Nashotah Park: A lovely winter day in April!!

The snow was soft, heavy and surprisingly deep the third day after an unseasonable blizzard in April. But the wide trails over hills and through woodlands were well-trodden and tracked by skis by the time I got there. All the same I had the place nearly to myself on a lovely midweek morning. I say lovely because it was—if you forgot for a moment it being April. Sunny and warm for February.

Like every single person I’ve spoken to since it snowed, I felt betrayed by the weather. I didn’t go out to enjoy it for two days. My loss. I’m glad I broke the spell and ventured out to Waukesha County to explore a park new to me. The snow made an already beautiful place even more enchanting.

Nashotah Park is 444 acres nestled within a glacial terrain of rolling hills, woodlands, wetlands, and grasslands. There are two large natural lakes, an oak forest and an oak savanna. There are wide open fields, a cedar glade (I’m told—I didn’t find it), and broad expanses of marsh. 

I did see a solitary hiker on a portion of the 10-kilometer trail system, which has multiple loops. 

Later, around noon, towards the end of my walk, several skiers zipped by, proving the popularity of the park for cross-country skiing, even after an unexpected spring snowfall. Although they hadn’t been groomed this late in the season, the trails are groomed in winter for both classic and skate style cross-country skiing. There is even a separate trail for snowshoeing, according to the Wisconsin Trail Guide website. 

The Waukesha County Parks website states, “Due to the variety of landscapes, Nashotah Park has an outstanding array of songbirds.” And I saw some, including this pair of male Eastern bluebirds, looking rather cold in the circumstances. I was also surprised to see a couple of great blue herons fly by over the oak canopy—although I suppose it shouldbe warm enough for them by now! The redwing blackbirds were making a ruckus in the snow-dusted cattails, too.

Don’t let the snow get you down! I know we’re all hoping for balmier conditions and spring flowers to bloom. But, hey! It’s lovely out there in the parks.

This is one of an ongoing series of stories about parks that I have undertaken as part of a long-term project called A Wealth of Nature. Anyone familiar with my Urban Wilderness blog will find little to differentiate the new series, for it is entirely consistent with my previous work. However, in an effort to be more comprehensive I am deliberately exploring parks all around Southeast Wisconsin that are new to me.

A website for the project is underway. Meanwhile, I have just created a new Instagram account (@awealthofnature) and Facebook page, which I invite you to like and follow. A Wealth of Nature is a project of Preserve Our Parks, on the board of which I serve.

Hartland Marsh Preserve

-->

Located off Highway 83 in the Village of Hartland, Hartland Marsh Preserve spreads across 180 acres protected by the Waukesha County Land Conservancy in partnership with the Ice Age Trail Alliance and the Village of Hartland. The Bark River meanders through the preserve. Ranked as a Class 1 Wildlife Habitat by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, the preserve protects ancient bur oaks and a vital habitat for birds and various woodland animals, including mink and turtles.

I discovered the preserve recently in my efforts to explore new wild lands in Southeastern Wisconsin as part of the project, A Wealth of Nature, that I'm working on with Preserve Our Parks. The goal of the project is to bring awareness to the wealth of opportunities there are in our vicinity for the enjoyment of nature. Stay tuned for the launch of a new website and much more.

The day I went to Hartland Marsh was warm, almost spring-like except for the overcast and still-thawing ice. I saw no one else the whole time I walked in an around the looping trail, but then said trail was sheer ice and extremely treacherous, so it wasn't too surprising. I managed to get a few nice shots of the wintry but snow-less scenery.

Paradise Valley?

-->

Photo by Noah Froh

Did you know there is a place called Paradise Valley in Waukesha County? Hard to imagine the origin of the name. It’s about as flat a landscape as I’ve seen anywhere in Wisconsin.

Someone tried to farm the wet soil here for a while until it proved unfruitful. The Wisconsin DNR purchased the land in 2012 and began a management plan that has been encouraging it to revert to wetland. The Bark River channel once flowed through the “valley” but the farmers diked the property and diverted the river. Now, with the dike breached, the river simply floods into the marsh.

I was introduced to the place recently by DNR wildlife biologist Dianne Robinson. She hosts regular tours of wildlife areas in Southeastern Wisconsin. The theme this time was tracking. We walked along the snow-covered roads that divide the marsh, watching for tracks along the way. There were plenty.

Larger animals, like weasels and coyotes tended to follow a straight line, taking advantage of the road just like we do. The smaller tracks of field mice, voles and the like tended to wander across from side to side. We learned to distinguish between dogs and coyotes and that the “thumb” of a mink is on the outside of its paw where our pinky is.

Robinson showed us how to measure the size of the print. People often overestimate, she said, because the impression in the snow can be quite a bit larger than the actual footprint.

We also saw sled tracks that veered off into the marsh grass. Paradise Valley is a popular spot for hunting and trapping, Robinson told us.

We saw the most tracks when we ventured out onto the frozen Bark River. However, with the thermometer reading a neat 0° Fahrenheit and wind chills approaching -15, we didn’t linger long.

The most surprising find was a cache of fish carcasses in amongst the cattails. Robinson speculated that they might have been hauled up by some predator before the water in a nearby pond froze over. More likely, she thought, the wetland dried up under them, leaving them high and dry to be picked apart by birds and passing animals.

The DNR website provides a long list of recreational opportunities for the Paradise Valley Wildlife Area. In addition to hunting and trapping they include birding, canoeing, cross-country skiing, fishing, hiking, snowshoeing, wild edibles gathering and wildlife viewing. There is even an accessible blind for hunters with disabilities. The sight lines are totally unimpeded under a sky as broad as the horizon.

I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce Noah Froh, who is a student at Bennington College in Vermont. Noah, whose home is in Milwaukee, is interning with me during the winter interim period. This was our first outing together. Noah contributed the photo featured at the top of the post.