2017: A year in the urban wilderness

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Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area

2017 was a very active year in the urban wilderness of Milwaukee and beyond. As is my custom, I bring you a recap of the year, although it was harder than usual to narrow down the selections. In part, this was because I made a decision early in the year to limit my blogging activities to this, my Urban Wilderness blog, and to discontinue Arts Without Borders. In a very real sense I am sorry to see it go, as I continue to value the arts and find great pleasure in my outings. However, the more singular focus has enabled me to expand on the themes of this blog.

Lobster Claw, Mitchell Park Domes

Another reason for the growth of this blog is the project I began in 2017 with Preserve Our Parks, of which I am a board member. We’re calling it A Wealth of Nature. The intent is to celebrate and promote parks and wild places in Milwaukee and vicinity. Yeah, I know: it sounds a lot like what I’ve been doing for years. And it is! But the project has given me new enthusiasm and gotten me out intentionally to discover many places I had yet to explore for myself. Stay tuned. The project is just beginning. A new website is under construction.

And so, the (edited) year in review. Follow the links in each blurb to read the whole story and see the photo essays. (Note: I am including columns written for Milwaukee Magazine as well as my own blog.)

Autumn in Noyes Park, Milwaukee

Or just check out the year in pictures as you scroll down.

Sanctuary Woods and Medical Complex from Co Grounds Pk

2017 began with a bang as the City of Wauwatosa, where I live, unveiled a master plan that included roads and dense, high-rise developments in the last remaining parcel of green space on the Milwaukee County Grounds. “Sanctuary Woods” became a rallying cry for both sides in a contentious (and on-going) debate that I revisited many times over the course of the year:

January: Master plan would bulldoze the last corner of the County Grounds

January: The specter of bulldozers floods City Hall with citizens

February: A revealing winter walking tour demonstrates citizen concern

April: Citizens to Wauwatosa: NO more development on County Grounds

May: Wauwatosa committee moves to protect County Grounds

November: Sanctuary Woods gets national recognition

Candle-light hike at Three Bridges Park

February brought out the best in people as Three Bridges Park held its first ever candle light hike and winter celebration. It was a smashing success, despite frigid temperatures.

Thousands flock to candle-lit Three Bridges Park

March found me revisiting a favorite spot. My largely monochromatic photo essay:

Somber skies and solitude at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center

Oak savanna at Indian Community School, Franklin

April brought spring and another, more colorful seasonal photo essay:

Transformation: The week spring sprang

In May I took a tour of oak savannas, a rare and endangered ecosystem:

Oak savannas in Milwaukee County

Things got real busy in June.

I visited four Milwaukee County parks and one Ozaukee County park to highlight “hidden gems:”

Milwaukee area parks: 5 hidden gems

Showy lady slippers at Cedarburg Bog State Natural Area

I returned to Ozaukee County for a tour of the “Treasures of OZ:”

“Treasures of OZ” celebrates nature in Ozaukee County

Beulah Bog State Natural Area

Then out to Walworth County for a first look at:

Beulah Bog State Natural Area

In July I revisited the Rotary Centennial Arboretum in Riverside Park for a special tour highlighting edible and medicinal herbs:

Riverside Park’s arboretum offers an enchanting array of wild herbs

In August I reported on what I learned and experienced at my first ever City Parks Alliance national conference, in Saint Paul, Minnesota:

Greater and Greener: City Parks Alliance Conference in Saint Paul

Kayak tour of Milwaukee's inner harbor

I served as Artist in Residence for the Harbor District, Inc. from January to September. In August I took one of two kayak tours of the inner harbor and filed this photo essay in September:

A kayak’s-view of Milwaukee’s inner harbor

Another seasonal photo essay:

Summer bouquet: Area parks alive with flowers

September found me learning even more about edible plants, this time at Theresa Marsh in Dodge County:

Edible wild plants: A guided tour at Theresa Marsh

Prairie clover, Lakeshore State Park

Did you catch Milwaukee’s first ever boat parade and decorating contest? Here’s a photo essay:

Boat Parade

Cuyahoga National Park, Ohio

In October I went to Kenosha County for a photo essay of two parks:

New Munster Wildlife Area and KD Park

In November I filed my final seasonal photo essay from five parks in Southeastern Wisconsin:

Chasing autumn in Milwaukee area parks

I also took advantage of a road trip to a family Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh to stop off at Cuyahoga National Park near Cleveland, OH:

Thanksgiving at Cuyahoga National Park

Kratzsch Conservancy, Washington County

December took me to Washington County where I joined in another tour:

Kratzsch Conservancy is a treat

Kenosha County Sustainable Living Educational Park

2016: The year in review

Interstate Falls, Iron County, WI, on the border with Michigan's Upper Peninsula

It was a remarkable year in the Urban Wilderness. Grateful for the opportunities, the year took me to some lovely new places, allowed me to revisit some of Wisconsin's great places, and even to explore a few new places (to me) right here in Milwaukee. Follow the links in each excerpt to read the whole story and see the photo essays.

The year began with a blast--of cold that is. I went to New York just in time to witness the city shut down for the blizzard that dumped a record-breaking two feet of snow in one day. It was great fun to walk down the middle of 9th Avenue in the snow and even more fun to join thousands of like-minded New Yorkers romping in Central Park. The blizzard obliterated the surrounding city, making Central Park more of an urban wilderness than usual. Making the best of the New York blizzard.

Later in January it was a distinct pleasure to be introduced to the Flying Squirrels in the Milwaukee County Grounds, right in my backyard! Turns out they are native to the area. However, since they are elusive and nocturnal I would never have seen one if not for a chance encounter with Gary Casper, the scientist who is monitoring the squirrels and who took me on a tour of the nesting sites.

In February the wilderness came indoors when the Milwaukee Art Museum opened an exhibit called Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School. My review.

In March I drove to Houston, Texas for a conference organized by The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Stopped in St. Louis on the way where their version of New York's Central Park is called "Forest Park." I found it to be more urban than wilderness, but lovely.

The theme of the Houston conference was "Leading with Landscape." I learned a lot about Houston not only from the conference itself but from the two days of guided tours that followed. I also learned that Milwaukee has long had a head start when it comes to preserving and enjoying its landscapes, aka parks and natural areas. I wrote an essay about that for Milwaukee Magazine called What can Milwaukee learn from "Houstonization?"

Buffalo Bayou Greenway, Houston, Texas

In April I took a much shorter road trip to visit Chicago's Millennium Reserve for the second time. The Millennium Reserve Initiative, still in its infancy, is intended to create a network of parklands that in total would be the largest urban park system in the country. Much of the system would be comprised of rehabilitated brownfields and post-industrial landscapes sprawling across Chicago's southern edge and into Indiana. Millennium Reserve: visiting Chicagoland's ambitious urban wilderness project.

In May I sought out signs of spring in Milwaukee area parks and found a LOT! I posted four photo essays of my explorations:
Cudahy Nature Preserve: bursting with spring
World Fish Migration Day at Riveredge Nature Center
Mangan Woods blossoms with spring
Review of springtime in Milwaukee (Yes!)

In July I discovered that a new trail had been added along the north bank of the Menomonee River across from Three Bridges Park in the Menomonee Valley. North Bank Trail.

On August 7 the Milwaukee Water Commons held its third annual We Are Water celebration on Bradford Beach. So began a month of water, nature and park-related events.

Citizens Acting for Rail Safety held its second annual Rally on the Milwaukee River to protest oil trains.

One of my biggest adventures of the year was a kayaking expedition with three other river rats down the Menomonee River, my home turf. The projected three-hour tour turned into a six-hour ordeal that we all loved: The constant lure of adventure: Kayaking a surprisingly wild urban river.

Kayaking the Menomonee River, Wauwatosa, WI

August 25 marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service. Since the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is the closest national park to Milwaukee, I went there to pay tribute: National Park Service turns 100.

On Sept. 11 a water-related service at my church inspired this reflection: Water Communion.

September also saw a gratifying resurgence of monarch butterflies along the Monarch Trail in the Milwaukee County Grounds. In what began as an act of faith with no assurance of success, years of lobbying to preserve land and efforts restore habitat seems to be paying off as more butterflies roosted this year than in any of the last ten. Monarch return in force to the Monarch Trail.

In October I went a little crazy.

The month began with a guided tour of the Penokee Hills region of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. A selection of photos from that trip are on a Flickr album.

When I returned from up north the unrelentingly beautiful autumn led me to spend nearly every day outside in one or another of the Milwaukee region's remarkable parks and natural areas.

If you haven't heard of Brew City Safari, I recommend this hiking club. I went on two hikes with them in October:
Milwaukee River Greenway
Havenwoods State Forest

And it took a whole series of posts to share my experience of autumn in Milwaukee:
Greenfield Park: A walk in the woods
Grant and McGovern Parks
Cudahy Nature Preserve and Falk Park
Humans and Animals: Lake Park and Schlitz Audubon
A magnificent autumn in Milwaukee's parks

Grant Park beach, South Milwaukee, WI

Although autumn slipped into the beginning of November, it wasn't long after that when the season changed. The first day of December found me in Racine, exploring a park I'd never been to before:
Quarry Lake ramble: photographs and poetry was the result.

If you've never seen the Santa Rampage and if you missed my post the first time, you definitely want to check this one out.

When the snow finally showed up I went back to Greenfield Park and to Havenwoods State Forest to be out in it: First snowfall.

The last two weeks of 2016 found me in the most exotic location of the year, Nicaragua. While wilderness eluded me I enjoyed beautiful flowers everywhere I went. Urban Wilderness in Nicaragua, just posted yesterday after my return.

And so ends 2016. If only the political landscape had been as beautiful as the natural one!

Here's to 2017, may it bring humility as well as accountability, peace and determination, greater cooperation but never tolerance of hate. May we live sustainably and spend time in nature frequently whether we live in a city, suburb or rural area.

Greenfield Park, West Allis, WI

Urban Wilderness: The year in review

This year's stories from the urban wilderness came from near and far. Some were as close to home as the Menomonee River, which runs near my house, and some as far away as I've ever been: Australia and New Zealand. Some celebrate restoration successes and community efforts, while others reflect on controversial issues.

The first story of the year was a hold-over from 2014 when I was artist in residence in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley. Ruby and the Tree: Growing with 3 Bridges Park is a lovely metaphor for what's going right in the Valley.

The Menomonee River itself bookends the year. Early on preparations began for the Last stretch of concrete to be removed from the Menomonee River, near Wisconsin Avenue where the river passes by Piggsville. I returned to the Menomonee in December, this time upstream in Hoyt Park where a series of sewer crossings that had been damming the river were being removed: Menomonee River restoration.

In February I left town to visit a favorite haunt not too far away in Illinois: Art, Artifice and Nature at Starved Rock State Park. A very popular park that receives four million visitors a year, the two primary attractions in winter are ice climbing and eagle watching.

In March controversy erupted over a beloved patch of trees on Milwaukee's East Side: Walker targets UWM's Downer Woods. Why?  

Also in March the Mandel Group began construction on their Echelon Apartments at Innovation Park on the County Grounds in Wauwatosa. I began a series of updates showing construction progress. By the end of the year it also became clear that the battle to preserve all four of the historic Eschweiler buildings was lost. Three updates:
Construction update on County Grounds.
The Milwaukee County Grounds: A visual meditation.
Eschweilers come down as Echelons rise.

Just east of Innovation Park, still on the County Grounds, still in March, a long-awaited upgrade to the power plant serving the Regional Medical Complex got underway: Between Park and Power Plant: 10 acres in Tosa.

Across the county, on the lakefront in Cudahy, more controversy played over the better part of the year. I visited Warnimont Park in April and posted this: Milwaukee County parkland threatened by gun club’s plan for shooting range. Good judgment prevailed. By the end of the year the gun club was asked to relocate somewhere outside of the park.

A short excursion in April took me to one of Wisconsin's premier wildlife refuges: Horicon Marsh: A poetic and photographic odyssey. I caught a controlled burn in progress, along with additional shots of burned-over areas. Fascinating! Who knew a marsh would burn?

I spent a lot of time along the Kinnickinnic River this year, thanks to the MMSD. I posted two photo essays about it:

Earth Day: A community cleans up the KK.

The Kinnickinnic River and community development: A makeover. 

In May and June I followed Greg Septon to five nesting sites around the Milwaukee area as he banded fledgling falcons. One of my favorite stories of the year: Milwaukee's peregrine falcons get a helping hand.

The biggest controversy of the year happened over Independence day weekend. The state legislature, trying to take advantage of the distraction, tried to insert new powers to the Milwaukee County executive regarding O'Donnell Park: O'Donnell power play generates legislative fireworks.

In August I took a hike, not usually a newsworthy event. But this one began at 3:30 a.m. and introduced me to Brew City Safaris, a very worthy effort to get people out for hikes in the city: An urban hike along Milwaukee's Lakefront.

Yet more controversy stirred in September as a group calling itself Citizens Acting for Rail Safety staged a Rally on river to protest oil trains. The trains carrying explosive crude oil pass through downtown Milwaukee, crossing the Menomonee River at the point where it meets the Milwaukee River.

Also in September I finally published a story that had been years stewing in my consciousness:
Could Milwaukee be a "green" destination? I believe Milwaukee deserves to be known as a eco-friendly city, on a par with Portland, OR. I consider this to be one of the most important stories I've ever published.

In October I traveled to Australia and New Zealand. Although I hope there will be more to come (from Australia), I managed to post three stories, all about New Zealand:
Dispatch from New Zealand: Muriwai Beach.
One Tree Hill, Auckland, NZ.
Rangitoto Island: The resilience of nature.

The year ended with a bang, almost literally. On a very stormy December morning I happened to drive along Lincoln Memorial Dr. where I discovered High seas on Milwaukee's lakefront. It became a very popular post.

 Happy New Year from the Urban Wilderness!

Urban Wilderness: The year in review

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County Grounds tree cutting

The past year saw dispatches from Urban Wildernesses as far flung as London, England and the U. S. Southwest, along with coverage of a wide variety of stories much closer to home. Locally, 2013 was year of contrasts, of gains and losses in terms of urban wilderness. The year began with a bang; literally a crashing of trees and the whine of buzz saws at the Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa. My January post, Slaughter on the Milwaukee County Grounds: Innovation What?, struck a nerve and blasted all records, both prior and subsequent, for Urban Wilderness readership.

Other bad news included the proposed mine in the Bad River watershed of the Penokee Hills in northern Wisconsin, the precedent-setting decision by the WI Public Service Commission to allow power lines to be built in Milwaukee County’s Underwood Parkway, a decision by the WI DNR to expand hunting in the state, and a developer’s popular proposal to build a residential tower on Milwaukee’s lakefront in violation of Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine. (The final outcomes of the mine and the lakefront development are still pending.)

3 Bridges Park opens

On the positive side of the ledger, Milwaukee created two fabulous new parks for its citizens to enjoy—3 Bridges Park in the Menomonee Valley and the Rotary Centennial Arboretum along the Milwaukee River.

I posted twice about 3 Bridges Park: 3 Bridges Park opens in Menomonee Valley and Photos of the opening.

Rotary Centennial Arboretum

And three times to share images of the arboretum as it developed during the year:

How to grow and arboretum

Planting Rotary Centennial Arboretum

Autumn in the Arboretum

Also, people from all over the region continue to turn out in great numbers to help Milwaukee Riverkeeper clean up the rivers on Earth Day and the Menomonee River is finally going to be rid of the last remaining stretch of concrete channel.

Beyond all that it was another very good year for Urban Wilderness adventures. Here are a few of my favorite chronicles in chronological order:

January: An update on the tree-cutting episode at the Milwaukee County Grounds.

Starved Rock State Park, IL

In February I returned for a second look at Starved Rock State Park, not far from Chicago in Illinois: The Abstract Wild.

In March I returned to the Mke County Grounds for An Easter reflection.

Hampstead Heath, London

In May I reported on my April trip to London’s Hampstead Heath: Nature, Art and Artifice.

June found me in the Southwest where I posted from Abiquiu, NM—Desert monastery knows how to do seclusion—and southern Colorado—Colorful Colorado: a tale of tent caterpillars and pine beetles.

Millennium Reserve, Chicago, IL

In July I discovered Chicago’s Millennium Reserve, which at 140,000 acres will become the nation’s largest urban wilderness when its post-industrial landscape is fully rehabilitated: Chicago’s Millennium Reserve: A photo essay.

In August I finally made a long awaited pilgrimage to one of the most famous of all urban wildernesses: Postcards from Walden Pond.

North Park, Lincolnshire, IL

September found me off the beaten track—slightly—next to Interstate 94 outside Chicago: North Park, Lincolnshire, IL: We all live in awatershed.

In October I was fortunate enough to be able to return to New Mexico from where I filed this account of a visit to one of Georgia O’Keeffe’s favorite sources of inspiration: The White Place.

County Grounds

December was dark, as always, which led me to post twin stories about the winter solstice.

I closed the year in the place where it began, with a photo essay from the Milwaukee County Grounds, which has become a white place of a very different sort.

Happy New Year from the Urban Wilderness!