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🙌 The first Ice Age Trail campus

🙌 The first Ice Age Trail campus

PLUS winter days numbered on Great Lakes, monarch butterflies, and CWD results

Forrest Koslowski
January 23, 2025

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Mornin’ to anyone who wants to donate to the Endangered Resources Fund this Tax Season. This is the Wiscampsin Weekly, the email that gets you in the know on the Wisconsin outdoors in 5 minutes or less. New reader? Subscribe here.

This week’s weekly:

🥵 Less winter days on Great Lakes

🦋 Federal listing of Monarch butterflies

📈 Southwest Wisconsin CWD, deer and predator study results

🥾 Story of the week: Lodi School District becomes Wisconsin’s first K-12 Ice Age Trail Campus

🥵 Less winter days on Great Lakes LINK

A new study reveals that the Great Lakes are losing an average of 14 winter days per decade since 1995, with warming air temperatures reducing ice cover and shifting conditions to resemble spring and fall.
Researchers found that Lake Michigan and Lake Superior are experiencing fewer days of coastal ice, while open waters are warming earlier in spring and staying warmer in fall, potentially impacting ecosystems, algal blooms, and the fishing industry.
The study emphasizes the long-term implications of these changes on lake chemistry, biology, and regional industries, with future research needed to determine whether the loss of winter days will stabilize or accelerate.

🦋 Federal listing of Monarch butterflies LINK

Federal wildlife officials propose listing monarch butterflies as a threatened species due to an 80-99% population decline since the 1990s, driven by habitat loss, climate change, and insecticide use.
Conservation efforts in Wisconsin have restored over 3,600 acres of habitat, with researchers emphasizing the importance of planting milkweed and flowers to rebuild populations and mitigate extreme weather impacts caused by climate change.
The proposed listing aims to encourage habitat restoration while maintaining current farming practices, as researchers stress the need for widespread participation to prevent the potential loss of monarch migration within the next two decades.

📈 Southwest Wisconsin CWD, deer and predator study results LINK

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources study found that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) significantly reduces deer survival rates, with annual survival for infected deer dropping to 41% (females) and 17% (males) compared to 83% and 69% for uninfected deer, respectively.
When CWD prevalence in female deer surpasses 29%, populations are expected to decline, highlighting the disease's impact on suppressing deer population growth in regions with high prevalence.
While CWD is unlikely to lead to deer population extirpation due to the species' reproductive resilience, its continued spread and increasing prevalence could result in substantial population declines, dependent on local harvest and recruitment rates.

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🥾 STORY OF THE WEEK: Lodi School District becomes Wisconsin’s first K-12 Ice Age Trail Campus LINK

Nestled just north of Madison, the Ice Age Scenic National Trail meanders right through the Lodi School District, where outdoor education is taking an exciting leap forward.

Lodi is now officially Wisconsin’s first K-12 Ice Age Trail Campus, transforming this historic trail into a living, breathing classroom for students of all ages.

For 15 years, Lodi’s students and volunteers from the Lodi Valley Chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance have teamed up for activities like backpacking, land restoration, and trail construction. This hands-on collaboration has taught kids everything from trail maintenance to identifying invasive species (say goodbye, garlic mustard and honeysuckle!).

“Walking across a glacial esker beats reading about one in a textbook any day,” said Ice Age Trail Alliance CEO Luke Kloberdanz, who hopes Lodi’s example will encourage other schools to forge similar partnerships.

The benefits of this trail-as-classroom concept are already shining. Lodi High School junior Juniper Schmidt, a nature enthusiast and hiking club member, helped build a new section of the trail last fall.

For Schmidt, trail-building wasn’t just about wielding rakes and clearing brush—it was a way to deepen their connection to the outdoors and their community. “I’ve always loved nature,” Schmidt said, adding that they hope to pursue environmental science in college and continue volunteering for the trail.

Lodi’s hiking clubs span from preschoolers to high schoolers, offering everyone a chance to explore and learn on the trail.

Roughly 4.6 million visitors flocking to the Ice Age Trail last year. For Lodi students, this partnership offers not only unforgettable outdoor experiences but also a chance to leave their mark on Wisconsin’s natural heritage.

Now forward this email to a friend, have a great weekend, and get out ‘der.

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