He had joined the board of the Dane County Natural Heritage Foundation back in 1990, he remembers. Since renamed the Natural Heritage Land Trust, the foundation was then casting about for a project toward which it could apply state stewardship money. Determining that streamback easement would be an undersubscribed segment of the stewardship fund, the foundation focused its attention on Token Creek.
"We got a couple streambank easements," Hutchinson recalls, "but it was slow going." The first, in 1993, amounted to two acres. The second, in 1996, added three more acres. Such humble beginnings were enough to create at least some appearance of momentum.
In an effort to build more forward motion, the foundation launched a series of public forums for area residents, farmers, developers, business owners and other stakeholders. "The first meeting was held in my basement," says Hutchinson. Out of those early sessions, the watershed association emerged in 1997.
Since then, the association has worked with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Dane County and municipalities in and around the watershed to remove dams and establish conservancies along the creek, restore its fishery, maintain buffers to development and promote the value of the watershed to both stakeholders and the general public.
"It's a good hub for wildlife," Hutchinson explains. "It's got wetlands, so it provides good water filtration." But selling the public, developers and decision-makers on the value of a creek requires unrelenting effort. In addition to sending representatives to attend town and village board meetings to address matters affecting the creek, the association mounts educational efforts such as the watershed walk scheduled for 6 p.m. next Wednesday, April 23, starting at the Culver Conservancy, 3667 Egre Rd., about one mile northeast of Token Creek and west of County C.
"You look at all these big environmental groups out there, and these little watershed associations are at the bottom of the food chain," Hutchinson notes. But in a little over a decade, the Token Creek Watershed Association has built a small corps of about 40 members comprised of property owners, interested citizens and recreational users of the stream.
It has also built working relationships with the Town of Windsor, the City of Sun Prairie and other communities. Hutchinson credits these and other local government bodies for sensitivity to the watershed in their land-use plans. The Town of Windsor, for example, has pieced together some 140 acres into the Token Creek Conservancy, established a conservancy committee to govern it and launched an effort to restore the creek. "Once the Token Creek Conservancy was established, things really turned around in toerms of people understanding the value of the resource," says Hutchinson, whose wife serves on the committee.
Sun Prairie "came on board very strong after we had the forums," Hutchinson adds. "They've become very good players in terms of understanding their impact on the resource," and trying to mitigate that impact with water retention and filtration projects.
Other successes include the establishment of additional preserves, including the 40-acre Culver Conservancy and the 19-acre Pederson Springs property -- the later transfered in 2002 from the land trust to Dane County Parks.
But along with successes, there are challenges. Hutchinson cites development as the number-one issue confronting the watershed. "We're in an area of huge development," he explains. "It's a challenge and a threat." The association endeavors to engage developers in the planning process, and has recruited sympathetic developer Don Tierney to serve as the board's vice-chairman. Hutchinson says having someone who speaks the same language as other developers is invaluable, but notes that Tierney also owns a farm in the watershed and "values the resource. He understands it. He's very proud of its conservation."
Runoff and non-point source pollution are the next most significant challenge to the health of the watershed, Hutchinson continues, and "our third big challenge that we have is we would like to see more land preserved in undeveloped areas." He sees opportunities in the "substantial" amount of undeveloped acreage remaining in the watershed. But given the development pressures coming to bear on the watershed, he recognizes that his commitment to Token Creek may outlast these opportunities.
"We love the area," he says. "We love the stream, and we put a lot of time and effort into it. My greatest frustration is people who don't get the value of the resource." But whenever those frustrations threaten to overwhelm his morale, Hutchinson adds, he has a simple prescription: "I just go out and look at the creek."
