After years of challenges, work on the off-leash dog park at Shepard Park has begun. Leader of the dog park effort Tina Werres says the public stepped in to help get things started on Saturday with a debris removal effort.
“We had our first actual hands on working last Saturday. The South end of the park had been left to go back to the wild, so the parks department went in and did some cutting, and then we went in on Saturday and dragged out stuff to be chipped. We also raked. We got a lot done, there were 30 volunteers. It was a beautiful day, a great effort, and a prime example of community cooperation.”
Werres says the location of the park on Boyce Drive is an opportunity to revitalize a beautiful space that was previously seldom used in Rhinelander.
“We’re making the best of an old park that was hardly used because of the location of the sewer plant. Now that that has moved out to the country and there’s no smell or anything there, it’s a beautiful view of the Pelican River.”
Werres says despite having such a successful volunteer effort, there is much work to be done to prepare the grounds before the fencing arrives for the enclosure itself in three weeks. To contact Tina about volunteering, her number is (715)-499-3002.
