This week’s Wiscampsin Weekly brought to you by Campnab, celebrating over 3.5 million Campsite Availability Alerts…

Mornin' to everyone stockpiling bratwurst ahead of July 4th. 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 nectar:

• Pollinator Week Recap 🐝 

• Learn to hunt webinar 🐻 

• Wisconsin Natural Resource mag 📚

The ~buzz~ around Wisconsin’s pollinators

Readers, we have a lot of unsung heroes here in Wisconsin.

Sheryl our bartender. That teenager who scoops our custard at Culver’s. Cripes, even the cows standing out in those fields…

But they’re all overshadowed by one especially important (read: critical) champion—our pollinators.

Pollinators:

• Responsible for our biodiversity, including agriculture crops, Mom’s gardens, you name it

• In Wisconsin, pollinator-dependent crops account for over $230 million in annual production

• Pollinator populations are declining due to habitat degradation and extreme weather

Pollinators in trouble

Technically, a pollinator is any animal that moves pollen from flower to flower to aid in reproduction. Seeds, fruits, you name it.

If you think Dad puts in work on any given Saturday out in the yard, these pollinators are quite literally the hardest working members of our food chain—globally, about 75% of flowering plants depend on pollinators for reproduction.

That’s one out of every three bites of food, people!

And in Wisconsin, you can directly thank pollinators for apples, cranberries, cherries, green beans and tons others (incurring a whopping $230 million annually from pollinator-dependent crops).

Though most folks think of bees, pollinators in North America include butterflies, moths, flower flies, beetles, wasps, hummingbirds, and even nectar-feeding bats.

In Wisco alone, there are over 400 bee species (out of 20,000 worldwide).

Unfortunately, our pollinator population is in decline. Experts say this is due to declining pollinator habitats (like fields of wildflowers) and extreme weather events (flooding, droughts, etc).

Essentially, a nicely-mowed lawn may look great for the neighborhood, but it’s bad for our bees!

What’s being done?

A number of bills are on the books to help our pollinators, including one that designates the Rusty Patched Bumblebee as our state native insect, and another that would make June “Pollinator Protection Month.”

Another program is Pollinators in the Parks. This initiative creates new pollinator habitat at State Parks, funded by Wisconsin Pollinator Protection Fund of the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin.

Essentially, the DNR is beautifying our State Parks while also helping our local pollinators flourish. Now that’s a win-win.

Seven state park properties will receive this upgrade in 2023: Aztalan State Park, Brunet Island State Park, Chippewa Moraine State Recreation Area, Hank Aaron State Trail, Harrington Beach State Park, Pattison State Park and Peninsula State Park.

What can you do?

While it’s great to see the DNR and conservation groups stepping up, they can’t do it alone. Alas, 82% of land is privately owned, so it’s up to us commoners to do our part.

You can give these pollinators a huge boost in the following ways:

• Plant a Pollinator Garden (read 5 Steps to Planting a Pollinator Garden in Wisconsin)

• Follow the DNR’s Simple Steps to Help Pollinators

• Learn how to create Monarch habitat by the WI Monarch Collaborative

• Join the Wisconsin Bumble Bee Brigade, a community science project that monitors native bumblebees

• Join the citizen science data projects: Monarch Larva Monitoring Project

• Donate to the Wisconsin Pollinator Protection Fund to keep growing these efforts across the state.

Now get out ‘der!

 Sponsored by Campnab:

⛺️ “Honey, you made a camping reservation, right?”

Aw, cripes.

Not only is your spouse totally ticked off, but now you might be stuck inside this weekend (instead of camping at your favorite State Park).

Or… you could sign up for Campnab. Campnab texts you when sold-out campgrounds become available, so you can snag last-minute reservations with ease.

As seen on Outside Online and RV Travel:

• Just drop in your phone number

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• Get a text as soon as a canceled reservation opens up

TL;DR–you’ll be spending less time searching for reservations, and more time camping.

Sign up for Campnab today and get text alerts at your fav campsites this summer!

Wiscampsin Weekly Poll

A groovy 53% of you have been to Parfrey’s Glen, per last week’s poll. That officially makes it more popular than the Kickapoo Valley Reserve!

Nuts and Seeds 🌰 

🌲 Outdoors for all: The summer issue of the Wisconsin Natural Resource Magazine dubbed “Outdoors For All” has some fantastic stuff worth checking out. Our favorite reads: Explore birding hot spots across Wisconsin (pg 24-25), deer butchering tips (Pg. 28-29), and DIY Scandinavian Fish Boil (pg 33).

🐻 Learn to hunt bear webinar: Want to be a part of the conservation model in Wisconsin—and fill your freezer while you’re at it? The DNR is hosting a Learn to Hunt Bear webinar on July 12th, where you can learn all about hunting techniques, bear biology, management, and rules and regulations.

Meme of the Week 😂

A review from the Trail... Just like how we like our brats infused with cheese