Like most things in 2020, summer at Trout Lake Station was very different this year. Normally, a handful of graduate students and several dozen mostly UW-Madison undergrads would spend summer living on station and conducting field work on everything from declining walleye populations in Northwoods lakes to making batteries out of bog water. But this …
Last week was the first time in a while that hunkering down at home for days on end was a response to weather and not a decision driven by spiking COVID numbers. Here in south/central Wisconsin, it was day after day of gray skies and persistent rain and the perfect conditions to ponder profound questions. …
A debate recently broke out among a couple of my daughter’s friends. Or, perhaps debate is too strong a word – a question was posed, and the answer was elusive. And it turns out that the answer to their particular question is elusive. They were on the right track, but hadn’t arrived at the right …
by Julia Buskirk – In 2015, Petra Wakker began her college experience alongside Lake Mendota. She was no stranger to this waterway—before walking alongside the lake on her way to classes at UW-Madison, Wakker had already been working at the Center for Limnology for two years. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want …
In the Upper Midwest, the water temperature in a lake may be as different from the lake next door as one at the opposite end of the state. While this may save Midwesterners a long drive “up north” to find a lake cool enough to beat the summer heat, it also has important implications when …
Happy Friday! We’re back with Water We Talking About – a series where kids send us freshwater-related questions and we track down freshwater-related scientists to answer them. This week, Johnny from Madison nearly stumped us! The Question: Why are there so many shells on the beaches in Florida, but hardly any on the beaches in …
Although Cassie Gauthier never got to visit Trout Lake Station and had to do all of her work from her parent’s house this summer, she still managed to share so much of what we do with a broader audience. We can’t thank her enough and hope you’ll read this her excellent farewell to Trout Lake. …
Call it the “lake-to-table” movement. A new study in the journal Fisheries looked at the fish-harvesting habits of the million-plus anglers who annually fish Wisconsin lakes. What they found is that, armed with little more than a rod and reel, Wisconsin anglers are really good at bringing home the bacon – or, rather, fillet. Federal …
by Cassie Gauthier – When you think of a beautiful natural area, what do you imagine? Maybe you think of a lake at the top of a mountain with clear water and tall pine trees creating beautiful green reflections along the shoreline. Or maybe a desert with lizards scurrying around in the hot sun under …
Attention all kids (and their grown-ups!) We interrupt our usual Friday programming for an important message. Our research outpost in Wisconsin’s Northwoods (also known as Trout Lake Station) is holding a “virtual” open house this year and it starts today! You see, normally today would be the day we opened the station to the public …