Phenology at Lakeshore State Park

“During every week from April to September there are, on the average, ten wild plants coming into first bloom. In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No [one] can heed all of these anniversaries; no [one] can ignore all of them. … Tell me of what plant-birthday a man takes notice, and I shall tell you a good deal about his vocation, his hobbies, his hay fever, and the general level of his ecological education.”

~ Aldo Leopold

Phenology is the study of seasonal changes in the landscape, such as the emergence of plants and the migration of animals. Hearing the term reminds me of A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold’s epic tribute to the natural world. The quote above is from a chapter entitled Prairie Birthday, which strikes me as appropriate for the landscape of Lakeshore State Park. This 22-acre treeless island in Milwaukee Harbor, which was wholly fabricated from debris excavated from Milwaukee’s deep tunnels, has been planted with flowers and grasses native to Wisconsin prairies.

It is a bold initiative, creating a park from scratch and in such an unlikely and precarious location between city and lake. Leopold also wrote this:

“I have read many definitions of what is a conservationist, … but I suspect that the best one is written not with a pen, but with an axe. It is a matter of what a man thinks about while chopping, or while deciding what to chop. A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of his land.”

I went to Lakeshore State Park for a phenology hike. It was a brilliant morning, not a cloud in the sky. The day promised to be hot, but the cooling effect of Lake Michigan had so far mitigated the relentless sun. A great time to explore the park. In the shade of a grove of river birches at the north entrance, I joined a small gathering, which had been organized by the Southeast Wisconsin Hiking Group of Meetup.com. 

This story was posted June 22 in The Natural Realm, a new blog on the new A Wealth of Nature website. Please click here to go to continue reading.

 
 

Welcome to summer: A lakefront photo essay

Bradford Beach

Milwaukee’s magnificent and unmatchable lakefront—where else do you go on Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of summer? Especially if the inland temperatures rise above 90° as they did this weekend. Although I tend to avoid crowds, I decided to check it out this year. It was definitely crowded. Lincoln Memorial Drive was a slow crawl from end to end all afternoon. But it was in fact noticeably “cooler near the lake” and a perfect opportunity to observe how much we Milwaukeeans love our lakefront.

Bradford Beach

Bradford Beach, epicenter of the action, was pretty much wall-to-wall people. A surprising number even ventured into the frigid waters of the lake.

Beach volleyball on Bradford Beach

Defending the sand fort

Not wanting to be intrusive, I tend not to train my camera on individuals at the beach. But these young people saw my camera and invited me to take their picture.

Those who desired a less congested beach experience chose McKinley Beach, the semi-circular sandy inlet just north of McKinley Marina.

Kayakers setting off from McKinley Beach

The Veteran’s Park lagoon was hopping with activity, kayaks, paddleboats and paddleboards aplenty.

There was a kite festival going on at Veteran’s Park. I didn’t get out that far but it was easy to see the striking display of kite design and flying ability from Lincoln Memorial Drive. I did find a couple of boys having their own personal kite festival on the wide-open stretch between McKinley and Bradford Beaches.

The Oak Leaf Trail running between the lagoon and Lincoln Memorial Drive saw a steady stream of people walking, biking, rollerblading, and running.

I found this amazing and aromatic panorama of lilac bushes at the corner of E. Lafayette Hill Road, across from Colectivo. 

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High seas on Milwaukee's lakefront today: photo essay

This is not an everyday occurrence! I was on my way to meet up with some friends and happened to choose a route along the lakefront. Would have missed the incredible surf if I hadn't. Urban Wilderness in one of its wildest manifestations.

The breakwater was definitely an unsafe place to be today.

Some of the swells crested right over the top. Most crashed spectacularly against it, as you can see.

The children have the right idea here, Mom, as a wave crashes behind them, obliterating the breakwater. Mom got drenched. I hope the video was worth it.

The unusually severe conditions were caused by gusty winds out of the ENE ahead of what's being billed (mostly likely hyperbolized) as a "winter storm goliath." Don't take my word for it. None other than the Weather Channel has the story.

I didn't believe my eyes when I first caught a glimpse of this guy far off, parasailing out in front of Bradford Beach. Crazy. I did see him make it back safely to the beach, though.

View from North Point towards downtown, with the Allen Bradley clock tower faintly visible in the dim light.

The waves roll in towards shore, eerily echoing the shape of the Hoan Bridge in the distance. I shot a couple videos on my new iPhone but uploading them to blogspot took too long. I posted one of them to my Facebook page if you're interested.

An urban hike along Milwaukee's lakefront with Brew City Safari

Brew City Safari was founded by Christian Matson-Alvirez three years ago. I love its tag line: "Explore. Imagine. Get lost." Its mission--to take people on hikes in Milwaukee--appears simple at first blush. Advertise a time, location and route and the people who show up take a hike.

I only just learned about it last week. Coincidentally, the next scheduled hike was the following Sunday (which was this past Sunday). I immediately decided to go, even though the time was a challenging one: 3:30 a.m. The route, however, was definitely appealing: a six-mile loop around Milwaukee's lakefront.

Followers of this blog will find it unsurprising that I was an immediate convert. Talking with Christian during the hike, hearing him wax eloquent about his love of Milwaukee and urban hiking, was like plumbing my own thought process. If you find this idea as intriguing as I did, check out the schedule of hikes on the website. There is usually one per month.

Here are a few photos from our hike.

Our meetup location at North Point Park. Official guides wore glow-in-the-dark ringlets for identification.

Poet Robert Burns in Burns Commons, at the intersection of Farwell and Prospect. Turns out Christian loves the arts as well as Milwaukee. How cool is that!

I knew there was a statue of Solomon Juneau in Juneau Park, which is only sensible, right? But we discovered Leif the Discoverer there as well. As far as I know he never made it to Wisconsin. Go figure.

Still in the dark, we looped around the Milwaukee Art Museum. By the time we reached McKinley Marina the glow of pre-dawn lit up the harbor.

Looking back over McKinley Beach towards downtown just before sunrise.

And north towards North Point and Bradford Beach.

The sun made its appearance as we hiked along Bradford Beach.

We were not the only people out to witness the dawn. At the north end of the beach we spied a group of revelers cavorting in the dawn light.

The dawn light proved fleeting as a new bank of cloud cover approached. We walked up the closed ravine road and made out way back to our starting point through Lake Park. 

The next hike is Sept. 6, a Sunday afternoon stroll through the south side with special guest tour guide Adam Carr. Details on the website.

ALERT: Supervisors Move to Put O’Donnell Park Up for Sale

Please contact your supervisor TODAY regarding the issue outlined below in a statement from Preserve Our Parks (of which I am a board member.) To contact your supervisor, click here.

A resolution to put O’Donnell Park up for bid to private developers was introduced Jan. 27 at a meeting of the Parks, Energy & Environment Committee of Milwaukee County’s Board of Supervisors. (It was a substitute for a resolution requesting bids to repair a small area of O’Donnell’s roof and to explore increased programming and income options for O’Donnell Park.)

It will be presented to the full board Thursday, February 5 at a 9:30 a.m. meeting.

A pending resolution solicits bids for redevelopment of “Entire O’Donnell Park Parcel” and immediately stops O’Donnell revenue from going into County Parks budget. The resolution to offer this 147-year-old public park to for-profit bidders was sponsored by Anthony Staskunas, Deanna Alexander, and Steve Taylor, who voted for it in committee.

Approving the resolution will mean O’Donnell Park is “declared surplus,” a term applied to property no longer of any use to the County, such as outdated vehicles or vacant buildings.

An RFP would cover “the entire O’Donnell Park Parcel” with “full redevelopment of the southern half of the parcel” and redevelopment on the northern half “consistent with the parks-only provision of the existing deed restriction.”

Until O’Donnell Park is sold, “any revenue generated by the Parking operations shall be used to first pay off debt related to O’Donnell Park, then towards cash financing of any needed repairs, and then any excess shall be added to the Parks Department’s budget…” That’s an immediate $1.3 million slashing of the parks’ maintenance budget.

Please help stop an unprecedented—and completely unnecessary--sale of O’Donnell Park. The seven-acre complex serves as Milwaukee’s cultural gateway and town plaza linking Downtown and the Lakefront. Facilities include a three-story pavilion (home to the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, Coast restaurant, and meeting/banquet rooms), two garden plazas and a 1,332-space parking facility. There are 900 monthly parkers at O’Donnell and 200 on a waiting list. The parking structure received a $5 million thorough restoration in 2011, fully reimbursed by a former contractor.

Please contact your supervisor and those who have not yet declared a position on this park sale (and to support O’Donnell’s maintenance and best use), especially Mark Borkowski, Marina Dimitrijevic, Theo Lipscomb, Khalif Rainey, Peggy Romo West, James ‘Luigi” Schmitt, and Martin Weddle.

We averted a sale in December by making our views known to supervisors and we can do so again. Keep fighting for parks as “democracy’s common ground.”

Before contacting supervisors please check the article by The City Parks Alliance on Why Urban Parks Matter! It may help you formulate an argument.

Selling O'Donnell Park is a lose-lose for Milwaukee County taxpayers

Northwestern Mutual would like to purchase O'Donnell Park, which stands between its campus and Milwaukee's lakefront. County Executive Abele and some members of the Board of Supervisors have agreed to a proposed sale that would net the county $5 million. That is peanuts compared to what this prime land is worth on the open market. No piece of property in the State of Wisconsin is in a more lucrative location. Every taxpayer in the county ought to be asking the board why it can be considering such an ill-conceived sale.

The cost is secondary, however, to the principle of selling park land in the first place. Sure, O'Donnell is an under-loved park. But, as the following letter explains, we can do better than transfer it to private ownership in a firesale. The current proposal is a lose-lose proposition for us the taxpayers and citizens of Milwaukee County. Please tell this to your county supervisor. For a list of supervisors and contact info, click here.

The following is an open letter to the county board urging it to preserve public control of O'Donnell Park. I've added my name to the list of signers. I hope you'll join me.

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CONCERNED MILWAUKEEANS URGE COUNTY BOARD TO PRESERVE THE PUBLIC'S STAKE IN O'DONNELL PARK

We, the undersigned, oppose the sale of O’Donnell Park to Northwestern Mutual Life, or to any corporation or private individual. By definition, parks are held in trust for the public interest. If this proposed deal closes, Milwaukee County citizens and visitors will lose all rights to this land legacy, not just the structures on it.  The public will have no inherent say in decisions regarding the park’s continued operations or its future designed use.

Regardless of any promises the proposed buyer has made regarding “public access” and concessions to zoning and such, private owners can do what they want with their land, within variable land-use parameters. Yes, many businesses choose to let the public “enjoy” their private properties to some extent. However, the only way that the public can retain any stake in the future of O’Donnell Park is if the public holds ownership of the land, as required in long-standing deed restrictions. Public officials, as well as all citizens, are duty-bound stewards who must honor these exacting covenants, just as executors of an estate must honor its bequests in perpetuity.

O’Donnell Park has been unfairly, and repeatedly, portrayed as a bleak garage with no intrinsic value. This 9.3-acre lakefront overlook did not become a park by accident. It was set aside for the common good by far-sighted leaders beginning in 1868. The short-sighted sale of this multi-purpose park will deprive taxpayers of more than just the current amenities and views O’Donnell provides and the substantial revenue it produces. It will also rob the public of any future possibilities that visionary civic leaders and philanthropists may have for re-imagining this priceless public land. For example, downtown Chicago’s dazzling Millennium Park (also built above a parking structure) would never have happened if the land on which it was built had not already been publicly owned. Public projects that are supplemented by private contributions first require a vested public interest.

If this unprecedented sale is executed, how will citizens ever stave off other schemes to privatize county or city parks?

We urge the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors to reject this ill-advised sale. Whenever corporations across the U.S. want to help “improve” public parks, they make designated donations for that purpose. Parks drive economic development and eco-tourism, and increase property values, so supporting them makes fiscal sense to businesses and individuals. Lease arrangements can be used effectively to ensure that public assets continue to be managed for the public good. This unnecessary sale of park land is simply an abdication of the public trust.

We Milwaukeean County residents, of all ages, take pride in our magnificent lakefront “emerald necklace.” We cannot afford to chip away at this legacy through the arbitrary sale of our most valuable gem, the very downtown gateway to our city’s treasured lakefront.

Signers

Philip Blank, President, Public Enterprise Committee 

Peter Blewett, Ph.D.; Former President, Milwaukee School Board

Diane Buck, Community Activist and Art Educator

Tony Busalacchi, Past President, Milwaukee School Board; Past President, City of Milwaukee Art Commission; Former Cultural History Educator

Eddee Daniel, Photographer, Writer and Art Educator

Daniel J. Diliberti, Former Milwaukee County Treasurer; Former Milwaukee County Supervisor

Vincent Goldstein, MPS Social Studies Teacher

James Goulee, Former Regional Parks Manager, Milwaukee County Parks

Henry Hamilton III, Esq., Member, Lakefront Development Advisory Commission; Member, Milwaukee County Parks Advisory Commission

Laurie Muench, Landscape Architect; Retired Milwaukee County Park Planner

William Lynch, Esq., Chairman, Lakefront Development Advisory Commission

Linda Nelson Keane, AIA, Professor of Architecture & Environmental Design, Art Institute of Chicago; Placemaking Board, National Project for Public Spaces

Mark Keane, Architect and Principal, Studio 1032; Professor of Architecture; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

William F. Kean, Professor Emeritus, Geosciences; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Cheryl Nenn, Environmentalist

Keith Schmitz, Founding Member and Steering Committee Member; Grassroots North Shore

Peggy Schulz, Writer, Third-generation Milwaukeean; Supporter of Public Infrastructure

Walter Wilson, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects; Retired Principal Architect, Milwaukee County

Anita Zeidler, Ph.D., Urban Education

County Board is considering the sale of O’Donnell Park

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Imagine the public outcry if Milwaukee County were to consider selling Lake Park, Washington Park, Whitnall Park, or any other park in its award-winning park system. There ought to be an outcry. Our parks should not be for sale.

And yet, the County Board is in fact considering the sale of one of its parks. As a board member of Preserve Our Parks I am forwarding the following appeal. I hope you will join me in opposing this effort. If you can’t attend the public hearing (details below) please contact your county supervisor. (If you need help scroll down for contact info and talking points.) And please forward this message to your friends!

View from O'Donnell Park

Dear friend of the parks,

Our parks are at a crossroads, and we are asking for your help. Milwaukee County is proposing to sell O’Donnell Park to the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. NML is undergoing an expansion that will add some 1600 new workers to its staff, and it needs more staff parking. O’Donnell Park is located one block from NML, on the lakefront. This unusual park’s street-level plaza and pavilion sit on top of a 1300-car parking garage. This roomy garage could help alleviate NML’s parking problems.

The trouble is, NML does not want to simply rent garage space in O’Donnell Park. It wants to buy the park in its entirety—the plaza and pavilion and the garage underneath.

Please come to a county hearing on September 10 to learn more about the proposed sale and help express to Milwaukee County that our parks are not for sale. O’Donnell serves as a superb conduit between downtown and the lakefront. Its garage earns the County $2 million a year in parking revenues. Its preservation is essential—if O’Donnell can be sold, any park can be sold. And the fact is, NML has other options for providing employee parking.

We applaud NML for its commitment to downtown and for the vibrancy it brings to our city, but our parks are not for sale. Please attend the hearing to give the County this message: Keep O’Donnell under public ownership and control. Do not turn it over to private, commercial ownership. Please ask your friends and neighbors to join you at the meeting.

PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PROPOSED SALE OF O’DONNELL PARK

Wednesday, September 10, 6:30 p.m.

DOWNTOWN TRANSIT CENTER, HARBOR LIGHTS ROOM

Free parking next door in O’Donnell Park garage.

Enter garage from Michigan St. or Lincoln Memorial Drive.

CONTACTING YOUR SUPERVISOR

A simple email or phone call will suffice. If you don’t know your supervisor’s name follow the county board link. If you email please click ‘bcc’ and enter info@preserveourparks.org. It is important for us to know how many supervisors are being contacted.

Tell them loud and clear: “Our parks are not for Sale.” Let’s keep O’Donnell a public park, for our use now and for handing on to future generations.

Talking Points

• O’Donnell Park has our city’s best, most inspiring, location. Let’s keep it in public hands, for our use now and as a heritage we can pass on to future generations.

• Private ownership of parks means loss of protection, not preservation.

• If O’Donnell is sold, any park can be sold.

• O’Donnell Park is an “earner.” It produces over $2,000,000 per year in net operating revenues from parking alone, which helps support all our parks.

• O’Donnell Park is built on land that has been a park since 1868. It has weathered previous fiscal crises, and will weather this one.

• Park deeds require that parks be used only for park purposes and prohibit transferring the land to private entities. The public has the right to have these deeds honored.

Gateway to museum and lakefront

To find your supervisor go to:

http://cts.vresp.com/c/?PreserveOurParks/9e7fec6aa7/3865a739aa/42340b9b41 and click on “Find Your District or Supervisor.”

Then click on the photo of the supervisor to get to contact information.

To contact Preserve Our Parks:

www.preserveourparks.org

info@preserveourparks.org

Winter solstice ceremony on Milwaukee’s lakefront

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“We are all connected.” ~ John Clifford, Lakota Elder, Congregation of the Great Spirit

On this the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, the sun never did rise.

Even the city, its towers enveloped in mist, seemed ephemeral.

We had come to Milwaukee’s lakefront to bear witness to the solstice, to honor the earth and its peoples, and to offer up special prayers for life-sustaining water. The ceremony was led by members of the Congregation of the Great Spirit, who engage in the ancient rituals four times a year, at the solstices and equinoxes. Out of respect for the sacred rites and offerings, I willingly complied with their request to refrain from photographing during the ceremony itself. (I shot all the accompanying photos either before or after the ceremony.)

We gathered under a great tree near the site of the old coast guard station, which had been used by the Indian community from 1971 to 1983. John Clifford, a Lakota Elder, began by explaining the importance of the site as well as the importance of the tree as a symbol of the unity of earth and sky.

Clifford lit an aromatic offering of tobacco and sage. We gathered at the tree. The first offering was to the “spider spirits,” black, white, gray, and gentle, which protect this sacred site. We then faced each of the cardinal directions in turn. Tiny bundles of tobacco were placed at the base of the tree. Prayers were spoken. The four cardinal directions are associated with colors, with the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. They also represent the four ages of humankind, new life, youth, adulthood, and the elders.

The solemnity of the ritual was maintained despite the intrusions of daily life: the sound of traffic on Lincoln Memorial Drive, dogs crunching through the frozen snow as they chased each other, joggers coming down off the pedestrian bridge/ramp. There was one brief perturbation of the mood when a colorful truck parked nearby with loudspeakers blaring “Jingle Bells” sung—barked that is—by dogs.

 

I discovered later that this was a business that offers sled dog rides in the park.

The emphasis was on water in in keeping with a Global Day of Prayer for Water organized by Milwaukee Riverkeeper and the Congregation of the Great Spirit. The most important message I heard during the ceremony was when Clifford invoked “all of my relatives.” By that he meant the earth and all people because, he said, “We are all connected.”

A free spirit? an omen? a kite caught in a tree. Everything is connected. I'm sure of it.

This is one of a pair of posts in honor of the Winter Solstice. The other is a reprise of my solstice story from Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed.