Nature Watch
September 24, 2008
By Susan Benson,
CNHM Director of Education
Take A Child Outside Week is September 24-28 this year. This initiative is a program designed to help break down barriers that keep children from discovering the natural world. The goal is to help children across the country develop a better understanding and appreciation of the environment in which they live, while increasing their enthusiasm for its exploration.
If you are looking for a beautiful place to spend an afternoon, look no further than the Cable area to the Forest Lodge Nature Trail. There exists a loop of trails with a wonderful blend of northwoods habitat. The terrain is perfect for an afternoon stroll, and the trails range in length from 1.2 to 2 miles, making it enjoyable for any level of hiker. The trails are located on the right side of Garmisch Road, left off of County Highway M.
When you arrive at this little gem, the sun beats warmly across tall grasses and recent wildflowers (asters, yellow coneflower, and goldenrod) that border the first stretch of trail. Here, chipping sparrows fly up before your feet, the heady scent of sweet fern reaches your nose, and the soft hum of pines meets your ears. Further on, you will reach the cool shade of a hardwood forest. Here, migrating birds weave through the sturdy trees, and mischievous squirrels and chipmunks dance about the branches. The trail passes a bog, where labrador tea bursts from the deep sponge of sphagnum moss, a vital element of a bog. Tenacious tamarack trees erupt from the sphagnum; the needles of these unusual evergreens are turning yellow, soon to drop to the ground. If you look closely you may see the unique blooms of pitcher plants, the bright red of cranberries hiding along the trailside. As you travel away from the bog, hardwoods become interspersed with hemlocks, whose branches are covered in soft, flat needles. If you look down you will see the dark, shiny leaves of wintergreen, the springy shapes of club mosses, like little Christmas trees. Flanking the trail will be several species of ferns: the semi-circular whorl of leaves that make up maidenhair, the long brown spores trailing from interrupted, the hairy stems of lady, and the three-pronged branch of bracken fern. A little bit further, the hemlocks dominate, the sun filtering through them and patterning the forest floor with golden lace. On the last leg of this journey, the trail lightens as birches and aspens begin to replace the hemlocks. You then return to the open prairie, spreading out before the parking lot from which you came.
As you step back into your car, you will take home with you amazing images, chance encounters with wildlife, and the rich, full moments that compose time spent outdoors. So, go ahead: take an hour, or even an afternoon, and explore the fabulous habitats.
Take a child outside, or just enjoy it yourselves.
Nature Watch is brought to you by the Cable Natural History Museum. For 40 years, the Museum has served as a guide and mentor to generations of visitors and residents interested in learning to better appreciate and care for the extraordinary natural resources of the region. The Museum invites you to visit its facility in Cable at 13470 County Highway M or on the web at http://www.cablemuseum.org/ to learn more about exhibits and programs.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Black Bear
Nature Watch
September 17, 2008
By Susan Benson,
CNHM Director of Education
Do you like to eat? Probably not as much as a bear does. The black bear is a full-time, professional eater. Except during winter hibernation and a couple weeks in the summer during mating season, a bear spends all its waking hours looking for and eating food. Calorie-rich acorns from oak trees also are a favorite food for black bears. In fact, bears have been known to trek up to 50 miles to acorn-rich areas, and remember these spots from year to year. During the fall, bears prepare for upcoming hibernation by going into food frenzy -- they eat constantly and may gain up to a third of their body weight. In the fall, a hungry black bear might pack in more than 20,000 calories per day -- compare that to the average human's daily intake of 2,000 - 2,500 calories!
Black bears often are nocturnal, but may be active during the day, with activity peaks during early morning and late afternoon. In December they enter a winter den, which is frequently in a site with heavy ground cover with gathered bedding material. Black bears, unlike some mammals, are not true hibernators. They are easily aroused from their winter dormancy. Dormant black bears have a decreased heart rate and respiration, but their body temperature declines very little. They remain dormant for up to four months during the year, even when the weather is mild.
When walking outdoors, look for smooth-barked trees, such as aspen or birch, that have distinct slashes made by the bear's claws as it climbed a tree. Sometimes bears will chew on pine, spruce and fir trees, ripping off strips of bark near the base of the tree. They eat the sticky pitch inside the bark and will leave vertical tooth marks with their front teeth. Bears also mark trees to identify their territory and breeding status by rubbing themselves on specific trees and clawing the tree as high as they can reach.
Nature Watch is brought to you by the Cable Natural History Museum. For 40 years, the Museum has served as a guide and mentor to generations of visitors and residents interested in learning to better appreciate and care for the extraordinary natural resources of the region. The Museum invites you to visit its facility in Cable at 13470 County Highway M or on the web at http://www.cablemuseum.org/ to learn more about exhibits and programs.
September 17, 2008
By Susan Benson,
CNHM Director of Education
Do you like to eat? Probably not as much as a bear does. The black bear is a full-time, professional eater. Except during winter hibernation and a couple weeks in the summer during mating season, a bear spends all its waking hours looking for and eating food. Calorie-rich acorns from oak trees also are a favorite food for black bears. In fact, bears have been known to trek up to 50 miles to acorn-rich areas, and remember these spots from year to year. During the fall, bears prepare for upcoming hibernation by going into food frenzy -- they eat constantly and may gain up to a third of their body weight. In the fall, a hungry black bear might pack in more than 20,000 calories per day -- compare that to the average human's daily intake of 2,000 - 2,500 calories!
Black bears often are nocturnal, but may be active during the day, with activity peaks during early morning and late afternoon. In December they enter a winter den, which is frequently in a site with heavy ground cover with gathered bedding material. Black bears, unlike some mammals, are not true hibernators. They are easily aroused from their winter dormancy. Dormant black bears have a decreased heart rate and respiration, but their body temperature declines very little. They remain dormant for up to four months during the year, even when the weather is mild.
When walking outdoors, look for smooth-barked trees, such as aspen or birch, that have distinct slashes made by the bear's claws as it climbed a tree. Sometimes bears will chew on pine, spruce and fir trees, ripping off strips of bark near the base of the tree. They eat the sticky pitch inside the bark and will leave vertical tooth marks with their front teeth. Bears also mark trees to identify their territory and breeding status by rubbing themselves on specific trees and clawing the tree as high as they can reach.
Nature Watch is brought to you by the Cable Natural History Museum. For 40 years, the Museum has served as a guide and mentor to generations of visitors and residents interested in learning to better appreciate and care for the extraordinary natural resources of the region. The Museum invites you to visit its facility in Cable at 13470 County Highway M or on the web at http://www.cablemuseum.org/ to learn more about exhibits and programs.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Wild Rice
Nature Watch
September 10, 2008
By Susan Benson,
CNHM Director of Education
One of the most important strands in the ecological web of northern lakes and streams is Zizania palustris, commonly known as wild rice. This plant is an annual aquatic grass whose nutritious seeds have long served as valuable food for waterfowl. Within its core range in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, wild rice is eaten by mallards, blue-winged teal, wood ducks, ring-necked ducks and other species.
This important plant is more than food, however. Wild rice provides roosting and resting areas to adult waterfowl and protective cover for young birds. It also provides habitat for snails, insects and mammals, adding to the biological diversity of the wetlands where it is found.
Wild rice also helps maintain water quality by binding loose soils, tying up nutrients and slowing winds across shallow wetlands. These factors can increase water clarity and reduce algae blooms. Wildlife and water quality are not the only beneficiaries of wild rice, though — this plant has long been a staple food for Native Americans and early European explorers of the region. To the Ojibwa, the plant is called manoomin, a term derived from “Manitou,” meaning Great Spirit and “meenum,” meaning delicacy.
Wild rice flourishes best in shallow, flowing water such as rivers and flowages, and in lakes that have an inlet and outlet. The plant grows in a predictable pattern. Seeds lie dormant in the lake or river sediment through the winter, and then germinate in the spring. In late spring, the new plants grow upward, producing ribbon-like leaves that float on the water’s surface. Through the summer, shoots may reach a height of two to eight feet above water.
In August and September the seeds develop and mature and become ready for harvesting. To the Ojibwa, the August full moon is known as Rice Making Moon, signaling harvest and thanksgiving celebrations. Today’s wild rice harvest methods remain similar to those used for centuries. The ripe grain is harvested from canoes or small boats with the use of smooth, wooden sticks. Generally, two people rice as a team; one moves the canoe through the rice bed using a long push-pole while the other “knocks” the grain from the plant seed heads into the boat. The freshly harvested rice then needs to be finished, a process involving parching to loosen the grain hulls, then winnowing the rice. The end product is a grain low in fat but high in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, nutritionally superior to white rice, oats, wheat or rye.
Wild rice can be hurt by pollution, the wake from large boats, exotic species and other factors. As a result many historic rice beds have been lost. Especially damaging are changes in water levels; the lakes and rivers that support rice have often been dammed, and even small increases in water depth can destroy the plant’s habitat. Although wild rice has declined in abundance from historic levels, there is hope that this trend may be reversed. A growing effort is underway to manage and restore wild rice. Tribal, state, federal and private natural resource organizations and interested individuals are working to protect and promote this special resource.
Nature Watch is brought to you by the Cable Natural History Museum. For 40 years, the Museum has served as a guide and mentor to generations of visitors and residents interested in learning to better appreciate and care for the extraordinary natural resources of the region. The Museum invites you to visit its facility in Cable at 43570 Kavanaugh Street or on the web at http://www.cablemuseum.org/ to learn more about exhibits and programs.
September 10, 2008
By Susan Benson,
CNHM Director of Education
One of the most important strands in the ecological web of northern lakes and streams is Zizania palustris, commonly known as wild rice. This plant is an annual aquatic grass whose nutritious seeds have long served as valuable food for waterfowl. Within its core range in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, wild rice is eaten by mallards, blue-winged teal, wood ducks, ring-necked ducks and other species.
This important plant is more than food, however. Wild rice provides roosting and resting areas to adult waterfowl and protective cover for young birds. It also provides habitat for snails, insects and mammals, adding to the biological diversity of the wetlands where it is found.
Wild rice also helps maintain water quality by binding loose soils, tying up nutrients and slowing winds across shallow wetlands. These factors can increase water clarity and reduce algae blooms. Wildlife and water quality are not the only beneficiaries of wild rice, though — this plant has long been a staple food for Native Americans and early European explorers of the region. To the Ojibwa, the plant is called manoomin, a term derived from “Manitou,” meaning Great Spirit and “meenum,” meaning delicacy.
Wild rice flourishes best in shallow, flowing water such as rivers and flowages, and in lakes that have an inlet and outlet. The plant grows in a predictable pattern. Seeds lie dormant in the lake or river sediment through the winter, and then germinate in the spring. In late spring, the new plants grow upward, producing ribbon-like leaves that float on the water’s surface. Through the summer, shoots may reach a height of two to eight feet above water.
In August and September the seeds develop and mature and become ready for harvesting. To the Ojibwa, the August full moon is known as Rice Making Moon, signaling harvest and thanksgiving celebrations. Today’s wild rice harvest methods remain similar to those used for centuries. The ripe grain is harvested from canoes or small boats with the use of smooth, wooden sticks. Generally, two people rice as a team; one moves the canoe through the rice bed using a long push-pole while the other “knocks” the grain from the plant seed heads into the boat. The freshly harvested rice then needs to be finished, a process involving parching to loosen the grain hulls, then winnowing the rice. The end product is a grain low in fat but high in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, nutritionally superior to white rice, oats, wheat or rye.
Wild rice can be hurt by pollution, the wake from large boats, exotic species and other factors. As a result many historic rice beds have been lost. Especially damaging are changes in water levels; the lakes and rivers that support rice have often been dammed, and even small increases in water depth can destroy the plant’s habitat. Although wild rice has declined in abundance from historic levels, there is hope that this trend may be reversed. A growing effort is underway to manage and restore wild rice. Tribal, state, federal and private natural resource organizations and interested individuals are working to protect and promote this special resource.
Nature Watch is brought to you by the Cable Natural History Museum. For 40 years, the Museum has served as a guide and mentor to generations of visitors and residents interested in learning to better appreciate and care for the extraordinary natural resources of the region. The Museum invites you to visit its facility in Cable at 43570 Kavanaugh Street or on the web at http://www.cablemuseum.org/ to learn more about exhibits and programs.
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