Did you know there was a World Fish
Migration Day? I didn’t. But Riveredge
Nature Center in Ozaukee County was honoring it and I found out when I got
a Facebook invitation to attend. So I went. It was on Saturday and the
weather—finally—was splendid and warm enough to feel like summer had arrived. Reason
enough to go for a walk in the woods along the Milwaukee River!
According to the official World Fish Migration Day website,
the one-day “global-local” event is intended “to create awareness of the
importance of open rivers and migratory fish.” Although I don’t really need a
reminder that open rivers are healthy rivers and fish need to migrate freely, I
was curious about the event.
I arrived at the river just as a team
of fish specialists from the Ozaukee Fish Passage Program, which co-sponsored
the day, was wrapping up a fishing expedition. Clad in hip waders, they used
electroshocking to stun the fish and scooped them up with nets. Then they
brought the catch back to a floating dock where visitors including several
families were waiting to see what they had.
The fish were dumped into a tank on the
shore where children could press their faces up against the glass and get a
good look. Some of the kids eagerly reached in and held up a wriggling
specimen. Most of the fish were no more than a few inches long. The prize of
the day, however, was the approximately 18-inch smallmouth bass (top). I asked
if that was an unusual size and was told that the record at Riveredge was 20
inches, so yes indeed, it was a good find.
In the tank along with the fish there
were a couple of healthy, native crayfish. This was a good sign as the invasive
rusty crayfish has been aggressively competing with the natives in Milwaukee’s
rivers.
Later I went for a walk in the woods where I found a wealth
of spring wildflowers and, of course, collected some photographs.
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| Phlox |
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| Trillium |
Tangles of roots, dead trees and branches in the river provide good habitat for migrating fish, as the crowd was told by the fish specialists.
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| A particularly lovely fungus specimen on a stump |
The may apples, which were budding but mostly not quite ready to flower, were the most spectacular ground cover species I noticed. Here they carpet a hilltop.
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| May apple, worm's eye view |
I only saw this one tent caterpillar colony, however it doesn't take but one to give me the willies. The devastation the caterpillars can cause to a woodlot is one of my earliest childhood memories relating to the balance of nature.
The forest was full of trees bearing bright red-orange markings. I enquired about them. Some years ago a team from U.W. Stevens Point had done a tree study in order to improve forest management techniques. The types of marks indicate a variety of tree species and conditions.
The original owner of the land that is now Riveredge Nature Center had developed a modest version of a Dells-like resort, I was told. Crumbling and overgrown foundations are all that remain of the endeavor.
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| false rue anemone, vole's-eye view |
