Women learn construction skills on Plum Island
Program participants repair, restore, renew
PLUM ISLAND - Sometimes when they board the Washington Island ferry, they’re carrying the wooden tool boxes they built featuring the Women in Preservation logo.
The tool boxes have become, in a way, a calling card that spreads the word and mission of an innovative group of women who learn construction skills while performing projects on this tiny uninhabited Door County island and bird sanctuary located in the area known as Death’s Door.
Over the past few summers, Women in Preservation volunteers have built 25 Aldo Leopold-type wood benches; boot brushes to eliminate hitchhiking invasive seeds; bat boxes; a Green Bay Wildlife Refuge sign; and a visitor’s kiosk. They have repaired the dock on Plum Island and constructed window coverings for the last standing Duluth-style lifesaving station on the Great Lakes that opened in 1896 and has been
empty for decades.
Women in Preservation was founded four years ago by Mary Beth Volmer, who realized she was often the only woman going to Plum Island for restoration projects with the Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands. She wondered how she could encourage more women to participate and learn basic construction skills.
“It’s kind of a hard sell because it’s not glamorous. Then when they get there, they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh — I’m coming back,’ ” Volmer said on the Washington Island ferry on a recent weekend.
When Volmer pitched the idea to Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge officials, the response was “that’s a really good idea and they came up with a list of projects that needed a lot of hands, and the hands didn’t necessarily need to be skilled,” she said.
So she began touting the group on social media and soon a handful of women joined, the idea spreading through word of mouth and Facebook, and yes, some saw the toolboxes and asked about it.
The aim of Women in Preservation is to teach participants a skill, offer a place for a retreat and provide varying levels of empowerment, as well as an opportunity to meet other women who are in different stages of their life journeys, said Volmer. The group’s motto: No one leaves Plum Island without dirt under their fingernails and knowledge within their soul.
Working with mentors, they learn to read blueprints and figure out how to measure, cut and construct materials for their projects. Inside the 1939 boathouse, which was used by the Coast Guard until the 1990s, photos of grinning women in front of their accomplishments adorn a wall.
“Women come and get a taste of it and then they work it into their schedules,” said Volmer, of Menomonee Falls.
On this weekend, the group helped repair rotting boards on the dock, planted pollinator plants to attract butterflies and participated in an evening bat survey.
In four years, 42 women have participated, with more than two-thirds of them returning. They range in age from the 20s to the 70s, and they come from throughout the upper Midwest. Only a handful live in Door County.
They take the 8 a.m. Washington Island ferry where they’re met by Dusty Hoffman, manager of the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge, who transports them and their gear on the mile-long voyage to Plum Island.
“The amount of time, money and sweat they put into it is so helpful,” said Hoffman. “Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do much because we have zero funding and one staff.”
Visitation to the island has increased since the Friends of Plum Island and Women in Preservation began spiffing up the place. Hoffman said around 400 people visited last summer — it’s open during the day from Memorial Day to Labor Day — and he expects around 700 to come this year.
The idea is to someday mimic the popular Rock Island lighthouse docent program on Plum Island by renovating the lifesaving station, installing running water and electricity and rebuilding living quarters so people can stay overnight and give tours to visitors.
Julia Keepper was on her first Women in Preservation visit and brought along her husband, Les.
“I’ve been following the group for a few years, but I haven’t been able to come until today. I used to visit Plum Island as a kid and I’m excited to be back to help,” said Keepper, who lives in Ellison Bay.