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January 2022 – Ice Fishing

January 2022 – Ice Fishing

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On a fairly regular basis, I drive toward downtown Madison along the shores of Lake Monona on John Nolen Drive. On early winter days, my kids and I place odds on when we’ll first see ice shanties pop up on Monona Bay. It seems like a mere skim of ice over the bay sparks fisher-men and -women into action with their augers and tip-ups and quiet patience. Long a tradition in Wisconsin - including several millennia prior to the arrival ...Continue Reading →
December 2021 – Evergreens

December 2021 – Evergreens

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While the bleak winterscape pales in comparison to the colors other seasons offer, it’s a perfect time to gain a new appreciation for trees that do provide a visual break from white and grey. Though the words “conifer” and “evergreen” are often used interchangeably, not all evergreens are conifers, and not all conifers are evergreen. “Evergreen” is a non-scientific term used to describe plants that maintain their leaves or needles throughout the seasons, whereas “conifers'' are cone-bearing trees or shrubs. ...Continue Reading →
November 2021 – Forest Bathing

November 2021 – Forest Bathing

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I had previously heard of “forest bathing” or shinrin-yoku, the Japanese term for taking in the atmosphere of the forest. I first learned of this unique practice when I was contemplating and building a case for the idea that a connection to nature is more than just “tree-hugging,” it’s beneficial to childrens’ health and well-being. But I had never officially - intentionally - partaken in forest bathing. It was amid a casual conversation. A friend who was over for dinner ...Continue Reading →
October 2021 – “The Colors”

October 2021 – “The Colors”

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I took a weekend trip to Door County recently and as I prepared for the journey, several people commented on how nice they expected “the colors” would be. They were, of course, referring to the fall foliage, and indeed the Fall Color Report from Travel Wisconsin noted Door County would be just before peak color that week. When I arrived, true to the data, the sumacs, maples, and ash trees dotted the landscape with red and gold, while the oaks ...Continue Reading →
September 2021 – Acorns

September 2021 – Acorns

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I don’t know if the same is happening in your neighborhood, but the oak trees in my area are just raining acorns this year. Never in my ten years of living under oaks have I seen so many acorns. The plinking and thunking of acorns hitting the roof, bouncing off the grill top, and pelting the patio furniture (and the hapless souls sitting in that furniture) has been ceaseless for the past three weeks - it keeps us up at ...Continue Reading →
August 2021 – Solastalgia

August 2021 – Solastalgia

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I learned a new term this past year: solastalgia. Based on the Latin terms solacium (comfort) and algia or algos (pain), solastalgia is the anxiety or despair one experiences due to losing the comforts of one's surroundings because of environmental degradation. Akin to the term nostalgia, which describes the sad or sentimental longing for a past time or place, solastalgia is the feeling of loss and hopelessness associated with changes in one’s environment or ecosystem as a result of climate ...Continue Reading →
July 2021 – Tree Equity

July 2021 – Tree Equity

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An interesting article came across my inbox a few weeks ago. It was an interactive, visual narrative from the New York Times’ opinion section that demonstrated the difference between tree coverage in wealthier (and whiter) neighborhoods vs those that are less wealthy. The authors note that “neighborhoods with a majority of people in poverty have 25 percent less tree canopy on average than those with a minority of people in poverty...in the most extreme cases, wealthy areas have 65 percent ...Continue Reading →
June 2021 – Fireflies

June 2021 – Fireflies

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On a fine June evening, my pre-teen son and I ventured out at sunset to watch the sun go down over Lake Mendota. We found a grassy hill-top view from the iconic Observatory Hill on UW-Madison’s campus and awaited the golden hour. If you regularly track Wisconsin phenology, you might know what happened next. Slowly and quietly the field below us filled with a glittering array of duty-bound fireflies. My son, who moments before was too cool to be seen ...Continue Reading →
May 2021 – Birding & Phenology

May 2021 – Birding & Phenology

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The International Crane Foundation is reopening soon, with their grand reopening scheduled for May 1st! As many cranes are migratory, moving with the seasons to different breeding and wintering grounds, I thought now would be a great time to think about birding as a means to engage with phenology. Spring is a great time for phenological observation, with so many species changing - plants are blooming, birds are returning from their overwintering locations, and insects are emerging once again (noticing ...Continue Reading →
March 2021 – Habitat Restoration

March 2021 – Habitat Restoration

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Did you know that much of the greater Midwest was originally wetland and prairie? Today, estimates suggest that only about 1% of the tallgrass prairie that once existed still remains. Loss of this habitat means the loss of all the things that live there. For many, preservation of what is left is not enough. In comes restoration! Fun fact - the Nature Net member University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum is often considered the birthplace of ecological restoration, beginning in 1936 with the restoration of the ...Continue Reading →

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