Haumerson’s Pond bird feeder dedicated to Wanie

By Chris Spangler

The Friends of Haumerson’s Pond has dedicated a bird feeder sculpture to retired Fort Atkinson biology teacher Richard “Dick” Wanie.

Gathering at the Bark River Nature Park warminghouse earlier this month, the Friends unveiled the bird feeder in honor of the undisputed “Birdman of Fort Atkinson.”

The work of art was built by welder and artisan Ty Roth of Helenville, who recreated a small version of the warminghouse that opened in 2017.

Among those on hand for the surprise dedication were Wanie, his wife, Carol, and their children: Chris Gelhaar of Dousman, Patti Merrion of Park City, Utah, and Matt Wanie of Jackson, and their families.

Wanie arrived in Fort Atkinson in 1960, teaching science at the then-J.F. Luther Junior High School. He eventually moved to Fort Atkinson High School, where he taught biology until his retirement in 1996.

In addition, for more than 20 years, he taught a summer school environmental class and a state Department of Natural Resources hunter’s safety class.

Friends of Haumerson’s Pond “grand poobah” Steve Mode asked dedication attendees who had Wanie as their teacher, and numerous hands were raised. He mentioned that those still able to identify a bird by its song can attribute that to Wanie’s instruction.

“He was an iconic teacher, one you absolutely remember,” Mode said of Wanie.

“It was my pleasure to have the kids of Fort Atkinson in school all those years,” Wanie said.

Mode pointed out that the Wanies have been staunch supporters of Haumerson’s Pond, as has been the Merrion Family Foundation, created by Patti Merrion’s husband’s family.

“Out of the blue, I got a letter from the Merrion Foundation. They wanted to support something to do with nature or birds,” Mode recalled.

“We were trying to think of what would be a good fit and then thought of a community bird feeder to entice birds to Haumerson’s Pond. We went to Ty Roth with a model of the building. He got creative and created an exact replica; it’s a work of art,” he added.

The hinged roof opens to allow filling the feeder with up to 20 pounds of birdseed.

The bird feeder will be located just east of the deck looking out over the pond.

“We wanted to have it somewhere where people would see it, could sit and look at it,” Mode said, noting that benches are situated nearby.

It will perch atop the base of a vintage city lightpole, the top of which will be removed to use as a flagpole.

Like all Friends of Haumerson’s Pond endeavors, the birdhouse is designed to be a community project.

“We hope people will donate birdseed to us. A lot of the birders that come here … want us to put good birdseed (without corn) in there. We will monitor that,” Mode said.

He said that donations to purchase birdseed can be made to the Friends online or by contacting him or other board of directors members to arrange a time to drop off birdseed at the shelter.

Brick by brick

This marks just one of many projects under way at Haumerson’s Pond.

Bids are going out this month for a multipurpose building that will provide equipment and vehicle storage, as well as a kitchen, concession stand, wood-fired pizza oven and pavilion at the Bark River Nature Park site.

Measuring 26-by-44 feet, the building will be located out of the floodplain on the far west end of the site, close to the parking lot. The new building will resemble the warminghouse, with timberframe beams and cream-city bricks like those originally made on the site by William F. Haumerson.

Trained in Racine, Haumerson worked for Kemmeter Brickyard in Jefferson and then left there to buy L.M. Roberts’s brickyard in 1886.

Ironically, the bricks repurposed from a Kemmeter family house in Jefferson to build the original warminghouse at Haumerson’s Pond would have been made when William Haumerson was working at the Kemmeter brickyard.

The Friends of Haumerson’s Pond have some of those cream-city bricks leftover to use in this new building. It also has cream-city brick donated by George Niebler from a Banker Road home he razed northwest of Fort Atkinson.

Last Saturday, volunteers gathered at the “city pit” to scrape mortar off the bricks for reuse in the new structure. Work will resume this Sunday morning.

“Last week Saturday, we cleaned 2,700 bricks and got them all palletized,” Mode said. “We had 25 people, kids and adults, chipping mortar off of bricks from 7 a.m. to noon. Then we had a pizza party.”

Sunday’s work also will take place from 7 a.m. to noon at the city property, located at 1933 Whitewater Ave. Volunteers should turn west into the driveway past Bitz’s Outer Limits.

“Chipping mortar off of bricks isn’t fun, but it can be when you have a group of people doing it together,” Mode said.

Funds still sought

The pricetag of the new building is $241,270, and the board is nearing its fundraising goal. That includes $45,000 raised by the Friends, a $45,000 matching grant from the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation and $100,000 Stewardship Grant from the state Department of Natural Resources.

“I think we’ve exceeded $200,000. We got all of our bids a year-and-a-half ago. Now we have to put it out for bid again. We don’t know where it will end up … but prices always rise,” Mode said. “But we’re the most frugal nonprofit.”

Tax-deductible contributions for the building may be sent to the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation at 244 N. Main St., Fort Atkinson, 53538, or given via its website, fortfoundation.org. Indicate that the gift is for the multipurpose shelter building. The Friends of Haumerson’s Pond’s website and Facebook pages also have donate buttons.

A donor recognition wall lauding contributors of $500 or more will be located inside on the gable end of the building.

More about Wanie

This is not the first time Wanie has received community kudos.

He was a recipient of Heart of the City’s 2018 Lu Ehinger Big Heart Award for “inspiring a love of nature to countless generations of Fort Atkinson-area residents and serving as one of the catalysts for developing Mush-Ko-Se-Day Park in the Town of Koshkonong.”

Two years later, Wanie was honored by the Fort Atkinson Wisconservation Club with a “distinguished service award” for his lifetime of dedication to the club.

Other honors have included the 1990 Wildermuth Award for Excellence in Education; 1995 Educator of the Year by the high school newspaper, The Signal; 1989 Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Conservation Educator of the Year; 1997 Wisconsin Conservation Congress Educator of the Year; and 2004 Fort Atkinson Lions Club Distinguished Community Service Award. He was the featured speaker at the 2008 Fort Atkinson Regional Science Fair.

Active in the Hoard Historical Museum, Wanie, along with Joel Winn, was instrumental in developing a permanent duck hunting exhibit there titled “Legacy of Duck Hunting on Lake Koshkonong.” It focuses on the rich duck hunting history of Lake Koshkonong during the late 19th century.

Wanie was a prime catalyst for Fort Atkinson’s designation as a Bird City, and he and fellow teacher Don Kneiert and their students created the School District of Fort Atkinson’s collection of taxidermied birds.

A Horicon native, Wanie has written two books extolling the virtues of the Koshkonong land and waterways. “Canoeing the Land of Blackhawk” was released in 2001 and “Horicon to Koshkonong” in 2005. 

Wanie also is known for his former long-running column in the Daily Jefferson County Union, titled “Outdoors Calling.” Several of his columns were consolidated into a book, published in 2011, titled “Outdoors Calling Revisited.”