyond what he can handle and some kind of group would have to be formed to manage such an operation.
He was also approached by a married couple who proposed to use it as a rehabilitation center for animals. As trustee, Welch needs to get fair-market value for the property. If the buyer wants to use the property in a way that is related to Bob Welch’s vision and goals, all the better.
Bob Welch planted native prairie grasses and wildflowers and collected their seeds to expand his prairie lands further. Most people gather the seeds by hand. Welch upped his restoration game and harvested wildflower seeds on an agro-industrial scale by purchasing a specialized wildflower seed combine from Canada. He also had three tractors for this work. Jim Welch thinks that a future auction would be the best way to move these heavy-metal assets.
Birds, rocks, mollusks
Welch said his brother’s property is “stuffed to the gills with stuff” and it will take a while for him to get the house ready for sale. The goal is to get everything cleared out, cleaned up and the interior painted.
“He’s got three chest freezers full of animal specimens that were collected when he had permits or permissions from wardens. He has in his will that he would like those animals to go to the UW-Stevens Point Department of Ornithology but I have no idea if they are even interested. So I have to check and see if they want to even take these animals. If not, then I have to figure out how to dispose of them. I have to contact the Fish and Wildlife Service about the hawks and owls and stuff like that. I have to contact them and say this is what the situation is,” said Welch.
Down in the basement are racks of rock samples and mollusk shells. Jim Welch is a retired engineer with a minor in biology. He knows the basics but he’s not an expert in wildlife forensic science. He could toss out a mollusk shell that is common and mundane but another could be rare and deserving of a place in a museum.
Welch said that some of Bob’s old colleagues that have science backgrounds have offered to come and help sort out the specimens when they get to that point in the house-cleaning process.
Bob Welch also left behind microscopes and other scientific equipment. If a person or group purchased the property [house and outbuildings] for graduate student fieldwork, Jim Welch said he would leave the equipment there. If not, he would consider donating the gear to Waupaca High School where Bob was once a teacher.
Welch also left behind a huge collection of Native American artwork that he designated to be donated to museums.
After Bob’s wife Deb passed away, he had a friend nearby that provided cheer and solace. Mr. Gentleman Handsome Jackson, a rescued mustang from Wyoming, lived in a pasture near the house. The mustang was like an emotional-support animal for Welch when he was in mourning. Jim Welch gave the horse to a local family that raises horses and provided them with enough money to take care of the horse until the end of its life. He reported that Handsome Jackson lost some weight, is more fit and trim and happy to be galloping around with other horses.
