Panorama | Winter 2021

panorama

Winter 2021

Snake Hibernaculum Page 4

Wisconsin Women in Conservation Page 5

New Central Wetlands Loop Page 11

WELCOME HELEN BOOMSMA Executive Director

We hope you are enjoying the various wonders of winter. Whether you’re looking to see animal signs in the snow or changes along the lakefront, it’s the perfect time of year for a peaceful hike at the Center!

In this issue of Panorama, you’ll read about some of the women who have contributed to Wisconsin conservation. In a field once dominated by men, women have paved the way to greater representation in protecting Wisconsin’s natural landscape. You’ll also learn the keys to winter bird survival and read about the milksnake population at the Center and their new over-wintering habitat, the snake hibernaculum.

Our new Central Wetlands Loop adds expanded opportunities for views on our trail system, a great way to engage with winter. Schlitz Audubon is poised to help you make the most of this time with its many programs, all offered with safety in mind. Our numerous hikes encompass a variety of subjects, for both families and adults. Take your family on an outdoor scavenger hunt or geocaching adventure this season! Or try a guided learning adventure right on our trails. Many of our hikes end with time around an outdoor campfire.

We are providing an opportunity to get out and explore some new or familiar sites around the greater Milwaukee area with our experienced educators as your guides. These adult field trips are designed for small, socially-distanced groups and don’t require much driving time. After attending a field trip, you may look at your favorite park or natural area in a different way! This winter we will be exploring the history, trees, and animal life around the Milwaukee lakeshore including Lake Park, Lakeshore State Park, and South Shore Park.

In partnership with Boswell Book Company, we’re bringing two virtual book presentations to you on Zoom. On February 23, David Sibley, renowned bird illustrator and author of What It’s Like to Be a Bird, will be in conversation with Chuck Hagner. On March 7, Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts, a book about the history of the conservation movement, will talk with local author Dan Egan.

Also join us in the Schlitz Audubon Nature Book Club on Facebook this winter, where we will be discussing The Nature Fix by Florence Williams.

We are continuing to offer Field Days on Wednesday and Friday mornings and afternoons for students in K5-5th grade. Participants will engage in educational activities while exploring seasonal changes outdoors. In the upcoming months students will explore ice formations, animal tracks, maple sugaring, and more! Registration is now open for programs through May. Believe it or not, Summer Camp registration is already underway! We have summer camps for children of all ages, running from June 14 – August 13. If you haven’t already submitted your registration, visit our website now, as camps are filling up fast.

Schlitz Audubon has numerous educational opportunities, exciting trail experiences, and other adventures waiting for you. We strive to provide formats that suit all of you and your family’s needs.

COVER PHOTO A Black-capped Chickadee in winter at Schlitz Audubon.

Admission

FREE admission to Members Adults: $8 | Youth: $5 (ages 3 — 17)

Officers Aliah Berman President Benjamin T. Pavlik Treasurer Meg Kinney Secretary Jane B. Bell VP-Development John Schaub VP-Governance Board Barbie Brennan Nelson Shane Delsman Heidi Dondlinger John E. ‘Jack’ Gebhardt Timothy J. Gerend Amy Giuffre Sanderson S. ‘Andy’ Read Benjamin F. Rikkers Jeff Rusinow Carol Wolcott Past Presidents John H. Kopmeier, Jr. Philip R. Smith Dennis L. Fisher Terrence K. Knudsen Thomas J. McCutcheon Thomas B. Fitzgerald Randolph H. Dean Stephen F. Geimer Thomas J. Drought David K. Hoover John S. McGregor Margarete R. Harvey Timothy J. Gerend John Grunau Director Emeritus Dorothy K. Vallier (1910-2013)

CREDITS FOR PANORAMA Director of Marketing & Communications Nancy Quinn Creative Lead | Design & Photography Zoe Finney Editing | Select Writing Craig Mattson

Hours

Reserve a hiking time on our website: www.schlitzaudubon.org/calendar

1111 East Brown Deer Road | Milwaukee, WI 414-352-2880 | www.schlitzaudubon.org 2

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Winter 2021 | www.schlitzaudubon.org

Schlitz Audubon is an independent, locally supported partner of the National Audubon Society.

SEASONAL SIGHTINGS

Mystery Lake in winter.

Visit the Center and discover the beauty of winter!

AUBREY ELLICKSON FULSAAS Children's Events Coordinator

Few things are less predictable than a Wisconsin winter. Snow can fall in flurries or blizzards, in traces or feet. Winds and water will alter the landscape and create fluctuating formations in nature. This uncertainty means every hike in the winter will be full of surprises.

Schlitz Audubon’s location along the shores of Lake Michigan affects the experience hikers have in the winter. Cold weather after a day of waves will create arrangements of icicles precariously clinging to the low hanging tree limbs lining the beach. A long stretch of below-zero temperatures can result in a phenomenon called ice volcanoes, or “ice canos” speckling the shoreline on large ice shelves. In the water, an assortment of waterfowl might float by during their migration. Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, and Common Goldeneye can be found taking advantage of unfrozen lake waters.

More water can be found inland as well. Hiking along the newly established Central Wetlands Loop will provide views of our frozen ponds. Peer through the ice while walking over the new boardwalk at Teal Pond. If snow covers the ground, animal tracks can be easily found along this trail as well. Deer, coyotes, squirrels, and even mice leave behind stories that can be discovered in the snow. Tiny tracks in the prairie might lead to holes that dive deep into the subnivean layer, where many rodents spend their winter days beneath the snow.

Deer trails will become most evident in deep snow, as they will follow each other along repeated paths to save energy. Along

these trails, sapling branches and twigs from white cedar, red osier dogwood, and basswood may appear to have been broken off in a jagged fashion, leaving markings on the branches called browse, where deer pulled off the end of the woody stem in order to eat. Deer will consume upwards of two pounds of woody browse each day while the trees are dormant and lack leaves.

Heading into the forest will provide another unpredictable adventure in winter. The South Ravine Trail and Woodland Loop give a deeper look at this fluctuating habitat. An abundance of gray squirrel tracks reveal that animals have been scampering and digging up hidden food caches, with their traces disappearing at the base of trees. Even without snow, the small shallow holes remain in the frozen ground where an acorn or hickory nut was once stored. Within the tall pines and spruces, signs of the red squirrel appear as messy piles of scales and stripped pinecones.

Fluttering between the branches might be Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, or Dark-eyed Junco. Chickadees spend their winter caching and searching for food stuck into tiny crevices amongst the trees. A resounding “chicka-deedee-dee” sounds the alarm that hikers are present. A distant drumming indicates one of the many woodpecker species that are searching for dormant insects beneath the bark. This might disrupt the sleeping owls hidden amongst the trees.

Come and experience all that this winter has to offer at the Center.

Each day will be filled with a new adventure within our 185 acres.

Winter 2021 | www.schlitzaudubon.org

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CONSERVATION

Re-Introducing Milksnakes to Schlitz Audubon View of the new snake hibernaculum, an eastern milksnake being released, and a look inside the hibernaculum.

CRAIG MATTSON Communication Specialist

Our Center’s conservation plan is designed to restore the land and improve biotic diversity on our 185 acres. As a part of this plan, a new species is being re-introduced, the eastern milksnake, and a habitat to protect it in the winter, a snake hibernaculum, has been created.

Prior to European settlement, habitat loss and agricultural disturbance, 12 snake species would have shared the Schlitz Audubon landscape. A few years ago, only the eastern garter snake remained on our land. Beginning in 2016, thanks to a series of generous donations from our Summer Camp Director Shelly Rollins and her son Emmet, milksnake re-introductions began.

The milksnake’s range covers most of the continental US. The snake we released, a subspecies called the eastern milksnake, is native to forests and oak savannas of Minnesota and Wisconsin beneath the tension zone. This subspecies of milksnake measures approximately 24-36 inches in length, with smooth shiny scales. It has a gray or light brown background color with reddish-brown blotches bordered by black. Its underside is white colored with black rectangular markings. Milksnakes eat small rodents, frogs, earthworms, insects, and other small reptiles, and are a food source for larger animals, such as hawks and owls.

They are nonvenomous and pose no threats to humans; their presence helps maintain ecological balance in the environment.

Nine milksnakes have now been released on our property, paving the way for these snakes to make a comeback. In order to ensure success, Center staff and Volunteer Land Stewards led

by Drew Schuster, Resource Ecologist, recently built a new feature - a snake hibernaculum. The hibernaculum is a structure

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that the milksnakes, as well as the already present garter snakes, will use as a shelter in the winter cold while they are in a state of torpor. It also provides shelter from predators and is where they will find potential mates. It is the hope of the conservation team that having the hibernaculum will help the snakes establish a stable, self-sustaining population at the Center.

The hibernaculum was constructed from an old cement structure originally used by sportsmen to launch clay pigeons. It was a part of the old Schlitz Brewery Farm since at least its earliest photo from 1937, but sat abandoned after it stopped being used for this purpose. The conservation team saw that this structure would provide excellent basis to create a winter habitat for snakes.

The structure was cleared and holes were drilled into the cinderblock walls for snakes to move through. Stones remaining from our Stormwater Wetland and Ravine Restoration Project were used to fill the structure halfway, and debris was put on top.

Crisscrossed black locust logs were added to make it an attractive habitat for snakes. The half-buried logs will make avenues for the snakes to travel into the hibernaculum, and the gaps between the large stones inside will give them places to move through it. Volunteer Land Stewards then placed a soil mix on top of the hibernaculum and planted plugs of native plants, which will grow to fill in the landscape.

New milksnakes will now be released at the hibernaculum after being documented. Over time, we hope to reintroduce the smooth green snake, Dekay’s snake, and red-bellied snake, continuing to increase the biotic diversity at Schlitz Audubon.

Winter 2021 | www.schlitzaudubon.org

FEATURE

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FEATURE

W

omen have contributed greatly to Wisconsin conservation efforts, including making scientific discoveries, conserving habitats, protecting wildlife, and sharing their knowledge with others. Though female conservationists are involved in much impactful work in the state, they have been an underrepresented group within the field. According to Data USA, 78.5% of conservation scientists and foresters in the US are male. As recently as the 1940s, there were almost no women working professionally in Wisconsin conservation. Because of outstanding contributions by women in the field, however, progress toward greater female representation is being made.

WOMEN CONSERVATIONISTS FROM THE PAST The conservation movement in Wisconsin has many luminaries, including female trailblazers from the past contributing to a field that was traditionally inhabited only by men. We have chosen just a few to highlight, all of whom have been inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame.

In 1949, Ruth Hine was the first woman to get a Ph.D. in zoology from UW-Madison and is recognized as the first woman to work in a Wisconsin conservation organization. She oversaw the technical editing and writing of research reports from 1949-84 at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WiDNR). Ruth was a leader in the development of the state’s endangered species program, chairing the committee that created Wisconsin’s first endangered species list.

She pioneered the observation of frogs and called for a list of sightings of Wisconsin animals, setting up a system for keeping records to facilitate the work.

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Frances Hamerstrom was the only woman to receive a master’s degree (wildlife management, 1940) from Aldo Leopold at UW-Madison. She was the second woman to work in Wisconsin conservation professionally, starting at the WiDNR in 1949 and staying there for 23 years. An ornithologist and licensed falconer, Frances was employed by the WiDNR as assistant leader of the Prairie Grouse Management Research Unit, where she focused on the habitat needs of

the Greater Prairie-Chicken. She and her husband Frederick’s work saved this species from near extinction in Wisconsin. In 1970, the Hamerstroms received the National Wildlife Federation Award for Distinguished Service to Conservation for work with the Greater Prairie-Chickens.

Locally, Lorrie Otto is probably best known for her activism toward banning DDT in Wisconsin, which she became involved in after observing many birds dying unexpectedly on her Bayside property. Her tenacity helped convene scientists, attorneys and witnesses from the US, Canada, and Sweden to present at hearings on the subject, which eventually helped get DDT banned in Wisconsin in 1970.

This led to a nationwide ban two years later. But she accomplished a great deal more as well. Lorrie's property in Bayside was the first in the area to feature natural landscaping. After the banning of DDT, Lorrie turned her attention to the growing movement in this area. A lover of plants, she worked to preserve native plant species and eventually was the inspiration for the founding of Wild Ones, a national non-profit group that shares information about and advocates for natural landscaping. She received many awards from organizations for her conservation work including the National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation.

WOMEN CONSERVATIONISTS OF THE PRESENT Following in these women’s footsteps, more women are currently working toward a healthy Wisconsin by leading organizations or departments that specialize in sustaining and revitalizing the environment. Here are just a few.

Marge Gibson of Antigo, WI founded and leads the Raptor Education Group, Inc. (REGI), a non-profit organization dedicated to the care and rehabilitation of injured or orphaned native bird species, as well as public education of wildlife issues. Marge is considered one of the top wildlife rehabilitators in our region and is recognized as an authority on Bald Eagles. REGI has rehabilitated and released more than 1000 Bald Eagles in Wisconsin since being founded in 1990. A number of our Center’s raptors, including Glory, our Bald Eagle, have come from REGI. Current-

Winter 2021 | www.schlitzaudubon.org

FEATURE FEATURE ly, Marge is part of a task force of experts who are working to determine what is causing Wisconsin River eagle syndrome, a mysterious illness that is killing Bald Eagles in the region.

August Ball had a decade long career in the environmental field before founding Cream City Conservation and Consulting in Milwaukee. August saw a lack of people of color in conservation leadership positions. Her company addresses this through a two-pronged approach; consulting and corps work. Her consulting branch strives to promote an equitable and diverse workplace, while the corps is part of a green job pipeline for Milwaukee’s youth. Cream City’s influence is seen in local and national organizations that are involved with green infrastructure, creating greenspace, managing invasive species, and more. August can be seen as a facilitator in racial equality, bringing companies to try and figure out how to be more inclusive of people of different races. She also serves on Governor Evers’ Task Force on Climate Change.

Last October, Heather Berklund was named WiDNR's Forestry Division's chief state forester, the first woman to lead the department in its 116-year history. Her love of the Wisconsin land, and a desire to be outdoors led her to study forestry.

Starting work at the WiDNR in 2000, Berklund was a field forester in a number of Wisconsin locales and served in various supervisory/ leadership roles since 2012. Her extensive background in forestry, working with people, and understanding of how new technologies can help her field gives her the expertise to lead effectively. Her desire to prioritize diversity, both in gender and in ethnicity, makes her a trailblazer in Wisconsin. She also hopes to continue to grow partnerships and collaborations across the state to ensure a vibrant future for Wisconsin's forests.

WOMEN IN SCHLITZ AUDUBON’S HISTORY

For over 10 years, Dorothy (Dory) Vallier advocated to the Schlitz Foundation for her grandfather’s former home, the Uihlein’s Schlitz Brewery Farm, to be converted to an environmental education center for local school children. The Schlitz Foundation had originally considered developing the land into condominiums, or a men’s-only golf course. In 1969, a number of local women, including Charlotte Zieve, Winifred Woodmansee, and Monnie Messinger, joined Dory in her efforts. They organized Citizens for the Nine Mile Farm

Nature Center, sponsoring meetings and polls to establish a favorable climate of public opinion. In 1971, the Schlitz Foundation directors gave their unanimous support to the nature center and the 185 acres of land was donated to the National Audubon Society. Dorothy Vallier led the effort to provide funds necessary to run our Center as an independent organization, establishing the nature center we all love today.

Dory’s conservation impact stretches throughout Wisconsin and beyond. She was a two-term board member of National Audubon Society and donated a wetland parcel, "Dory's Bog," to become a state designated scientific research area in Sarona, WI. She and her husband Jacques also donated a 1200-acre tract of land called Treehaven to UW-Stevens Point, and the university subsequently became a leader in natural resources education and professional development. Later, the Dorothy and Jacques Vallier Chair of Ecology in the College of Natural Resources was created there, funded by the Valliers. She and her husband were inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame in 2010.

Truly a life-long environmentalist, Dorothy Vallier died in 2013 at the age of 103.

Throughout our Center’s five decades, countless staff have worked to carry out Dory’s vision to provide environmental education for the community. One such woman was Elizabeth (Buffy) Cheek who was Executive Director for 19 years. During her tenure, the Center achieved major milestones, including the building of Wisconsin’s first Gold LEED certified building. Our Environmental Learning Center was built in 2003 and is named after Dorothy Vallier. A part of this building plan included a Nature Preschool, which expanded Dory’s desire to connect with nature to the youngest members of our community. Our preschool continues to be a model for others throughout the nation.

As we celebrate 50 years since Dory and others secured these 185 acres for our nature center, dedicated staff and volunteers continue to conserve our land’s diverse habitats and provide meaningful experiences and environmental education for all. Under the leadership of our current Executive Director, Helen Boomsma, we are making nature and nature-based programming accessible to more and more people each year. We are also cultivating a love of nature in future conservationists and laying the groundwork for the Center to continue to flourish in the next 50 years.

The future of Wisconsin conservation has been shaped by these women and others. We hope that their stories will inspire you to get more involved in the conservation movement.

CREDITS Written by Craig Mattson, Communication Specialist with insight from Nancy Quinn and Zoe Finney Sources: Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame, Raptor Education Group, Inc., Cream City Conservation and Consulting, Wisconsin DNR, and others PHOTO CREDITS Images of Ruth Hine, Frances Hamerstrom, and Lorrie Otto provided by Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame Image of Marge Gibson by www.featheredhope.net Image of August Ball by Christopher Hyler Image of Heather Berklund provided by Wisconsin DNR

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NATURE EDUCATION

Winter Bird Survival IAN DORNEY Raptor Educator

Wisconsin winters are hard, even for the most prepared of birds.

As survival becomes more difficult, many simply travel south. But for those who do not migrate, winter presents the continual challenge of finding food, warmth, and safety.

FOOD Finding food becomes the primary concern for winter birds; without food, they cannot stay warm. Many herbivores subsist off seed heads from last fall or tree buds growing for next spring.

Summertime insect-eaters, like the Eastern Bluebird, may pivot to fruit. A replenishing food source like bird feeders are a welcome point of consistency, even when wild food is available. If the supply is steady, winter-long communities of birds and mammals will form in your backyard!

The healthiest communities support predatory birds. Birds of prey will remain in an area through the winter if the food is steady. Great Horned Owls can find resident mammals under the snow. Few things are more memorable in winter than the imprint of an owl in the snow!

ABOVE Black-capped Chickadee at Schlitz Audubon.

RIGHT A male Eastern Bluebird on a snowy winter day eating berries at the Center.

SAFETY Predators have to eat too. For birds who aren’t on the top of the food chain, many like the American Crow aim for safety in numbers. While moving in a flock means more mouths to feed, it reduces each member’s individual risk and encourages social Whatever their diet, winter birds often live on a razor’s edge: too learning. heavy and flight may be impossible, too light and they can’t survive the night. Human sources of food help stabilize the entire As crows move through the city, you can see a complex social food chain through the year’s hardest months. strategy playing out. A ground team scours the area for food, while lookouts stay perched above. If there is an opportunity or WARMTH danger, the ground team is alerted and the crows band together When birds are active, their bodies run at over 105°F. When tem- into a “murder” to aid in getting food. After a day of scavenging, peratures are near zero in January and February, the air can be smaller bands may roost together at night, forming “mega-mur100 degrees cooler than them! Unsurprisingly, different species ders” for extra safety. have their own unique strategies for keeping warm.

Because of their highly social nature, word gets around quickly.

Many winter birds can lower their body temperatures while When one crow clashes with an offending coyote, finds a safe they’re inactive. By entering a state called torpor, birds ranging roosting site, or meets a human that stocks feeders with peanuts, from Red-tailed Hawks to Black-capped Chickadees conserve that information is shared. Survival tips are remembered by the energy through the night. If you see these birds in the early morn- individual and the murder, even across generations! ing, you’ll catch them warming up by shivering, then taking off to replenish their burned calories.

WINTER BIRDS AND YOU As our feathered friends toil to find food, warmth, and safety Another strategy for staying warm is to make a shelter. Most fa- through the winter, they often cross paths with humans. While mous for this are woodpeckers, who you can hear hammering most don’t need our help, there’s plenty of ways to make their all winter long. But perhaps the most fascinating among shel- lives easier: Put bird feeders near cover, such as a good shrub, ter-making birds is the Ruffed Grouse. When the snow is deep which can offer overnight shelter or temporary safety. Keep dead enough, they dive and tunnel to create winter dens. Burrowing trees standing, as live and dead trees offer food and shelter. Also, has its dangers, but it offers steady protection from the coldest of be consistent with filling bird feeders, as a constant supply will temperatures. enable return visitors.

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Winter 2021 | www.schlitzaudubon.org

NATURE EDUCATION

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DEVELOPMENT

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Winter 2021 | www.schlitzaudubon.org

DEVELOPMENT

ABOVE Trail map highlighting the new Central Wetlands Loop.

LEFT The new boardwalk at Teal Pond.

Hike the New Central Wetlands Loop CARRIE BECKER Director of Development

Visitors to the Center this winter will have the opportunity to be among the first to traverse the newly opened Central Wetlands Loop. At nearly one mile, the loop combines familiar segments with new construction along the North Ravine, including access to the newly created Molly’s Pond. Though the loop is open now, it will not be fully wheelchair accessible until later in the year.

Winter, with a blanket of snow, is hiding many of the treasures visitors will find along the new segments of the route. Visits in spring and summer will yield glimpses of prairie and ravine habitat carefully restored with more than 25,000 trees, shrubs, and plants. Trees such as bur oak, hackberry, and sugar maple, and shrubs such as pasture rose, elderberry, and meadowsweet, will provide nesting habitat and food for many bird species. In addition, leaf litter will be used as overwintering habitat for several bumblebee species. Pennsylvania sedge, marsh blazing star, and cardinal flower will provide beautiful blooms, while also being essential to many pollinator species.

Heading in a clockwise direction, the east and south sides of the loop cover familiar terrain: running along the top of the Lake Michigan bluff, past the pavilion, and around the southern perimeter of Mystery Lake. The path then veers north across the entrance road toward Teal Pond. The trail used to end at Teal Pond, a favorite for children looking for water creatures.

Under the ice of Teal Pond and Molly’s Pond, an abundance of life also lies dormant until spring weather arrives. These fishNow, a new boardwalk spans this semi-permanent pond and less wetlands are essential breeding habitat for salamanders, brings hikers to the rim of the North Ravine. This area was part small frogs, and toads. Many invertebrates, like crayfish and of the Stormwater Wetland and Ravine Restoration Project, an aquatic insects, also depend on these habitats. extensive endeavor that, in simple terms, sculpted the upland terrain to better capture water and protect the North Ravine. Res- Over the past several years, creation of accessible trails has toration in the project area afforded the opportunity to not only been a priority for the Center. Our goal is to ensure that evenhance affected habitats with native plantings, but to reroute eryone has access to a variety of our ecosystems. Thanks to trails through the area to provide visitors access to some of the the support of the donor community, we have made excellent progress! But we still have more work to do. In addition to addCenter’s most unique features. ing wheelchair accessibility to the Central Wetlands Loop, Along with expanded access along the North Ravine rim, the trail several other trail projects are slated for the next two years. crosses two new bridges, including passing over the new regen- These include a safe accessible trail route between the Welerative stormwater conveyance system. At the northern-most come Booth and the Visitor Center. point of the trail, visitors encounter Molly’s Pond before turning We hope you can come experience this new loop soon! south to follow the trail segment along the bluff.

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Schlitz Audubon Nature Center 1111 East Brown Deer Road Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53217

WINTER 2021 PANORAMA

U.S. Postage

PAID

Milwaukee, WI Permit No. 4168