Wild Wauwatosa - a new column

You'd think two blogs would be enough but here I go with another one! I've been asked to write a column for the brand new online Wauwatosa news magazine, Wauwatosa Patch, which just went live today. My column is called Wild Wauwatosa and you can check out my first post, with new photos from the County Grounds, by clicking right here.

Finding fragments of Nature in Atlanta

There was a time when there was no division between the natural world and the human world, when there was no concept of “wilderness” because the undifferentiated world was simply where we lived as a species, among others. Civilization changed that. When humans became civilized, nature became “other” and untamed nature became wilderness. Now, after millennia of the inexorable civilization of the wilderness, precious little of it remains. By the end of the twentieth century it became possible to contemplate what Bill McKibben termed “the end of nature,” a global environment so totally compromised by human activities that no place remains untouched, no landscape remains pristine, no environment unaltered.

Today, most people live in densely populated cities, where nature is reduced to bits and pieces, if not bulldozed into oblivion and replaced with symbols. Parks and lawns represent what has been lost. Trees dwarfed by architecture symbolize the great primeval forests. But we must have our symbols, lest we lose our souls. The bits and pieces must not simply represent but embody the whole. Nature cannot be denied. When we chose civilization over wilderness we began a long gradual process of alienation from the soil, plants, and animals, as well as the natural processes that we once knew as instinctively as a Monarch knows how to get to one mountainside in Mexico. But we did not and cannot separate ourselves from our own natures.

When I went to Atlanta for a conference recently I found myself in a wholly “civilized” environment. My need for a connection with nature was not appeased by the tenuous indoor approximation provided by the conference hotel: the tepid, chlorinated atmosphere of its atrium with an undulating pool and potted tropical trees. Although others found it relaxing, I needed to be outdoors. But, with little time and no transportation, I was trapped downtown in a citadel of skyscrapers. There being no wilderness, urban or otherwise, within reach, I sought out bits and pieces, the symbols of nature that we plant between sidewalks and streets, in tiny public plazas, and even tinier window boxes.

We have spent millennia casting out the wilderness, trying to create an orderly environment. As a consequence the world has become abstract, geometric, civilized. And so I offer this small sampling of images, of nature abstracted, fragmented, distilled into minute traces. We are capable of creating a world that looks like this, but is it the world we want to live in? The problem with the “end of nature” is that it is based on a false premise, the false dichotomy: we humans are not – and never have been – separate from nature. We have tried to tame it – perhaps too successfully – but nature includes us. We cannot escape from our own nature. Whatever environment we create, that is where we must live. When the wilderness has been completely tamed and the world once again is undifferentiated, will it look like this?

To see more images from this series, go to my flickr page.

To read my post about the conference I attended, which was called Science, Poetry, and the Photographic Image, go to ArtsWithoutBorders.
To read my reflections upon finding a dinosaur in the Atlanta airport, go to Encountering Yangchuanosaurus.

Sent DOT your Comments about Zoo Interchange plans

Friends of the Monarch Trail and the Milwaukee County Grounds:

This is an update to my last post regarding a public hearing on the plans for Zoo Interchange reconstruction that could destroy valuable acreage along the Monarch Trail on the County Grounds. The public hearing has concluded but there is still time to send public comments to the Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation (DOT). Contact info below.

Dianne Dagalen, conservation chair of the local Sierra Club group, was interviewed on Lake Effect. I recommend listening to her compelling arguments, which you can do by clicking on this link.


The DOT does listen to the public! After viewing the new plans, it was clear to me that comments from the last public hearing, about a year ago, had affected the current plans - positively, I thought. They are still debating whether to widen the freeways to 8 lanes or keep the current 6 lanes (or, if not debating, at least both are still on the table.) Please urge them not to add lanes. (Experience elsewhere has demonstrated that larger freeways create larger traffic problems and do not relieve congestion in the long run.) 

DOT Stormwater proposals:

·               A three-acre toxic stormwater pond (instead of nectaring plants) to replace the South Berm of the Monarch Trail, with the surrounding wetlands filled in by excavation.

·               A five acre pond to replace the Oak Leaf Bike Trail at Underwood Creek Pkwy.

·               Four acres clear-cut for a pond on the historic Honey CreekParkway.

12 acres of county parkland may be lost to these ponds, which are designed to hold toxic runoff that salt and heavy metals from vehicle exhaust and brake wear. Furthermore, Milwaukee County taxpayers will be responsible for pond maintenance and liability.

There are alternatives: permeable pavement for highway shoulders, roadside swales

with catchment tunnels, underground cisterns, and bio-filtration fields.

Let DOT know that you don't want county parkland used for stormwater ponds.
> Come to the hearings and submit a DOT Comment Form.  > Mail a form from on-line: www.sefreeways.org

> Email your comments to: dotdtsdsezoo@dot.wi.gov or
> Fax them to: 262-548-5662. 
Deadline:  Comments must be postmarked by April 4, 2011.

All Wisconsin residents may comment on the Zoo Interchange.

If you have questions contact Dianne Dagelen, Sierra Club Conservation Chair:

ddagelen@sbcglobal.net

414-771-1505

The Monarch Trail in bloom

To see more images of the Monarch Trail and County Grounds, click here.

Zoo Interchange Public Hearing

Friends of the Monarch Trail and the Milwaukee County Grounds:

The reconstruction of the Zoo Interchange is imminent. The Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation (DOT) is holding two days of public hearings about their plans for this huge project on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Please plan to attend one of them and voice your concern for the preservation of wildlife habitat. The plans include the proposed creation of stormwater detention ponds for runoff from the freeway.

The following information was provided by Dianne Dagalen of the Sierra Club.

DOT Stormwater proposals:

·               A three-acre toxic stormwater pond (instead of nectaring plants) to replace the South Berm of the Monarch Trail, with the surrounding wetlands filled in by excavation.

·               A five acre pond to replace the Oak Leaf Bike Trail at Underwood Creek Pkwy.

·               Four acres clear-cut for a pond on the historic Honey Creek Parkway.

12 acres of county parkland may be lost to these ponds, which are designed to hold toxic runoff that salt and heavy metals from vehicle exhaust and brake wear. Furthermore, Milwaukee County taxpayers will be responsible for pond maintenance and liability.

There are alternatives: permeable pavement for highway shoulders, roadside swales

with catchment tunnels, underground cisterns, and bio-filtration fields.

Let DOT know that you don't want county parkland used for stormwater ponds.
> Come to the hearings and submit a DOT Comment Form. 
> Mail a form from on-line: www.sefreeways.org

> Email your comments to: dotdtsdsezoo@dot.wi.gov or
> Fax them to: 262-548-5662.
Deadline:  Comments must be postmarked by April 4, 2011.

All Wisconsin residents may comment on the Zoo Interchange.

ZOO  INTERCHANGE  PUBLIC  HEARING

Tues., March 22nd (2-7pm)  
Wed., March 23rd (4-8pm)

Tommy Thompson Youth Center 
640 N. 84th St.

West Allis State Fair Park, gate #5.

If you have questions contact Dianne Dagelen, Sierra Club Conservation Chair:

ddagelen@sbcglobal.net

414-771-1505

view of Eschweiler Buildings from the Monarch Trail

To see more images of the Monarch Trail and County Grounds, click here.

Finding fish - alive - in the Menonomee River!

After reading on the Milwaukee Riverkeeper website about a die off of “thousands” of Gizzard Shad, a species of small fish, and the mobs of seagulls flocking to gobble them up, I headed down to the Menomonee Valley to check it out. I did see more than the usual number of gulls, but nothing to get excited about.

What I found more interesting were the live fish, fingerlings, that I discovered swarming around in the recently completed Emmber Lane River Access and Restoration Project. This is where a new pier has been installed, just off Emmber Lane, where it crosses the Menomonee River. I don’t know my fish species very well, so I could easily be wrong, but these little guys look a lot like the Sturgeon fingerlings I’ve helped Riveredge Nature Center restore to the Milwaukee River.

The barrier that was installed to keep this backwater clear of debris is not completely effective, as you can see from this shot. A bloated goose carcass floated amongst the more typical flotsam. However, it is much better than what I’ve seen in previous years. You can also see that the fingerlings are paying the debris no mind.

I took the opportunity to stroll along the stretch of Hank Aaron State Trail that runs west of Emmber Lane. The urban wilderness is stretched especially thin here. But when the sun came out it was quite brilliant. I scared off a flock of migrating ducks I couldn’t identify (white and black; possibly Common Goldeneye) before I could get close enough for a photo. I complained in a recent blog about the overwintering Canada geese and the lie they make of Aldo Leopold’s observation in A Sand County Almanac: “One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of a March thaw, is the spring.” Well, I’m happy to report that these are the kind of geese that prove its lingering truth. It is reassuring to know that they are too skittish to let me near, for it is that wildness in them that raises my spirits - as it did for Leopold.

Encountering Yangchuanosaurus in Atlanta

Out of the corner of my eye I see a dinosaur as I rush past the food court in search of the Airtran ticket counter. The question – why is there a dinosaur in the airport? – crowds up against and threatens to unseat the urgency of the main question on my mind – will I make it to my plane on time? Where is Airtran, anyway?  Reaching the end of Delta, I stop to ask. The north side of the terminal! There’s another whole side to this enormous terminal? A dinosaur?

A dinosaur ought to attract some attention; especially a thirty foot long carnivore. Even if it’s not quite a T-rex. But this dinosaur seems most remarkable for being so easy to overlook.

I have to go straight through the circular food court, right past the dinosaur, to reach the north ticket counters. I join a steady stream of people. Unconcerned about the primordial dead, no one seems to notice the menacingly posed skeleton on its shoulder high pedestal. A domed skylight rises serenely, high over the hubbub below. People sit at tables all around, snacking. The dinosaur, hunched over in a frozen lunge, suddenly looks shriveled and small – anxious, as if, instead of munching on the nearest bipedal mammal, it too were about to endure long ticket lines, then long security lines; to have its unclothed bones subjected to a FULL BODY SCAN!

As I pass by I glance down at the plaque on its pedestal. Yangchuanosaurus. Phew! Somehow a dormant memory from grade school dredges up the image of an Allosaur, which this resembles. Its vestigial arms gesture, seem to plead – for what? The attention of distracted travelers? Or some grass underfoot? Trees?

Maybe it longs to be large again; to mean something to someone; to be able to give voice to the fearful roar that was once its birthright; to roam a leafy Jurassic jungle. Why is there a dinosaur in the airport? As I near the exit, I glance back. It leaves a haunting impression, not so much fossilized as forlorn. Is it because everything in this enclosed space is artificial - the Yangchuanosaurus itself isn't even dead but a replica - or because this sterile environment is the new real?

To read another post about the Atlanta experience, go to Finding Fragments of Nature.

Gallun Tannery demolition complete on Milwaukee River

The wintry Milwaukee River is a featureless white tablecloth, a foreground for the now vacant lot that once   contained the Gallun Tannery. I took a short stroll along the Riverwalk yesterday and shot this brief visual meditation on the current state of the Milwaukee River where it is bracketed by Commerce and Water Streets near the Holton Street Bridge.

The only remaining Gallun structure, an already redeveloped office building on the far side of Water Street, overlooks the now vacant lot and the river. The current economic climate, the site's difficult topography, and environmental concerns conspire to make redevelopment a challenge.

A short stretch just west of the Holton Street Bridge is the sole remaining "wild" riverbank downstream of the former North Avenue dam. In warmer weather it is a welcome bit of greenery for the many boaters that enjoy the river, as well (I assume) as the condo owners that face it from the north side of the river. I certainly enjoy seeing it as I pass by on the Riverwalk.

View past The Edge condomiums of the river and vacant Gallun site.

Urban forestry vs. Urban Wilderness?

A pair of articles in Helium, an online compendium for publishers and writers, touts the benefits of urban forestry. Urban forestry is defined basically as planting, preserving, and maintaining trees in urban areas. The two authors' main point is that the presence of trees in urban environments improve the quality of life and city dwellers' mental health. Who would argue with that? Not I.

Claims also are made that well maintained trees in urban neighborhoods help to alleviate crime. Trees make neighborhoods more attractive, leading people to spend more time outdoors, which ought to deter criminal activity, according to this theory. That may be true; I wouldn't know.

Managed plantings provided by Rivercrest Condominiums
next to the Milwaukee River in Milwaukee, WI

However, I do have a concern about a reference to urban wilderness made in one of the articles. Sylvia Farley, who is from the United Kingdom, says "Urban wilderness is the incursion of unmanaged green areas into the city. Urban Forestry is carefully planned and integrated management of all publicly accessible trees within a given urban area." As anyone who has been following my blog and other writings will appreciate, I consider the phrase "urban wilderness" to be charged with many different, sometimes contradictory meanings. In itself, "urban wilderness" represents a paradox if not an oxymoron. That the term has gained currency throughout the US, if not the UK, in recent years is testimony to its conceptual power. (A google search of "urban wilderness" will turn up too many results to pursue.)

Urban wilderness is a largely symbolic idea that embodies the principle of harmony with nature for people who live in cities. However, I believe that there's a real, essentially physical component to urban wilderness that is as much about providing habitat for wildlife as it is about the recreational or psychological needs of people. An urban wilderness is a wildlife habitat in a city - or suburb. In other words, it's about more than trees: it's about urban ecology.

An urban wilderness in the Menomonee River Parkway in Wauwatosa, WI.
Due to budgetary restraints in Milwaukee County, it is largely unmanaged.

I'm not knocking urban forestry, as promoted in the Helium articles. I'm all for it. But let's not knock urban wilderness either. I chose the two images that accompany this post deliberately for their contrast. One shows managed plantings at a condo complex, no doubt intended as aesthetic improvements for the residents' quality of life. (Probably not what the authors had in mind as urban forestry, but where is the line drawn?) The other is from the Milwaukee County Park system, which includes 10,000 acres of natural areas. It is one of the places I like to go for my own peace of mind.

Link to the two articles:

The Importance and Benefits of Urban Forestry.

Governor Walker gets something right!

With all the commotion in Madison these days and the justified concern that Governor Walker is trying to cut or even eliminate many programs that many of us value highly, including public education and environmental regulations, it may be instructive to note something positive:

Gathering Waters Conservancy, an organization of Land Trusts devoted to protecting Wisconsin's natural heritage, reports that Walker's administration has changed course on one issue vital to their interest - and mine, and I hope yours: the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Walker's plans to cut this program, which provides state funding for land protection. (See previous post.) If you responded by contacting Madison, thank you! It seems to have worked.

Considering Walkers intransigence on the budget/collective bargaining battle it may be heartening - we can hope - that he backed off on his plans to cut Knowles-Nelson. Public input is vital. Let's keep up the pressure.

Here is a link to the Gathering Water's statement.