spotted touchmenots fade
and mayapple rots as it stands
looking for the Faraway
spotted touch-me-nots fading
mayapple decomposing as it stands
State Natural Areas
state natural area poems, supplementum #7: schlitz audubon center
waves crash, children sing
as the world seems to be burning
golden torches in the wood
goldenrod in the understory
michigami
state natural area poems, supplementum #6: totem mound park @ turtle creek
jewelweed nods agreement
as Turtle marches on
clear sky thru oak leaves
jewelweed
turtle effigy mound facing south
trail to turtle creek
turtle creek
our welcome sign
Thanks to the City of Beloit for maintaining this area and preserving this effigy mound (and the smaller mound to the east).
state natural area poems #12: rock river prairie
the rock calls us home
evening primrosing with open arms
waves and waves of petal
(Some evening primrose and field bindweed growing in the prairie and its edge.)
Rock River Prairie SNA is a dry prairie above the Rock River b/t Janesville and Beloit. Lots of grasses and flowers, though woody species are encroaching. Still great for a walk, and several first IDs on flowers. Thanks to the Wisconsin DNR for tending this plot of earth.
state natural area poems #11: the ridges sanctuary a & b
redwings and frogs in the rushes
call—croak—call
earthtime marshmusic
porcupine lumbers clumsy
a nameless karst swale
into his whitecedar root home
silence all around
the ridges sanctuary was the first land trust set up in wisconsin, in 1937. among other features, the main point of interest is the series of ridges and swales that resulted from the lowering of lake michigan’s shoreline. due to its ancient history, its southward facing, and its proximity to lake michigan, the ridges contain largely boreal forests similar to those found far northwest in wisconsin, while the swales mostly contain marsh and bog flora. they are a sight to behold. this unique ecosystem makes the site one with a high ratio of rare plants in the midwest. –oh, and we saw a porcupine!
special thanks to the ridges sanctuary, inc. for protecting this site for almost a century!
photo credit on amanita above and porcupine: mamie riyeff again
state natural area poems #10: toft point
bryophyte elders
thallus-thick, mossgrown
small-talk on the pineduff path
toft point state natural area is a 732-acre piece of land in door county, wi tucked between two bays. with boreal forest, mesic forest, and sedge meadow and swampland, it boasts one of the most diverse bryophyte communities in the state. it was a distinctly different feeling walking thru these woods.
thanks to uw-green bay and the wi nature conservancy for maintaining this patch of earth.
state natural area poems, supplementum #1 a and b: bratt woods
this ad hoc project, dreamt up to stave off cabin fever during the safer at home order in wisconsin, is too good for my soul to limit solely to official state natural areas any longer—the river has overflowed its banks to other places we’re going, so here’s “supplementum #1,” a and b.
the trout lily’s retired for the year
trillia haunt the ridges
heart speaks to heart
lurking the mudstones
carp ride the tide
tanagers look on in silence
Bratt Woods is a 17-acre nature preserve managed by the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust. A trio of scarlet tanagers and the an all-points circle of oriole song high in the canopy were highlights of the trip.
Thanks to the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust for keeping this land.
state natural area poems #7 a, b, c: tichigan springs and fen
tangled cluster of boughs
lain low among the pines—
red and mottled survivors
at the marsh edge
tussocks of moss watch,
rich with mucky life
the redwing blackbirds live
in a world all their own
cattails and fenreek curve,
cradling the earth’s bounds
Tichigan Springs and Fen in Racine County is a calcareous fen, meadow, and springs running from an esker, with adjoining marsh and woods in the surrounding Tichigan Wildlife Area. The cowslip (aka marsh marigold) were particularly lovely when we visited.
https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Lands/naturalareas/index.asp?SNA=689
Thanks to the Wisconsin DNR for tending this place.
state natural area poems #6 a and b: jackson marsh
6a:
you point feverishly to warblers
as swifts swarm the marsh
trout lily is in bloom
6b:
brilliant flash of orange
breaks over cedar creek:
your eyes against the sky
Jackson Marsh is a southern wet forest with a white cedar-tamarack swamp of 590 acres. Exquisite, and a much needed break from the city… Thanks again to the Wisconsin DNR for watching over this land.
state natural area poems #5: milwaukee river floodplain forest
a frog dives below the current
logcock sprints upstream
the river will not be stopped
The Milwaukee River Floodplain Forest is a bottomland hardwood forest with some upland pockets situated along the East Branch of the Milwaukee River in Washington County, Wisconsin.
https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Lands/naturalareas/index.asp?SNA=253
With gratitude to the Wisconsin DNR for maintaining this patch of earth.
