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Mission
The protection and restoration of the watersheds that flow into Hika Bay.
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Vision
Cultivate a water ethic that expands the understanding and awareness of critical watershed issues and, by doing so, enhance the quality and prosperity of the region.
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Goals
FOHB will use an integrated, watershed-based planning and decision-making process to accomplish the following goals:
Encourage and engage with those groups and individuals having an interest or ‘stake’ in conservation in the Hika Bay Basin to actively participate in the FOHB Group.
Inventory water quality concerns, prioritize concerns, identify strategies to achieve water quality objectives, and monitor those objectives.
Provide a forum for information sharing and networking through community outreach and events.
Create an annual FOHB “Action Plan” to guide activities, including goals and objectives.
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Leadership
Our organization has a small but mighty leadership team consisting of three positions. The LNRP’s Board of Directors consists of liaisons from each partnering organization; due to this, one of our member always sits on this board. We also have a Water Quality Chair that helps with the data management of our creek monitoring and working with students. Our last position is the Hika Park Chair who helps direct the planning and execution of the build out of the area to fulfill our mission.
Rolf Johnson
LNRP Liaison
John Kirsch
Hika Park Chair
Russ Tooley
Founding Member and Water Quality Chair
Sadly, Russ is no longer with us. We encourage you to honor his legacy by reading this tribute.
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History
The Friends of Hika Bay emerged from the Citizen Advisory Committee formed with grants to restore Centerville Creek where a dam was removed resulting in an abandoned millpond. The group was designed to provide input and guidance to the design phase of the project.
The creek was restored to a meandering stream constructed with pools, ripples, and other fish habitat structures. The riparian zone was planted with trees, shrubs, forbs, and grasses designed to recreate a “cedar swamp” in time. Hika Park absorbed the newly restored Centerville Creek Corridor and the Hika Shores properties to become 13.9 acres from the original 2.2 acres.
The following people made up the Centerville Creek / Hika Park Restoration and Reclamation Project Advisory Committee:
Erika Heuel — village resident, artist, lakeshore advocate
John Kirsch — former Village Board member and architectural designer
Liz Klessig — family farming operation on upper portions of Centerville Creek along with a creamery located near the flood plain of Centerville Creek, lakeshore advocate
Richard Opie — village resident, member of the Village Planning Commission, teaches at Lakeshore Technical College
Don Pirrung — village resident, LNRP Board Member, and environmental engineer
Ron Schaper — town of Centerville resident, conservationist and environmental activist
Fred Sohn — village resident, member of the Village Planning Commission
Russ Tooley — Past President of Centerville Cares, a group that had worked towards water quality improvement on Fischer and Point Creeks
Karla Zahn — coordinator of the service-learning program at Lakeshore Technical College
