On:
In: communications, Elizabeth White, Moira Harrington, Sarah Congdon, Wisconsin Sea Grant Directory of Projects

The calendar has flipped to 2024. Our staff members are already tackling new projects. Before they move too deeply into the new year, however, some staff members took a moment to retain the glow of their favorite 2023 project. Elizabeth White, senior editor, shared her thoughts.

My favorite project of the past year is the “2024-26 Directory of Projects and People.” I think it’s an underappreciated little publication—so routine that we take it for granted. Where else can you find everything you need to know about the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program in one neat little package? It’s got complete project lists, including outreach, education and research, and it contains all of the contact information you could need. Even though it’s really just a directory of information, it reveals the incredible breadth of the work we’re doing with a diverse array of projects and partners. It’s satisfying to see it all in one place.

While our assistant director for communications, Moira Harrington, does the majority of the work by gathering the information and Designer Sarah Congdon tackles the entire design aspect, my contribution to the project is taking the technical abstracts submitted by the researchers and distilling them into 150-word summaries that are understandable for our general audience. It’s a surprisingly enjoyable (yet challenging!) exercise in clearly describing what we are doing in as few words as possible, and it always makes me feel so proud of what we’re doing.

It’s not ready for publication yet, but I expect it will be available in spring. In the meantime, page through the 2022-24 edition.

 

The post Our project directory: an underappreciated resource first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/our-project-directory-an-underappreciated-resource/

Elizabeth White

On:
In: Elizabeth White, Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Ginny Carlton, Manitowoc beach cleanup, Marie Zhuikov, Titus Seilheimer, Wisconsin Point beach cleanup, Yael Gen

Birders on Wisconsin Point look for rare jaegers. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The third weekend in September is traditionally a time for beach cleanups by communities in the Great Lakes. Volunteers scour beaches and shorelines for trash as part of the International Coastal Cleanup. Our Sea Grant staff members got in the spirit, participating in cleanups spanning across the state, from Wisconsin Point in Lake Superior, to Madison, to Manitowoc on Lake Michigan.

Marie Zhuikov and Russ Maron on Wisconsin Point. Image credit: Russ Maron

The event on Wisconsin Point featured a twist: birding. Besides being a good time to collect trash, this season offers a narrow window for Wisconsin birders to see parasitic jaegers, fast-flying pirates of the water bird world, as they migrate past Wisconsin Point from the arctic tundra to southern climes.

The “parasitic” part of their name comes from their food-stealing habits. They are categorized as “kleptoparasites,” which means they steal food from other seabirds.

The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve (FOLSR) took advantage of the timing to invite Jaegerfest birders and FOLSR members to cleanup the beach when they weren’t on the lookout for birds.

Science communicator Marie Zhuikov and her husband have attended many beach cleanups in the past, but never one that combined jaeger-watching. On a calm and quiet Saturday morning, they joined the professional birders and their high-powered spotting scopes.

Dried bee balm flowers. Image credit: Yael Gen, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Zhuikov and her husband had better luck finding trash than birds. Alas, no jaegers were to be seen, although many ring-billed and herring gulls floated serenely in the lake. The duo moved to the end of the point and collected two bags of trash from the beach. The most interesting finds? A single Birkenstock sandal and fireworks debris.

Their efforts became even more impressive with the addition of four other bags of garbage plus a car bumper that others had collected and left bagged near the parking lot. All total, their haul weighed 160 pounds!

Their colleagues editor Elizabeth White, educator Ginny Carlton and graphic designer Yael Gen participated in a more botanical cleanup at the Lakeshore Nature Preserve on the Madison campus. They began by collecting seeds from dried bee balm plants. Gen said they pulled the seed heads off and saved them in paper bags. “If you turn one upside down and shake it, the seeds resemble ground pepper,” she said. The seeds will be used for a class and to reseed other areas of the preserve.

Titus Seilheimer and his sons with one of their beach cleanup finds in Manitowoc. Image credit: Amy Seilheimer

Next, they got a workout clearing an invasive buckthorn thicket along the shores of Lake Mendota using loppers and saws.

Fisheries specialist Titus Seilheimer and his family worked on Silver Creek Beach in Manitowoc. “We typically organize two cleanups per year, spring and fall,” Seilheimer said. “We had two other volunteers for our cleanup for a total of six. We removed 68 pounds of trash. That included two tires for most of the weight. We found fairly typical trash with 40 cigarette butts, small pieces of foam and plastic, shotgun shells and wads, bottle caps and plastic bottles.”

Way to go, Sea Grant staff! You cleaned up 228 pounds of trash, plus gobs of unwanted plants and provided seeds for the future. A commendable effort for one morning in September.

The post Sea Grant staff collect commendable beach cleanup haul first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/sea-grant-staff-collect-commendable-beach-cleanup-haul/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sea-grant-staff-collect-commendable-beach-cleanup-haul

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Bonnie Willison, CASE Awards, Elizabeth White, Moira Harrington, Sydney Widell, Yael Gen

Sea Grant won two communications awards in an international competition sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, an association that shares strategies and tactics to engage alumni, donors, prospective students, parents, government officials, community leaders and those in the private sector to support education.

The podcast series Introduced, produced by Bonnie Willison and student Sydney Widell about aquatic invasive species, won a gold award. Judges said, “We loved that the hosts reported their stories by finding interesting leads and then going into the field to investigate and interview the people involved…The back-and-forth between the hosts is comfortable and welcoming, and there’s good use of music throughout.”

The 2018-20 Sea Grant biennial report won a bronze award. The report was designed by Yael Gen, edited by Elizabeth White and written by Moira Harrington. Judges said, “Such a fun and creative design! The signal flag theme and visual identity are smart and unusual, and we agree with the nominators that the design captures the zeitgeist of this time period. Rough waters indeed! The graphic elements added inside flowing type are hard to pull off, but pull them off they did, creating something that’s not just visually interesting but rewards the viewer upon their closer inspection. For not being able to commission photography, they have done a wonderful job of creating visual excitement on each layout; it’s like a master class in how to get around COVID photography restrictions.”

An invitation designed by Yael Gen for an event commemorating Groundwater Awareness Week also won a bronze award that went to Sea Grant’s sister organization, the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute.

The competition drew 2,957 entries from around the world, including from prestigious Ivy League schools and respected international institutions.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/sea-grant-wins-communications-awards/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sea-grant-wins-communications-awards

Moira Harrington

On:
In: Can Water Be Sticky, Elizabeth White, Kristen Rost, Wisconsin Water Library

As 2020 winds down, we asked staff members at Wisconsin Sea Grant what their favorite project was this year. Although work was a bit more challenging than usual due to our altered work circumstances, everyone managed to stay productive, and even find fulfillment.

Our editor, Elizabeth White’s favorite project is her work on a story hour lesson plan for Anne Moser and the Wisconsin Water Library titled, “Can Water Be Sticky?”

Elizabeth said, “It was quite a challenge explaining properties of water such as cohesion, adhesion and surface tension to a young audience. Freelance designer Kristen Rost’s illustrations did a lot of the work. I hope it’s not a bad thing that I learned a lot from curriculum for ages 3-9!”

One of Rost’s designs is below. The Wisconsin Water Library has many other lesson plans and activities available for teachers, parents and librarians at this link.

The post Sea Grant staff project faves, Elizabeth White first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/sea-grant-staff-project-faves-elizabeth-white/

Marie Zhuikov