Nelson Institute Orientation field trip Sept 8 to 10th, 2011
Leaders: Nancy Langston, Steve Ventura, Jim Miller
Meeting: Thursday Sept 8th, 7:30 am, Lot 41 1820 University Ave.
Drivers: Steve Ventura, Jim Miller, Joe Van Rossum, Gina Cook, Nancy Langston. Steve, Jim, Joe, and Gina will get the 4 vans on Thursday morning, 7 am (detailed instructions below). Once you have the vans, please drive them to lot 41.
Lodging: 2 nights at Kemp Natural Resources Station. You do not need to bring your own sleeping bag or linens, but you do need to bring a towel.
Food: bring your own lunch for Thursday, and a water bottle. We will all share cooking chores for the other meals. Bring some money for Friday night dinner in Minoqua, on your own (if you prefer, you can stay and eat at Kemp instead.
SCHEDULE
Thursday Sept. 8
7:30 am meet in Lot 41 (1820 University Ave, behind the Enzyme Institute & SAGE.)
7:45 to 11, drive to Keshena WI
11-3 pm, Tour of Menominee Nation reservation, forest, and community
3 pm-4:30 Cathedral Pines state natural area
6:30 pm arrive Kemp; check in; prepare dinner
FRIDAY Sept. 9th
8 am breakfast at Kemp
9 am depart Kemp Station for Manitowish
10-11 am tour cranberry bog
11:30 to 3:00 paddle Manitowish River, into Turtle-Flambeau Flowage, lunch on the river (read about the flowage here: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/facilities/turtleflambeau/history.html )
3-5 Hike the Hidden Rivers Trail in the flowage at Fisherman’s Landing; learn about the flowage history and management (with the flowage manager, if her schedule allows).
5 pm: return to Kemp for a swim, canoe, hike, etc
6 pm-10 pm: vans depart for dinner on one’s own in Minoqua/Woodruff; for folks who would rather stay at Kemp and explore, we’ll have dinner options available there (ie, brats, veggie burgers, and salads).
SATURDAY Sept. 10th
6:30 am breakfast Kemp, pack up
7:30 am sharp, depart Kemp for Leopold Center
10:30-1:30 Shack tour and lunch
2 to 4 pm Crane Foundation tour
4-5:30 drive back to Madison
THINGS TO BRING
(please keep your gear as compact as possible, since van space is limited)
Right now, the weather is predicted to be in the mid 70s and sunny, with nighttime lows in the low 50s. Things can change quickly.
Absolutely essential, no exceptions:
Sneakers or sandals that can get wet for the canoeing (no bare feet)
Rain coat: ESSENTIAL—we will be outside, rain or shine
Bug spray: ESSENTIAL—ticks will be at their peak
Closed toe hiking boots or sturdy sneakers/keens for hiking. No flipflops!
Fleece sweater or jacket
Flashlight—Kemp Station is dark at night
Personal toiletries
Water bottle or two
Lunch for Sept 8th
Cash for dinner on Friday night on your own in Minoqua
Recommended
Binoculars and field guides
Camera
Sun hat
Swim suit
Copy of Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac
DRIVERS AND VANS
- Steve Ventura, Jim Miller, Joe Van Rossum, & Gina Cook will pick up the vans at 7 am and drive then to Lot 41 (Old University Ave)
- The vans will be at UW Madison Fleet on 27 N. Charter St. – Lot 50; the reservation starts at 7 am.
- The reservations are under Nancy Langston’s id, and the numbers are:
- 324832, 324836, 324838, 324839
- Parking: we do have parking reserved, so if you drive to get the UW van, you can leave your car in their lot. Parking reservation numbers are: 324850. 324851, 324844, 324845
- You MUST bring your driver’s licence to 27 N. Chater St rm 110 to pick up the keys; you then go to Lot 50 between Mills and Charter Sts just north of Regent St (behind McDonalds on the corner of Mills and Regent).
Background Information about the places and groups we’ll be visiting
1. Thursday sites:
a. Menominee Nation “The Menominee People have long recognized the need for balance between the environment, community and economy, both for the short term and for future generations. Menominee culture and traditions teach us never to take more resources than are produced within natural cycles so that all life can be sustained. Chief Oshkosh, an early Tribal Chief, proposed the idea of cutting across the reservation at such a rate that there would always be timber ready to cut.
These traditional beliefs are the foundations of the management practices and principles of today's Menominee Tribal Enterprises (MTE) operations. This concept of sustainability in the management of our forest allows us to experience a traditional quality of life from an intact, diverse, productive and healthy forest ecosystem on the Reservation.
Sustainable forestry has been practiced on the Reservation since 1865, resulting in a forest that is ecologically viable, economically feasible, and socially desirable. In this way the Menominee Forest stands as a monument to the foresight of our ancestors who recognized the bounty they inherited. Today, because they acted as responsible stewards of these resources for future generations, we enjoy, cherish, and are sustained by the resources so wisely planned for and managed by them.”
-background information (please read!): http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/united-states/trees-will-last-forever-integrity-their-fores
b. Cathedral Pines (finest old growth white pine-hemlock forest and state natural area): “Cathedral Pines features one of the finest old growth pine-hemlock stands on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. The majority of this large site consists of upland mesic forest on sandy loam soils with stands generally composed of combinations of sugar maple, yellow birch, hemlock, white ash, basswood and beech. … In general, the forests here have had a relatively light management history and the present species mix appears to be similar to that of presettlement times.
An active Great Blue Heron rookery is found in the red and white pines traversed by the hiking trail. Visitors should be very careful not to disturb the birds and rookery in the spring, as too much disturbance may force the herons to abandon their nests and relocate the rookery.” http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/sna/index.asp?SNA=496
c. Kemp Station: UW-Madison research station, and some of the last remnants of old-growth forest in the lakes states. Situated on a classic northern recreation lake.
2. Friday sites:
a. Cranberry bog, Manitowish Waters Cranberry Growers:
“There are currently five cranberry marshes in Manitowish Waters ranging in size from 63 to 185 acres, totaling about 600 acres. These marshes were started soon after World War II by six families at considerable risk in an area of Wisconsin not yet known for cranberry production; some of these families are currently in their third generation of cranberry growing. These pioneers undertook building what is today a major scenic & economic contributor to Wisconsin's Northwoods. The Manitowish Waters area was fairly uninhabited at that time, so the cranberry growers banded together to build roads and bridges and to bring the power and telephone line access which everyone uses today to the south end of town. The cranberry marshes today surround the northeast one-third of Little Trout Lake, which is located along the southern edge of the town line. Powell Marsh Wildlife Area and the Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation surround the other two-third s of this nearly- uninhabited pristine lake. The cranberry marshes benefit from the availability of a water source and the native wetlands and wildlife benefit from a stable wetland environment; thus a huge wetland preserve is maintained and thrives at no additional cost to the tax payer.”
b. Turtle-Flambeau Flowage: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/facilities/turtleflambeau/history.html
“The Turtle-Flambeau Flowage was created in 1926 when Chippewa and Flambeau Improvement Company (CFIC) built a dam on the Flambeau River downstream from its confluence with the Turtle River. The dam flooded sixteen natural lakes and forms an impoundment of approximately 14,000 acres. The Flowage was intended to provide flood protection and to augment river flows for hydro-electric plants operated by downstream electric utilities and paper mills. At the time, the dam was quite controversial. The perception was that the project created "the greatest destruction of nature's beauty in the state" as documented in a 1930 silent film [VIDEO Length 17:39]. CFIC had offered land owners in the flooded basin either equal land on the shore of the new Flowage or a cash buy-out. Because of the negative perceptions, most people took the cash. Most of the Flowage therefore came under the ownership of CFIC. Perceptions change however — the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage is now viewed as a unique recreational resource and the closest to a wilderness experience that you will find in the state. It is often referred to as the "crown jewel of the north." The early perceptions that resulted in CFIC acquiring most of the Flowage shoreline ultimately provided an opportunity for the State of Wisconsin to purchase the lands for resource protection and outdoor recreation. The state purchased approximately 22,000 acres from CFIC in 1990 with funding from the Stewardship Program. Additional acquisitions have increased state ownership to over 37,000 acres including 114 miles of Flowage shoreline and 195 islands.”
3. Saturday sites:
The Shack, a re-built chicken coop along the Wisconsin River where the Leopold family stayed during weekend retreats, continues to serve as the heart of the Foundation’s programs.The land surrounding the Shack and farm provides a living classroom for exploring dynamic ecological relationships. Each year, thousands of visitors are inspired through tours, seminars, and workshops in the same landscape that deeply moved Leopold. In the winter of 1935, Aldo Leopold went down a two-track sand road in search of land for a family hunting camp. Alongside the Wisconsin River, he found a “worn out” farm available for eight dollars per acre. Running counter to all cultural currents, he bought the bleak, windswept place rather than seeking out richer land some where else. The decision proved pivotal to Leopold’s family, his relationship to the land, and the millions of readers since inspired by A Sand County Almanac. Did Leopold realize the abandoned farm’s potential from the outset? No one knows for certain, but soon the family embraced the farm as a new kind of workshop or laboratory—a place to tinker and experiment with restoring health to an ailing piece of land. It was the sort of land common to a nation long obsessed with homesteading and suddenly stricken with the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, twin specters of economic and natural catastrophe that shook the United States in the 1930s. During weekends and breaks from school, Leopold, his wife Estella and their five children lived close to the land. Fixing up a dilapidated chicken coop, they created a home away from home which came to be known as “the Shack.” They tended a garden, cut firewood, and planted trees—eventually, some 40,000. Doomed by Dust Bowl droughts, more than 95 percent of the pines died in the early years. Yet the family persevered, and spring planting at the farm became a rite of spring. Thousands of pines and other plantings eventually thrived, transforming the landscape into a mosaic of conifers, hardwoods, and prairie.” |
“The International Crane Foundation (ICF) works worldwide to conserve cranes and the wetland and grassland ecosystems on which they depend. ICF is dedicated to providing experience, knowledge, and inspiration to involve people in resolving threats to these ecosystems.
ICF differs from most nature centers and conservation facilities in that its activities single out a very specific subject - cranes- rather than treating the natural history and general ecology of a region. But the focus on cranes is not limiting; instead it provides ICF an opportunity to address a series of issues not tied to a particular place: endangered species management, wetland ecology, habitat restoration, and the critical need for international cooperation.
To accomplish its mission, ICF relies on a wide range of education and conservation activities directed toward the many countries where cranes occur.
ICF is concerned with ecosystem protection and restoration and we strive to alert scientists, government officials, and the public to the dependence of cranes on their habitats, the causes and remedies for habitat destruction, and the importance of wetlands and grasslands for both wildlife and people.
ICF supports research, serving primarily as a catalyst for research, by making available its facilities and bird collection to scientists, by sponsoring workshops and publications, and by nurturing a network of conservationists, biologists, and managers around the world.”
