sna poems #135: deansville fen

March 30, 2023 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

deansville fen is a calcareous fen in a larger marsh wetland complex in dane cty, wisconsin. sedge meadow and hummocky wet prairie surround. crossing a tributary stream was quick and painless on a massive old tree that had fallen across but the maunesha river itself was trickier—involving gathering three vines growing out of the riverbank with the foot in order to create a suspended step above the water while lunging out to other small trees growing in the water while balanced on a protruding log caught in an accidental dam in the river—one foot went way in on the way back out!

but a fine morning in the fen, quiet, some birds singing, not much new growth yet. turkey and rabbit tracks in the snow.

sunbleached snag in march

stretches out

above new fen-growth

fen-grove

branch-creak

wind

cottonwood leaves

with algae

in the wetland’s mouth

a very awkward

wading bird

stalks the morning edge

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, series supplementum #38: pavcek preserve

March 14, 2023 / jriyeff / 3 Comments

pavcek preserve is a small hardwood forest in the kettle moraine near holy hill. a small esker in the upland area, kettles and manmade ponds in the lowlands. we were expecting a springish walk w/ just-emerging spring ephemerals to check out, but then snow happened over the weekend, so back to the snowcovered woods and ice. beautiful and bracing.

a tufted titmouse gave us quite a concert near the largest pond, flitting in and out of trees and a large hollow branch of an oak.

the winter kettle

under pines

hummingbird away

tufted titmouse hoots

in and out

of oaken branchhome

sunlight on pond ice

cardinals, crows,

snow below cherries

sna poems #132: point beach ridges

November 30, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

point beach ridges is, according to the wdnr website, a series of 11 swales and ridges parallel to the current lake michigan shoreline in manitowoc cty. the ridges and swales are former beaches of the last eight millennia that used to border glacial lake nipissing. open blowing sand near the lake to juniper/bearberry dunes to swampy swales to fully forested ridges give this site a tremendously varying quality. super fun to hike, and we had a gorgeous late-autumn day for it.

last visit to walk all of manitowoc cty’s snas.

first id’s of bearberry, bunchberry, birch polypore, and dune goldenrod! first non-bog id of sphagnum moss. (thanks to twitter folks for help with recent ids)

beech leaves under ice

sunlight in

thru cedar swamp boughs

newest beach’s dunes

juniper

comes to view from sand

waves under midday sun

galloping

to the chilled shingle

these tiny dune-lasts

circling

the sea’s own leavings

clouds in western sky

stranded strips

of yellow birch bark

o kinnickkinnick

bearberry

bless and grace this beach!

sna poems #131: nipissing swamp

November 28, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

nipissing swamp is, according to the wdnr website, the largest remnant hardwood swamp in northeastern wisconsin. fascinatingly, the swamp is in a wetland basin that was formerly a lagoon of glacial lake nipissing (which name refers to an indigenous nation in canada). the beach can still be seen in remnant dunes and barrens.

it was gun deer hunting season last weekend, and our blaze orange was in the other vehicle, so we didn’t go in deep. but even getting off the road a bit was a delight. across the first swampy swale and onto the first ridge, balancing on downed logs across the mud. the club moss was out in droves and soaking up the late-autumn sun. gorgeous swamp weather with birch and cedar swaying above.

in the place of elms

club mosses

have taken the hill

branches sway for sky

only pen

no gun in my hand

needles scruff my neck

watering

horsegrass in cool breeze

sna poems, series supplementum #35: lima bog again

October 31, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

teaching seamus heaney’s bog body poems today, so we took a quick pit stop at lima bog sna on the way back to milwaukee from our ancestral home in rock cty yesterday.

got right into the tamarack stand, but not enough time to get to the open lake at its bogheart. next time!

in the new gloaming

golden cloud

of tamarack sleep

in a mackerel sky,

two wingspans

and a rainbow globe

asters in the sedge

looking out,

petals to water

sna poems #130: grassy lake

October 31, 2022October 31, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

a shallow seepage lake according to the dnr’s website, grassy lake is situated low with wetlands around it. a road cuts thru the area and allows access without a boat, water on either side. many aquatic and wetland plants make the area home, as well as many water-associated birds—we saw an abandoned bald eagle’s nest across the road first thing.

this was a short stint, letting the kids take turns with the rubber boots to poke around in the wetland area by the lake proper. fun stop with a picnic before pressing on to lodi for the corn maze.

tottering titting

of killdeer

call from mud to mud

nothing standing still:

dragonflies

hum over drowned birch

burs in my wrist’s hair

down below

hot october sun

sna poems #121: mullet creek white cedar wetland

August 22, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

this sna is a wet-mesic forest and wetland complex in a larger wildlife area, dominated by white cedar and surrounded by farmland. the wetland areas have indicator species for calcium-rich water.

it’s the end of summer, so plant growth is at its peak. this, combined with the navigability of the saturated soils, the lack of paths, and the disturbing sound of what we can only assume was a hog-slaughtering occurring on a farm in an adjacent valley, precluded us from getting deep into the forest. but on a stretch of road away from that valley i was able to get in a bit and nose around, to the less bone-chilling sound of sandhill cranes in the fields across the street.

a less immersive and interactive stop than those later in the day.

the shrieking of pigs

and swamp mud

stop us in our tracks

sna poems #111: spruce lake bog

March 23, 2022 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

spruce lake bog is classic bog territory. a (relatively) undisturbed bog lake in a kettle, very diverse flora more characteristic of northern sphagnum bogs, according to the wdnr’s description.

i was grateful for the boardwalk that allowed for a walk all the way thru the bog to the lake thru the sphagnum and the bog forest of tamaracks and black spruces and some hardwoods. a light rain was falling and just warm enough not to bundle up.

highlight for sure was the pitcher plants thick on the ground (first id). amazing.

red floral fingers

in the rain

spiders in and out