As fall turns to winter and layers of skim ice form in the bays and shallows of Madison’s lakes, another seasonal phenomenon is taking place on the open water. Currently, the far eastern bay of …
Wildlife & Waterfowl
What We Lose If We Lose Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine
Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, recently unveiled a budget plan that would put an end to Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine. The publication has existed for nearly 100 years in one form or another and serves to …
Spring Snowmelt Creates Short-Lived Ecosystems and “Master Survivalists”
Yesterday, we stumbled upon a beautiful post from “The Smaller Majority” blog about fairy shrimp, vernal pools, and the lengths organisms go to to survive in the ephemeral aquatic ecosystems that form when the winter …
Muckraking Mendota: The Water/Land Interface
by Emily Hilts So far this summer, I’ve either stayed below the surface of Mendota’s waters or perched on top of the lake in a boat. Which means, of course, that I’ve been missing big …
Wild Kingdom in Madtown: Tundra Swan Stopover
Last Sunday, CFL director, Steve Carpenter, happened to be out and about with his camera and spotting scope on the Lake Mendota shoreline. Out in the middle of the lake, where the ice edge met …
Video: Looking in on Lake Monona Sturgeon
As fall gives in to winter, we thought we’d hold the long cold season off a bit more with a tale from open water days and the warming months of spring… A number of years …
Looking to The Skies to Save U.S. Fish
A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher says states should be looking to the skies in order to save fish. Brenda Pracheil, a postdoctoral fellow at the UW-Madison Center for Limnology, thinks it’s time for fish to …
Animal Planet: Lake Mendota Edition
An interesting scene has been playing out in Lake Mendota lately. Right outside the doors to Hasler Lab, common loons and common mergansers are busy fishing all day long. In January, this is undoubtedly easier …