sna poems, series supplementum #44: newell and ann meyer nature preserve

April 3, 2024April 3, 2024 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

this preserve is 652 acres donated by the meyers a ways back. there’s oak savanna, a wood, wetland, and small agricultural land that the nature conservancy is sprucing up back into prairie. they had just done a burn on some of the restored prairie before we arrived.

the morning was turning from sprinkly to downright rainy by the time we got there, and the rain only got heavier. but an enjoyable walk anyhow, and in ways even more so for all the wet. willows and hazels putting out catkins, lots of fungus, serious lichen colonies on the shagbark hickory, sandhills calling once again, and, most surprisingly, two swans flew into the wetland as we watched them from the wood.

first id of what i think is bark mycena (the tiniest mushroom you ever did see).

downwind from the burn

bird partners

two white rafts enmarshed

log fungal splendors

all ruddy—

the shins growing wet

sna poems #148: waubesa wetlands

January 1, 2024July 3, 2024 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

a couple updates for those reading. first, i don’t usually put much personal stuff on here, but my wife and i just bought a house in milwaukee, wisconsin about a month ago. been here eight years, and it feels good to be settling in for real. just to say, things happen but also that’s part of why i haven’t had much time to get out into the unbuilt spaces lately. second, for those enjoying the verse, my second collection of poems, be radiant, is coming out from fernwood press in january, so stay tuned for more info on that front. anyhow:

waubesa wetlands lie in a larger nature conservancy site, a sprawling fen-dominant wetland complex with springs and streams feeding. we walked in and were able to navigate the drier areas, but two steps out into the mud flat along one of the streams put me knee-deep in mud. (had waders on.) so we tramped back around along one of the spring runs instead and sat in the wooded edge before heading on. quiet due to winter and all, dock abundant among the grasses.

the bird calls really

our foot-falls

but for one stray duck

“all the dry grasses,”

snyder said:

but not these grasses

cloud whisps in the sky

my children

gone for christmas break

willow cone gall midge:

disholcaspis gall wasp on oak:

sna poems #144: kangaroo lake

July 22, 2023July 3, 2024 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

we’ve driven over the late-1800s causeway thrown across marl-bottomed kangaroo lake heaps of times. but we’ve never stopped to walk around, until a couple weeks ago. it was hot, and the bugs were starting to come out, but it was a fun time nonetheless. ovenbirds singing in the trees, new plants, the lakeshore, a narrow path leading thru cedars, and dryad’s saddle almost as big as my 6-year-old!

first ids of sensitive fern, and sulphur cinquefoil,

the ovenbird sings

her sun song

walls of juniper

blue-tongued shoreline spike

a tower

for mud-bodied frog

a six-year-old pack

on my back

running to laughter

sna poems, series supplementum #39: kratzsch preserve

March 15, 2023 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

kratzsch preserve is a 72-acre wood and wetland lot of former farmland rehabilitated by the ozaukee and washington county land trust. they’re doing good work here people. prairie, marsh, hardwood forest, frontage on the milwaukee river, glacial topography; little bit of everything.

this was a great hike, up and down, good steady wind on the prairie but some shelter in the woods and down by the river. snow drifts gave us a workout. sat with the robins and redwing blackbirds by the river for a spell. four lunes and views for you.

snowmarsh and cattails

crows cawing—

trunk shadow and gone

cork margin’s lake-edge

on dead birch

perilous gambit

prairie grass hoophouse

seedhead sprays

accent the esker

confluence upstream

milwaukee

runs on in light snow

sna poems #128: lakeshore technical college old growth forest

September 6, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

ltc old growth forest is a northern mesic old growth remnant on ltc’s campus (how’s that for a tautology?). the northern approach has become overgrown, but we went in from the middle-range parking lot and had a very satisfying walk. sarsparilla was abundant in the looming maple/beech wood with some impressive red oaks along the way. mushrooms were growing, centerville creek was flowing lazily below the ridge trail.

highlight was seeing an owl flap proudly out of a tree up ahead and out across the clearing above the creek to an oak on the far side. didn’t get a good enough view to id her, but it was a bigger owl for sure.

first id of wild sarsparilla.

sarsparilla calm,

tail feathers

flash toward a red oak

sna poems #127: woodland dunes

September 5, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

woodland dunes is a wooded swale and ridge topography near lake michigan in manitowoc cty. the ridges and swales are from the receding of lake michigan’s shoreline in stages over millennia. the swales are wet year round here, while the ridges are often very sandy and more open.

we found some fantastic old trees and some delightful fungi—one highlight of the trip was a small stand of amanita muscaria var. guessowii (i think the var. is right there…). i hadn’t seen fly agaric in the wild since i was about twenty.

we also visited the nearby river marsh at the woodland dunes nature center to the northeast, where we found a spectacular boardwalk that gets you way into the marsh. at the end of the line where more open water occurs, we were greeted by a small family of otters! one of the great moments of this whole pandemic project of almost 200 site visits to see otters swimming freely in a marsh, and have them see us—they were inquisitive but clearly surprised!

first id’s of river otters, arrowhead, swamp sparrow, spotted beebalm, chanterelle waxy caps, and marsh skullcap.

here on our platform

feathered sprite

hums in the marsh breeze

arrowhead quiet

on the bank,

swamp sparrow singing

little brown muzzle:

our eyes meet

for mutual shock

green frog on the ridge

much too late

for lake michigan

red-gold fungal body

standing tall

amongst the cedars

sna poems #124: waupun park maple forest

August 28, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

waupun park maple forest is a remnant old growth southern mesic forest. set in a county park, the wood is dominated by sugar maples, with a mix of oaks and linden, walnut and ash. a lack of shrub growth and abundance of spring ephemerals suggests the continued health of this forest.

this was at the end of our day, so it was a shorter exploration than it might have been. but beautiful trees and so much fungi—late summer mycelial riches.

the sugar maples

up from earth,

mushrooms brown and orange

the skull’s dark pits gaze

on nothing,

but souls all around

sna poems #113: milwaukee river and swamp

March 28, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

milwaukee river and swamp sna is a mixed site with lowland forest, conifer swamp, and shrub zones. the east branch of the milwaukee river flows thru the site, and it hugs mauthe lake. the lake, river, and wetlands make the site a popular home and migration corridor for birds. we saw a song sparrow, common mergansers, buffle heads, a bald eagle, and downy woodpeckers, along with several more common species. my wife spotted the eagle standing on the lake ice a few hundred yards off and then it took off and flew right over us, as cranes called from further afield.

the walk thru the lowland hardwood forest was full of life, even at this early part of the year. so much to hear and smell and see and touch. we didn’t make it far enough to get to the swamp, but there’s always next time.

common mergansers

with brilliant

red bills, just floating

soft thumb of willow

wild array

song sparrow on branch

bald eagle over

east branch’s

sand and gravel bed

the geese will not stop

their honking—

the witch’s butter

sna poems, series supplementum # 31: shannon preserve

March 14, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

shannon preserve is 34 acres down the road from the cedarburg bog sna on hwy 33 in ozaukee cty. marsh, shrub carr, lowland hardwood forest, wet and upland meadows. no trails to speak of, which was nice. an unnamed stream meanders thru the site on its way to one of the lakes in cedarburg bog. its ice shelf was precarious and fun to admire.

we hung out with a white breasted nuthatch, and came out of the woods to meet two sandhill cranes flying across the meadow singing away—our first sandhill sighting of the year. it was our first hike outside the city in weeks, the first with warm sun in months. it was a good day.

the curling moss fronds

reflecting

march’s late-day sun

white breasted nuthatch

chirps over

marooned feather flumes

sandhills—necks like waves—

skirt meadow

past wind-blasted oak

sna poems, supplementum anthropocenum #13: atlas pit (aka kiwanis pond)

October 19, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

it’s strange to me that i haven’t yet visited this site for the series. atlas pit (it was re-named ‘kiwanis pond’ but i can’t bring myself to call it that from long and early association) is a former gravel quarry a couple blocks from where i grew up in janesville, wi (rock county).

the old story goes that atlas sand & gravel dug until they hit a spring and then it filled in. i haven’t been able to fact-check that to my satisfaction, but the pieces of confirmation i’ve found have lined up with the general story. sounds like it filled up in the ’50s.

my childhood neighborhood was at the top of the quarry, and the pit was down the hill in a green corridor near a large wooded park, another pond, and a golf course. i learned in my research on wisconsin natural history during the pandemic that my hometown sits atop one of the outwash fans of the last glaciation, and my neighborhood above the rock river is at the edge of the fan. so it actually makes very good sense that there’d be a gravel quarry here, and there are other quarries in the area.

we used to come down here to play frequently, and back then it felt like a forest, a real wild place. it’s not quite so expansive now as an adult, but there are still pockets that feel more remote than it really is. when i visited the wind was blowing on a cloudy morning, and it smelled of childhood and good life.

first id of common cocklebur!

here goldenrod bends

in the breeze

and i never knew