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In: accessible birding, beginning birding, Chambers Grove Park, Duluth Parks and Recreation, Embark Support Employment, everyone can bird, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Lake Superior Reserve, The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve

All are invited to attend the first in a series of three free events designed for birders of all skills and abilities. Join “Everyone Can Bird: Spring Migration,” 9:30 – 11:30 a.m., Sunday, May 5, at Chambers Grove Park, Highway 23 and 137th Avenue West, Duluth. 

Birders on Wisconsin Point. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Hear the birds sing as they return to the north for breeding season. With spring migration already here, participants may see the first glimpse of a variety of forest birds such as warblers, sparrows, and swallows, and waterbirds such as grebes, mergansers and more.

Designed with accessibility in mind, the event will provide accessible parking, American Sign Language interpretation and binoculars with a wheelchair mount. A track chair – an all-terrain, electric-powered chair that can be used on hiking trails – is also available for use. Sit or walk along a packed gravel path throughout the park with expert bird guides to lead discussion and aid observation.

Free transportation is available from the Superior Public Library (1530 Tower Avenue) at 8:40 a.m. or at Menards in West Duluth (503 N 50th Avenue West) at 9 a.m.

The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Duluth Parks and Recreation, Embark Supported Employment, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Lake Superior Reserve, Minnesota Land Trust and Wisconsin Sea Grant are hosting this series.

In addition to the May 5 event, “Everyone Can Bird” opportunities will be held Aug. 14 at the Millennium Trail in Superior, and Oct. 12 at Hawk Ridge in Duluth.

Registration is encouraged but not required. Learn more or register at https://bit.ly/43ZGeu7.  These activities are designed with access in mind. People who would like to request additional accommodations should email Luciana.Ranelli@wisc.edu or call Luciana at 715-399-4085 at least 10 days before the event.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

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Marie Zhuikov

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In: 2024, Get into your sanctuary workshop for youth, Lottie Cooper, R/V Neeskay, Selah Chamberlain, Sheboygan, Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Sea Grant, Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary

The post Get Into Your Sanctuary Workshop for youth first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/get-into-your-sanctuary-workshop-for-youth/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Keith Okeson, Lake Superior Chapter of Muskies Inc, muskies, River Talks

Keith Okeson. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The next River Talk will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, with “Muskies and the St. Louis River,” an in-person presentation by Keith Okeson with Lake Superior Chapter of Muskies Inc.. His talk will be held at the Lake Superior Estuarium (3 Marina Dr., Superior, Wis.). Refreshments will be provided.

Okeson has been a board member of Muskies Inc. for over two decades. He’ll offer an angler’s perspective on efforts to restore and manage this sport fish species in the St. Louis River, including information about stocking, numbers of muskie in the river and how the resource has recovered. He will be joined by two other members of Muskies Inc. who will talk about fishing the river for muskie.

For accessibility accommodations related to sound, language and translation, mobility or anything else to make engagement possible, please contact Luciana at 715-399-4085 or Luciana.Ranelli@wisc.edu, as soon as possible.

This is the final River Talk of the season. For more information, visit the River Talks page: go.wisc.edu/4uz720.

The River Talks are sponsored by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program.

The post Muskies and the St. Louis River first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/muskies-and-the-st-louis-river/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Charlotte Ford, Christopher Dunn, coronavirus, Eric Leis, fish viruses in Wisconsin, Isaac Standish, La Crosse Fish Health Center, Pathogens journal, Tony Goldberg, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Wisconsin-Madison, virome, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Discovery is part of first-ever study of viruses in healthy fish across the state.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have detected a suite of new viruses in five species of Wisconsin sport fish. Although none pose a threat to human health, one is a type of coronavirus usually associated with birds. It was found in healthy walleyes from Wisconsin lakes. The finding is part of a Wisconsin Sea Grant-funded study of the natural diversity of viruses (or virome) of fish in Wisconsin and is the first project of its kind in North America.

Tony Goldberg takes a blood sample in a non-lethal way from trout caught near Wauzeka, Wisconsin, while Whitney Theil observes. The fish was collected by DNR staff members to test for emerging diseases in the fish population. Image credit: Bryce Richter, UW-Madison

Tony Goldberg, a professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, said his research group identified 19 viruses in blood samples from 103 Wisconsin bluegills, brown trout, lake sturgeon, northern pike and walleye. Seventeen of the 19 viruses were new to science. Among them was the first fish-associated coronavirus from the Gammacrononavirus genus, which differs from the type of virus that causes COVID. It was present in 11 out of 15 walleyes sampled by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

While the findings are novel, Goldberg stressed that anglers should not be worried. “None of these viruses can infect people. It’s not a risk for people to catch, handle and eat fish because of these viruses. There’s no evidence that these viruses are causing any problems. They may just be part of the natural ecosystem of these fish,” he said.

The results were recently published in the journal “Pathogens.” Of the different species of fish sampled, lake sturgeon blood contained the most viruses (97% of samples), with brown trout samples showing the least prevalence (6%).

Regarding the coronavirus found in walleye, Goldberg said, “There’s an important poultry disease called infectious bronchitis that is caused by a relative of this new virus, but this is the first example in fish and it is an honest-to-goodness coronavirus.”

This virus survey builds on previous Sea Grant-funded research in which Goldberg studied viral hemorrhagic septicemia in fish. The DNR took blood samples from healthy fish across Wisconsin to test for viral hemorrhagic septicemia antibodies. They saved the blood and used it for this current study on the viromes of Wisconsin fish.

The findings will aid fishery managers when they routinely test the health of fish about to be released into state lakes from hatcheries or for fish that are being shipped out of state.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fisheries technicians collect trout from a creek near Viroqua, Wisconsin. Image credit: Bryce Richter, UW-Madison

“This is a huge problem for fisheries managers that happens all the time,” Goldberg said. “We recently had a case where there were thousands of muskies that were ready to be released and they came back with an unknown virus. So, do you release them? Do you just keep them there? Do you kill them all? Maybe there are viruses out there that are a normal part of the ecosystem and they just infect a lot of fish, but they don’t cause disease.” This study’s findings will help managers decide what is normal and what is concerning in terms of fish viruses.

Goldberg said that one thing anglers can do to ensure fish viruses aren’t spread is not to transport fish between water bodies “If you move a fish from one water body to another, you’re moving everything that lives on and in that fish, and potentially causing problems,” he said.

As a follow-up, Goldberg’s collaborators at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have designed specific tests for the various viruses and the team will test a larger set of fish blood samples from around Wisconsin. They will map the viruses so that fisheries managers can tell what’s normal for a particular watershed and whether stocking can or should not proceed.

He also plans to develop a “Fish Get Sick, Too,” educational program. Goldberg said that fish are “animals, like anything else, and they get sick, too. I think if people were more aware of that, it might help reinforce some of the best-handling practices we do for catch-and-release fishing, some of the harvest practices, and food safety things we do.”

Other members of the research team include Charlotte Ford and Christopher Dunn with the UW-Madison Department of Pathobiological Sciences; and Eric Leis and Isaac Standish with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, La Crosse Fish Health Center.

The post Wisconsin sport fish carry suite of new viruses first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/wisconsin-sport-fish-carry-suite-of-new-viruses/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Jean Sramek, Marie Zhuikov, Ned Netzel, Nic Peloquin, Northern Waters Smokehaus, Sharon Moen, Smoke on the Waterfront cookbook, The Fish Dish podcast, Woodblind, Zenith Bookstore

The cover of the Northern Waters Smokehaus cookbook, “Smoke on the Waterfront.” Image credit: Amazon.comThe latest informative and fun 27-minute episode of The Fish Dish Podcast features interviews with the creators of “Smoke on the Waterfront: The Northern Waters Smokehaus Cookbook,” and with a staff member from Duluth, Minnesota’s Zenith Bookstore, who reviewed the book. A finalist for a 2024 Minnesota Book Award, the cookbook offers recipes for the Smokehaus’ famous fish and smoked meats.

The Minnesota-based Smokehaus has Wisconsin connections through its fish, provided by commercial fishermen in northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior’s South Shore. Podcast listeners will hear the launch event held for the cookbook; in-depth interviews with Smokehaus staff Ned Netzel and Nic Peloquin about their roles with the cookbook; an insightful review by Jean Sramek, bookseller with Zenith Bookstore; and information on how to cook the Lake Superior Chowder recipe featured in the book.

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Fish Dish podcast has provided the latest “dish” about Great Lakes fish for over two years and 15 episodes. Hosted by Food Fish Outreach Coordinator Sharon Moen and Science Communicator Marie Zhuikov, the series introduces listeners to the people behind Wisconsin’s fishing and aquaculture industries. Each episode includes a “Fish-o-licious” section where the hosts cook a new fish recipe. Ska music by Twin Ports band, Woodblind, ties it together.

The Fish Dish is available on Google Play, Spotify, iTunes and on the Fish Dish website.

The post Northern Waters Smokehaus and Zenith Books featured on Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Fish Dish Podcast first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Area of Concern, Art Fleming paintings, Coolerator Co., Jennifer Webb, Kom-on-Inn bar Duluth, Morgan Park, St. Louis River Estuary, St. Louis River Summit, U.S. Steel Co., University of Minnesota Duluth

One of the 21 images painted by Art Fleming that line the walls of the Kom-on-Inn in Duluth. This one depicts the U.S. Steel Plant, which has been torn down and is now a Superfund site that is being cleaned up. Note the St. Louis River in the background. The presence of the river emphasizes the role that water has played and continues to play in shaping the city of Duluth. Image credit: Jennifer Webb, University of Minnesota Duluth.

The smell of stale cigarette smoke is the first thing to strike as I walk into the Kom-on-Inn Bar not far from the St. Louis River. Even though indoor smoking in public places was banned 17 years ago in Duluth, Minnesota, the scent lingers here.

It’s 10:30 a.m.; several patrons sit under dim lights at the bar with their beers, chatting. But I’m not here to drink. I’m on a field trip that’s part of the St. Louis River Summit, an annual conference to share information about the largest U.S. tributary that enters Lake Superior on Wisconsin’s northwestern border, and site of the second-largest Area of Concern in the country.

Bars aren’t typical locations for conference field trips. However, this one in West Duluth was chosen for several good reasons. The old paintings that line its walls are one of them. The other reasons involve the bar’s importance to the community.

Art Historian Jennifer Webb describes the community significance of architectural portraits that hang in the Kom-on-Inn Bar in West Duluth, Minnesota. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

According to field trip host Jennifer Webb, an art historian and head of the Department of Art and Design at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), 21 paintings are displayed on the bar’s walls, with another 20 stored in the basement.

A resident of this area of Duluth, Webb has studied the artworks for several years and has written a scientific journal article about their significance. Created between 1950-51 by Western Duluth resident and sign painter Art Fleming, these architectural portraits depict local businesses where many of the bar patrons worked. There’s the U.S. Steel mill that made barbed wire and pig iron, the Coolerator Co. that made refrigerators and a coal-fired power plant. A blue strand of the St. Louis River flows through almost every image. The paintings’ varnish coating has yellowed with age and sealed in the cigarette smoke scent.

To Webb, the bar and the portraits epitomize the area. “As an outsider who didn’t grow up in a community like this, the first thing that I was struck by is how every neighborhood has a place, an anchor and an identity.” Bars like the Kom-on-Inn provided a place for workers to gather at the end of their shifts to “decompress from a very difficult and hard industrial life,” she said.

Many of the industries in the paintings closed only two decades after their depiction, leaving unemployment and pollution in their wakes. In Webb’s journal article she says the portraits are a “testament to the pride in place and the importance of the river and industries in the making and then breaking of the neighborhoods and the larger ecosystems of which they are a part.”

Webb suspects that Fleming painted the portraits from photographs since many similar scenes can be found in the photo archives at UMD. The artworks were commissioned by the original bar owners, the Crotty Family, and their preservation is a requirement each time the bar changes hands.

Webb divides us into small groups so that we can take a closer look. In front of one portrait of the river neighborhood of Morgan Park, comprised mainly of homes built by U.S. Steel Co. for their workers, Webb describes the experience she had interviewing people about this painting and their nostalgia for the way of life it depicts.

The Kom-on-Inn panel painted by Art Fleming, located inside the bar. Image credit: Jennifer Webb, University of Minnesota Duluth.

“People who grew up there, when they talk to me about it, they remember their childhood fondly. They had a perfect community. They never really needed to leave. The doctor was there, the dentist. They had a fire department and a hospital,” Webb said. Many of those services are no longer offered directly in Morgan Park.

Plans for remediating Areas of Concern stress the importance of placemaking, which is the process of using public input to create quality places where people will want to live, and broadening the definition of stakeholders. In her paper, Webb argues that such stakeholder groups should include local historians, archivists and art or architectural historians who can offer insights into the built and visual landscape. She also contends that the most successful community revitalization and placemaking work need not create new places but instead should focus on remaking places already formed and to which community members are attached.

“Duluth is so well situated to build walkable communities. We’ve got these anchors like the Kom-on-Inn that were already built as our communities strung themselves out along the waterways. I can’t wait to see where we’re going,” Webb said of restoration efforts.

I left with a new appreciation for this neighborhood where I went to high school, and a broader understanding of the connections between the St. Louis River, its recovery and some paintings in a neighborhood bar.

If you’d like to see the paintings and can’t travel to Duluth, watch this recent television news story about them.

The post A conference field trip to a bar links river and art to community first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/a-conference-field-trip-to-a-bar-links-river-and-art-to-community/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Brandon Krumwiede, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, River Talks, underwater mapping St. Louis River

A map of the underwater substrate near the Superior Harbor Entry with Wisconsin Point in the middle, western Lake Superior. Image by Brandon Krumwiede, NOAA.

The next River Talk will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, with “What Lies Below? Underwater Mapping Near and in the St. Louis River Estuary,” an in-person and virtual presentation by Brandon Krumwiede with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. His talk will be held at the Lake Superior Estuarium (3 Marina Dr., Superior, Wis.). Refreshments will be provided.

Brandon Krumwiede. Image credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Krumwiede’s work as a Great Lakes geospatial coordinator is varied and interesting. One day, he might analyze satellite data, the next, he might give a public presentation like River Talks. Krumwiede enjoys finding the connections between people, the land and the water. In his talk, Krumwiede will describe current efforts and technologies used to improve understanding of the underwater world near and in the estuary and its importance in coastal natural resources management.

To join by Zoom, please pre-register at this link:
https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcvcumrrj8vGNer4dHKwdZpxEoIVief60nR

For accessibility accommodations related to sound, language and translation, mobility or anything else to make engagement possible, please contact Luciana at 715-399-4085 or Luciana.Ranelli@wisc.edu, as soon as possible.

The final River Talk of the season will be held April 10. For more information, visit the River Talks page: go.wisc.edu/4uz720.

The River Talks are sponsored by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program.

 

The post What Lies Below? Underwater Mapping first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: 2023 Lakie Awards, Christy Remucal, Great Lakes Sandwich of the Year loser, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, Marie Zhuikov, Sarah Balgooyen, Stuart Carlton, Teach me about the Great Lakes podcast, Tim Campbell, Titus Bakery, Titus Seilheimer, Wisconsin water news

Podcast host Stuart Carlton calls the Lakie Awards “the least prestigious Great Lakes podcast awards” around. Carlton hosts “Teach me About the Great Lakes,” a twice-monthly podcast produced by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant where listeners can learn about a variety of Great Lakes topics and issues.

Mixed with tongue-in-cheek award categories like Great Lakes Donut of the Year are more typical ones. Wisconsin Sea Grant fared unusually well in the 2023 competition, earning honors for Great Lakes Research Project, Great Lakes Sandwich, Science Podcast and Great Lakes Titus of the Year.

A Lakie entry so bad that it garnered a first-ever loser award. Image credit: Tim Campbell, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Our staff members earned both the winner and runner-up categories for Great Lakes Research of the Year. Interim Wisconsin Sea Grant Director Christy Remucal and her student Sarah Balgooyen won for their journal article about discovering the source of a PFAS plume into Lake Michigan. Aquatic Invasive Species Outreach Specialist Tim Campbell and his team earned runner-up for their article about Buddhist life release rituals and the risk for unintentionally spreading aquatic invasive species.

Our podcast, Wisconsin Water News (produced by me!) earned runner-up for Science Podcast for the Year.

Fisheries Outreach Specialist Titus Seilheimer earned runner-up for Great Lakes Titus of the Year. Although this category is named after Titus, it wouldn’t look good for him to win it, so this year, those honors went to the Titus Bakery chain in Indiana.

Campbell had the distinction of being named a first-ever loser in the Great Lakes Sandwich of the Year competition. He submitted a photo of a mac-and-cheese hot dog covered with fruit loops cereal, which was too gross for the Lakies judges to even consider.

Despite their lack of prestige, our staff are proud of their showing in the Lakies and appreciate this outreach effort by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. To see a list of the other winners, please access the episode here.

The post Wisconsin Sea Grant garners good showing in the Lakie Awards first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: AIS, El Lower, Invasive species language workshop, Michigan Sea Grant, National Invasive Species Awareness Week, National Sea Grant Office, North American Invasive Species Management Association, Tim Campbell

Communicating effectively about invasive species, whether the plants and animals are on land or in water, can be challenging. Is it better to “wage a war” on invasives, or should communicators take an alternative approach?

Purple loosestrife, a pretty but invasive plant. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

In conjunction with National Invasive Species Awareness Week, the Sea Grant programs in Michigan, Oregon and Wisconsin are hosting a workshop with the North American Invasive Species Management Association on the topic of using messaging and metaphors in communicating about invasion biology. The “Invasive Species Language Workshop,” will be held online and in-person on Feb. 27-28. A virtual half-day of webinar presentations will be followed by a full-day workshop in Washington, D.C., where attendees will draft guidelines and research priorities for inclusive communication and naming conventions. Researchers, science communicators and invasive species managers are encouraged to attend.

“Our goal is to learn what everybody’s doing in their respective fields, and then get everyone together to talk it out and describe any successes they’ve had in advocating for better and more inclusive language about invasive species,” said El Lower, Great Lakes Aquatic Nonindigenous Species Information System communications specialist with Michigan Sea Grant. “It’s about how we can work together to promote a set of best practices and present a unified front across invasion biology.

“We can come up with different metaphors that are not just ‘good versus evil, us versus them,’ and actually get into some of the nuance involved in managing invasive species. Sometimes that gets lost in the wash if you’re simply focusing on military metaphors,” Lower added.

Another issue with invasive species are their names. Some species names may contain racial slurs or reinforce xenophobic concepts. Efforts to develop more inclusive guidelines for naming invasive species have been limited, and this will be an additional focus of the webinar and workshop.

“Scientists and natural resource managers often believe that the language and points they make are neutral; that they’re just the facts. However, even when communicating facts, we all use value-laden language or language that may be received differently than intended,” said Tim Campbell, Wisconsin Sea Grant AIS program coordinator. “By embracing this inclusive language and naming conventions, we can reduce unintended consequences of our communication products, and we be more effective in our aquatic invasive species management efforts.” 

Registration is now open for the sessions. Visit the website here.

Funding for the workshop was provided by the National Sea Grant Office.

The post Invasive Species Language Workshop designed to get people talking first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Blake Thomas, Deanna Erickson, field trips, Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mary Fox, poster and art session, St. Louis River Summit 2024

Image courtesy of the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and Kate Murray

SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve (Lake Superior Reserve) is holding its 14th annual St. Louis River Summit March 6-7 with in-person sessions at the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjacket Union and field trip options on March 8.

The theme for the summit is, “Braiding Visions for an Enduring Future,” which celebrates long-term stewardship of the St. Louis River through various ways. The goal of the summit is to bring together people who care about and work on the St. Louis River and to encourage coordination of activities, programs, and projects.

“We wanted to honor what it takes to care for land and water in a multigenerational sense,” said Deanna Erickson, Lake Superior Reserve director. “To steward the St. Louis River from past degradation into a thriving future takes many visions from scientists, community members, Ojibwe elders and stewards, to engineers, state agencies, and elected officials. The summit braids those perspectives together.”

The keynote session, “Visions: Stories for an Enduring Future,” will be hosted by Mary Fox and Blake Thomas of the live Duluth radio broadcast “Take it With You,” and Zeitgeist Arts. The St. Louis River has seen some wild tales–historic, ecological, adventurous, and personal. In this session, storytellers are invited from the community to share short personal stories connected to the river on the theme of visions in the format of a noncompetitive story slam (think a local version of The Moth podcast).

In-person events include informational presentations, networking sessions, a poster and art session, and field trips. The poster and art session takes place at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6, in the University of Wisconsin-Superior Swenson Hall atrium. It will feature light refreshments.

During the morning of March 8, field trips will be held. Options include touring the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, snowshoeing in the Superior Municipal Forest, visiting the Grassy Point Restoration Site, and viewing art history murals inside West Duluth’s Kom-on-Inn with interpretation by an art historian and arts enthusiast.

Students from local schools and institutions are invited to attend the summit to learn about land and participate in water stewardship efforts, the research community and river restoration projects. Students attend for free but need to register.

The cost to attend the entire summit (virtual and in-person sessions) is $60 and includes lunches and appetizers at the poster and art session. Online registration closes Feb. 28. The cost for same-day walk-in registration is $90. Visit this link to register and view the agenda.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Initial sponsors include Barr Engineering; city of Superior; Duluth Pottery; Duluth Seaway Port Authority; Duluth Eco Rotary; EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc.; Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve; Lake Superior Captain’s Academy; Lake Superior Research Institute; Large Lakes Observatory; LimnoTech; Marine Tech; Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy; Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; Minnesota Land Trust; Minnesota Sea Grant; Roen Salvage Co.; University of Minnesota Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute; U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division; Western Lake Superior Sanitary District; W.J. McCabe (Duluth) Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America; Wisconsin Coastal Management Program; Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Wisconsin Sea Grant and Wren Works, LLC.

The post St. Louis River Summit Celebrates an Enduring Future first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Bret Shaw, Cristina Carvajal, Gavin Dehnert, Great Lakes, Lyn van Swol, PFAS, Public Health Madison & Dane County, risk communication messaging, UniverCity Alliance, UW-Madison Extension, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Eco-Latinos

The PFAS research team: Lyn van Swol, Bret Shaw, Cristina Carvajal, Gavin Dehnert. Image credit: Hannan Hein of University of Wisconsin-Madison

A team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison received a grant from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant to study PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) messaging to water users in Wisconsin with a special focus on Latinos, since they are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the state.

PFAS, sometimes called “forever” chemicals, are found in various products and can contaminate drinking water. High levels of PFAS have been linked to health risks, such as increased cholesterol levels, decreased vaccine response, risk of thyroid disease, lower birth weights and reduced fertility in women. However, health risks at lower levels are uncertain. Communicating these risks effectively to increase understanding, avoid undue fear and provide recommendations for behaviors people can do to reduce risks is crucial to the 70% of Wisconsinites who depend on municipal water supplies.

“The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources now requires monitoring for PFAS in municipal water supplies and reporting when any are detected at over 70 parts per trillion,” said Lyn van Swol, principal investigator and a professor with UW-Madison’s Department of Communication Arts. “Given these new requirements and uncertainty about the health effects of PFAS, particularly at lower levels, public health educators are struggling with how to communicate with the public about the presence of PFAS in their municipal water supplies.”

Van Swol and the grant team will work to develop effective communication strategies about PFAS risks, focusing on engaging messages that encourage actions such as using water filtration systems. They will do this in three parts. First, they will gather data on people’s internet searches related to PFAS information. Second, they will test specific messages with municipal water users, and finally, test which messages engage social media audiences.

They will share their results via webinars, news releases and collaborations with Spanish-speaking media. The team will also develop resources for environmental and health communication professionals designed to enhance public understanding and proactive response to PFAS exposure in their communities.

The grant team is comprised of van Swol and Bret Shaw, professor with the Department of Life Sciences Communication and an environmental communication specialist with UW-Division of Extension; Gavin Dehnert, emerging contaminant scientist with Wisconsin Sea Grant; and Cristina Carvajal of Wisconsin Eco-Latinos.

Other partners include UW-Madison Extension, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Public Health Madison & Dane County and the UniverCity Alliance.

The study is part of a larger project coordinated by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant that addresses PFAS knowledge gaps in the Great Lakes region.

The post PFAS in municipal drinking water: New grant designed to improve risk communication in Wisconsin first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/pfas-in-municipal-drinking-water-new-grant-designed-to-improve-risk-communication-in-wisconsin/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Ashland, Baker City Creek Estuary, climate change in northern Wisconsin, Dave Sletten, Dorothy Tank, FEMA, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative conference, Karina Heim, Lake Superior Climate Champions Program, Lake Superior Collaborative, Meagan Quaderer, Natalie Chin, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, Sara Hudson, Statewide Hazard Mitigation Committee, Thompson's Creek, Tony Janisch, Washburn, Wisconsin Northwest Region Emergency Managers Meeting

Members of the Lake Superior Climate Champions Program take a field trip to an eroded area in northern Wisconsin. Pictured left to right are Dave Sletten, Matt Hudson and Tony Janisch. Image credit: Karina Heim, Lake Superior Reserve

It’s official: 2023 was the hottest since we’ve been keeping records, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This can trigger extreme weather events such as storms and flooding. Northern Wisconsin is not immune from the impacts of climate change and communities are taking action.

Leaders in several northern Wisconsin counties and cities were chosen to participate in a Lake Superior Climate Champions Program organized by Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in 2023. The program provided funding and guidance to two teams to work on goals of their choosing that addressed climate change.

Members of the Washburn/Ashland Climate Champions team attend a coastal resilience adaptation workshop organized by the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science. Pictured left to right are Danielle Shannon, Sara Hudson, Tony Janisch, Bree Schabert, Matias Valero and Jessica Jacobson. Image credit: Karina Heim, Lake Superior Reserve

The first team from the cities of Washburn and Ashland included Tony Janisch, Washburn assistant city administrator, and Sara Hudson, Ashland park and recreation director and city forester. Their project involved creating the outline of a coastal adaptation plan for their cities that focused on flood resilience and climate adaptation. They also developed a project priorities list, connected with other communities at a climate-focused annual conference by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative in Chicago and brought a coastal resilience adaptation workshop to the region in collaboration with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science and the Lake Superior Collaborative.

During a webinar, Janisch described how the contacts he made during the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative Conference helped him find funding for a long-standing problem in Washburn.

“We have some significant coastal erosion at one of our parks in the city. I had spent three years trying to find funding to start the work. I was connected with someone and then was able to get some FEMA funding. So, we have an engineer now doing design work for how to solve the problem,” Janisch said.

Another erosion project Janisch found possible funding sources for involves Thompson’s Creek, which runs underneath a local highway and along another road. “There was some erosion going on with one of the creek bends that’s eating away at one of our side roads. It’s very possible that it could start eroding the right-of-way on the highway itself,” Janisch said.

Hudson said the champions program, “…Opened up a couple projects that have been on the back burner in my mind. And then also just creating more of a living shoreline along our Baker City Creek Estuary and along the ore dock shoreline that is there. It’s been a really good process.”

The second team included emergency managers from Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas and Iron counties. These are Dorothy Tank (retired from Ashland County), Dave Sletten (Douglas County), Stacy Ofstad (Iron County) and Meagan Quaderer (Bayfield County) Their project focused on developing a digital form to record road maintenance activities for Great Lakes coastal counties in Wisconsin and beyond.

Quaderer said that development of the road maintenance form was timely. “This spring, the region had a lot of flooding and a lot of [road] damage. So, we actually had a real-world application of the document, especially in Bayfield County.”

The team presented the form at a Wisconsin Northwest Region Emergency Managers Meeting and it garnered their interest as well as that of representatives from Minnesota. The team was asked to present the form again to the Statewide Hazard Mitigation Committee. Those members saw the overwhelming value of the tool.

“I think it’s something that will be used here within our four counties but also hopefully, within both states,” Sletten said.

Tank said the form has already been used in Ashland County for a number of federally declared disasters. “It was not only approved at the state level, but by FEMA. It contained all the information they wanted,” she said.

The Climate Champions Program was facilitated by Karina Heim with the Reserve and Natalie Chin with Sea Grant. They recently released the call for applications for this year. Apply at this link: https://go.wisc.edu/0385yk. The deadline is March 15.

For more general information, visit: https://go.wisc.edu/am468e.

The post Northern Wisconsin communities benefit from climate change program first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/northern-wisconsin-communities-benefit-from-climate-change-program/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Climate change, flooding, Great Lakes coastal counties in Wisconsin, Karina Heim, Lake Superior Climate Champions Program, Lake Superior Reserve, Public Health, stormwater management, workshop planning

A program for community leaders in northern Wisconsin who are looking for ways to address climate change is available through Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve. 

The Lake Superior Climate Champions Program began provides a yearlong opportunity for community teams to work on a goal of their choosing that addresses climate change, with a minimum of $2,500 in funding, guidance from Sea Grant and Reserve staff members and the chance to connect with other communities working on climate challenges. The program completed its first successful cohort last year and is seeking applicants for a new round of support in 2024.

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Natalie Chin discusses climate change impacts with Climate Champions teams in 2023. Image credit: Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve

Participating teams of two to four people must be from one of the four coastal counties (Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland or Iron) and may include representatives from multiple jurisdictions. The teams can include community members in decision-making roles, such as tribal or county government staff, elected officials, members of local boards and committees or regional intergovernmental committees.

“All across Lake Superior’s coastal communities, we feel the impacts of climate change firsthand,” said Karina Heim, coastal training program coordinator with the Lake Superior Reserve. “Finding time and the capacity to address climate issues can be a challenge for local leaders. Our Climate Champions Program offers dedicated, yearlong support for climate work.”

Teams who want to participate need to apply online by March 15 at: https://go.wisc.edu/0385yk. Teams will be selected by April and the program will begin in May.

The previous year’s projects included creating the outline of a coastal adaptation plan for Washburn and Ashland, Wisconsin, that focused on flood resilience, climate adaptation and a project priorities list; also, emergency managers from Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas and Iron counties developed an online form to record road maintenance activities for Great Lakes coastal counties in Wisconsin.

Applicants are encouraged to seek support for a new climate resilience effort that is relevant to their community. This could include developing a new resource or tool, initiating an assessment, bringing people together in dialog or developing a specific climate plan.

Other possible project examples include: finding and using an assessment or planning tool to prepare for climate challenges (flooding, public health, etc.), planning a workshop or a facilitated process that allows for climate change learning and dialog and incorporating climate change considerations into an existing project or process, such as land-use planning or stormwater management.

For more information, visit: https://go.wisc.edu/am468e.

The post Applications open for community climate support program first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/applications-open-for-community-climate-support-program/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: American Players Theatre, audience participation plays, Cassandra Bissell, Door County, Door County Public Library, environmental messaging, Gilmore Fine Arts School, Ginny Carlton, marine debris education resources, Marine Debris Program, Me and Debry play, National Sea Grant College Program, Neil Brookshire, NOAA

Actors Neil Brookshire and Cassandra Bissell practice their lines for “Me and Debry,” a play about marine debris held at the Door County Public Library in 2022. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

What is marine debris, what are its impacts and what can we do about it? These are the central messages of a play written on behalf of Wisconsin Sea Grant by David Daniel with American Players Theatre of Wisconsin.

“Me and Debry,” (pronounced “debris”), is a half-hour, whimsical, audience-participation play about litter (marine debris) in the Great Lakes. It had its “world premiere” in Wisconsin’s Door County in October 2022 and was performed three times at the Gilmore Fine Arts School in Racine, Wisconsin, for fifth- and sixth-grade students in May 2023.

The play’s script has been fine-tuned through these performances and is now available for others to use for free, complete with props.

Ginny Carlton, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s education outreach specialist, recently discussed the play and why schools or other educational institutions might be interested in performing it.

Ginny, what is marine debris and what message does the play offer about it?

So, a lot of times people think about gasoline or oil on the water because we often see that on the news. Technically, from NOAA’s perspective (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), that isn’t marine debris. It’s obviously pollution, but the definition requires marine debris to be a solid. It can be anything from something really small, like a microplastic, to something quite large, like a derelict fishing vessel.

Often, environmental messaging can be sort of depressing and doom and gloom. We wanted to provide students with an uplifting message. One of the lines in the play is, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” This particular line is repeated a couple times during the play, so that hopefully, the students come to understand that they can have a positive role in at least considering what to do and making a change that would have a positive impact.

Ginny Carlson (left) instructs Racine elementary students in an environmental stewardship day project at Quarry Lake County Park as part of the marine debris project that the “me and Debry” play came from. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

What is special about the play compared to other marine debris educational materials?

Two reasons: one, it presents the material in a slightly different messaging format. Rather than reading a textbook or watching a video, it has an opportunity for interaction. There’s a lot of audience participation built into the play script. There are four central roles that are performed by members of the audience. One is a crane, another is a kayaker, a fish and a kid. Then beyond those four central roles, there’s also audience participation opportunities when the play starts to talk about what we call the eight R’s. Many teachers and students are already familiar with three of the R’s. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The play introduces five others for the students and the educators to think about. (Rethink, Refuse, Repurpose, Refurbish and Repair)

I think another reason is that it has the potential of getting people up moving and actually doing, and inspiring action beyond the actual performance. So, providing an opportunity for the students to consider their own behavior and their own impact on this issue and potentially making some minor adjustments in what they’re doing. Obviously other educational curriculum and formats also attempt to do that, but for some reason, I think just having the audio and visual together and having live interactions with people brings it one step further along than just listening to a teacher talk about it or with a PowerPoint or watching a video, perhaps.

Also, the script design itself is a rhyming format, and that tends to grab people’s attention, and it somehow helps people to remember the content better than just having it in regular prose.

Do actors in the play need to memorize lines?

Even with the actors that were at Door County and in The Gilmore Fine Arts School, we told them that there was no need for them to memorize lines. They could do what they called a reading performance, which means that you can have the script in hand. The desire is to have you pre-read it, so you’re not standing and reading like a storybook-style program, but that you have some familiarity with the script ahead, but have it there to provide a refresher as you move along.

What do students get out of the play in addition to marine debris education?

Students get an opportunity to do some public speaking. I think oftentimes students don’t have the opportunity to publicly speak in front of their peers and or other individuals. So that can be a real confidence-booster to have the opportunity to do that.

They also have an opportunity to consider different worldviews and different perspectives. So, by including the characters of the crane and the fish our intention and hope was that perhaps the students  or youth that are watching the performances and interacting with the performances would understand how humans can and do impact other organisms and our responsibility to them — a stewardship message that is part of the play as well.

The “Me and Debry” script is now available to use for free. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

How do people get the script if they want it?

The easiest way to obtain it is to simply download it from our Wisconsin Sea Grant Education website. We have it available in English, and then the four main character parts for the audience members are in English, Spanish, and Hmong translations as well. The eight R materials for audience participation, they’re available in English, Spanish, and Hmong directly from our website. We also include all that material in a costume kit and an educational kit that you can make a request to have sent to you within Wisconsin. That link is also on the education website. So, you simply make a request for the materials to be interlibrary loaned to you.

The kit has costumes for the two primary actors. Basically, a T-shirt and a pair of oversized sunglasses, so it’s not elaborate costuming. And similarly, it has costumes for the four main characters. And then supporting props for the various eight R topics.

Does it cost anything?

No. Just like our other educational kits at this time, there’s no charge. We will ship it on our cost, and we also pay for the return shipping.

Me and Debry, is part of a two-year project funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant with grants from the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the state of Wisconsin.

The post Marine debris play script available for free first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/marine-debris-play-script-available-for-free/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Euan Reavie, harmful algal blooms, Natural Resources Research Institute, River Talks, St. Louis River

Euan Reavie presents at River Talks. Image credit: Michael Anderson

Harmful algal blooms are becoming more of a concern in the St. Louis River Estuary and Lake Superior. The reasons behind this were described during the November River Talk by Euan Reavie, senior research associate at the University of Minnesota’s Natural Resources Research Institute.

Harmful algal blooms, also known as HABs, appear as mats of bright green algae that float on the surface of the water or sometimes lay on the bottoms of large rivers or lakes. Not all algal blooms are toxic, but some are, and scientists are looking into what triggers the release of toxins in the blooms.

“Based on anecdotal and real observations, it does seem to be something that’s getting worse in Western Lake Superior,” Reavie said. “Whoever thought we’d be getting algal blooms out in the nutrient-poor waters of Lake Superior, making their way all the way up to the Apostle Islands?”

Water quality in the St. Louis River has improved over the years thanks to sanitary sewer districts coming online in Duluth and Superior in the 1970s, environmental regulations, and cleanup efforts. However, excess nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen are still of concern and are a focus of attention from management agencies.

Reavie’s research team came into the picture in the early 2010s when they were asked to research nutrient levels in hopes of confirming that they were decreasing. They collected sediment samples (cores) to reconstruct the history of nutrients in the estuary. The scientists analyzed the samples for different types of fossil algae, which offer signals about what types of nutrients were available in the past because different algae species prefer different levels of nutrients.

Diatoms are the most abundant type of algae in the Western Lake Superior system. Reavie showed how the assemblages of these species changed after European settlement and after water cleanup efforts in the 1970s.

Over the past several years, algae blooms have been noted along the shore of Lake Superior near Cornucopia, Wisconsin, and in the estuary at Barker’s Island and Allouez Bay. Reavie said that sediment samples from the present day in sheltered bays like Allouez Bay show diatom species that like high levels of nutrients. He said the data show a “fairly consistent” increase in phosphorus in the system. “Not good news for the bays in the estuary,” he said.

The team also found cyanopigments in the samples, which indicate recent increases in algae. “There appear to be some new problems in these nearshore areas despite the fact that we’ve reduced the flux of nutrients into the system. Something new is going on here,” Reavie said.

One culprit could be more intense storms due to climate change. Storms wash a lot of nutrients from the land into the water and then the currents carry them through the estuary and harbor, and out into Lake Superior along its South Shore.

“Just knowing that the blooms tend to follow storms is not enough. There’s probably a seasonal aspect to all this, as well,” he said. Warmth is one factor, but Reavie said there have also been algae blooms under the ice. Low dissolved oxygen levels in water could be another factor, resulting in a chemical reaction that releases stored nutrients in sediments.

His team has begun developing an early warning system to sort out what is going on. It involves incorporating weather data, water quality data and algae data from eight stations in the estuary. They hope to offer initial findings at the March 2024 St. Louis River Summit.

For more information, visit the team’s website.

The next River Talk is scheduled for March 13, 2024. Brandon Krumwide with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will present, “What Lies Below? Underwater Mapping of the Great Lakes,” at 6:30 p.m. in the Lake Superior Estuarium (3 Marina Drive, Superior, Wisconsin).

The post Understanding harmful algal blooms in the St. Louis River Estuary presents challenges first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/understanding-harmful-algal-blooms-in-the-st-louis-river-estuary-presents-challenges/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Bret Shaw, Chaterine Christenson, excess nutrients, how people get water news, importance of water for wildlife, Ken Genskow, Michael Cardiff, PFAS, Rural resident perceptions of Wisconsin's Waters, trusted water news sources, University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institutue, University of Wisconsin-Madison, water supply concerns

December 4, 2023
By Marie Zhuikov

A new report published by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that Wisconsin’s rural residents perceived significant risks to water quality from pesticides, PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) and excess nutrients. They also ranked water as very or extremely important for supporting wildlife and for hunting and fishing, in addition to home uses such as drinking and cleaning.

These findings regarding groundwater and surface water are based on a study by UW-Madison professors, including Michael Cardiff via a research project funded by the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute. The report, entitled, “Rural Resident Perceptions of Wisconsin’s Waters” is available for free download.

As part of a larger project, Cardiff, associate professor of geoscience, and his interdisciplinary team surveyed 1,500 randomly selected households across 16 counties in Wisconsin. They received 481 responses.

Cardiff was struck by the importance water held for rural interests in hunting and fishing. “If we’re talking with rural users about why they might want to protect their water, speaking in that natural reference frame about impacts on fish and wildlife might resonate.”

The finding about the “forever chemicals,” PFAS, surprised Cardiff. “People might just be hearing about this through the media and so it’s something they’re worried about even though it might not be as important as other contaminants in rural settings,” he said. “We usually think of dangerous concentrations of PFAS being associated with industrial operations or airports.”

The survey also contained questions regarding water supply, but respondents had fewer concerns regarding this issue. Cardiff agrees with that assessment. “I would generally say we’re in a good place in Wisconsin on water supply. We tend to have more issues with flooding than we do with not being able to reach water,” he said.

Michael Cardiff (Submitted photo)

However, Cardiff expects water pollution and water supply to become more important in the future as the Upper Midwest is touted as a climate haven and more people move here.

Rural residents were also surveyed about how they get their news about water. “Rural residents don’t get a lot of news about their water, or at least they don’t report getting a lot of news. The most cited sources of information were local news or friends and family, but even use of those sources was quite low,” Cardiff said.

Respondents ranked other sources of information more trustworthy than local news or their friends. This included UW scientists, research organizations and private well testers. But rural residents don’t report hearing from them very often.

Cardiff expects the report to be useful for state legislators and water regulatory agencies. Collaborating with him on it were UW student Catherine Christenson; Ken Genskow, professor of planning and landscape architecture; and Bret Shaw, associate professor of life sciences communication.

The post Wisconsin’s rural residents concerned about water quality first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release | WRI

News Release | WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/wisconsins-rural-residents-concerned-about-water-quality/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Carly Lapin, Clam Lake Wisconsin, Deb Connell, Deidre Peroff, Donald Chosa, Kristen Blann, Manoomin Psin Knowledge Symposium, Spring Lake Wisconsin, Spur Lake Wisconsin, The Nature Conservancy, Thomas Howes, Todd Haley, Tony Havranek, wild rice, wild rice nutrition facts, Wisconsin Sea Grant wild rice poster, WSB

Science Communicator Marie Zhuikov attended a Wild Rice Symposium recently, along with hundreds of other people. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Wisconsin Sea Grant sponsored a recent symposium on wild rice, which I had the chance to attend as did Deidre Peroff, our social science outreach specialist. The “Manoomin/Psin Knowledge Symposium” was held at the Black Bear Resort in Carlton, Minnesota, in mid-November.

The manoomin display that Wisconsin Sea Grant and Nature Conservancy staff helped create. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Symposium-goers were offered instant inspiration by a large manoomin display at the registration table, which was created by Peroff, our creative manager Sarah Congdon, and Kristen Blann with The Nature Conservancy.

Most interesting were sessions where speakers described what wild rice means to them and tips for harvesting it.

Here are seven key things to keep in mind when harvesting wild rice in the fall and the names of the people who offered the advice:

  • Unprocessed wild rice features a long tail-like barb that can have uncomfortable consequences for unwary harvesters. It can sometimes get stuck in people’s tear ducts, requiring careful extraction! If this happens to you, you’ll be crying “warrior tears.” (Donald Chosa, Bois Forte Band of Chippewa)
  • Harvesters sometimes also inhale the rice and the barbs get stuck in their throats, making it hard to breathe and eliciting coughing. It’s a good idea to bring bread along while harvesting in case this happens. Eating the bread can dislodge the rice barb from a person’s throat. (Deb Connell, ricer, Lac du Flambeau)
  • “Don’t harvest rice at your convenience. Harvest it when it’s ready.” (Todd Haley, Lac du Flambeau Band of Ojibwe)
  • If your canoe tips over while ricing, it does not have any special Ojibwe cultural meaning other than, “It means you’ll get wet!” (Donald Chosa, Bois Forte Band of Chippewa) (I was especially keen on this information after my recent “immersive” wild rice experience.)
  • Lift weights to strengthen your arms for ricing for about a month beforehand. (Donald Chosa, Bois Forte Band of Chippewa)
  • Having music playing in the canoe makes the ricing day go faster. (Various speakers)
  • The best way to learn how to rice better is to copy someone’s movements who is a good ricer. (Donald Chosa, Bois Forte Band of Chippewa)

I also learned about three projects in Wisconsin that were successful in bringing wild rice back to lakes where it had disappeared. These involved Spur Lake (Oneida County), Clam Lake (Burnett County), and Spring Lake (Washburn County).

Nutritious wild rice is a true super food when compared to white rice, as noted in this image from one of the symposium speakers.

Carly Lapin with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said that Spur Lake, a historically important wild rice lake, began having trouble in 2009 when water levels became too high for wild rice to grow. She attributed this to beaver population recovery in the area and human alternations of the landscape. Also, aquatic invasive plant growth was out competing the wild rice.

Lapin said the DNR conducted a hydrologic study on the lake in cooperation with the Sokaogon Chippewa community to determine what was causing the water retention. In 2021, resource managers took advantage of naturally low water levels to remove competing vegetation with a mechanical harvester. The next year, they seeded the lake with wild rice and protected several plots with fencing to keep swans from eating the rice shoots. The protected areas grew successfully. A stream (Twin Lakes Creek) that provided outflow from the lake was restored and a harvest was able to occur in 2023.

Tony Havranek, an engineer with WSB, which is a design and consulting firm from Minneapolis, described the Clam Lake and Spring Lake projects. Clam Lake features two parts, an Upper and Lower Clam Lake. The lower part traditionally had wild rice, which declined from 2001-2009. In 2007 and 2008 the lake failed to grow any rice, which concerned the St. Croix Tribe. The tribe undertook studies with partners, who discovered that a steep rise in the population of common carp in the lake was the likely culprit. The age of the carp corresponded to the beginning of the rice crop failure. Havranek said the lake was home to 79,000 individuals, which equaled 670,000 pounds of fish.

“This is four times the tipping point for the lake environment,” Havranek said.

An integrated pest management plan was developed. Actions included installing barriers (nets) around the wild rice beds to keep out the carp, removing the carp from the lake and seeding the beds with local wild rice. Havranek said that over several years, 76,000 carp were removed.

By 2017, rice abundance had increased. Originally, 288 acres of rice beds were in the lake. By 2017, 177 acres had regrown, and harvest was able to begin again.

A successful wild rice harvest. Image credit: Thomas Howes, Fond du Lac Resource Management

Wild rice recovery at Spring Lake is still a work in progress. Problems began in 2000 when the outlet of the lake was changed. Floating leaf vegetation began taking over the lake. Herbicide was applied and unwanted plants were physically removed. After these actions, in 2005, rice was harvested.

However, rice production has declined recently (2016) due to cattail encroachment on the rice habitat. The cattails were mechanically removed and used for compost. Havernak said the rice harvest returned in 2017-2020 but that the lake is still struggling with rice production.

“We hope to remove more cattails and then put the lake on a monitoring schedule,” Havernak said.

Peroff and I staffed a table of publications at the symposium, which included our “ASC Chronicle” newsletter and a wild rice poster that features Ojibwe names for the different life stages of wild rice. The poster was very popular. It’s available online for free download here, or if you want a professionally printed version, you can contact Peroff at dmperoff@aqua.wisc.edu.

I left the event with a new appreciation for the complexities of wild rice management and harvesting. For a foraged food that’s strong enough to cause “warrior tears” or even choking, it remains incredibly fragile and needs our attention and care.

The post Lessons in wild ricing and wild rice lake restoration first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/lessons-in-wild-ricing-and-wild-rice-lake-restoration/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Euan Reavie, harmful algal blooms, Natural Resources Research Institute, River Talks

The next River Talk will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, with “Making Sense of Algal Blooms in the St. Louis River Estuary,” an in-person presentation by Euan Reavie with the Natural Resources Research Institute. His talk will be held at the Lake Superior Estuarium (3 Marina Dr., Superior, Wis.). Refreshments will be provided.

Euan Reavie. Image credit: Natural Resources Research Institute

Reavie will present what’s known so far about the evolving situation with algae and algal blooms in the river and harbor. He’ll also describe plans for a collaborative monitoring strategy with the Lake Superior Reserve to address current and future problems.

For accessibility accommodations related to sound, language and translation, mobility or anything else to make engagement possible, please contact Luciana at 715-399-4085 or Luciana.Ranelli@wisc.edu, as soon as possible.

In an abbreviation of the season, other River Talks will be held in 2024 on March 13 and April 10. For more information, visit the River Talks page: go.wisc.edu/4uz720.

The River Talks are sponsored by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program.

The post Making Sense of Algal Blooms first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/making-sense-of-algal-blooms/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Chazen Museum of Art, Chelsea Mamott, Derek Ho, Great Lakes Literacy Principles, Great Lakes microplastic pollution, Plastic Entanglements, Plastic Panic Kit, Sea Grant Center for Great Lakes Literacy, Troy Runge, Wisconsin Energy Institute

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Anne Moser presents the Plastic Panic Kit to Great Lakes educators at a conference in Chicago. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

When Anne Moser began her librarian career in Seattle in the early 1990s, one of her first experiences was a tour of the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

“It made a big impression on me, watching their operations and what great, amazing miracles can happen there. Wastewater enters the plant, is treated and is clean enough to discharge into Puget Sound. Creating this kit feels like I’ve come full circle in my career,” Moser said.

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s senior special librarian and education coordinator has now learned enough about wastewater treatment to create “Plastic Panic,” a grab-and-go teaching kit that formal and nonformal educators can use to teach about plastic pollution in the Great Lakes, specifically, microplastics.

Unlike larger plastic containers and pieces, microplastics (particles 5 millimeters and smaller) are too small for wastewater treatment plants to filter. What goes into the plant comes right back out into the environment. Fish and other animals can mistake microplastics for food. A belly full of plastic can make them feel full without providing any nutrients. In addition, heavy metals and other pollutants tend to stick to plastics. These can harm animals that eat the plastic, and the pollutants can work their way up the food chain this way.

The kit got its start after a plastic awareness-raising exhibition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Chazen Museum of Art in 2019 called, “Plastic Entanglements.” That led to a prototype learning kit, which has been updated this year. Information in “Plastic Panic” is based on research by Derek Ho, biological systems engineering Ph.D. student under Troy Runge, UW–Madison. Artwork is by Chelsea Mamott, Wisconsin Energy Institute digital media specialist.

Although the curriculum is designed for fourth- to fifth-graders, Moser said the kit has wide appeal.

“When we presented it at the Chazen, we saw it caught visitors’ attention — from the littlest learners, maybe four or five years old, all the way up to the parents and grandparents. The tabletop’s eye-catching, so many people came over to look at it. We also learned that many people don’t know much about what happens to the wastewater leaving their house. The activity demystifies this weird building that treats wastewater,” Moser said.

Colorful microplastics filtered out in one of the Plastic Panic Kit activities. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Colorful artwork and colorful plastics enthrall and teach.

“We have included a sample jar that has different types and sizes of plastics,” Moser said. “You get different densities, different weights, so they can experience the way plastic behaves in water. Some of it sinks, some of it floats, some stays in the middle. You get to filter and sanitize the sample, then look at what is ultimately discharged into our water bodies. So, it’s kind of high-level thinking that kids get to enjoy without even realizing it.”

Moser said the kit is “grab-and-go” for educators. “It comes with a guide that has clear instructions so they will be able to present the activity right out of the box.” It also provides questions to ask students, background information for educators and worksheets for classroom use. “So, hopefully, they can just grab it and do it.”

Content is aligned with Sea Grant’s Great Lakes Literacy Principles but not yet aligned to specific state educational standards.

With the help of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding, 23 kits were produced by Sea Grant’s Center for Great Lakes Literacy and distributed to Sea Grant programs around the Great Lakes Basin. Five are available free of charge in Wisconsin, and the kit is shipped via UPS.

To order “Plastic Panic,” fill out this form.

The post Plastics learning kit educates and enthralls first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/plastics-learning-kit-educates-and-enthralls/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: climate change education, Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment, GLOBE, Michael Notaro, nasa, Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research, NOAA, Snow-GLOBE, snowflake classification, The Bentley Collection, U.S. Department of State, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Welty Environmental Center

We’ve all heard that no two snowflakes are alike. But few people know that most are similar enough they can be classified.

Michael Notaro with the University of Wisconsin-Madison is teaching Wisconsin school children the similarities in snowflakes to share the wonder of nature and information about the Great Lakes climate, but also to expand an international environmental database.

An “ordinary dendritic” snowflake crystal. This means it has six branches. Image credit: The Bentley Collection, UW- Madison.

The database is called GLOBE, which stands for Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment. This environmental education youth citizen science program began in 1995 and is run by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). It is sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of State. According to Notaro, more than 40,000 schools in 127 countries participate by inputting data such as temperature, wind speed, soil moisture and bird migration from their communities into the online GLOBE database.

Notaro, director for the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research, said his Sea Grant-funded Snow-GLOBE Youth Citizen Science Collaborative project helps address a lack of climate science education in the classroom.

“There’s very little time allocated toward the topics of weather and climate, particularly climate change,” he said. “Also, a lot of educators have expressed discomfort in terms of their training and teaching related to climate. So, I’m trying to provide the tools for the teachers, the training for the teachers, and also the opportunities for the students to learn how to become citizen scientists – that they themselves, even as a young person, can support some of the missions of NASA, NOAA and other agencies.”

Darien Becker, environmental educator with Welty Environmental Center (right), instructs two interns from Beloit Memorial High School on how to identify snowflakes using the Snow-GLOBE protocol. Image credit: Aaron Wilson, Welty Environmental Center.

He’s currently working with eight schools and three environmental centers across Wisconsin in Beloit, Racine and Door County. The children measure snow depth, snowfall amounts and their liquid equivalents. This data has a home in GLOBE already. What doesn’t have a home is snowflake classification. Notaro would like to change that.

The children take photos of snowflakes with their cellphones and a special lens, which Notaro provides. “They start with a wooden board with black velvet. The flake falls on it. Then you use a clip-on macro lens to take a photo and a high-precision ruler to estimate the crystal’s diameter. I also provided information like images from the Bentley Library,” Notaro said.

The Bentley Collection is housed at UW-Madison’s Space Science and Engineering Center. It contains photomicrographs (photos taken through a microscope) by Wilson Bentley, a homeschooled Vermont farm boy who developed a passion for studying water in all its forms. Snowflakes were his specialty, and he sold collections to universities across the United States, including UW-Madison.

Based on the shape of the crystal, the students can classify what type of snowflake it is. Some of the options include columns, hexagons, two branches, four branches, and the typical Christmas-card version with six branches.

Notaro said the photography activity is a hit. “Kids are interested in their cell phones, as we know. Kids are interested in photography. This connects those interests to science.”

A plate snowflake with simple extensions. Image credit: The Bentley Collection, UW-Madison.

Such data will help track what’s going on with snow in Wisconsin. Notaro’s goal is to expand the project to more middle schools, high schools and environmental centers in Wisconsin and across the Great Lakes.

“Ideally, I hope to find a school where there are three or more teachers interested in participating,” he said. “That helps with the longevity of their involvement. And then I usually set up a professional development workshop near them. I’ll order GLOBE equipment, so I supply all the equipment that they need. Then I provide training and calibration instructions and work with the school.”

Interested educators can contact Notaro at mnotaro@wisc.edu.

“This upcoming winter we’ll be able to get some data collected. The goal is building up the schools and the resources toward data collection. I hate to say it, but hopefully, it snows a lot,” Notaro said.

The post Hoping for snow: Wisconsin snow data project captures snowflake images and students’ attention first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/hoping-for-snow-wisconsin-snow-data-project-captures-snowflake-images-and-students-attention/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Embark Support Employment, ervatory, everyone can bird, Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Minnesota Land Trust, World Migratory Bird Day

All are invited to attend the last in a series of three events designed for birders of all skills and abilities. Join “Everyone Can Bird: World Migratory Bird Day,” 9:30-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 14, at. Hawk Ridge in Duluth.

Designed with accessibility in mind, the event will provide American Sign Language interpretation, stationary birding options, binoculars and spotting scopes for use. Expert birding guides will lead discussion and aid observation. The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Hawk Ridge, Lake Superior Reserve, Wisconsin Sea Grant, Embark Support Employment and the Minnesota Land Trust sponsor the “Everyone Can Bird” series.

Birders practicing their craft on World Migratory Bird Day a few years ago. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Free transportation is available, departing from the Superior Public Library (530 Tower Ave.) at 9 a.m. People driving themselves should access Hawk Ridge on East Skyline Parkway from Glenwood Ave. and continue past the first overlook on the paved road another half mile or so on the gravel road to another overlook. Look for Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory signage and the count platform. Accessible parking is available near the welcome table and Hawk Ridge merchandise trailer. Look for parking guidance via signage.

This event will include an “Eyes on the Skies” educational program from 10-11 a.m. in the outdoor classroom at Hawk Ridge, located up a gravel trail from the bird viewing location along the road. Learn about the history of the fall migration along the tip of Lake Superior and how to identify common raptors. In bad weather, the “Eyes on the Skies” program will be held indoors at the nearby Lester Amity Ski Chalet. An additional “Eyes on the Skies” program will be held at 11 a.m. outdoors on Hawk Ridge as part of Hawk Ridge’s Duluth Community Day events.

Registration is encouraged but not required. Learn more or register at https://go.wisc.edu/wwi6l1. These activities are designed with access in mind. People who would like to request additional accommodations should email Luciana.Ranelli@wisc.edu or call Luciana at 715-399-4085 at least 10 days before the event.

“Everyone Can Bird” is part of Duluth Community Day at Hawk Ridge. Both programs celebration World Migratory Bird Day, the raptors migrating through Hawk Ridge and people out enjoying nature together. For more on the family activities happening on Oct. 14 from 9:30-11:30 a.m., visit hawkridge.org.

The post Everyone can bird final outing on Oct. 14 first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Duluth's Lost Industries, River Talks, St. Louis River, Tony Dierckins

The River Talks, a series of informal science presentations, returns at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11, for the season with “Duluth’s Lost Industries Along the St. Louis River,” an in-person presentation by local historian and author, Tony Dierckins. His talk will be held at the Lake Superior Estuarium (3 Marina Dr., Superior, Wis.). Refreshments will be provided.

The shores of the lower St. Louis River were once lined with ore and coal docks, grain terminals, flour and lumber mills, steel plants, shipyards and dozens of other manufacturers. From the brownstone quarries of Fond du Lac to Gary New Duluth’s giant Minnesota Steel Plant, this presentation explains the rise and demise of the industries that both built the Zenith City and altered and contaminated Lake Superior’s largest tributary. 

Tony Dierckins has written over two dozen books, many of which celebrate historic Duluth, Minnesota. He is a three-time recipient of the Northeast Minnesota Book Award, a past recipient of the Duluth Depot Foundation’s Historic Preservation and Interpretation Award, and the publisher of Zenith City Press. 

Other River Talks will be held Nov. 8, 2023, and Jan. 10, Feb. 7, March 13, April 10 and May 18, 2024. For more information, visit the River Talks page: go.wisc.edu/4uz720.

The River Talks are sponsored by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program.

 

The post River Talks resume with “Duluth’s Lost Industries” first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/river-talks-resume-with-duluths-lost-industries/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: 1854 Treaty Authority, David Grandmaison, Manoomin Camp, Marne Kaeske, Martha Minchak, St. Louis River, The Nature Conservancy, wild ricing, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

David Grandmaison, Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources, poles through a wild rice bed in the St. Louis River. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

A co-worker and I were invited to attend a day of Manoomin (Wild Rice) Camp on the St. Louis River in Duluth, Minnesota. The camp flier said, “Join us in a guided paddle to the wild rice restoration sites and welcome manoomin back to Gichi Gami Ziibi (the St. Louis River). Try your hand at harvesting and experience each step in the finishing process (drying, parching, jigging and winnowing).”

That sounded good to us, so with wild rice harvesting permits in hand, we met in the Fond du Lac neighborhood of Duluth near the Wisconsin border. The event was hosted by the 1854 Treaty Authority, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and The Nature Conservancy in an area that had been seeded with wild rice three or four years previously.

We were met by Marne Kaeske, cultural preservation specialist with the 1854 Treaty Authority, Martha Minchak and David Grandmaison, St. Louis River wild rice and habitat restoration coordinator with the WDNR. After a sage smudging ceremony and a chance to offer tobacco to the river as the Ojibwe do, they gave us a brief orientation to where the rice bed was located and how to harvest it.

“The rice needs us and we need the rice,” said Minchak, a retired Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife manager. “In places where it’s not harvested anymore, it’s disappeared. Kind of like sweet grass, it needs to be pulled up and picked. Rice needs to be harvested to reseed itself. We’re here to celebrate that today.”

The St. Louis River. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Under a blue sky and calm winds, my co-worker (who shall remain nameless for reasons that will become clear soon) and I clambered into our canoe with our life jackets, a pair of rice knocking sticks and long pole. We paddled toward the wild rice bed where Grandmaison was stationed in a motorboat and kayak to aid us ricers. We spotted a gleaming white pair of trumpeter swans and we watched as a small kettle of hawks circled overhead.

We must have not done our opening ceremonies correctly, because things did not go as planned. I was in the bow of the canoe and my job was to use the rice knockers to coax the rice seeds off the plants. My co-worker was in the stern to pole us through the rice bed. That all went fine, for a while.

Marie uses rice knockers to harvest wild rice in the St. Louis River. Image credit: Sharon Moen, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The soft swishing sounds of the aluminum canoe pushing through the thick rice stand combined with the gentle patter of rice seeds falling into it as I gently bent the rice with one knocker and used the other to tap the plants was soothing. The rice stand had already been visited by other groups earlier in the week. That, combined with a heavy rain the day before, made for a sparse harvest. Still, oblong seeds with long grassy tails slowly filled the bottom of our canoe. Some of the seeds were purple, others were tan. A small sora rail flushed several times as we passed. This secretive water bird needs marshes and rice beds as nesting habitat.

My co-worker began poling us through the shallow rice bed sitting down at first. Then she stood for the task, which is how it is traditionally done. As the manoomin continued accumulating in our canoe, the push pole got stuck in the soft muck and she lost her balance.

Into the chilly river we went, rice and all!

Our shouts of surprise and splashes as we struggled to stand in the deep muck alerted Grandmaison to our plight. He paddled over in his kayak and tied a rope onto our swamped canoe. My co-worker and I waded through the waist-deep water, holding onto the canoe through the wild rice beds until we reached shore, which was about 100 yards away.

The swamped ricing canoe. Image credit: David Grandmaison, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

There, we were able to tip the canoe over and empty most of the water (and any wild rice that remained). We took it all in good stride, however, laughing at our plight and commenting about what a good story this would make. I thought up the title of this blog post on the spot. There’s nothing like a real-life experience to provide creative inspiration!

Our misadventure was also probably good for the rice bed. Wild rice is an annual plant and as Minchak mentioned, it needs to be seeded every year to prosper. We just dumped a whole lot of seeds back into the river for next year. Maybe that’s what the wild rice gods wanted us to do?

We were worried about our cell phones and other electronic devices that spent a short time in the water. But our phones, at least, seemed functional.

Cold and wet, my co-worker and I decided we’d had enough ricing for the day. We paddled back to the landing and emptied the remaining water from the canoe, pulling it on land and turning it over.

From the time we overturned in the rice bed to the time we reached the landing we’d been wet for two hours. We headed home for warm, dry clothes. We would miss the rice processing demonstration and a wild rice-themed meal. We were disappointed to cut the experience short.

However, I happened to have a special lunch awaiting me at home: wild rice soup. I swear, I did not plan that. I just worked out that way.

My co-worker and I certainly got “immersed” in the process of harvesting wild rice. The experience was memorable and was not one we could have had only a few years ago, before efforts to restore rice took off in the estuary.

But if we ever do it again, I’m going to volunteer to be the poler.

Marie’s clothes drying out at home. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The post Wild ricing in the St. Louis River Estuary: An immersive experience first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/wild-ricing-in-the-st-louis-river-estuary-an-immersive-experience/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Access for All, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Friends of the Apostle Islands, Jeff Rennicke, Lunne Dominy, Natali Chin, Stockton Island, Tommy Richardson

Stockton Island accessibility tour-goers head toward the island in the park service boat, the Phoenix. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Natalie Chin, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s climate and tourism outreach specialist in Superior, Wisconsin, first heard about the “Access for All” campaign by the Friends of the Apostle Islands (Friends) last year. Her personal and professional interests in the accessibility of coastal spaces spurred her to make a personal donation to the project.

This year, she heard a presentation on the campaign while at a conference. The campaign seeks funding for projects to make the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior more accessible. Afterward, Chin used Sea Grant funds to support a series of four trips that the Friends organized this summer to allow people to see progress the National Park Service has made and other accessibility projects that are in the works in the park.

Lynne Dominy, superintendent of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Chin said there are, “So many connections to coastal tourism, diversity, equity and inclusion and accessibility. Also, I try to support efforts throughout the geographic coverage that our field office has – the four northern Wisconsin counties.”

Chin was invited to attend one of the Access for All tours last month. Before boarding the Phoenix, the park service boat that would take tour-goers to Stockton Island, Lynne Dominy, park superintendent, and Jeff Rennicke, executive director of the Friends, provided a short orientation.

“This park has been here for over 50 years,” Dominy said. “It has a lot of outdated infrastructure as do many of the national parks across the whole nation, and we’re working on them one step at a time.”

Accessible outdoor privies are among the projects recently completed in the park. On Stockton Island, the group planned to visit the accessible amphitheater, which is used for the park’s popular evening ranger talks, and an accessible campsite.

Other projects in the works include a boardwalk to the lighthouse on Sand Island and a ramp to replace 45 steep stairs that lead down to Meyers Beach, a busy entry point for kayakers who want to visit the park’s mainland sea caves.

In a Wisconsin Public Radio interview, Rennicke explained that, “National parks do really belong to all of us. That has to include the one in five Americans who face mobility challenges every day. That’s 61 million people. And if you add to that the millions more who experience vision or hearing or even cognitive challenges, it quickly becomes clear that for many people, obstacles in national parks can be the difference between the trip of a lifetime and being left behind.”

Tommy Richardson, accessibility coordinator for the park, discusses construction of the accessible amphitheater on Stockton Island. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Rennicke set the charge for the tour. “Look with your eyes, have a great time, but don’t forget to look with your heart at how we can help other people enjoy this as well. That’s what our Access for All program is all about.”

After crossing 13 miles of Lake Superior to Stockton Island, the group assembled at the renovated amphitheater. Park staff explained the former structure had basically been a muddy mess, and that it was impossible for a person in a wheelchair to negotiate the slope.

Tommy Richardson, marine and grounds supervisor and accessibility coordinator for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, said that before the accessibility initiative, “We didn’t do much around here except mow the lawn.”

Not so now. Richardson and his eight-man crew ferried supplies for the amphitheater via three or four boat trips and hand carried them to the site on the hillside during renovation. After three weeks of work they had a new structure, which featured a ramp and a tiered deck with benches. A round metal firepit sits on a metal grate on the boardwalk at the front of the amphitheater.

The fire pit was Richardson’s brainchild. He said designing one that could be used safely on a boardwalk was challenging. “If you Google it, not a lot comes up.”

The fire pit on the accessible amphitheater boardwalk. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

He gained ideas from consulting with other accessibility coordinators and visiting other accessible outdoors sites in the area. His same firepit design is now used at the three accessible campsites on the island.

Rennicke relayed what the accessible facilities mean to visitors. He said a park ranger was approached after the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the amphitheater in 2022. “One of the visitors that day was from a sailboat. With tears in her eyes, she expressed her gratitude for the amphitheater. Her husband had been hit by a car two years earlier and permanently disabled. As his primary caregiver, this was her first trip out with him to do something they had always done together.”

After a short walk down a boardwalk to Campsite #1, the group was able to see more of Richardson’s ingenuity. The accessible campsite featured a square wooden platform with a fire pit.

“How many of you have ever pounded in a tent stake with a rock?” Rennicke asked. “That’s part of camping. So, if you’re going to camp on a platform, Tommy and his crew said, well, you’ve got to have that experience of putting the stakes in. You don’t want people pounding stakes into your boards, right?”

The box of docking rings, which are used to secure tents to the campsite platforms. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Richardson took a round metal ring out of a wooden box on the railing that surrounds the platform. “They’re docking rings,” he said. “They’re used a lot in Minnesota. They go between the dock boards and you turn them, and they’ll just hold tight.” The rings are available to campers to secure their tents to the wooden platform.

Dominy explained that the park’s accessibility efforts are spreading to the rest of the community and within the park service. “This is how you create change – to show people that it’s possible. Then everybody wants to be a part of it because people want Bayfield to be accessible. . . We set a really high bar and we expect everyone to come on board with us.”

After time to walk the trails and beaches on the island, the group headed back to the mainland on the Phoenix. Chin was impressed by the projects she toured. “It’s obvious that there’s a lot of thought and passion that’s gone into the work, and it was really cool to see it personally. . . We’re trying to help increase access to coastal spaces so that people can come to the lakeshore, learn about the Great Lakes and experience it for themselves. Supporting efforts like these falls within our mission of outreach and education, and also promoting the sustainable use of the Great Lakes, as well.”

To learn more about the Access for All campaign, visit their website.

Visitors enjoy Julian Bay on Stockton Island, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The post Providing access for all to a national lakeshore first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/providing-access-for-all-to-a-national-lakeshore/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Alex Faber, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Birchline Planning, city of Ashland, Juli Beth Hinds, Linda Reid, Natalie Chin, Philomena Kebec, Sara Hudson, Superior Rivers Watershed Association, Water 365, what does housing have to do with green infrastructure webinar

A report published recently by Wisconsin Sea Grant cites a lack of housing as a major barrier to development of nature-based jobs in Wisconsin’s northern tier. This includes Douglas, Ashland, Bayfield and Iron counties.

Lind Reid, owner and principal consultant with Water 365 LLC. Submitted photo.

“I like to think of this as our Forest Gump project because, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’ll get,’” said Linda Reid, owner and principal consultant with Water 365 LLC, which prepared the report along with Birchline Planning LLC. “Housing supply, housing availability, housing quality and housing costs all rose to the top as key issues for nature-based solutions and green infrastructure implementation challenges. That wasn’t something that was planned.”

The report, titled, “Workforce Needs for Nature-Based Solutions in Wisconsin’s Northern Tier,” is available for free download. The report’s findings were discussed last month during a webinar, “What Does Housing Have to do With Green Infrastructure? Workforce Needs in Northern Wisconsin.”

Reid described the topics they focused on during their interviews with people across the northern region. “We were looking at wetland restoration, urban and rural stream restoration, floodplain restoration, coastal restoration, landscape area restoration, and maintenance and culvert replacement as some of the key topics,” she said.

Three of the people interviewed for the report participated in the webinar. These included Alex Faber, executive director, Superior Rivers Watershed Association; Sara Hudson, director, city of Ashland Parks and Recreation; and Philomena Kebec, economic development coordinator, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Hudson concurred with the report’s findings about housing. “We definitely have a housing shortage here in Ashland. The houses that are on the market need a lot of work and so most people can’t afford to buy a house in order to fix it up to where you’d want to live there,” she said.

Juli Beth Hinds, principal at Birchline Planning LLC. Submitted photo

Juli Beth Hinds, another report author and principal at Birchline Planning, added, “It’s not economical to renovate properties that are in pretty poor condition because the market for resale just isn’t high enough yet. In other words, one of the flipping shows from HGTV is not coming soon to Washburn or Ashland. Those economics aren’t working and they’re working against the region.”

Hinds also said short-term summer rentals take many homes off the market due to the area’s tourism economy.

In addition to the housing issue, the report found strong capacity, interest and strengths in the region that support use of nature-based solutions.

“Overall, the region’s public, private, educational and nonprofit leaders have an exceptional understanding of nature-based solutions and green infrastructure practices,” said Natalie Chin, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s climate and tourism outreach specialist who commissioned the report. “However, the region is held back by the sheer lack of people available to carry out this work. Also, communities need more capacity when it comes to project management. Writing grants and executing them is a full-time job just by itself for these types of projects.”

Providing employment programs for people emerging from incarceration and addiction was cited as one possible solution to green infrastructure project employment needs during the webinar.

The nature-based jobs webinar panelists. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

“There is a lack of medication-assisted treatment here. There’s a lack of support services for reintegration. That could also be a big piece in building up capacity to do nature-based solutions and build more community resilience,” Hinds said.

Kebec said the Bad River Tribe is also focused on supportive employment opportunities for people battling addiction.

Hinds concluded, “We need the environmental community’s voice in the dialogue around housing supply, around the problems of Wisconsin municipal levy limits, around addiction and incarceration and around community vitality. Often, these aren’t seen as environmental resilience issues, but they absolutely are.”

As next steps, this report recommends that Wisconsin Sea Grant and its regional partners consider options to build grant and project management capacity, address the regional housing shortage, work toward legislative reform and facilitate training that will support specific needs in the northern tier around nature-based solutions. Case studies of efforts in other rural regions are provided to illustrate successful strategies from other areas.

For more information, watch a video of the webinar on YouTube.

The post Lack of housing looms large as barrier to nature-based jobs in northern Wisconsin first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/lack-of-housing-looms-large-as-barrier-to-nature-based-jobs-in-northern-wisconsin/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Chief Lamotte, Christine Fossen-Rades, Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, David Overstreet, Green Bay, Margaret Ellis, Menominee Indian High School, Point au Sable, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wequiock Creek Natural Area, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

By Margaret Ellis – Yotsi’nahkwa’talihahte (Wild Rose), Oneida Nation
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay First Nations Graduate Assistant, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Wequiock Creek Natural Area is one of six places managed by the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay (UWGB). Other areas include the Cofrin Memorial Arboretum and Point au Sable.

In the early stages of the management and restoration of the Wequiock Creek Natural Area, David Overstreet was hired to work with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to identify interested parties to the land and to conduct an archaeological dig. Overstreet is a consulting archaeologist for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and has been doing cultural digs such as this one for many years. The area is the original homeland to many First Nations: Menominee Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Ho-Chunk Nation, Potowatomi and Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. At this point, UWGB knew it had to bring the Indigenous voice back to the lands to ensure any restoration efforts incorporated its original inhabitants.

Consulting Archaeologist David Overstreet, works with Menominee youths on Point au Sable in Green Bay. Image credit: Margaret Ellis

One such effort to bring the voice back is to connect Indigenous youth to the area. Overstreet and Bobbie Webster, the natural areas ecologist from the UWGB Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, hosted an archeological dig at Point au Sable this spring. The Point au Sable area is an important site to the Menominee Nation as it is the ancestral and ceded territories of the Menominee Nation. There are references in surveyor notes from early 1800 to Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi and others.

Point au Sable was always a popular spot. We also know Chief Lamotte had a residence at Bay Settlement when he signed the Menominee Treaty of 1831. The goal of the dig was to find any artifacts that may be from Menominee ancestors so they can be analyzed and protected from any further restoration efforts and movement of lands. The dig was also a means of connecting Menominee youth with their original homelands and historical items.

This was the second year that Overstreet organized the dig with Menominee Indian High School students at the tip of Point au Sable, about a mile walk out into the bay of Green Bay. The students were led by Christine Fossen-Rades, a science educator at the Menominee Indian High School. After a quick visit to Wequiock Falls, the students met at Point au Sable.

Overstreet and his son, Ryan, marked off archaeological sites prior to the dig so that once everyone arrived, the students could just grab their shovels and sifters and trek the mile to the dig site. They were asked to dig holes to a certain depth or until they hit darker soil. They then used shaker boxes made of screen mesh to sift the soil and sand. The items they were looking for included important artifacts such as cracked rocks, bones, coal and any other objects that may have come from the original inhabitants.  Overstreet educated them in the process of bagging items of interest and labeling them so he could bring them to his lab for analysis. The Menominee youth and Tribe are a big part of this process and benefit from any research and lab results.

Menominee Indian High School students helped uncover the past on Point au Sable in Green Bay. Image credit: Margaret Ellis.

My favorite part about this activity was seeing the elements of past, present and future — Menominee students working on lands that belonged to their ancestors in an effort to support the preservation of their culture while using modern-day science. The activity represented an Indigenous worldview of continuity and the circular nature of our being. Experiencing this connection to the past felt like coming full circle and I’m glad to have been involved in it.

This dig is part of an ongoing effort to bring Indigenous voices and presence to UWGB natural areas. As an Indigenous person and UWGB student, I appreciate the movement toward a more inclusive as authentic relationship between UWGB, its natural areas, and the Indigenous Nations that once called them home.

The post Reconnecting Menominee students with their roots in the bay of Green Bay first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/reconnecting-menominee-students-with-their-roots-in-the-bay-of-green-bay/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Cladophera, e. coli, Gyaneshwar Prasad, how many public beaches are in Wisconsin, nutrients and E. coli survival, persistent E.coli in beach sand, Sandra McLellan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Ah, a summer day at the beach: cool water, warm sand and a beverage at hand. Wisconsin’s 180 public beaches are one of the state’s most-valued assets. They provide recreational opportunities, economic benefits for coastal communities and enhance the quality of life for residents.

Keeping those beaches safe for people to use is a continuing process. Beach managers use levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli), a bacterium from fecal pollution in water to know when to keep beaches open or closed. It’s far from a perfect indicator, however. E. coli can come from many sources, not all of it harmful to humans, and it can persist in the environment sometimes for weeks after it was introduced. In fact, sand can contain more E. coli than water. This can make a beach manager’s job complicated.

Microcosms containing E. coli samples were buried in sand for six weeks at several beaches in a related project by McLellan. Image credit: Natalie Rumball

Sea Grant-funded researchers Sandra McLellan and Gyaneshwar Prasad, both with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, are building on previous research to find ways to decomplicate beach managers’ lives by determining what factors could limit long-term survival of E. coli on beaches.

McLellan, a professor in the School of Freshwater Sciences, explained the pros and cons of E. coli as an indicator.

“It’s a great indicator because it’s so easy for people to culture in the lab. It’s easy to count. Where it’s not a good indicator is it really doesn’t tell you anything about the source of what’s there. You don’t know where to direct your management strategies. Should I be chasing away the birds or should I be looking for a leaking sewage pipe nearby? And then to top it off, the other downside is the E. coli survives outside of a host. There’s prolonged survival in the sand and maybe even growth if enough nutrients are available,” McLellan said.

Once outside a human or animal gut, E. coli usually only live a couple of days. But under certain circumstances, it can live for week or even indefinitely in sand.

With graduate student Sophia Ward’s help, McLellan and Prasad are studying sand and water at six Lake Michigan beaches: two in Kenosha County, two in Manitowoc County and two in Milwaukee County. McLellan thinks this array of beaches will provide good representation of what goes on around the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Sandra McLellan interacts with high school students who are studying E. coli in a program she ran in partnership with the Sixteenth Street Clinic in Milwaukee in 2021. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

They are also testing for levels of nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and iron. In addition, they are conducting laboratory experiments to “starve” long-lived E. coli of these nutrients to see what drives their survival.

For the lab experiments, E. coli is mixed with sand and packed into small microcosms (miniature environments). McLellan describes them as four-inch diameter PVC pipes cut into four-inch sections. “We bury them in a bed of sand and keep them nice and moist. This helps us mimic what happens at the beach. The water can pass through, but the E. coli can’t escape from those little microcosms.”

The E. coli contain an extra piece of DNA that has a green fluorescent protein engineered in such a way that when the cell is starved, it lights up. The researchers then feed them with water containing varying amounts carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and iron. They remove the microcosms periodically and count the E. coli to see how many have survived and see if any display the fluorescent-green markers of starvation.

From preliminary experiments, McLellan suspects carbon might be the most important factor that allows E. coli to persist. In beach environments, carbon is often provided by decaying plant life, especially leaves and the nuisance algae, Cladophora.

Once this limiting factor is confirmed, McLellan and her team will develop a scorecard for the potential of long-term E. coli reservoirs for each beach. “By scoring how easily or how much E. coli is growing in the sand at these beaches, it can help beach managers direct their attention to what might be some probable sources at their beaches,” McLellan said. They are also taking nutrient levels into account.

“The scorecard is developing. I think once we understand the dynamic range of what these beaches look like, then we’ll have a better idea of what the scorecard will actually look like,” she added. The information will also be useful to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which heads the Wisconsin beach monitoring program.

The post Persistent Pollution: Researchers investigate the key to E. coli bacteria survival in Lake Michigan beach sand and water first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

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In: Birchline Planning, green infrastructure report, Natalie Chin, Water 365, what does housing have to do with green infrastructure webinar, Workforce needs for nature-based solutions in Wisconsin's northern tier report

Wisconsin Sea Grant is organizing a webinar and has produced a report regarding the status of nature-based jobs in Wisconsin’s northern tier, which includes Douglas, Ashland, Bayfield and Iron counties.

The webinar, “What Does Housing Have to do with Green Infrastructure? Workforce Needs in Northern Wisconsin,” is scheduled for noon-1 p.m., Tuesday July 18 on Zoom. Preregister for it here.

The report it is based on, titled, “Workforce Needs for Nature-Based Solutions in Wisconsin’s Northern Tier,” is available for free download from Wisconsin Sea Grant. It was prepared by Birchline Planning LLC and Water 365 LLC.

Natalie Chin, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s climate and tourism outreach specialist, said the report and webinar deal with projects that implement green infrastructure practices in communities. “It’s using the benefits of nature to help communities mitigate or reduce the impacts of climate change that we’re seeing because of lake levels, warming and more rain,” Chin said.

Examples of nature-based solutions include stabilizing shorelines through planting greenery instead of hardening the shoreline with concrete and installing pervious pavers in parking lots that allow water to infiltrate into the soil instead of running off into storm sewers or waterways.

The report found not only strong capacity, interest and strengths in the region that support use of nature-based solutions, but also several unexpected limitations relating to a region-wide housing shortage and limits on municipal fiscal capacity.

Natalie Chin, climate and tourism outreach specialist, Wisconsin Sea Grant. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

“Overall, the region’s public, private, educational and nonprofit leaders have an exceptional understanding of nature-based solutions and green infrastructure practices,” said Chin. “However, the region is held back by the sheer lack of people available to carry out this work. Housing availability was cited as the single most difficult limitation on recruitment. Also, communities need more capacity when it comes to project management. Writing grants and executing them is a full-time job just by itself for these types of projects.”

As next steps, this report recommends that Wisconsin Sea Grant and its regional partners consider options to build grant and project management capacity, address the regional housing shortage, work toward legislative reform and facilitate training that will support specific needs in the northern tier around nature-based solutions. Case studies of efforts in other rural regions are provided to illustrate successful strategies from other areas.

During the July 18 webinar, report authors Juli Beth (JB) Hinds and Linda Reid will share their key findings. This will be followed by a panel discussion where people who were interviewed for the report will share their perspectives. These include Alex Faber, executive director, Superior Rivers Watershed Association; Sara Hudson, director, City of Ashland Parks and Recreation; and Philomena Kebec, economic development coordinator, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

The post Webinar and report available about nature-based jobs in northern Wisconsin first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

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In: American bitterns, American white pelicans, birding, Bonaparte's gulls, common terns, Natural Resources Research Institute, nighthawks, Parasitic jaegers, River Talks, River Walks, rusty blackbirds, Steve Kolbe, trumpeter swans

Steve Kolbe on Hawk Ridge in Duluth, Minnesota. Image Credit: Natural Resources Research Institute

The final talk of the 2022-23 River Talk season took place in early May. Steve Kolbe, an avian ecologist with the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute, gave a presentation about where to find birds in the St. Louis River Estuary and led attendees on a short bird walk on Barker’s Island in Superior near the Lake Superior Estuarium.

“The reason I live in this area is because of birds, specifically because of bird migration,” Kolbe said. “This is an amazing part of the world, both in the fall and in the spring. Birding isn’t just a hobby for me. It’s not just a job. It’s sort of like an obsession.”

Spring

Kolbe began his talk with the snowy owl. They’re often seen in winter on Barker’s Island and the Superior Airport and surrounding area. Their preferred habitat is the Arctic tundra, so they like the open spaces that the airport provides.

An American white pelican files over the St. Louis River at Chambers Grove. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov

Trumpeter swans are some of the first birds to migrate through in the spring after ice-out. Kolbe often finds them in Rask Bay on the St. Louis River.

American white pelicans stage in groups in the spring in Chambers Grove along the river. “For whatever reason, they like the little island in the middle of the river. They hang out there for almost a month before heading farther north,” Kolbe said.

Bonaparte’s gulls can be found in Lake Superior off Lafayette Square on Park Point en masse. “This is one of my all-time favorite birds and an area specialty. The first week in May, these beautiful, vocal and awesome-looking small gulls with a black head and a silver back with red legs stage on Lake Superior. They hang out for a day or two and then leave in a huge flock,” he said.

Summer

American bitterns breed in Mud Lake and Allouez Bay in wetlands.

Common terns breed on Interstate Island – the sandy island that can be seen off the Blatnik Bridge. Kolbe said they winter in Peru, so they “put on a lot of miles.” The island is protected, so people can’t visit it without a permit. The best place to see them from the mainland is at Rice’s Point boat launch in Duluth with binoculars or a spotting scope.

Fall

For work, Kolbe studies rusty blackbirds. He said this wetland species likes to spend time in North Bay on the river and on many of the islands below the Fond du Lac Dam. Unlike most fall migrants, these blackbirds stay in the area for an extend time – two or three weeks. He suspects they may be using that time to molt their feathers. “Whatever they’re doing, it’s obviously a really important spot,” Kolbe said.

River Talk participants view birds on Barker’s Island. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Parasitic jaegers migrate along Wisconsin Point in September. These birds are known for their feeding style, which involves stealing food from gulls. “They look like a gull mixed with a peregrine falcon,” Kolbe said. “It’s certainly not a bird that you see many places. They nest in the high Arctic and winter at sea. So, it’s cool to be able to see them in Duluth and Superior.”

Flocks of sanderlings and a few piping plovers can be found on area beaches in fall and spring.

Kolbe studied the common nighthawk for his master’s degree. They are another species that migrates en masse along the shore of Lake Superior during fall. “In the second half of August, if you get a really warm day with light winds, go outside in the evening and look up. If you’re lucky, you’ll see something on the order of 15,000 of these birds,” Kolbe said.  He’s been counting the birds during their migration for the past 15 years. He uses the information to develop population trend information for the species. “They seem to be doing OK,” he said.

Hawk Ridge in Duluth is a great place to see hawks and other birds in the spring and fall. Bald eagles are a common species of interest who are here year-round. “It’s really a success story that we’re able to enjoy them so readily and easily around here,” said Kolbe.

During a walk around Barker’s Island, the group saw a mix of birds: buffleheads, a horned grebe, red-winged blackbirds, mallards, a rock pigeon, a common merganser, a song sparrow, ruddy ducks and herring gulls.

River Talks will begin again for its 11th season next fall. In the meantime, there’s a new spinoff series that the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve has begun for summer, called River Walks. Find more info about it here.

 

The post Where to find birds in the St. Louis River Estuary first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

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In: Andrew Stoub, Bonnie McKiernan, Escuela Verde, Green Bay Packing Company, Konecranes, Land-O-Lakes, Menominee Enterprises, Olivia Durocher, Soaring Eagle Dairy, Wisconsin Idea Seminar

A Wisconsin Idea Seminar participant contemplates the Wolf River at Big Smokey Falls in the Menominee Reservation. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

This is the second (and final) story in a series about my weeklong trip around Wisconsin as part of the Wisconsin Idea Seminar. Part 1 described our experience on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus learning about Ho-Chunk history. Read that story here. This part will describe the rest of the trip in general, focusing on a tour of the Green Bay Packaging Co.

The Historic Indian Agency House in Portage. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Continuing the first day of our tour, a Badger Bus took us to Portage, where we visited the Historic Indian Agency House, which is where the Ho-Chunk people came to collect their government allotments once they were displaced from their lands by settlers. Reading the names of the Native families on the outdoor plaques was a poignant reminder of this traumatic time in history.

Then we traveled to Appleton, where we took a walking tour of the town, learning about

Black history. When the area was first settled, some land and businesses were owned by Black people, but by the 1930s, the town was entirely white due to organized, unofficial harassment that drove Blacks away. That has thankfully turned around so much that there’s even a soul food restaurant in town, which is where we ate supper.

On Day 2, we drove to Green Bay where we toured the impressive Green Bay Packaging Co. There was a rumor floating around on the bus that this was the business that the Green Bay Packers football team was named after. Later, I discovered through my own research that this wasn’t true. The Packers were named after a meat-packing plant, which was one of their first sponsors. See, this Minnesotan really is learning about Wisconsin culture!

Green Bay Packaging makes paper from recycled materials. That paper is then used to make boxes. They don’t make the boxes on-site – they ship their paper elsewhere for that. Two years ago, they expanded their facilities on the same land by the bay. Much of the process is automated. Even so, the company employs more workers than before. In the early 1990s, this mill was one of the first in the world to become totally effluent free (zero discharge of wastewater).

We were led through the plant by Olivia Durocher, project development specialist, and Andrew Stoub, environmental manager. Durocher said that 50% of their recycled materials comes from “big box” companies like Target and Walmart and the other 50% comes from consumers. They produce about 550 tons of paper per year.

“Wisconsin has been a top producer of paper for a long time,” Durocher said. “We’re happy to have a hand in that.”

She explained that a paper fiber can be recycled seven times before it becomes too short to be used any more. That’s why other mills still use trees to make paper. “If you stopped introducing virgin fiber into the system, the entire country would run completely out of boxes in about six months or less. That’s why it’s important to continue to plant trees and use virgin fiber to produce kraft paper. It introduces that virgin fiber into the system. That’s why we can’t have all the mills be recycled mills,” Durocher said.

Wisconsin Idea Seminar stops. Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Stoub said the water used in the plant does not come from the bay. About half of the water is recycled from treated water the mill has already used and half comes from treated wastewater from the city of Green Bay. The company uses the methane gas produced by their wastewater digestor to feed their boilers instead of burning the gas off, which many facilities do. Plus, the gas fuels a generator that produces enough electricity to power the mill’s wastewater treatment plant. “It’s a pretty cool sustainable system,” Stoub said.

During our tour of the plant, most impressive to me was its automated 100,000-square-foot paper warehouse. According to Durocher, it’s the largest vertically stacked paper warehouse in the Western Hemisphere. It holds 8,000 rolls of paper, which is the equivalent of 26,000 tons of paper – about 22 days of inventory. No people are allowed in the warehouse because of the danger of a huge tower of paper falling on them. As you can guess, when they built the floor for the warehouse, they took pains to ensure it was totally level!

We were able to view the warehouse through indoor windows. The paper is moved around by four vacuum cranes (Konecranes), which each employ 14,000 pounds of suction. Compared to mechanical cranes, the vacuum cranes allow workers to store the rolls closer together and move them around faster. Paper from the warehouse is shipped out by rail and trucks. Alas, I don’t have any photos of the warehouse or the inside of the mill because we weren’t allowed to take them.

Stoub said you can tell that a box came from the company’s materials because it will have their logo on it.

The business end of a cow at Soaring Eagle Dairy. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Highlights from the rest of the five-day trip included a visit to the Menominee Reservation where we learned about their sustainable timber harvesting practices and sawmill operation. We also visited Big Smokey Falls on the Wolf River on the reservation, where we had a chance to get a feel for the land and contemplate what we’d learned so far. That day ended with a tea-making workshop led by Menominee Elder Bonnie McKiernan. We made a mixture that’s good for colds, with bee balm (which I have a ton of in my yard; I did not know it was edible), peppermint and mullein.

On Day 4, we visited Soaring Eagle Dairy in Newton, a woman-run business. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about how that industry runs. Their milk is used by Land-O-Lakes Inc.

During the final day, we took a walking tour of Milwaukee’s South Side and visited Escuela Verde, a charter school. The tour ended with an art project where we were able to reflect on our experiences.

Through it all, our bus driver Bob was with us. He literally held our lives in his hands, and we respected him greatly. He became a favorite among us.

I came away from the experience feeling more familiar with Wisconsin. This Minnesotan still has a lot to learn, but I feel a bit more confident in my knowledge base now.

The post A Wisconsin Idea Adventure: Part 2 first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/a-wisconsin-idea-adventure-part-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-wisconsin-idea-adventure-part-2

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Amy Rosebrough, Bill Quackenbush, Ho-Chunk, Ho-Chunk effigy mounds, Iron Mound singers, University of Wisconsin-Madison burial mounds, Wisconsin culture, Wisconsin Idea Seminar

I’m a born and bred Minnesotan. I’ve lived there almost my whole life. Sometimes, that can make working for Wisconsin institutions like Sea Grant and the University of Wisconsin-Madison challenging. While I am technically a UW-Madison employee, I live in Duluth, Minnesota, and my office is just across the border in Superior, Wisconsin. Although I’ve worked for Wisconsin Sea Grant 10 years, I’m not as steeped in my workplace’s culture and geography as I am in my home state’s.

Marie Zhuikov. Image credit: John Steffl.

This can lead to some interesting mistakes. One happened a few months ago when a co-worker said they grew up on Wisconsin’s Fox River. I only knew the part of the Fox that connects to Green Bay so, in the story I was writing at the time, I put that person’s birthplace near Green Bay. I was chagrined to learn she actually grew up near Oshkosh on a branch of the river 50 miles away from where I originally placed her.

I hate making mistakes in my stories. Even if it’s just during a draft. So, when I saw an announcement for the Wisconsin Idea Seminar in the UW employee newsletter, I jumped at the chance to apply.

The seminar is an annual five-day immersive study tour of Wisconsin culture and geography for UW-Madison faculty and staff. It’s designed so that participants:

  • Gain a deeper knowledge of the cultural, educational, industrial, social and political realities of Wisconsin
  • Learn firsthand about the social and cultural contexts that shape the lives of many UW students
  • See and experience the university’s connections to the state
  • Understand the public service mission of the university
  • Nurture an increased mutual understanding between the university and the people of Wisconsin

What this looks like in real life is about 40 people on a big red Bucky Badger bus riding around the state, talking to seminar participants and non-participants, diving into activities and drinking in the landscape. The theme this year was Forest + River, which was right up my alley as a water research storyteller who is also a Wisconsin geographically challenged person.

This post focuses on just one of our experiences during the seminar’s first day. I plan to write another post later about the rest of the trip and a visit to the Green Bay Packaging Plant, which makes recycled paper used in boxes.

The Wisconsin Idea tour bus. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

*

Our experience began on the Madison campus with a walking tour of Ho-Chunk sites. Amid a cacophony of spring birdsong, Bill Quackenbush, tribal historic preservation officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation, took us to several effigy mounds. These are ancient burial mounds formed in the shape of animals — birds, in the case of the two that we viewed.

Bill Quackenbush. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The Madison campus is home to more of these ancient earthen monuments than any other university or college campus anywhere in North America, and probably the world. There are 38 burial mounds. At least 14 others have been lost to development. They are several thousand years old, perhaps as ancient as Egypt’s pyramids.

I learned something new right off the bat, mainly that there is a goose-shaped effigy mound right outside the Sea Grant office in Goodnight Hall. Granted, I don’t work on campus, but you’d think I would have heard something about that during my career here! Quackenbush said a Ho-Chunk village used to be where the office building is now located on the shores of Lake Mendota.

He explained how the Ho-Chunk are working to reclaim their culture. “These earth works are one small example of a portion of our life. We are no different today then we were back then. We humans like to take care of not only our babies and our children, but also our ancestors,” Quackenbush said.

He criticized a stone marker on the mound not only for disturbing the site but for the text on it, which gives the impression that the mound is a thing of the past. “It isn’t a thing of the past at all,” Quackenbush said. “This is ever-present. It’s living and it’s here. Our ancestors are buried in this ground. They’re living, breathing things to us like that tree over there. Their bones have probably returned to the earth by now, but it’s the ground that is sacred to us.

Goodnight Hall, the home of Wisconsin Sea Grant on the UW-Madison campus. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

“However, I don’t want to be all doom and gloom. There’s a lot of good things that have come from protecting these mounds,” Quackenbush added.

The mound site was designated on the National Register of Historic Places a few years ago. The University is working to restore an oak savannah that used to exist there.

A short walk took us to the Ho-Chunk Clan Circle, a series of 12 metal sculptures that was dedicated earlier this year. Each depicts a clan symbol. Quackenbush said the circle represents the Ho-Chunk people as a whole.

Fittingly to my Sea Grant employment, I found myself standing near the Water Spirit sculpture. Quackenbush said the tribe was involved in the process of creating the circle and that the sculpture offers opportunities for him to meet and speak with more groups such as the Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants. He explained the various clan roles and how they fit into the tribe’s governmental system.

Next, the group was able to view a dugout canoe that Quackenbush built with the help of Ho-Chunk youth. They built it in much the same style as the ancient canoes that were recently discovered in Lake Mendota.

The Ho-Chunk goose effigy burial mound near the Sea Grant office. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

“This canoe doesn’t look very exciting, but the journey it’s been on is,” Quackenbush said. “When I saw that the historical society discovered the dugout canoes in the lake behind you as I was drinking my cup of coffee, it shot out of my nostrils! It was amazing to me because we had aspirations of putting one of them together.”

Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants tour the Ho-Chunk Clan Circle. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

He worked with Dane County to find a suitable cottonwood tree that was going to be removed for a trail project. The county delivered the tree to a youth education center, which is where Quackenbush and the students worked on it. Everything came together and, like the clan circle, the canoe is a great educational discussion piece.

Amy Rosebrough, interim Wisconsin state archeologist, joined us and described how the historic dugout canoes were found. She also detailed the significance of the new canoe. “These lakes remember. With the canoes, they’re telling the story of the Ho-Chunk presence here.”

Her office’s goal has been to work with Quackenbush and other partners to keep that story alive, “…To let people know that when they’re out there fishing, this isn’t something new. This is something that’s been going on for thousands of thousands of years. It’s not just the mounds, it’s this whole landscape. And to have Bill and his team come through with this new dugout, that was a wonderful thing – to sort of bring that back,” Rosebrough said.

Our visit ended with a Ho-Chunk drum ceremony by the Iron Mound Singers. Listening to them was like hearing the heartbeat of the Earth. That is definitely not something I get to do every day in my job as a science writer. As we walked back to the bus to head to Portage and Appleton, I felt privileged to learn more about Ho-Chunk culture and the history of the land where the university stands.

Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants view a dugout canoe recently made by Quackenbush and Ho-Chunk youth. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The Iron Mound Singers drum for Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The post A Wisconsin Idea Adventure: Part 1 first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

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In: Adam Swanson, Antarctica, art and science, Blue Heron, endangered animals, Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division Laboratory, Large Lakes Observatory, pollinators, Research Vessel Falkor, River Talks, Schmidt Ocean Institute, tardigrades, Trout Lake Research Station

Adam Swanson discussed the intersections between art and science at the April River Talks. He also showed some of his artworks. Image credit: Michael Anderson

Local environmental science painter and muralist Adam Swanson described how he mixes art and science for the April River Talk, held at the Lake Superior Estuarium in Superior.

After he graduated from art school at the University of Minnesota Duluth, he got a job as a carpenter in Antarctica. He worked there periodically for a decade, helping research teams with their carpentry needs, including on their research vessels.

“In 2001, there were all these scientists doing amazing work that I had never heard of before. For instance, I didn’t realize that climate change was caused by human activity but everyone in Antarctica knew that,” Swanson said.

That really struck him. He was “just a working guy” but he admired the scientists’ focus and determination to see their projects through. When he returned to Minnesota, Swanson would paint “little snapshots” of Antarctica when he wasn’t working for pay. “They weren’t really informed by anything real – they were more imaginative or pretty.”

Eventually, he decided to start painting more seriously. “That’s when I started thinking more about the responsibility of scientists to communicate. When I thought about what I wanted to paint, I thought about my time in Antarctica and decided I wanted to be a bridge between scientists and the public,” Swanson said.

He discovered many local projects that deal with climate change, including one in Bovey, Minnesota. He wrote a grant to volunteer time there and paint what he experienced. For his artworks, Swanson takes photos and paints from those.

Swanson has also had the opportunity to visit the Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division Laboratory in Duluth and other local research facilities.

“I was flying by the seat of my pants. I knew there were people (scientists) who would let me into their space because I was polite.” He also went aboard the Blue Heron research vessel, owned by the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Large Lakes Observatory. “I basically just wandered around on board. I wasn’t trying to be an expert. Just like in Antarctica,” Swanson said.

In 2008, Swanson was chosen for an artist residency for two weeks on the Research Vessel Falkor, which is operated by the Schmidt Ocean Institute and travels all around the world. They were studying organisms that live on methane and sulfur in thermal vents. His goal was to capture what was happening on the ship. His tiny studio was in the ship’s wet lab. “I would often have to move all my stuff if someone needed to pipette one thing into another thing,” he said.

Last summer Swanson mentored an artist at the University of Wisconsin’s Trout Lake Research Station in northern Wisconsin. “My student intern was from the Lac du Flambeau Tribe and my science partner worked for the department of natural resources. It was an awesome experience!”

He also paints on commission from photos, paints murals, and applies for grants for art experiences. Recently, he’s been working on a series of paintings of endangered animals in Minnesota. He juxtaposes them with images of people or human activities to show their interconnections and impacts.

“One reason art is a good communicator for science is because it can play around with different ways for people to connect with science. Maybe the moth doesn’t have the right number of legs, or the colors aren’t exactly right. But the artist has that prerogative. I’m not doing scientific illustration. I’m looking for art to push boundaries – push ideas around.”

Adam Swanson stands in front of one of his murals that feature tardigrades. Submitted image.

Swanson has completed several murals with school children, taking their input on the subject matter and having them help with the painting. Other murals are on buildings in Superior, Duluth and Minneapolis. One is inside the Estuarium. Another, about wild rice restoration, is in West Duluth.

Tardigrades are one of Swanson’s recent favorite subjects. These microscopic animals live in diverse environments and are extremely durable. They are also known as water bears or moss piglets. Swanson said, “After coming off the endangered animal series, I wanted something more resilient.”

Swanson paints about 100 works per year. He tries not to make them too loaded with meaning. “I roll through ideas. I take some cool, interesting stuff, do as much research as I can, and then put it together.”

Currently, Swanson is working on a series of 10 large-scale pollinator paintings, which he plans to exhibit from 5-7 p.m., May 10, at the Duluth Art Institute (Lincoln Building).

Make a night of it — attend his open reception early, then come to the next River Talk, which will be held from 6-8 p.m., May 10, in-person at the Lake Superior Estuarium.  Steve Kolbe with the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute will discuss, “How and Where to Find Birds in the St. Louis River Estuary.”

 

The post Art as a Voice for Science first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: birding in the St. Louis River Estuary, Natural Resources Research Institute, River Talks, Steve Kolbe

Birding is the topic of the final River Talk of this season. The series will resume in fall. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The River Talks will be held from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, May 10 with “How and Where to Find Birds in the St. Louis River Estuary,” an in-person presentation at the Lake Superior Estuarium Confluence Room (3 Marina Drive, Barker’s Island in Superior) given by Steve Kolbe with the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI).

Come learn about where good locations are to see birds in the estuary. Participants will have the chance to view birds on Barker’s Island. Binoculars will be available for those who don’t have some to bring. 

This will be the final River Talks of the season until the series begins again in fall. For more information, visit the River Talks page: go.wisc.edu/4uz720.

The River Talks are sponsored by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program.

 

The post How and where to find birds in the Estuary first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/how-and-where-to-find-birds-in-the-estuary/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-and-where-to-find-birds-in-the-estuary

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: aquatic invasive species management, behavior change, Bret Shaw, North American Lake Management Society, social science, Tim Campbell, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Natural resource management issues often boil down to people management issues. When it comes to lake management, people can be hard to predict. They may say one thing but do another. They may think they’re good environmental stewards even though some of their behaviors suggest otherwise. But to make meaningful progress in aquatic invasive species management issues, human behavior must be taken into account.

Intersections between natural and social science is the theme of a recent article written by Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Aquatic Invasive Species Outreach Specialist Tim Campbell and University of Wisconsin-Madison Associate Professor and Division of Extension Environmental Communication Specialist Bret Shaw. “Natural and Social Science Work Better Together for Managing AIS” appeared in the spring 2023 issue of “Lakeline,” published by the North American Lake Management Society.

The article outlines effective social science methods, including understanding target audiences, crafting better messages and addressing barriers to behavior change.

The post Aquatic invasive species management through people management first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/aquatic-invasive-species-management-through-people-management/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=aquatic-invasive-species-management-through-people-management

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Chelsea Volpano, College of Menominee Nation, Great Lakes Quests, J. Elmo Rawling, Justin Hougham, Lake Michigan erosion, Lucas Zoet, Luke Zoet, Point Beach State Forest, Port Washington, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey

Chelsea Volpano works with a remote-controlled boat used to research erosion along Lake Michigan. Image credit: Chelsea Volpano, University of Wisconsin-Madison

High water levels in Lake Michigan since 2013 have caused erosion rates that are faster than usual, especially in 2020, when lake levels set records. This has created an urgent need to know more about erosion processes along and in the lake.

Lucas Zoet with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Geoscience and his research team are looking at bluff erosion and sediment movement at two Wisconsin sites along Lake Michigan in a holistic way to better understand erosion rates and where the eroding sediment goes. This information will help guide shore protection and bluff stabilization processes and preserve beaches for recreation.

The two study sites are located just south of Port Washington and at Point Beach State Forest, which is farther north, near Two Rivers. The researchers chose those sites because they offer good representations of different erosion processes. The Port Washington site sits on a bluff, the Point Beach State Forest site is composed of sand dunes.

Lucas Zoet, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Submitted image

“The processes on these sites can be applied all over the place in Wisconsin,” Zoet said. “Lots of the bluffs we have are generally similar to those at the Port Washington site, composed of a mix of glacial tills and various lake deposits that are interbedded. So just understanding these processes at a base level, they should be generally applicable to more or less everywhere.”

The project’s holistic approach is unique. “The real strength of this project is that it doesn’t break the whole system up into little chunks, like we study this part and then we don’t know how it works because it’s in isolation from this other part. Instead, we’re trying to look at the whole continuous system, from what’s happening onshore, to what’s happening on the beach, to what’s happening in the nearshore over multiple years. We can study this on a representative timescale. Not just in a week or a month, but over seasons, which we know is such a big player in the Great Lakes region,” Zoet said.

Compared to the well-studied processes that happen on marine coastlines, winter is the season that makes erosion issues in the Great Lakes distinctive. Zoet said that cold weather impacts erosion differently.

“We have this season where the bluffs freeze solid, the shore ice forms – all these different components that drastically alter sediment transport. You don’t see that if you’re looking at beaches in North Carolina or Oregon,” Zoet said.

To study the onshore section, Zoet, J. Elmo Rawling with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey and Ph.D. student Chelsea Volpano, use drones and trail cams to gather data. To study the beach, Volpano conducts wading surveys. For these, Zoet said Volpano carries a staff with a GPS unit on it to measure lakebed elevation.

“She walks out into the water up to about her waist, about a meter deep and just does that over and over. So, with that, she can connect the onshore component to the offshore component for this continuous map that’s called topo-bathy,” Zoet said. This type of field work is uncommon. “She might be one of the only people to do these wading surveys in near-freezing waters, repeatedly throughout the years,” Zoet added.

To study the nearshore area, the team uses a medium-sized remote-controlled boat that contains an instrument that measures the elevation of the lakebed for a full 3D map of the system. By repeating these measurements over time, the team can assess how the lakebed is changing and where the sediment is going.

(Drone footage by the research team of a landslide area along Lake Michigan.)

One aspect of communicating the project involves Great Lakes Quests. These are story maps compiled by Justin Hougham, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Sea Grant. The Port Washington site is already part of the Quest database, but the Point Beach State Forest isn’t, and will be added.

The project will also be communicated through public workshops for educators and property owners along Lake Michigan who are concerned about coastal erosion. “We’ll do a walk of the terrain with them and we’ll probably bring a couple of the instruments we use, like the drone and the remote-controlled boat,” Zoet said. The first workshop is planned for September 2024.

Zoet has a long-standing working relationship with the College of Menominee Nation in Wisconsin. He’s currently helping design the college’s new geoscience program. Faculty members at the college plan to recommend students who could help work on the story maps for the project and computer mapping.

Summing up this multifaceted project, Zoet said, “In the end, I think we’ll learn a lot about the processes, but we’ll also learn a lot about how to better advise coastal managers, county managers and parks managers.”

The research team uses a remote-controlled boat to measure the elevation of the lakebed along Lake Michigan. Image credit: Chelsea Volpano, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The post Gaining a big picture of bluff erosion and sand movement along Lake Michigan first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/gaining-a-big-picture-of-bluff-erosion-and-sand-movement-along-lake-michigan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gaining-a-big-picture-of-bluff-erosion-and-sand-movement-along-lake-michigan

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: accessible birding, boy scout landing, everyone can bird

Participants of an accessible birding event spot birds on Barker’s Island in Superior, Wisconsin. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

All are invited to attend the first in a series of three events designed for birders of all skills and abilities. Join “Everyone Can Bird: Spring Arrivals,” 9:30-11:30 a.m., Saturday, May 6, at Boy Scout Landing Public Water Access, 11 Commonwealth Ave., Duluth. 

Designed with accessibility in mind, the event will provide American Sign Language interpretation, stationary birding options, binoculars and spotting scopes for use. Expert birding guides will lead discussion and aid observation. The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Hawk Ridge, Lake Superior Reserve, Wisconsin Sea Grant, and the Minnesota Land Trust are hosting the “Everyone Can Bird” series.

Spring is a great time to spot waterfowl, tree sparrows and bald eagles along the St. Louis River as some birds arrive or travel through after winter. Come and observe which feathery friends await. Light refreshments will be provided. 

In addition to the May 6 event, “Everyone Can Bird” opportunities will be held Aug. 2 at Barker’s Island in Superior, and Oct. 14 at Hawk Ridge in Duluth. The series builds on a previous accessible birding event hosted by the same partners that took place last September on Barker’s Island. 

Registration is encouraged but not required. Learn more or register at bit.ly/4331le7.These activities are designed with access in mind. People who would like to request additional accommodations should email Luciana.Ranelli@wisc.edu or call Luciana at 715-399-4085 at least 10 days before the event.

Boy Scout Landing Public Water Access is a collaborative project of the city of Duluth and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and is one of the public ways to access the St. Louis River freshwater estuary. This “Everyone Can Bird” event occurs the weekend before fishing opener.

 

The post Everyone can bird, first of three accessible birding events first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/everyone-can-bird-first-of-three-accessible-birding-events/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=everyone-can-bird-first-of-three-accessible-birding-events

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Great Lakes Julie song, Great Lakes songs, Ocean Mary, Peter Mayer

Musician Peter Mayer. Submitted photo

I recently attended a concert by Minnesota musician Peter Mayer and another musician. In case you don’t know, Mayer is known for his environmentally themed songs about interconnectedness and the human journey. He has produced 11 albums over 20 years and has received many artist fellowships.

Mayer wrote a song that’s a favorite of mine called “Ocean Mary.” It’s about a woman who “becomes” the ocean from touching a stream near her home. While Mayer didn’t play that song during his recent concert, I found myself thinking about it and wishing someone would write lyrics for a similar song about the Great Lakes.

Gradually, I had the audacity to realize that maybe I could help bring such a song into being if I tweaked the “Ocean Mary” lyrics a little. So, I did! Here’s the result, used with Mayer’s gracious permission. We thought you might enjoy it as a Sea Grant offering for U.S. National Poetry Month.

Great Lakes Julie

There’s a road in a river town
And on that road is Julie’s home
By her house is a deep ravine
Running there is a magic stream
Laughing over sand and rocks
It runs the length of Julie’s block
Another mile to the riverside
And a hundred more to the Great Lakes wide

Now, down in that ravine one day
By the water, Julie lay
Put her hand in the shallow stream
And Julie had a magic dream
She imagined that, inside her, stirred
All the waters of the Earth
Every puddle, every wave
And every one of the five Great Lakes

She could feel the fishes roam
In her fingers and her toes
And in her chest, the Keweenaw Current flows

Now, ever since her dream that day
People say that Julie’s changed
But they sympathize when they think
It must be strange to be the Great Lakes
She senses when the salmon swim
And waterspouts lick her skin
Canada tickles her left arm
And the moon above tugs her heart
Her front is Duluth, her back Oswego
She recollects the glaciers’ decline
Rip currents run up her spine
And lightning tingles when it strikes

She can feel the fishes roam
In her fingers, in her toes
And in her chest, the Keweenaw Current flows

And all this happened, so it seems
Because of Julie’s magic stream
But some will say that ponds and wells
And even rain can cast a spell
And every water drop you ask
Tells a tale of Great Lakes vast
So be careful when you take a drink
There’s magic in the kitchen sink!

The post Great Lakes Julie first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/great-lakes-julie/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=great-lakes-julie

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, First Nations Graduate Assistant, Julia Noordyk, Margaret Ellis, Oneida, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wequiock Creek Natural Area

Margaret Ellis, First Nations Graduate Assistant, Wisconsin Sea Grant. Submitted photo.

Margaret Ellis is the latest person to fill the First Nations Graduate Assistantship with Wisconsin Sea Grant and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Cofrin Center for Biodiversity. Ellis has all the qualifications that look good on paper, plus others that are just as meaningful.

Ellis has a master’s in global Indigenous nations studies with an environmental focus from the University of Kansas and is working toward a Ph.D. in education at UW-Green Bay in First Nations entrepreneurial and small business operations.

“I have the skills; I have the knowledge. My master’s degree was years ago, but you know, I’ve continued to live my life in a certain way that reflects a responsibility to earth and water,” Ellis said.

She also has connections to the Wequiock Creek Natural Area, a 76-acre property with forests, wetlands and prairie she will work on along the lower bay shore area of Green Bay. The area is being restored and is culturally significant to the Oneida, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee nations. Ellis, a member of the Oneida Nation, has been visiting Wequiock Creek since she was a child.

“It was a free place to go and it was beautiful,” she said. “There’s a little waterfall there and so my family would always go there to picnic or just walk around. I was excited to find that connection to the project. I want to bring a voice back to that land and reconnect those nations with the Wequiock area.”

In addition to continuing the tradition of organizing a spring tobacco blessing, Ellis will be helping the Cofrin Center to develop interpretive signage and plant signage featuring Indigenous viewpoints and language. “It’s really about supporting restoration efforts for the natural area and ensuring that the Indigenous knowledge and voice are represented by all the nations that once used the land,” she said.

Wisconsin Sea Grant staff members walk the dry bed of Wequiock Creek. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

In between her degrees, Ellis co-founded Kenco Tribal Marketing Initiative, a full-service marketing and procurement agency serving tribal businesses, plus she owns Mirax, LLC, an apparel business for nonprofits and Native nations. For her Ph.D. dissertation research, she is building off this to create a small business model that is based on the Oneida Thanksgiving Address. Ellis explained that the address gives thanks to all the elements that are on Earth and in the cosmos – water, the sun, plants and the animals. “I want to support small businesses in creating something that keeps those elements in mind. It’s all about sustainability and conscious consumerism,” Ellis said.

Through her business success, academic achievements, and community grassroots efforts Ellis achieved the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development 40 under 40 Award, which recognizes Native American citizens for outstanding leadership and community contributions.

Julia Noordyk, Wisconsin Sea Grant water quality and coastal communities specialist, is Ellis’s supervisor. She’s thrilled that Ellis accepted the position.

“Margaret is such an impressive person. She has a lot of positive energy that she’s willing to share. She’s determined to bring the voices of Indigenous women to the table and integrate business practices that protect water resources. I am hopeful that through this position, Sea Grant can help support her academic and professional goals,” Noordyk said.

Ellis recently posted an announcement about her Sea Grant graduate assistantship on social media. She said, “The post just went crazy! I had so many shares, comments and likes. It made me think it’s a sign that I’m in the right place.”

The post Margaret Ellis: Bringing a voice back to the land first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/margaret-ellis-bringing-a-voice-back-to-the-land/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=margaret-ellis-bringing-a-voice-back-to-the-land

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Andre Bennett, Christine Custer, Emily Cornelius Ruhs, Eve Muslich, Gavin Dehnert, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Jonathan Gilbert, Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe University, lake water, maple sap, maple syrup, Ojibwe Ceded Territories, PFAS, quantifying PFAS, Robert Flynn, Sean Strom, tree swallows, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USGS, Voigt Intertribal Task Force, walleye, wild rice, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, wolves and PFAS levels, Zhewaab Reggie Cadotte
Eve Muslich, University of Wisconsin-Madison, pours maple sap from a collecting bag into a bottle for testing for PFAS. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

April 3, 2023
By Marie Zhuikov

When Jonathan Gilbert, director of biological services with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, received a report about levels of PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) in wolves taken during the 2021 hunting season in Wisconsin, he was flummoxed. The scientific report contained terms and measurements that he, even as a biologist, didn’t understand. Gilbert’s quest for answers led to a larger project that is testing maple syrup, walleyes and lake water for PFAS in areas of the Midwest where Ojibwe tribal members harvest food.

During the wolf season, hunters volunteered their wolf remains to GLIFWC for PFAS testing. Gilbert said about 40% of the wolves had detectable levels of these chemicals. He was given Gavin Dehnert’s name as someone who could help answer his questions about the PFAS report. Dehnert, an emerging contaminants scientist, specializes in PFAS. Dehnert works for Wisconsin Sea Grant, a sister agency to the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute (WRI).

Jonathan Gilbert, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

“So, I called him up and we had a nice conversation and he answered all my questions and educated me quite a bit on this,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert needed to present the wolf data to the Voigt Intertribal Task Force – a group composed of 10 of the 11 Ojibwe tribes that harvest from Ceded Territories in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The task force ensures safe harvest limits and is advised by GLIFWC. Gilbert invited Dehnert to attend the meeting.

Dehnert said, “We spent probably two to three hours just listening to the questions they had, concerns they had – big questions they were really hoping to answer.” Those questions involved PFAS levels in fish, wild rice, and maple syrup and other things tribal members harvest on a regular basis.

“Gavin kept saying, ‘Well, we don’t know, we don’t know.’ But he took what he heard there, and he wrote up a grant proposal to test the waters in rice lakes and in walleye lakes, and to test the sap of maple trees. That’s exactly what the tribes were telling him they were really concerned about,” Gilbert said.

The three-year tribally driven project, “Quantifying PFAS bioaccumulation and health impacts on economically important plants and animals associated with aquatic ecosystems in Ceded Territories,” was recently funded by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Water Resources Research Act Program, the same program through which WRI is funded.

The project has three goals: 1) Assess aquatic environments for PFAS contamination in the Ceded Territories, 2) Determine the accumulation of PFAS in different plants and animals and 3) Understand the health impacts from PFAS exposure. In addition to Dehnert and Gilbert, the project involves Emily Cornelius Ruhs with the University of Chicago, Sean Strom with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Christine Custer and Robert Flynn with USGS.

“Zhewaab” Reggie Cadotte, Native American Studies Faculty and Cultural Coordinator, Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe University, and Gavin Dehnert, Wisconsin Sea Grant, inspect a maple tree for sap sampling on Lac Courte Orielles tribal land in northern Wisconsin. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Dehnert said that part one of the project will explore lakes where there’s high harvests of walleye and other fish species and wild rice in Ceded Territories. Researchers will look for the presence of PFAS and determine the levels.

Maple trees were tapped for maple sap collection on Lac Courte Orielles tribal lands to determine levels of PFAS. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Part two involves understanding the bioaccumulation of PFAS in harvestable goods. “If we know that it’s in the water source where these walleye or wild rice are living, we want to be able to have some sort of correlation between how much PFAS is in the lake water and then how much is then getting into the fish and wild rice,” Dehnert said. Gilbert stressed that they don’t know how much PFAS moves from the water into fish and plants. They will also test vats of maple sap harvested by tribal members.

Part three will look at impacts on organisms that live in the aquatic environments, focusing on tree swallows. This part, led by Ruhs, will explore how PFAS can impact the immune function of tree swallows in different life stages, from nestlings to adults. The swallows are considered an indicator species for contaminated water because they feed near their nesting area almost solely on aquatic insects. Researchers will take blood samples from the birds and look at white blood cell count and antibodies.

Part one will begin this spring with sampling of maple sap and lake water in 25 lakes.

Dehnert is looking forward to the project.

“It’s not focusing on just science for science. There’s a true actionable side to it. That was why we chose the plants and animals that were highly harvested by these tribes. If you’re finding high concentrations of PFAS in these types of harvestable goods, they are going to disproportionately impact the tribes because they are relying on them for their sustainability and food consumption. Sometimes in science people might look at different plants and animals that don’t really have a cultural tie. So that, to me, has always been why we got so excited about this project,” he said.

A research project team collects maple tree sap for PFAS sampling on Lac Courte Orielles tribal land in spring 2023. Pictured, left to right, are Eve Muslich, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Andre Bennett, Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe University; Gavin Dehnert, Wisconsin Sea Grant; Jonathan Gilbert, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission; and “Zhewaab” Reggie Cadotte, Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe University. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant
The post New project tests Ceded Territories for PFAS at request of tribes first appeared on WRI.

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News Release | WRI

News Release | WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/new-project-tests-ceded-territories-for-pfas-at-request-of-tribes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-project-tests-ceded-territories-for-pfas-at-request-of-tribes

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Adam Swanson, art and science, River Talks

Adam Swanson stands in front of one of his murals. Submitted image.

The River Talks will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 12 with “Art as a Voice for Science,” an in-person and virtual presentation at the Lake Superior Estuarium Confluence Room (3 Marina Drive, Barker’s Island in Superior) given by Adam Swanson, local muralist and environmental artist whose work has been exhibited internationally.

Science and art are both attempts to understand and describe the world. Understanding and communicating abstract ideas are important in the modern merging of the two disciplines. Swanson will discuss how he integrates science topics into his artwork, he’ll describe some of his science/art residencies and he will overview other science-based artists he’s met. Refreshments will be provided.

To join by Zoom, please pre-register at this link: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEtd-2vpz8tGd25-1MKz4NAeH5uBroYdAR6

The final River Talks of the season will be held May 10. For more information, visit the River Talks page: go.wisc.edu/4uz720.

The River Talks are sponsored by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program.

 

The post Art as a Voice for Science first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Allouez Bay, Cat Island project, David Grandmaison, Matt Steiger, piping plovers, St. Louis River Alliance, St. Louis River Summit, wild rice, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Point, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Field trip participants with the St. Louis River Summit learn about efforts to encourage piping plovers to nest on Wisconsin Point. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

I participated in a field trip during the recent St. Louis River Summit that involved snowshoeing out to a bird sanctuary on Wisconsin Point, which is near Superior, Wisconsin. The sanctuary is a protected area on a sandy spit of land, specifically designated for endangered shorebirds called piping plovers (Charadrius melodus).

I enjoy any opportunity to visit Wisconsin Point, but I also attended because I was involved in early habitat restoration efforts for these cute little birds before I worked for Wisconsin Sea Grant. I was interested in hearing the latest intel about their status.

A piping plover. Image credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The St. Louis River Estuary had breeding plover pairs up until 1989. The last nesting pair was seen at this bird sanctuary site. Plovers, which look like killdeers, prefer large isolated beaches for nesting. Much of this habitat type has been lost due to development and recreational pressure. Work to increase the population of plovers is going on all across the Great Lakes and in other parts of the country.

Matt Steiger, St. Louis River Area of Concern Coordinator with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), led the field trip along with David Grandmaison, St. Louis River wild rice and habitat restoration coordinator with the Wisconsin DNR.

As we snowshoed out to the end of the beach in a cold wind from the northeast, Steiger explained that several projects had taken place on the site over the years to make it attractive to plovers and common terns. The latest was begun with Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding in 2019, which involved enlarging the beach with clean dredged sand. The goal was to create habitat that would last despite changing water levels in the harbor and storms and would require minimal maintenance. Fourteen acres of nesting and foraging habitat were created along with three “nesting pans” composed of small cobblestones that plovers prefer.

Matt Steiger, WI DNR, (center) discusses the Wisconsin Point Bird Sanctuary restoration efforts to field trip participants. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Piping plover monitors coordinated by the St. Louis River Alliance have kept their eyes peeled for any plovers on this site and others around the estuary. So far, none have nested, but sometimes these efforts take time – decades, even. Steiger said that a female plover was spotted in the sanctuary during the spring 2022 migration season at the same time a male was spotted on nearby Minnesota Point. Let’s hope that someday two plovers will land on the same beach at the same time!

In other areas of the state, Wisconsin Sea Grant has played an integral role in habitat restoration that benefits piping plovers. Our staff were involved in the Cat Island Restoration Project in Green Bay, which created 1,400 acres of barrier islands in Lake Michigan that had previously disappeared due to high lake levels and storms. In 2016, for the first time in 75 years, endangered piping plovers successfully nested on a restored island there and fledged chicks.

Sea Grant was also involved in an earlier effort on Wisconsin Point’s Shaefer Beach to create plover habitat. We were involved in initial design discussions for the bird sanctuary work but are not currently participating. For more information, see this cool post and videos on the Perfect Duluth Day website.

At the end of the tour, Grandmaison described work going on in nearby Allouez Bay to restore wild rice beds. Historically, wild rice was abundant in Allouez bay and throughout the estuary, providing an important food source for Native Americans. Wild rice beds also provided habitat and food for birds and wildlife. Their abundance in the estuary declined significantly in the past century, and today only a sparse remnant stand exists in Allouez Bay. Wild rice seeds were spread throughout the bay. Exclosure fencing was installed protect the seedlings from browsing pressure of Canada geese.

As I snowshoed back to my car, I remained hopeful that someday, Wisconsin Point will be home to nesting piping plovers and lush stands of wild rice, thanks to these efforts.

The post Restoring piping plover habitat on Wisconsin Point first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/restoring-piping-plover-habitat-on-wisconsin-point/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=restoring-piping-plover-habitat-on-wisconsin-point

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Christine Carlson, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa., Fond du Lac MN, Mark McConnell, Ojibwe stories, River Talks

Christine Carlson and Mark McConnell. Image credit: Anna Martineau Merrit

Two speakers shared their wealth of knowledge with a large audience for the March River Talk, held at the Lake Superior Estuarium in Superior. The evening began with Christine Carlson, a historian and columnist for the Fond du Lac Tribe’s newspaper.

The talk was held on March 8, which was International Women’s Day. In honor of this, Carlson highlighted Sophie Bruin, a woman who lived on an island in the St. Louis River between Gary and New Duluth in a one-room cabin with her eight children. Her granddaughter Bea Bruin was in the audience. Newspaper accounts detailed their rescue by rowboat in 1897 when the island flooded. Sophie earned money by selling milk from her four cows. She also had a vegetable garden and hay field off the island.

“She was an incredible woman and that’s why I wanted to highlight Sophie Bruin,” Carlson said.

She then provided the audience with copies of her self-published book, “Wa ye kwaa gichi gamiing: Fond du Lac, End of Great Body of Water & a Visual Feast,” which contains history of the area and many photos.

Carlson grew up in Fond du Lac, which was a settlement for the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples and a fur trading post — precursor to the city of Duluth. When the Fond du Lac Reservation was established in 1854, many Native people moved there, but some stayed in the town of Fond du Lac. Carlson described the lives of some of the families that stayed, including the Charettes, LeGardes and Durfees. She also described how Fond du Lac was a popular tourist destination beginning in the late 1800s. Riverboats from Duluth would ferry people to the spot.

“Some of those boats had a thousand people in them. They’d come for picnics – huge picnics in Chambers Grove – the Elks, the newsboys, the police officers. The riverboats docked at 133rd Avenue West, Nekuk Island, and a third location,” Carlson said. The Montauk was perhaps the longest-running riverboat. It sported slot machines, not allowed on land, and offered dancing.

Later, a ski jump called Ojibwe Bowl, a fish hatchery, and an arboretum were built in the community. Carlson recalls sliding down the ski jump hill once competitions were over. “We didn’t have sleds back then. We just had cardboard. It was a big climb and then we’d slide down that hill. What a ride that was, I tell ya,” she said.

The second speaker was Mark McConnell, an Elder with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. His family used to live on Wisconsin Point and like those who Carlson mentioned, did not move to the reservation.

He related seven stories, which are usually only told during winter. He began with a water-based tale about how the loon got its necklace, or the patterning around its neck. His next described why making maple syrup is so labor-intensive. “Everything that we do in our culture for gathering – be it sugar bush, ricing, netting fish – takes a lot of work. I think it gives people more appreciation for the end product,” McConnell said.

His third story described why the black bear’s tail is so short. Others were about how porcupines got their quills, why turtles don’t migrate, and how the Apostle Islands were formed (which involved a giant beaver). His final story dealt with a lost deer hunter who, after falling into a lake, took shelter overnight in winter with a hibernating bear.

McConnell also discussed how fire fits into Ojibwe culture to encourage the growth of blueberries and to honor the dead. It’s nice to see fire coming back,” he said. “It’s not a bad thing if handled carefully.”

The next River Talk will be held on April 12 in-person at the Lake Superior Estuarium and by Zoom. It will feature local environmental science painter and muralist Adam Swanson who will describe how he mixes art and science.

The post History of Fond du Lac and winter Ojibwe stories shared at River Talks first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: boat washing station, Kewaunee Marina, rain gardens, Ruekert & Mielke Inc, stormwater improvements, Theresa Qualls, Wisconsin Clean Marina Program

The Kewaunee Marina is working toward certification in the Clean Marina Program. Image credit: Theresa Qualls, Wisconsin Clean Marina Program

Staff at the city marina in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, were interested in voluntarily gaining certification as a clean marina, but several challenges faced them. Lucky for them, the Wisconsin Clean Marina Program not only certifies marinas in the state as environmentally friendly, it also helps them get to that point by providing guidance, training and technical assistance in adopting best management practices (BMPs) that reduce pollution and protect Wisconsin’s waterways.

The Kewaunee Marina sits on Lake Michigan at the base of the Door County peninsula. This 104-slip full-service facility is operated by the city, and features a public boat launch, parking lot, fish cleaning station and campground.

The marina would need to undertake several difficult and costly projects to improve coastal resilience and stay open during high-lake-level years. That’s where Clean Marina Program Coordinator Theresa Qualls comes in. Her program wrote a grant proposal to the Fund for Lake Michigan for money to develop a plan for two big-ticket items the marina needs: a boat washing station and stormwater improvements. The proposal was successful, and the engineering plan is now almost complete.

Once implemented, the boat washing station and stormwater improvements are expected to have major positive impacts on water quality and flooding. Qualls explained that boat washing stations are used at the end of the boating season in the fall. Boats are hauled out on land and their bottoms are pressure-washed to remove dirt and any growths that have accumulated. This usually takes place over the course of a month and involves many boats.

Once implemented, a new boat washing station and stormwater improvements are expected to have major positive impacts on water quality and flooding at the Kewaunee Marina. Image credit: Theresa Qualls

“Traditionally, all of that material would get washed right back into the lake, and the bottom paint kind of sloughs off,” said Qualls. “It can contain metals such as copper. It’s not good for the environment or for water quality and wildlife. So, practices are needed to either collect and treat the wastewater or divert it so it can settle in a different area.”

The plan for Kewaunee Marina involves installing a new boat washing station and directing the wash water into a rain garden, which will naturally clean the water as it filters through the sand and is soaked up by plant roots. The proposed station will also allow boaters to remove aquatic invasive species from their watercraft.

The marina’s large parking lot is prone to flooding, so other improvements include raising the level of the parking lot by 2 feet and planting three rain gardens that can help store up to an inch of rain from storms. “That will help with stormwater pollution as well, and should help solve the flooding issues,” said Qualls.

The engineering consulting company, Ruekert & Mielke, Inc., gathered public input on these plans last fall during a meeting held at the marina. “The people who came to the meeting were really engaged and stayed quite a while, and they had some good ideas,” Quall said.

The Kewaunee Marina engineering plan and cost estimates are expected to be completed by this March. Then Qualls will work with the city to find other grant opportunities for the on-the-ground work.

One hitch is that the boat washing station and the rain gardens can’t get put in until the parking lot gets raised. Qualls and the city will also be seeking funding for that. She is optimistic they can find a way to get all the work done.

“The city of Kewaunee and their public works department have been great partners,” she said. “The marina manager, Augie Kinjerski, has been just fabulous to work with. It’s been a great partnership. They’re all really supportive of this.”

Currently, the Clean Marina Program has 21 certified marinas and 24 pledged marinas. Certified marinas have implemented all the BMPs that are advised by the program. Pledged marinas are facilities that are in the process of becoming certified. Qualls said the Kewaunee Marina became pledged in 2021 and she expects they will become certified in the near future.

“We’ve found that boaters really care about the water and the water resources. They are supportive of this program. And we’ve found that these practices do help improve water quality. Marinas want to be part of it, and they’re really proud once they’re certified,” Qualls said.

For more information about the Clean Marina Program in Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states, take a look at this recent story and video.

The post Kewaunee Marina overcoming challenges for Clean Marina certification first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/kewaunee-marina-overcoming-challenges-for-clean-marina-certification/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kewaunee-marina-overcoming-challenges-for-clean-marina-certification

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Christine Carlson, Fond du Lac, history and stories, Mark McConnell, River Talks

The River Talks will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 8 with “History of the Upper Estuary and Fond du Lac Neighborhood: River History and Winter Stories,” an in-person presentation at the Lake Superior Estuarium Confluence Room (3 Marina Drive, Barker’s Island in Superior) given by Christine Carlson, historian and for 13 years, author of a popular column in the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa newspaper “Nagaajiwanaang Dibaajimowinan,” and Mark McConnell, an Elder with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and collaborator with the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve education program. Carlson will share historic insights about the Fond du Lac neighborhood of Duluth and McConnell will share traditional winter stories.

This talk is an evening program held in conjunction with the St. Louis River Summit. Summit registration is not required to attend, and the public is welcome. Light refreshments will be provided. Weather dependent, the stories may be told outside the Estuarium around a fire.

Other River Talks will be held April 12 and May 10, 2023. For more information, visit the River Talks page: go.wisc.edu/4uz720.

The River Talks are sponsored by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program.

 

The post River History and Winter Stories first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/river-history-and-winter-stories/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=river-history-and-winter-stories

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Douglas County, Fond du Lac Natural Resource Management Division, Kelsey Taylor, River Talks, Spiny Waterflea, Stop Spiny, Zach Stewart

The River Talks will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8 with “We’ve Got Fleas! Invaders and Nonlocal Beings on Water and Land,” a Zoom-only presentation given by Kelsey Taylor with Fond du Lac Natural Resource Management Division and Zach Stewart with Douglas County. Taylor will share information about invasive species, or nonlocal beings, present in our region and how they impact the environment. Stewart will discuss the biology, lifecycle and ecological impacts of the invasive spiny waterflea and share information about how to get involved with the “Stop Spiny” prevention program.

In a change from past events, pre-registration is required. Access it via this link.

Other River Talks will be held March 8, April 12 and May 10, 2023. The March talk will be held in conjunction with the St. Louis River Summit. For more information, visit the River Talks page: go.wisc.edu/4uz720.

The River Talks are sponsored by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program.

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Alexandra Pesano, Allie Pesano, black-capped chickadees, Emily Pavlovic, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, house wrens, Human Health and Environment Research Fellows Program, John Haselman, Matt Etterson, PFAS and birds, tree swallows, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, University of Minnesota Duluth

Allie Pesano. Submitted photo.

Allie Pesano first got turned onto birds as an undergraduate at Unity College in Maine. She was studying wildlife biology and, for one class, students were required to learn about various common North American wildlife species. The variety of birds sparked her curiosity, ultimately leading to her current six-month fellowship in avian toxicology with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division in Duluth, Minnesota.

“I realized that every bird I saw wasn’t the same thing,” Pesano said. “They’re all very nuanced and unique. That led to my interest in learning more about birds in general. Even in my spare time, I would flip through the bird guide and just kind of go on a treasure hunt in my own back yard to see what kinds of birds were around.”

Her back yard was in Syracuse, New York. After obtaining her undergraduate degree, she flitted about the country like a bird, researching migrating hawks in Nevada, nesting endangered sparrows in Florida and resilient saltmarshes in Massachusetts, which, of course, provide homes for wetland birds. Most recently, she graduated with a master’s degree in integrated biosciences from the University of Minnesota Duluth. There, in collaboration with the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, she used satellite transmitters to determine where some unique, dark-plumaged red-tailed hawks were migrating from on their way through Duluth. These hawks are usually only found in the western part of North America and are rare in the East. This bird treasure hunt led her to northeastern Canada.

One of the dark-plummaged red-tailed hawks that Pesano studied for her master’s research. This bird was captured in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) in February 2021, and was named “Manley.” He was the first dark red-tailed hawk fitted with a satellite transmitter. Manley spent the last two summers in northern Manitoba and has returned to the same winter territory in the Twin Cities since researchers have been studying his movements. Submitted photo.

“We discovered they had been spending summers and the breeding season in northern Manitoba and Ontario. Birds that look really dark like that would not, to our historical knowledge, be nesting and breeding in those provinces usually. They would more likely nest in Alaska or British Columbia,” Pesano said.

Pesano’s latest quest involves researching the impacts of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) on the reproductive success of birds in the Duluth area. Under the mentorships of Matt Etterson and John Haselman at the EPA, Pesano is studying tree swallows, black-capped chickadees and house wrens with another EPA Fellow, Emily Pavlovic. Funded by the University of Wisconsin-Madison but working in Duluth, Pesano is looking into things like the quality and quantity of food to see if there’s any correlation between what the birds are eating and their reproductive success.

The goal of this research is to create a toxicology model that scientists can use to predict, based on contamination concentrations in the environment, what the exposure risk would be to birds in that area.

Pesano checks a tree swallow nest as part of her EPA avian PFAS study. Submitted photo.

The three-year U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Human Health and the Environment Research Fellows program is a partnership between the EPA, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its Aquatic Sciences Center. The goal is to train the next generation of scientists in environmental and ecosystem health.

The post Allie Pesano: On a treasure hunt for birds first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Abbey Watt, Cooper Elementary School, Cultural Ecosystem Services, Deanna Erickson, Jace Ludwig, Leah Gavin, Molly Wick, River Talks, Superior High School, Tom Nicodemus, Waterway Benefits Study

The November River Talk featured a researcher and a youth panel who spoke to the theme: “Tell us what you Love About the River.” Molly Wick, a Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve Margaret A. Davidson Fellow, described a study she designed to help environmental managers understand how the community benefits from local lakes, rivers and streams and how this work could help make those benefits more accessible to everyone. Afterward, a panel of three young people rounded out the discussion with their personal stories about why the St. Louis River is important to them.

Molly Wick. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The Waterway Benefits study Wick is doing for her doctorate at the University of Minnesota Duluth is in the form of an online survey. Simply, she’s studying why people love the river. “That’s the simple version of it,” Wick said. “Of course, there’s a jargon term for it, too: Cultural Ecosystem Services.”

Wick said that Cultural Ecosystem Services is based on the same framework as Ecosystem Services, which is a method of quantifying dollar values on the benefits that people receive from nature. Examples would be how much money is saved by cities that have a healthy flood plain or how much money is saved by having trees that provide shade to homes instead of the homes needing air conditioning.

She emphasized that Cultural Ecosystem Services differs from Ecosystem Services in that it incorporates all the things that are impossible to put a dollar value on, for example, the feelings that nature gives people.

Wick grew up in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, a town on Green Bay on Lake Michigan that she categorizes as having a lot of water around it. Her family had a tradition of going camping most weekends. They traveled to many Wisconsin state parks and “Basically spent our days hanging out by the lakes.”

They swam, canoed, built sandcastles and foraged for wild foods. Wick said she even had her first romantic kiss on a beach, which is an example of an emotional benefit.

Audience members shared their favorite water experiences or benefits. Reserve Director Deanna Erickson said she lived near the Fox River near Oshkosh as a child. Her neighbor would catch gar fish and bring them over in a bucket for Erickson to see. “As a four- or five-year-old, I thought they were so cool!” she said.

Tom Nicodemus shared his memories of a heron rookery that used to be on Pokegama Bay in Superior.

The goal of Wick’s Waterways Benefits Survey is to help measure the benefits of habitat project investments made in the river to help inform future decision making.

“One of the things I hope to do with the data that I collect is be able to look at how different groups of people have different or similar experiences so that managers can use that information to make better decisions and make access to the water more equitable, as well. I don’t want to put different values on these experiences but raise awareness about what values people hold. Protecting these resources depends on having a better understanding and really getting some information about why we love the river into managers’ hands,” Wick said.

The youth panel was composed of Abbey Watt (ninth grader, Superior High School); Leah Gavin (ninth grader, Superior High School); and Jace Ludwig (fifth grader, Cooper Elementary). They added spirited emotion and energy to the room, which included support of their families and some teachers and friends. Their stories of river connection included humor, home, views of the estuary from bridges and “extra” benefits from activities like ice fishing—family time, eagle sightings and mishaps. All added emphasis with their voice, laugh or things they said that they didn’t initially write down. To get a flavor of the energy in the room as these young people contributed to the River Talk, the essays they read are below:

The St. Louis River
By Abbey Watt

Abbey Watt (right), gives her talk as part of the youth panel while Jace Ludwig preps for his. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

There are so many ways that the St. Louis River has impacted my life, whether from seeing its wild waters on my way to and from school or boating through them during the summertime. It connects me and my mom, it connects me and my dad, it connected me and my grandpa, just as it connects to Lake Superior, and I hope it will connect me and my children, though my mom says not for at least 10 years. 

This past couple summers my mom and I have spent countless hours exploring and enjoying all the wonders the river has to offer. We would always make a day of it and pack snacks and lots of extra sunscreen. It is easy for us to lose track of time when relaxed by the rocking of the boat and the sound of the waves splashing against the sides. 

When you’re on the boat, it transports you to a world where nothing really matters – whether you have an exam coming up, whether you have papers due, or just the stress of everyday life – none of that matters when you’re out on the lake or even near it.

My grandfather had been a big fan of fishing on the river, as well as boating, he would troll around just waiting for a fish to bite. Whether the sun was shining or it was super cloudy, it was always a great day to be on the water. Just spending time on the water was a gift in itself.

Every time we drive over the bridge, I take a minute to check up on the river and see how it’s doing that day. Some days the waves topped with white, other days I see only the gentle ripple of the current as the river flows to the lake. It is always a conversation-starter between me and my dad. My favorite view is early in the morning when the fog is still rolling over the bridge and the heat of the river is rising and swirling around. When we drive over the bridge and it is engulfed in fog, it makes me feel like I am in a movie. No matter what the weather is like, the river always glows with elegance and perfection.

Though the river is forever changing, it still feels the same to me. Whenever I come back from a trip, I always look out the window and try to catch a glimpse of the water. That’s how I know I am home.

Many of us, myself included, take our proximity to the river and the lake for granted. We have such an amazing abundance of fresh water running right through our back yard and it is our normal, but for some it is a dream waiting just out of reach. It is a wonder to be able to enjoy time at the beaches, smell the fresh scent of the water, and hear the crashing of waves. 

Some ships pass through the river on the way to deliver cargo. It’s amazing to watch the go by, although it can take a while. Many species of animals rely on its clean water, and the fish depend on the bays and smaller streams to feed and seek shelter. 

I feel like the river is something that connects us all. And Lake Superior is something that connects not only us but people around the world because my father, when he lived all the way across the ocean in Scotland, wrote a paper about the Edmund Fitzgerald. Little did he know he would end up here on our very own Lake Superior. I feel like the water around is just something that connects everything.

Leah Gavin

Leah Gavin. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

As someone who has lived in Superior their entire life, I have been around the St. Louis River a lot. But it wasn’t until recently when I was asked to think about it that I realized just how much the river actually means to me.

When I think of the St. Louis River, I think of the hot summer days spent out on my aunt and uncle’s boat. Cruising through the water, relaxing in the sunshine, parking to eat lunch as we listen to the water splash gently against the side of the boat, swimming when we get too warm from the sun, and wrapping up in our towels when we get too cold from the water. I look forward to days like those all year long.

I think of looking out over the river as we drive across the Bong Bridge, and the feeling of pure serenity the view gives me. I think of biking to Billings Park with my friends, taking pictures of each other as though we are professional photographers before sitting at the water’s edge to talk about everything and nothing, spilling our deepest thoughts to the river. I think of taking my younger cousins to the path alongside the water, attempting (and failing) to teach them how to skip stones, watching their curiosity, and trying to answer all of their questions about the world around them. I think of sitting by the river after my grandparents passed away, talking to them as though they could still hear me. And perhaps they could. I think of the early spring and keeping a close eye on the ice, making bets with my mother as to when it will finish melting. I think of leaving for road trips in the early morning, and watching the sun rise over the river, seeing its oranges, pinks, and yellows reflect on the water. Looking out and not being able to tell where the water ends and the sky begins.

What I love about the St. Louis is the peace it brings. The reassurance that no matter what happens it will be there tomorrow. I love the memories it holds, both big and small. I love the beauty of it. But most of all I love the fact that it is and always will be a part of my home.

Jace Ludwig

Jace Ludwig illustrated his talk about the river with photos. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

My family and I enjoy ice fishing on the river. We have made many trips out there over the years. We usually go to Kimball’s Bay. Sometimes we use our snowmobile to get onto the ice, and sometimes we make the long walk. We try to pick up any litter that we see on the trail and also on the ice. We don’t want that stuff to get into the river or lake. We also pick it up because once we saw an eagle eating bait that someone dumped out and we thought about how we didn’t want the eagle to eat garbage. We see eagles down there a lot. Once, one flew over our heads and landed on a tree right next to us.

We usually don’t set up our ice house when we fish there. We like to put up tip-ups so we can run around and play. My dad likes to jig for fish while we have snowball fights and go on adventures. Once, during a snowball fight, I stepped right into a hole all the way up to my knee. My boot filled with water and I was pretty soaked. Good thing it was a warm sunny day, or our day would’ve ended right away.

We like to explore different paths and trails around the water’s edge. And we really like to find big hills to use our sleds on. It isn’t fun to walk up the big hills, but it is fun to have a contest on who can make it out onto the ice the furthest. And we do all this while my dad catches perch and crappies. We love that we have this area to make great family memories.

Jace showed images after his talk, including the place where he stepped into the watery ice hole, a sledding hill, and the eagle he mentioned in his story.

The next River Talk will be, “Nimaawanji’idimin Giiwitaashkodeng: Working with Fire to Heal the Land on Wisconsin and Minnesota Points.” It will be an in-person and Zoom presentation by Evan Larson, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and Melonee Montano, Red Cliff tribal member and University of Minnesota graduate student. They will describe a collaborative project that is bringing information from tree rings and oral history together to understand how the Anishinaabeg people used fire to tend the landscape and how the return of fire can contribute to both cultural and ecological restoration. Refreshments will be provided.

Here is the Zoom information:
https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/92832940429?pwd=TUpJQWhucHB5cUxVQWxXQVF5b1ZIUT09 

Meeting ID: 928 3294 0429
Passcode: 916352
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,92832940429# US (New York)
+13017158592,,92832940429# US (Washington DC)  

Other River Talks will be held Feb. 8, March 8, April 12 and May 10, 2023.

The post Why people love the St. Louis River first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov