Month: June 2016

Posted on

Old World Wisconsin

Old World Wisconsin is an open air museum that shows daily life in Wisconsin immigrant communities in the 19th Century. The buildings were moved from various parts of Wisconsin and reassembled on site. There are reenactments who explain how things were done on the farm or in the forge.

Life was often very hard. Even the well-off had very little space. They worked hard all day and everybody was what we would call “food insecure” almost all the time. But they built America with all that hard work and sacrifice and hard as life was in America, it was better than what they left.

We often think of immigrants as urban. We can picture the neighborhoods of Italians, Irish or Chinese. In the 19th Century, however, most Americans lived on the land and most immigrants went directly to farms. Nature provided the discipline and the assimilation. They brought with them skills that improved life and productivity and despite their apparent isolation became integral parts of the American system. Americans were a practical people. They asked if the newcomers could do something useful. They new people usually could.

Wisconsin was really a land of immigrants in the 19th Century. The majority of the population was German at some points. (Wisconsin is the only state to have had a majority of one foreign nationality.) Other prominent nationalities included Norwegians, Swedes, Finns & Poles. They are represented at Old World Wisconsin.

Consider “assimilation”. To most people that means that the newcomers become like the host nationality. This happens, but it is not a one-way operation. The immigrants from the Old World created a new world Wisconsin, with its own particular culture.

Germans, for example, brought with them their belief in education and rule of law. Crime rates dropped and education improved when Germans moved in. They brought kindergarten (as the name implies) and the American university system was to a large extent build on German models, especially the land-grant universities. Of course, beer, brats and pretzels are among their prominent contributions.

My first picture is one of the German farms. Next is the Norwegian cabin outside and inn. They raised three kids in that little space, three kids and one pig each year, notice the pen. They spent a lot of time outside. Picture #4 is a Polish cottage. It is not build in a Polish stye. It is made of short logs put in sideways and cemented together. It used a lot of wood but was easy to construct. Last picture shows one of the fields. They have animals. You really could not have a living museum w/o farm animals.

They have craftsmen and farm animals at Old World Wisconsin. The blacksmith explained how they made tools and horseshoes. They kept the shop a little dark so that they could see the color of the hot metal to assess the temperature. He uses coking coal, which is hotter and makes less smoke. It does not conduct heat and you can touch the coal next to the fire w/o burning yourself.

The guy in the German section explained how they built houses. They did not use nails for the main construction. Instead they made pegs (as you can see in the photo) and fit the parts together. They started the construction in the woods, picking out the right trees. Home Depot had not yet opened.
 

Posted on

Bay View trees

Then we have trees around the old neighborhood, personal friends. The first picture shows linden trees. They were planted when I was in Junior HS, so they have been there about 45 years. The bigger one was planted second. Kids broke the smaller one off and they replace it. But the smaller one grew back from the roots. Interestingly, it never quite caught up.

Linden trees have a wonderful smell and they are flowering now, as you can see in my second picture. Lindens are European trees. They flower a little later in Europe. In Poland, they call them “Lipa” and July, the month when they flower, is called lipiec after them. Berlin’s great street is called Unter den Linden, under the linden for the trees that line it.

The American variety of this tree is called a basswood, It is taller than the linden and its flowers are less prominent, but its leaves are bigger. Otherwise, they look alike. It is like the Norway and sugar maple relationship. It is hard to see the picture, but in #3 you see the basswood tree I planted in 1972. It had only two leaves. I had to put a basket over it on hot days to keep it from wilting, but it has subsequently done okay.

Finally, is our old house. I planted the horse chestnut in front in 1966 from a chestnut I gathered from tree on the next block. That is evidently about as big as it will get. I had a few more, but the old man mowed them down. He didn’t like anything that blocked his mower. This one was spared because it used to be near a big, prickly bush, no longer extant.

Posted on

Milwaukee in the park

Milwaukee has lots of good things. Among them are beer, brats and parks. We went to a Chill on the Hill concert by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at Humboldt Park. They now have a beer garden in the park and there were lots of places to get food. You had to pay for the beer and the food, but the park and the music were free. As I wrote up top, Milwaukee has lots of good things. Sometimes great weather is not among them, but it was today. The temperature was just perfect with low humidity and a wind brisk enough to confuse the mosquitoes.

There is a long tradition of these sorts of concerts. I used to go to them as a kid. They also have plays and other programs. We went to lots of plays by local high schools. These sorts of events are signs of civic virtue. They are put on by the community and people working in voluntary association with local authorities. The large crowds are well behaved and include individuals of all ages, families and pets.

A big crowd showed up, as you can see from the photos. Many were too far away to hear the music, but were having a good time nevertheless. It was just a nice, friendly and pleasant crowd enjoying the end of a wonderful day in Milwaukee.

Posted on

Ice Age geography

Went up to Mauthe Lake to get my fix of glacier landscape. Mauthe Lake is a gift of the glaciers. During the last ice age, which ended only 11,000 years ago, Wisconsin was covered by ice. Ice ages last a long time. The last ice age lasted 74,000 years, more or less. The time between ice ages is short, about 10,000 years. We are overdue for the start of a new ice age. We don’t think much about this in the age of global warming, but we should recall that we can influence but not control the really big swings.

When the last period of rapid global warming occurred, the ice rapidly retreated. Some big chunks of ice persisted, buried under the ground. When that ice melted, they became depressions called kettles and the bigger ones became lakes, like Mauthe Lake. You can see all the glacial forms in the Kettle Moraine State Forest, near Milwaukee.

The kettle is a depression often a little lake or a bog. I explained its origin above. A moraine is where the glacier stopped. They are like ripples. Hard to ride your bike up and down, as I can attest from my youthful experience. The glaciers advanced and retreated, so there are lots of ripples. The farthest advance is called a terminal moraine. Sea levels were much lower during the ice age. Long Island is mostly a terminal moraine, a big one. It was not an island during the ice age. There were rivers that ran across the tops of glaciers. Sediment accumulated in the bottoms and when the glaciers melted they dropped to ground level leaving serpentine hills. These are called eskers. Sediment also accumulated where there was a hole in the glacier or a little lake. When the glacier melted, this sediment dropped to ground forming teardrop shaped hills called drumlins. There are lots of drumlins in Jefferson and Dane Counties. Capitol Hill in Madison is a drumlin.

Part of Wisconsin was NOT covered by ice. This is the driftless areas around Lacrosse. Chrissy grew up in this region. Locally, they call the the “Coolie region,” A coolies is a long, narrow valley formed by glacial melt water. Grand Coolie in Washington State is an example of a very large coolie, formed when a giant ice dam collapsed releasing a torrent of water that scoured everything until it ran into the Pacific Ocean.

My pictures are from around Mauthe Lake. I walked around it. It was the kind of “solitude” I like. There were few people on the trail, but I could hear kids having fun in the lake in the distance. The second picture shows tamarack trees. Tamaracks are deciduous conifers. They are tolerant of bad and acidic soils, but very intolerant of shade, so they tend to grow on bad soils and in bogs where there is less competition. Picture #3 is scrub oaks. They are small, but old. Some of their size is probably due to genetics, but the soil is also little help. Picture #4 is the Milwaukee River. Mauthe Lake is not the source of the Milwaukee River, but it is close. The river runs through it. I first visited this in 1965, when I was ten years old. I was confused when I learned about the Milwaukee River. I recalled the polluted water in Milwaukee and worried that I was swimming in that. Of course, that was foolish. The water is clean up here.

Last picture shows a red pine plantation. It was planted in 1941 and has been thinned four times. I asked the ranger if they burned under the trees. No. I asked if they would be harvested. Yes but no clear cutting. So that means that the future will not include red pines on this acreage.
 

Posted on

The plus side of GMOs

A lot of people fear GMOs. I do not, at least no more than I fear (respect) electricity, fire or power tools. As with every new development, we need to be circumspect. Transgenic plants and animals will not be a panacea but I see significant upsides. The modern varieties are not qualitative different from plants and animals developed with traditional breeding, however, more precise. If we breed a plant or animals for a particular characteristic, we really do not know what we are getting. Lots of other genes can/will come along that we do not know about.

A transgenic plant can have the precise single different factor, as in the case of transgenic American chestnut trees, which would be identical to other chestnut trees in every way except the one factor that makes them resistant to the chestnut blight that killed the billions of trees once a keystone species in North American forests.

I think about this a lot as I observe nature under stress. We live in an age of human-influenced nature. There is no escaping it. We no longer have the option of “letting nature decide” by itself. Invasive species already introduced HAVE changed the rules. Our choice is to allow the degradation to continue and worsen or take steps to improve and protect our biotic communities.

I am in Wisconsin, visiting places I knew well decades ago. I see many changes. Some are positive. Many are natural changes in forest composition. BUT there are some really bad ones wrought by invasive species.

In Stevens Point I revisited northern mixed forests I loved. I greatly appreciated the thick, dark hemlock trees. They filled a unique role, shading streams and forming the climate forest. They lived more than 400 years, or at least they could have done. They are all gone now, at least I did not see a one in the woods where they used to grow in great profusion, victims of the woolly adelgid from China. One of my favorite ecosystems is the oak savanna, locally called oak openings. Look at my picture below. They have to trench between them in an often vain attempt to ward off the wilt. Consider that trees often form root grafts and that those grafts are beneficial – usually. The BEST we can do is sever their ties. What about the ash trees? The emerald ash borer is relentlessly and energetically killing the ash. The trees can be treated with chemicals to ward off the invaders, but the treatment must be done every three or four years. Ash trees are among the most common trees in the Midwest. We really cannot afford to lose them, but we may.

What has this to do with transgenic plants? Plenty. Evolution is a slow process. We have introduced species at alarming rates and upset the process. It cannot work fast enough to cope. Plant breeding may work over time, but it may be that a plant species just does not have the capacity to breed a solution. Of course, we can, are and should use various management techniques, but they can be applied only in limited areas. We need a more sustainable solution.

Transgenic chestnuts currently exist that are almost completely immune to the blight. I read about ash trees that could be developed to deter or destroy the ash borer. This COULD happen through evolution, but how long?

So in many ways transgenic solutions work for those places NOT as generally impacted by humans. I do not worry as much about my loblolly pines. Plenty of scientists are working to protect them. It is like a disease that affects lots of people in rich countries. Lots of people are working on solutions. But what about those less economically significant but still important. That is where the transgenic varieties will be key.

Consider that you do NOT need to change all the trees. If there are sufficient numbers, there will be herd immunity. If ash borers bite into a sufficient number of protected trees, the bugs will starve or fail to reproduce. They are unlikely to be eradicated, but they can become an endemic but not fatal problem.

We need to act and be not afraid. We have many tools to fight invasive diseases and we need to be smart about which, when and how to use them. Transgenic plants and animals are among our sharpest and most precise tools.

My first picture shows the heroic efforts needed to stop wilt. Number 2 is the still living oak savanna. Number three shows ash recently emerald ash borer victims and picture number four shows how they should be, would normally be. The first two pictures are from Schmeeckle Reserve at UWSP. The last two are from Kettle Moraine Park, Northern Unit.

Posted on

Mauthe Lake

Went up to Mauthe Lake to get my fix of glacier landscape. Mauthe Lake is a gift of the glaciers. During the last ice age, which ended only 11,000 years ago, Wisconsin was covered by ice. Ice ages last a long time. The last ice age lasted 74,000 years, more or less. The time between ice ages is short, about 10,000 years. We are overdue for the start of a new ice age. We don’t think much about this in the age of global warming, but we should recall that we can influence but not control the really big swings.

When the last period of rapid global warming occurred, the ice rapidly retreated. Some big chunks of ice persisted, buried under the ground. When that ice melted, they became depressions called kettles and the bigger ones became lakes, like Mauthe Lake. You can see all the glacial forms in the Kettle Moraine State Forest, near Milwaukee.

The kettle is a depression often a little lake or a bog. I explained its origin above. A moraine is where the glacier stopped. They are like ripples. Hard to ride your bike up and down, as I can attest from my youthful experience. The glaciers advanced and retreated, so there are lots of ripples. The farthest advance is called a terminal moraine. Sea levels were much lower during the ice age. Long Island is mostly a terminal moraine, a big one. It was not an island during the ice age. There were rivers that ran across the tops of glaciers. Sediment accumulated in the bottoms and when the glaciers melted they dropped to ground level leaving serpentine hills. These are called eskers. Sediment also accumulated where there was a hole in the glacier or a little lake. When the glacier melted, this sediment dropped to ground forming teardrop shaped hills called drumlins. There are lots of drumlins in Jefferson and Dane Counties. Capitol Hill in Madison is a drumlin.

Part of Wisconsin was NOT covered by ice. This is the driftless areas around Lacrosse. Chrissy grew up in this region. Locally, they call the the “Coolie region,” A coolies is a long, narrow valley formed by glacial melt water. Grand Coolie in Washington State is an example of a very large coolie, formed when a giant ice dam collapsed releasing a torrent of water that scoured everything until it ran into the Pacific Ocean.

My pictures are from around Mauthe Lake. I walked around it. It was the kind of “solitude” I like. There were few people on the trail, but I could hear kids having fun in the lake in the distance. The second picture shows tamarack trees. Tamaracks are deciduous conifers. They are tolerant of bad and acidic soils, but very intolerant of shade, so they tend to grow on bad soils and in bogs where there is less competition. Picture #3 is scrub oaks. They are small, but old. Some of their size is probably due to genetics, but the soil is also little help. Picture #4 is the Milwaukee River. Mauthe Lake is not the source of the Milwaukee River, but it is close. The river runs through it. I first visited this in 1965, when I was ten years old. I was confused when I learned about the Milwaukee River. I recalled the polluted water in Milwaukee and worried that I was swimming in that. Of course, that was foolish. The water is clean up here.

Last picture shows a red pine plantation. It was planted in 1941 and has been thinned four times. I asked the ranger if they burned under the trees. No. I asked if they would be harvested. Yes but no clear cutting. So that means that the future will not include red pines on this acreage.

Posted on

Grant Park forest evolution

Grant Park is a place I have been going from my whole life. My parents took me there as a kid and it used to be part of my running trail, so I have been observing it now for more than a half century. There have been many changes in the forest cover.

The natural forest is beech-maple-basswood. But they planted lots of exotic trees, so you get examples of scotch pine, Norway spruce, Norway maples, white birch and larch. Parks of the woods are really European with the species mentioned above dominating.

In the time I have known Grant Park, the birches have largely disappeared. They do not naturally reproduce in the Milwaukee area. These were not North American birches, in any case. They planted European white birch. The Scotch pine will be gone soon. They do not live that long and also will not naturally regenerate. The Norway spruce will not regenerate either, but they live a long time and will be here long after I am not. Norway maple do and are regenerating. They look much like sugar maples. You can tell the difference by their bark and more easily by their seeds. They seem to occupy the same niche as sugar maples but can be rather more successful, since they better tolerate city conditions. They are pretty, but could be considered invasive.

My first picture is one of the European forests. Nothing in the larger trees is natural. There are white pine, native to Wisconsin, but not to Milwaukee County. Most of the rest are from farther away, Norway spruce, Norway maples, Scotch pine and European white birch. The next picture shows the white birch. They will soon be no more. Picture #3 is natural forest with native species and finally is the Lake.

Posted on

Grant Park South Milwaukee

Continuing on changes in Grant Park, you see a previously mowed field being left to regeneration. I noticed what I thought were red flowers, but a closer look showed that they are little maple trees. Evidently Grant Park solved the problem with deer over-population, else the deer would have killed them by now. I am a little surprised to see the maples thriving in near full sunlight. I suppose it might be harder for them later in summer and/or if it gets droughty.

An unhappy development is the near total destruction of the ash trees by the emerald ash borer. You can see a couple of dead ash trees in picture #3. Ash have an important place in the ecosystem as a pioneer tree, taking over abandoned fields. They are joined in this (in Milwaukee) by box elder and cottonwood, but each behaves a little differently. The ash often grows individually and in the open looks like a bush. The box elder forms a low branching tree and the cottonwood tends not to have many low branches at all, even when young. It is a serious loss to take out the ash.

The last picture show a loss, but a normal one. They much have had a big windstorm. I saw several broken trees. This one was a beech tree. It was rotten in the middle and the wind took it down.

Posted on

Milwaukee getting around

Safe House is a cold war themed bar near downtown. I have not been there since the cold war was actually still one. Went there with my sister Chris yesterday. You still have to go in through the secret bookcase and give the secret password.

Not much has changed inside. We had the famous drink, “Spy’s demise” and looked around. The only difference I noticed was that Donald Trump is now featured on the spy wall.

It is interesting, however, to see pictures of Lenin and Felix Dzerzhinsky. Most people recognize Lenin, Felix, not so much. He was one of the most evil men ever to walk the earth. He founded the Cheka and executed tens of thousands of people. Funny how we forget. Now he is just a prop on bar wall.

Posted on

Dawes Arboretum, Ohio

On way to Milwaukee along I-86, I-70 & I-65. Staying in Lafayette, IN. I had a job here for a couple of weeks. I worked at a start-up computer company. They had a great product, but it was really hard to use. After I learned to use it, the owners called me in to ask me what I thought of the product. I told them that it was great technically but too hard to use. One of the owners told me that if people were too stupid to use the product perhaps they should not buy it.

I had taken the FS exam the year before and was waiting for my security clearance. I called the FS to find out about when they would be done. To my surprise, they told me that the clearance was done and I had been offered a job. I never got the letter. They gave me a day to decide. I took the FS the next day and quit my other job.

I do not regret leaving MDBS. It has long since gone out of business. I am sure there would have been upsides in that career, but FS was special.

My pictures are from the Dawes Arboretum, which is just off I-70 Ohio. Worth the short diversion. The first picture is a nice big beech tree. Next is a cypress swamp. Bald cypress are a southern tree, not native to Ohio and will not usually reproduce there, but they will grow and thrive. The next picture is a burl on one of the cypress. The last picture is metasequoia (dawn redwood) and bald cypress. The cypress will also grow on dry (well not too dry) land. The metasequoia is native to China. It is a relative of the redwood, but with deciduous needles, like the bald cypress. The two species looks similar but are easy to tell apart because the needles and stems are clearly different. Metasequoia likes to be near water but not in it.