red cedar lake is a shallow seepage lake in jefferson county. it sits in what the dnr vividly calls “a marshy pocket of the terminal moraine” and is surrounded by eskers and drumlins. the site is waiting for the return of its herons and bitterns.

highlights: 1) a stand of tamaracks (american larches) leading down to the lake had shed their needles but were strangely green-tinted from a distance. on closer inspection, they were wonderfully arrayed with colonies of several species of lichen. 2) walking along the frozen lake, we spied several sites where presumably a small mammal (muskrat? raccoon?) dug thru the ice and snow into the marsh soil, leaving plant matter, mud, and the marsh water exposed. (there was also scat on the ice from one: i’ve spared you a photograph.) an interesting late-winter scene.

a.

thru the bottom-lands

the wet earth becomes sky,

a single mass of damp

b.

the marsh has been dug

and smells of seaweed

birds want spring

c.

here in the tamaracks

the lichen thrive

in crusting splendor

d.

a lone black

crow turns

in an ocean of white

waterloo prairie is a set of two lowland, wetter grasslands along stony brook in jefferson county, wisconsin. a fen with springs and seepages is also present. blue-joint grass and tussocky sedge are common. we found a stand of snags that were unsettling and were girdled at some point. it was strange. the habitats’ integrity is maintained with prescribed burns.

thanks to the dnr for tending this land.

a.

snags line the ditch

and questions for bark:

what was the girdling for?

b.

quiet and soft on the prairie

but mammals press their business

grass clatters at the knee

mud lake fen and wet prairie is on mud lake’s southern shore. the calcareous fen surrounds and feeds an inlet to the drainage lake. sedges were thick on the ground, and the peaty soil is—get this—quaking, which means that the peat has built up to the point that the sedge mat is actually floating. it’s a quaking fen! my brother, who was walking with me, put his foot right in it thru the ice. a little scary, but mostly just really cool to see down into the peat, since he was fine. the smell wasn’t “gross” but certainly unique and earthy.

the snow drifts blowing into the sedge and cattails at the edge of the lake were the visual highlight.

thanks to the dnr for tending this land.

a.

we’ve pushed our way thru sedge

to tread on the solid lake

fen-hoppers, grateful for water

b.

hallowed curvature

of the fen drift

a miracle to the eye

c.

cardinals call to one another

in the treetops. lichen and moss

continue growing. there’s life in the snow

aztalan (totally a modern euro-american name—longer story than i want to go into) is a tremendous archaeological site in wisconsin. it is an outpost of the mississippian civilization more prominently known for their city called cahokia in illinois. it appears that folks from cahokia took boats up the mississippi, rock, and then the crawfish rivers to the present site. the village flourished between about 1,000-1,200 ce/ad. the village had large platform mounds, houses, a stockade, and a fish weir. why the settlers abandoned the village is unsure.

thanks to the wisconsin dnr for keeping up the site.

a.

when i left this morning

stoplights were flashing

with the urban dawn chorus

b.

rapid thud from the bank,

sun diffused thru altostratus:

dawn on the crawfish river

c.

you were once here,

and now you’re gone

and this remains

d.

crows cut over the platform mound

as silos loom over empty fields

a new niece has arrived in the world

havenwoods is wisconsin’s only urban state forest, here in the city of milwaukee. it was developed for about a hundred years, but has been reclaimed now and features grasslands, woodlands, and wetlands. this was my first time visiting in the winter, and skiing was a treat.

i used my old flipphone for this outing, so pictures aren’t what they could be. but, hey, we work with the tools at hand, yes?

a.

three white tails

below the bank

in silence they are gone

b.

this forest lives in the city

deer and thistle don’t mind—

divided only in mind

c.

tannins brown the streamwater

and small feet trouble the mudbank

finch just wants a winter-drink

my favorite winter vehicle.