Jackson Marsh: A Wildlife Area for all seasons

Jackson Swamp, photo by Noah Froh

If you are looking for a place to get away from it all one of the many DNR wildlife areas in Southeast Wisconsin might be just the thing. Let me introduce you to Jackson Marsh Wildlife Area, which is located just east of the Village of Jackson in Washington County, a mere 25 miles from Milwaukee.

At 2,312 acres, the property is large enough to support a variety of terrains and habitats, including wetlands, grasslands, woodlots, streams and small ponds. Cedar Creek, a 32-mile long tributary of the Milwaukee River, runs the length of the property. In wet weather—including winter thaws like those we’ve had recently—the main creek and its feeder streams may spill over their banks and pool in the surrounding wetlands. Some trails, which are generally found atop dikes that crisscross the wetlands, can be inundated at these times.

The core of the Wildlife Area is 1,571-acre Jackson Swamp, which is designated as a State Natural Area. This section features wet silver maple forest and white cedar and tamarack swamp, habitats that are more typical of northern Wisconsin. The Wisconsin State Natural Areas Program has been called “the nation’s largest and most successful statewide

nature preserve system.” * The program’s mission is to protect outstanding examples of Wisconsin's native landscape, including natural habitats, geological formations and archeological sites, and to provide refuge for rare plants and animals.

This story was published in my column at Milwaukee Magazine. Click here to continue reading. 

Cedar Creek, Photo by Noah Froh

May in Milwaukee County Parks

May has been a month of transition. With a much delayed spring this year, it felt more like March, coming in like a lion, out like a lamb. Most of the natural areas in the parks were still very brown at the end of April. June is going to arrive with its usual exuberant greens. Although this is my first post in over a week - end of the school year is always busy - I have been out walking throughout the month. So I thought I'd share a selection of my picture takings over the past month.

A single shoot of marsh grass manages to poke its way through the mud-matted residue from last year in the Root River Parkway in Franklin.

The Root River, like so many others in the Milwaukee Basin, has suffered from the effects of increased runoff caused by continued development in the watershed. Once-stable banks held fast by riparian tree roots have been deeply eroded.

As storm clouds clear over the lake in Jackson Park a lone goose glides over the water.

The statue of Thaddeus Kosciuszko that gives Kosciuszko Park its name is the only green so far.

The grass has greened up in McCarty Park, West Allis, but the concrete channel that lines Honey Creek remains eternally drab.

Flowers finally bloom! An unlikely hillside full of bluebells slopes down towards the Menomonee River underneath the looming Highway 41 overpass in Doyne Park.

The overcast sky didn't keep crowds from gathering on the lakefront yesterday for a kite fly-in at Veteran's Park.

I finally found myself immersed in rich green foliage this weekend on a long walk through a swampy section of the Little Menomonee River Parkway. Here is the view upstream from the Hampton Avenue Bridge.

Perseverence - and boots - rewarded me with this find. I approached it with reverence and left it intact. The adult redwing blackbirds that hovered in trees nearby didn't even create their usual clamor while I made the shot. The nest is about chest high in last year's dried cattails. New green shoots will soon rise up around it.

To see additional pictures from this month's forays into the urban wildernesses that grace Milwaukee County Parks, go to my flickr page.

May isn't over! After posting the above last night, I went for a bike ride up the Little Menomonee River Parkway this morning. Hot! Feels suddenly like summer. Where did spring go?

I discovered a flooded section of the path and in it a swarm of tadpoles! Cool. Yet more pix on flickr.