Northwoods Naturalist

On Friday Leah, Nolan, and I spent a few hours exploring on and around the Baptism River. We parked at the main lot at Tettegauche and made our way up the cascades trail. Shortly in to the hike, we went down to the shore, jumped on some rocks, crossed the frozen river (most of the ice in that spot was pretty thick so it was only a little alarming), and then continued up the shore by jumping on the rocks up that side. It was really cool looking at how variable the ice thickness and textures were at different points along the river. We spent a lot of time just adventuring and scurrying on the rocks/cliffs, and probably an equal amount of time just sitting, watching, and listening to the water. Of course we also did some botanizing and lichenizing. Lots of looking and adventuring, very few pictures for today. At one point Nolan and I climbed about 15 feet up a large white pine and hung around for a while. We both got full of sap, but I saw a new lichen species for me, so it was worth it. 

As of late I've really been exploring the rivers of the area; my last two posts have focused on the Baptism River and Dragon Creek. This is just the perfect time of year for such adventures, the weather has been warm and sunny, but the ice is mostly thick enough to still comfortably walk on the rivers, although you need to walk along it from time to time where the ice is a little thinner (or completely gone). Today I explored the Cascade River near the Hidden Falls. This was the first time I've ever stopped at this river and it's definitely one of my favorites in the area.  One of the falls I came across Still plenty of thick ice on the river Lots of bridges with water flowing underneath Another bridge A lot of interesting textures and shapes in the ice Beaver skull found along the river I was absolutely taken aback by all the cedar trees. Almost the entire area was dominated by huge cedars, many of which had their roots exposed. I think there were two different ecosystems

Earlier in the week I made my way down to Wolf Ridge's Superior Site and walked on top of the frozen Dragon Creek. I only fell through the ice a few times, luckily it's pretty shallow. I spent most of my time exploring on the river, stopping to sit and read Wild Pedagogies here and there, and even joined Shelby on GoogleMeet for a grad nat interview. Of course, I also spent some time lichenizing. Like the shoreline there, Dragon Creek is a pretty unique, interesting habitat. Temperature wise it is pretty cool, at the bottom of a ravine shaded by mostly mature white cedars, with some birches and white spruces mixed in. The proximity to Lake Superior further cools it, and with the creek also adds a lot of humidity to the area. There's also a lot exposed rock. Overall its a great habitat for mosses and lichens, and hosts quite a diverse community, distinct from the surrounding forest and shoreline.  I saw a bunch of Abrothallus microspermus growing on the Common greenshield li

Plants have always been the things in nature that I am most drawn to. Recently I've been really exploring and learning a lot more about insects and lichens, but plants are still my main interest. As I learn more and more about ecology, insects get more and more of my attention. They have so many fascinating natural histories and ecological interactions. About 90% of all plant-feeding insects are specialists, only able to consume closely related plants, usually those of a certain genus or family. Many of the insects that consume other insects (especially parasitoids/parasites) are also specialists. So, to study and focus on insects, one must also study and focus on plants.  I've been thinking about these interactions between insects, plants, and the rest of the ecosystem quite a bit lately. Especially as I've come across quite a few parsnip webworm moths (Depressaria radiella). This species is native to Europe and introduced in the U.S. Here, I've only ever seen it assoc