First snow in Menomonee River Parkway: A photo essay

But for the snow it would have been a gloomy day. But the first snowfall is almost always joyous—especially if it falls on a Friday night or Saturday morning, as it did yesterday. Fortunately, I didn’t have to venture far from home to enjoy it. I headed for one of my favorite haunts along the Menomonee River Parkway.

Sanctuary Woods at the Milwaukee County Grounds gets national recognition

The Cultural Landscape Foundation lists the Wauwatosa property as threatened in its Landslide program

Sanctuary Woods in Wauwatosa has attracted a lot of attention over the past year as concerned citizens reacted to a controversial plan to develop portions of it. As of today, that attention has gone national for the first time. This morning The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a prestigious non-profit organization based in Washington DC, unveiled its annual call to action in support of important places it considers threatened. Following a rigorous application, jurying and vetting process, Milwaukee County’s Sanctuary Woods has been included among 13 at-risk landscapes from all over the country.

The mission of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is to connect people to places, to educate and engage the public “to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards.” One of the ways the foundation does this is through a program it calls Landslide: Open Season on Open Space, which draws attention to threatened places. The purposes of Landslide are to reveal the value of identified places, to highlight and monitor at-risk landscapes, and to save our heritage for future generations. This year Sanctuary Woods shares the Landslide spotlight with 12 other new entries that range from a tiny pocket park in Manhattan to the million-acre Boundary Waters Wilderness Area in Minnesota.

The Landslide designation recognizes that the southeast corner of the Milwaukee County Grounds, popularly known as Sanctuary Woods, is far more than a patch of woodland. Preservation advocates and development promoters alike have largely focused on its wildlife habitat and recreational value. As important as those things are, they do not tell the whole story. TCLF defines cultural landscapes as ones “that have been affected, influenced, or shaped by human involvement.” They can be repositories of cultural narratives and expressions of regional identity. Not only does Sanctuary Woods have a rich and compelling history, but fragments of that narrative are still evident in the landscape.

This story was first published at Milwaukee Magazine. Click here to continue. 

Photo Essay: An enchanting walk in the County Grounds

Showy tick trefoil in bloom on the County Grounds

Dawn is my favorite time of day. I was thinking this as I rolled over in bed one recent morning, right about dawn. My joints were stiff and my eyes reluctant to open, though my heart raced and I was no longer sleepy. There was a time when I would have popped out of bed in the morning, jumped on my bike and raced along the Menomonee River Parkway. Or walked in the woods. First thing in the morning I’d get my nature fix. Then I was ready to face the day, relaxed and clear headed.

Instead, now I propped up a pillow, stretched creaky limbs, and reached for the book I’d been reading by Florence Williams, “The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative.” Seriously. The irony dawned on me when, after a couple of pages, I read, “The more I made myself get outside, the better I slept and felt.” I got out of bed then. Although I’d missed the sunrise, I decided to get a dose of nature after all. A half-hour walk would wake me up good and proper.

My next decision was to leave my camera behind. For once, I thought, I would go out free of the obligation and effort that the camera requires and attend to my surroundings more purely. Williams devotes many chapters in her book to the healing effects of nature and walking in nature in particular. I didn’t need her book to convince me of a truth I’d felt all my life. But of late I had come to wonder if the work of photography—for, whatever its virtues, the act of photographing is work—might interfere with and to some extent diminish those healing effects.

On my way out the door I impulsively grabbed my cell phone.

In other words, I cheated. Snug in my pocket, the phone doesn’t feel like a camera and whipping it out now and then to shoot a picture doesn’t feel like working. Besides, I reasoned, ordinarily when I go out walking I never pull it from my pocket. But this turned out to be no ordinary morning.

Daisy fleabane, Hoyt Park

Walking across Hoyt Park’s iconic footbridge over the Menomonee River—something I’ve done innumerable times—was suddenly, inexplicably like falling down a rabbit hole. But instead of Alice in a place growing curiouser and curiouser, I felt like a rabbit sans top hat and pocket watch. At the end of the bridge was a slope that had been denuded a year ago during the reconstruction of the historic structure. Now it was a field of wildflowers that, at rabbit’s-eye level, was an enchanting wonderland.

Bergamot, aka bee balm, County Grounds

The magic didn’t wear off after one patch of flowers either, as my photo essay should testify. I consider myself very fortunate to live near Hoyt Park and the Milwaukee County Grounds. But, as Williams is quick to point out, nature is as close as the nearest tree and you can get your nature fix on far less territory than I covered that morning. In fact, Milwaukee County is well enough endowed with parks so diverse in size and character that you can choose a quick hit in a neighborhood pocket park or something more akin to the urban wilderness I prefer.

Dry pepperweed bracts, County Grounds

In her book Williams describes joining a study that posed a “30x30 nature challenge,” which is 30 minutes of walking for 30 days in a row. “One of the most interesting findings,” she reported, “was that we seemed to like being in nature so much, we doubled our weekly green time by the end of the month.” My own half-hour nature fix that day turned into an hour and a half.

Happier, healthier and more creative? Well, my fix left me happier at least, and definitely invigorated. Perhaps that’s healthier. As for creativity, sometimes all it takes is a rabbit’s-eye view to make the world new again. Try your own nature challenge. I bet you’ll feel better, too.

Black mustard in bloom, County Grounds

Foxtail barley bunchgrass, County Grounds

Wild Mint, Hoyt Park

Red maple, County Grounds

Chicory and sweet clover, County Grounds

Milkweed and Swan Blvd., County Grounds

Bottlebrush grass, Hoyt Park

Highbush cranberry reaching through the Hoyt Park Pool fence.

Morning light over the east detention basin, County Grounds

See more photos of the County Grounds on Flickr.

Citizens to Wauwatosa: NO more development on County Grounds

Hundreds turn out to oppose city master plan but are city officials listening?

County Grounds Park

“Preserve the land first and then we can talk about development, ” stated Alderman Michael Walsh in a Wauwatosa Community Affairs Committee meeting on April 11. It was one of several comments that appeared to signal a shift in tone by committee members when referring to Wauwatosa’s controversial Life Sciences District Master Plan.

The committee was discussing a motion by alderman John Dubinski that alarmed members of the public in attendance. He proposed that, in exchange for preserving a portion of the “Sanctuary Woods,” the parkland would be rezoned in order to allow new development in the existing preserve of County Grounds Park.

2008 Comprehensive Plan map showing projected future land use. The blue segment in the center labeled "campus" includes parts of County Grounds Park and Sanctuary Woods. Courtesy of the City of Wauwatosa.

Dubinski introduced his motion by saying that he considered rezoning the park for development was the “only way to save the wooded area and wildlife habitats.” Sacrificing County Park land was acceptable in his view because there are “no mature trees” in the park. Many others in this debate have emphasized saving trees. As Milwaukee County Economic Development Director James Tarantino, who attended the meeting, put it, “Everyone agrees the woods should be protected.”

Rendering from LSD plan depicting development adjacent to the woods. Courtesy of the City of Wauwatosa.

The south meadow from a perspective similar to the rendering above.

But not everyone agrees what exactly is included in “the woods,” let alone what constitutes protection. If city planners and the Common Council consider destroying the open prairie to put urban, high-density developments on existing parkland in exchange for saving a section of woods, it indicates disregard for the significance of diverse types of habitat and wildlife ecology. Never mind that County Grounds Park was created as part of the compromise that allowed for the development of the Innovation Campus. Never mind that the county has invested considerable time and resources to restoring the park’s habitats with native grasses, wildflowers and, yes, trees.

Never mind the will of the people.

View of Innovation Campus showing undeveloped lots

Only days before the Community Affairs Committee meeting over 300 citizens attended the latest public hearing, at which the city had unveiled its revised Life Sciences District planning map (below). The hearing was wisely held at the Muellner Building in order to prevent a repeat of the Open House in February when half the crowd had to wait outside the meeting room in City Hall because it was filled to capacity.

The will of the people was acknowledged during the April 6^th presentation. A slide reported that the “vast majority” of written comments from the February open house included these: “Let development happen where it already is; no more development.” Also: “No County Grounds development/Save County Grounds” and “No roads.”

Concept map showing areas to be developed in brown, all except one of which would encroach on current open space and wildlife habitat. Courtesy of the City of Wauwatosa.

A few moments later, however, these unequivocal sentiments were ignored when it came to unveiling the revised plan. Not only does the map show new roads and new development on undefined non-park county land but also the unexpected and shocking revelation of proposed development east of Discovery Parkway in the actual county park. The proposed new road (which may or may not still bear the name “Scenic Parkway”) extending east from the roundabout and turning north at 92^nd Street would require the bulldozing of critical habitats—including the long-eared owls’ roosting site and Butler’s garter snake dens—and fragment the parkland.

The new concept map shows buildings in the foreground of this panoramic view of County Grounds Park.

The will of the people, expressed during the public comment period following the presentation, was again unequivocal, clear and virtually unanimous in its condemnation of the proposed Life Sciences District Master Plan as revised. In fact, although the issues of the woods, wildlife habitat, and open space were high on the list of concerns, many of the most vocal objections targeted other aspects of the plan. Critical comments about high-rise development, density, congestion, and financial implications of the plan all received spirited applause.

State Street Station under construction in the Village: Many expressed concern that Wauwatosa is overbuilding in an already saturated market.

Many in the crowd expressed dismay at the very notion that after 20 years of compromises, which have whittled away more and more of the natural land, they were all back again trying to “save the County Grounds.” Wauwatosa resident John Pokrandt drew enormous applause and summed up the mood of the crowd when he said, "We are not asking for two stories instead of ten; we are not asking to move the road; we are not asking for a land swap. We are saying NO! No more compromises, no more development on the County Grounds."

If the Community Affairs Committee meeting was an adequate barometer it seems as if at least some of the Wauwatosa Common Council members have been responsive to this overwhelming public pressure. Many who were present expressed their desire to protect “the woods.” Fortunately, the county, which is and likely will continue to be the landowner, has weighed in recently on the vagueness of “the woods.” In a press release dated April 6, County Executive Chris Abele announced that the county is “surveying the site to establish what in addition to the woods should be protected.”

Monarch butterfly with purple asters and goldenrod in County Grounds Park.

Such a survey and determination are long overdue. I am not alone in hoping that the county will enlist the aid of biologists and wildlife ecologists in their effort. “If [Wauwatosa] Mayor Ehley and County Executive Abele are sincere about their desire to protect the “woods” and natural areas, then they should work with environmentalists to identify those areas, create a parcel, and rezone them first,” alderwoman Nancy Welch told me.

Bulldozing parts of County Grounds Park shouldn’t even be considered. Neither should new roads or any new compromises that diminish what’s left of the County Grounds. “Protecting our natural spaces has long been a priority of mine,” said Abele in his press release. We’ve still got a few here that need protecting. I know a lot of folks who don’t want to be “saving the County Grounds” again in another 20 years.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sanctuary Woods.

The City of Wauwatosa has published the following schedule of meetings regarding the approval process for the Life Sciences District Master Plan:

May 2 – A Common Council Committee of the Whole will be held, in workshop format to allow for Council discussion and interaction, with no public comment.

May 15 – A final draft master plan proposal will be submitted to the Plan Commission, with an opportunity for public comment.

May 22 – A second meeting of the Plan Commission will be held, with no public comment.

June 6 – Introduction at Common Council, set public hearing date, no public comment.

July 18 – A public hearing with public comment will be held in front of the Common Council.

Aug. 1  – A Common Council meeting will be held where final adoption of the master plan will be considered.

The dates are subject to change.

See more photos of Sanctuary Woods and the rest of the County Grounds on Flickr. 

This story was first published by Milwaukee Magazine on April 25, 2017. 
 

The Menomonee River Parkway’s Paintball Dell

Redefining the wild in an unlikely urban wilderness

It’s a little hard to imagine a place in the City of Milwaukee that you might consider remote. I’m not talking about a place you have to drive a long distance to reach. I mean a natural landscape so secluded and, yes, wild that you wouldn’t expect to encounter another person there—unless they were doing something illicit.

There is such a place. It lies at the end of a long hike on trails next to the Menomonee River from my house to just shy of the Waukesha County line—or the short hike described here. The story of my first encounter was moving and memorable enough to include in my 2008 book, Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed.

I don’t go back often. It’s not that I avoid the place—although fear did seem an appropriate reaction when I first discovered it over a decade ago and indeed there has been little enough reason to change my initial impression in subsequent years. Unlike other secluded spots in Milwaukee’s parks, I haven’t found it to be a peaceful destination. But a kind of morbid fascination draws me back now and then.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve last seen it. A cold, dreary week has given way to sunshine. I decide to see if another visit will reveal any fresh abomination.

I turn into 119^th Street, drive past huge piles of recycled asphalt and gravel and park between a trucking terminal and a packaging plant near the dead end. The chain link fence between this industrial hinterland and the backwoods along the river has long been breached—wide enough for thrill seekers to ride 4-wheel drive trucks through. Today the mud leaves no doubt that the practice continues.

 

Near the bottom of the slope, just before reaching the river, I come upon the wreckage of some unrecognizable vehicle. An omen, perhaps, for what lies ahead—or an unwitting monument to the occasionally fatal consequences of our actions.

The deep truck ruts end abruptly near the river at the verge of the forest. A dirt road once continued on through the trees. Deeper ruts here are mossy and overgrown. Timbers have toppled across the still visible passage. I take the footpath that lies closer to the river.

Animal tracks stipple the soft earth of the trail. But, surprisingly, there are no human prints. Plenty of people are out taking advantage, as I am, of a warm, sunny Saturday in Wisconsin’s fickle spring. I saw them in a constant stream as I drove along Menomonee River Parkway—jogging and biking; many simply strolling. The playgrounds were packed.

I knew this place was off the beaten path, but I didn’t expect to be so completely alone. As if to drive home the point, I have to step over a large trunk that blocks the trail. The colorless forest grows steadily wilder—the trees more twisted, the underbrush increasingly tangled and impenetrable.

The land rises along a steepening riverside escarpment. Mountain bikers have altered the trail: banking curves, kicking up gravel, compressing the earth. But the tread marks are faint, strewn with decaying leaves. No one, it seems, has cleared branches and other debris that fell over the winter. The sense of isolation deepens.

Reaching the summit, I see ahead the familiar river bend and the dell that I know to be the journey’s end—in more ways than one. The barren trees make it look desolate. For the moment, however, bright, inviting afternoon sunshine dispels the sense of impending doom.

I gaze down the steep drop into the dell. There in prominent view lie the hulking remains of an old van, looking more casually forlorn than its violent end might suggest. I pick my way gingerly down the muddy slope and slowly circle the van. It is no less obvious an intrusion, and yet somehow less repugnant than I remember. Fresh graffiti adorns rear and side panels, rust has etched deeper into unpainted steel, and the whole thing seems to have settled into the ground. Drab, snow-matted grasses appear to crest like static waves over the mired vehicle.

I step carefully. Like a maze of booby traps, the matted grasses hide additional chunks of even more corroded steel; an engine block here, an axle there, several wheel rims and the skeleton of a chassis. Aside from the risk of a twisted ankle, it all looks remarkably benign compared to my memory of the time when I first encountered it. Then this was a veritable battlefield. The various car parts, hoods, door panels, and odd bits of sheet metal had been placed deliberately and strategically around what was open, uneven terrain, scoured by floodwater that had washed over the oxbow in the river.

All of it—trees and the rock-strewn ground as well as the makeshift fortifications—had been completely spattered with colorful splotches of paint. No trace of that remains. I guess no one comes to play war games any more.

I find the mountain bike trail, which loops around the circumference of the oxbow, and leads me to the secret of the dell’s remoteness. I am confronted with a massive expanse of concrete—a railroad bridge resembling a medieval fortress. A long freight train rests silently on top. The river emerges through three arched openings. This imposing rampart, along with the private property of commercial enterprises on the opposite side, effectively thwarts entry from nearby 124^th Street.

A continuous frieze of graffiti decorates the lower sections of concrete. But this too, like the trail and the “battlefield,” looks tired and dingy. Even the freshest-looking paint has started to peel. Seams in the concrete weep and run, staining the tags as well as the walls.

I head back to the dell to look for my favorite car, an ancient Gremlin I once photographed when it was iridescent with pink and chartreuse paintball paint. Even knowing where to look it’s hard to find. The rusted relic nestles among fallen logs, more akin to the patient earth beneath it than to the automobile-enamored culture that created it.

Nearby I find a smooth log and sit; close my eyes and turn my head towards the sun spilling all around, welcoming a solitude from which the demons have been expelled. Nothing, essentially, has changed. No one has come to remove wreckage or wash off graffiti. But despite the lingering evidence of abuse and degradation, it all seems paradoxically more natural than before. Against all odds, it is finally peaceful. 

This story was first published by Milwaukee Magazine on April 11, 2017.

Definition of Wild

This story is reprised from my 2008 book, Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed. It has long been one of my favorite stories and I recently revisited the site to report on how the place has changed. Stay tuned for that.

The riverside wood opens into a cutover area under high-tension wires. Run-off from an unsheltered, gravelly slope has gouged deep ditches across the path. Some of these have been filled rudely with smashed wooden palettes and sawn posts. This was not done for the mountain bikers who frequent the trail.

The path widens and forks as it enters a deeper wood. I choose the fork nearer the river, though as I proceed the land rises steadily. A large area has become a dirt-bike course, with criss-crossing trails, banked curves, and groomed jumps. Despite this obvious human interference, an uneven terrain, cut with deep ravines, and a heavy tree canopy hung with thick vines makes it seem wilder and wilder. 

Reaching the crest of an escarpment I look down into the broad hollow below with a mixture of wonder and dread. If wilderness means pristine land, untainted by society, then I am nowhere near it, but if it means untamed, savage conditions then I have discovered the "heart of darkness" in metropolitan Milwaukee. Distrusting my senses I climb down the steep slope, clutching tightly at branches as if their stability will also ensure sanity.

Up close the scene at the bottom appears more surreal than sinister. It has a campy air of post-apocalyptic devastation splattered with carnival colors. The rusting hulk of an ancient Gremlin is nestled into the ground, hood and doors ripped from hinges. The original color is long forgotten, concealed by successive layers of pink and chartreuse paint-ball splotches. The topmost layer is moist and vivid. I glance around nervously.  This is the indisputable domain of renegade paintballers. No one is visible.

The rotting guts of several other unidentifiable cars decorate the scene at strategic intervals, radiators and engine blocks exposed, batteries tossed aside, hoses and wires protruding from all angles. Doors and side panels have been propped here and there against living trees and fallen logs alike. These redoubts are reinforced with river rocks, driftwood, plastic mesh fencing, and long strips of sheet metal. Though I am appalled by the wanton disrespect for nature, there is a place deep inside of me that holds a spark of childhood delight. From my own youthful war games I recognize a dormant instinct to assess the territory quickly for maximum tactical advantage. Its virtual remoteness makes this an ideal setting for clandestine conflict.

The river encircles the 'battlefield" in a wide arc. Stands of huge willows and cottonwoods, along with smaller box elders and hawthorns, anchor a bit of higher ground in the center of the oxbow. Floodwaters have cleansed the ground repeatedly, scouring away the soil, exposing underlying rock, and leaving twisted tangles of debris wrapped around the upstream sides of trees, boulders, and bulky metallic carcasses alike.  Wargames aside, this would be a truly wild and dangerous place after a thunderstorm.

The secret of this place's remoteness lies just ahead. The river emerges from gargantuan triple arches under the massive concrete wall of a railroad bridge rising higher even than the bluff down which I scrambled. Inside the tunnel under one of the arches I meet the perpetrators. I had imagined teenagers out for a bit of a lark. I find the truth more chilling. There are four men, dressed in camouflage, ranging in age from thirty to fifty or so. They don't appear to be having fun, bearing grim expressions and nasty-looking short-barreled weapons. In the dimness I make out several opened ammo boxes and numerous small pink and yellow balls, along with beer cans in the dirt and graffiti on the walls. Most incongruous is a complete set of bleachers propped on a sandbar like a reviewing stand for the military exercises outside. How it came to be here is beyond my imagination.

Distracted, the men look up at me. I wave briefly and say something politely banal. They go back to loading their weapons.

Next to the railroad embankment is a slope slightly less steep, which explains the presence of the abandoned cars, if not the bleachers. A remaining mystery is yet to be solved: how can we learn to appreciate the wildness inherent in the land, and not debase it with barbarity?

Excerpt from Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed, published by the Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago, 2008, p. 78. © Eddee Daniel.

Public meeting for Wauwatosa's controversial Master Plan proposal

Current Master Plan proposal will still bulldoze part of "Sanctuary Woods" and destroy wildlife habitat, including the owl roosting site. Make your feelings known:

Life Sciences District Public Meeting
When: April 6th
Time: 5:30- 8:00 pm
Where: Muellner Building 7300 Chestnut St, Wauwatosa (Hart Park)

You’re invited to attend the next public open house on the Wauwatosa Life Sciences District Draft Master Plan proposal on Thursday, April 6, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., at the Muellner Building in Hart Park, 7300 Chestnut Street. 

A presentation will be held at 6 p.m. and will include a summary of the online town hall survey and comments, and a description of the concept plan revisions and options based on public input.

The public will have an opportunity to comment between 6:45 to 7:45 p.m.

In addition, open house attendees can speak to the consultant team at discussion boards between 7:15-8:00 p.m.

Go to: www.CountyGroundsCoalition.org for updates and information.
Also on Facebook: Save the County Grounds Facebook and Conserve our County Grounds Facebook.

To see photos of the area threatened with development, popularly (but unofficially) known as Sanctuary Woods, go to my Flickr album.

Photo essay: A rare winter day in Jacobus Park

Winter has disappointed so far. While other parts of the country have gotten pounded with snow, we've had almost none. One day in January there was a light dusting. By the following day it was gone. It rained several times in January--the month when it has been more normal to see 31 days below freezing. Then, early in February we got a few inches. That also didn't last long. I managed to get outside before all of it melted away and caught a little of the partially snowy landscapes of Jacobus Park.