WE'LL TAKE THE STAIRS. The Devil's Punchbowl in Menomonie has long since been a popular favorite among locals and visitors to the area, and a major renovation wrapped up last summer. Now, the nonprofit caring for it is looking to the future.

Nearly one full year ago in August 2022, the Devil’s Punchbowl landmark reopened to the public after months of much-needed construction efforts on its stairway. Cared for by the Landmark Conservancy, a nonprofit based in Menomonie, the geological gem is still facing some unique challenges, which come with a hefty price tag to tackle.

After the Landmark Conservancy launched its campaign to replace the Punchbowl’s stairway in 2021 – which hadn’t seen renovations since 2015 and was originally built in 2000 – the $75,000 project officially finished in the summer of 2022.

Now, the stairway down into the Devil’s Punchbowl extends further to the top than before, making the transition down the slope far easier and safer. The addition of a sturdy railing was also key, and the stairways, in general, are wider to accommodate visitors passing each other on the way up or down, Landmark’s Community Engagement Manager, Sara Norman, explained.

"Community support has been essential in making recent improvements to the site."

sara norman

landmark conservancy's community engagement manager

Besides the new, safer stairways to the rare landmark, several other repairs and additions were made to the three-acre area too. Alongside a new welcome sign to the Devil’s Punchbowl that includes a map and informative notes about the space – like its unique flora, fauna, and geology, as well as seasonal highlights – thanks to funding from the Dunn Energy Cooperative and Xcel Energy, local businesses and individuals rallied to further support the landmark.

“Community support has been essential in making recent improvements to the site,” Norman said.

New signage.

From community contributions made to the stairway in spring of 2021 to match the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Grant, significant funds from 3M Menomonie to support additional site work this summer, Dunn County’s efforts to secure a DNR Conservation Aids Grant on Landmark’s behalf for parking lot and fence improvements, and nearly $2,000 raised by the Eau Claire and Menomonie Estilo Salon locations during Earth Month this April, it’s clear the Chippewa Valley supports its natural gems.

Repairs were made this spring to the fence surrounding the Punchbowl that keeps people off its sensitive slopes and the parking lot leading to it was recently improved with assistance from the Town of Menomonie. Old, rotting posts were removed and replaced with limestone boulders.

The Punchbowl is not only revered for its incredible visual beauty, the “bowl” carved by water over thousands of years and the waterfall that flows down into its sandstone hollow, but also for its special habitat that supports an incredibly high density of diverse plant life in a very small area. Of course, the major stairway renovations caused anticipated disturbance to the surrounding slopes and vegetation.

“Native species that thrived in shaded areas and that will stabilize the slope were selected to re-establish the vegetation in these areas,” Norman explained. “Erosion fabric was installed as well.”

However, one challenge the Landmark Conservancy has been trying to solve is removing very large chunks of concrete that found their way into the Punchbowl over the years, Norman said. The organization believes the concrete made its way there before Landmark owned the property and was then covered by sediment in the stream until about 2018.

“We’ve reached out to contractors who may be able to jackhammer the chunks into smaller more manageable pieces, but it’s very expensive to do this,” Norman said. “We believe we’ll be able to gather community volunteers and local athletic teams to carry the broken-up material out of the bowl, but figuring out how to get it into manageable pieces is proving to be difficult!”

Landmark does not know much the concrete debris weighs so it’s hard to estimate the cost of disposing of it, which halts potential fundraising efforts as there is no official “goal.”

“Landmark is still working on this puzzle and has yet to secure a path forward,” Norman said. “We haven’t lost hope yet, and it will be fun if we can make this happen someday!”

Keep up with the Landmark Conservancy on Facebook and website. Visit the Devil’s Punchbowl for yourself, located on 410th about three miles from the City of Menomonie.