Advocacy

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What came first: the bug or the song?

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What came first: the bug or the song?

Looks like the summer will be wet and warm—good news for my nominee for the most fearsome of Wisconsin's animals. No, not our two rattlesnakes… no, not ticks as loathsome as they are… no, not our most dangerous mammals, the Holstein or Jersey bulls. Ladies and gentlemen, meet, if you dare, North America's largest mosquito, the gallinipper.

I don't think they are new to Wisconsin but I'm betting they are much more common. I speculate that our changed climate is the reason. The bugs need hot, muggy weather, and water standing in those pastures where their prime prey lives. The changed climate reliably produces that weather and those conditions.

Photo by Carl Wycoff

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6 conservation lessons from a COVID spring

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A set of lessons is of particular concern to conservationists and policymakers in Wisconsin. We can't help but see how important the outdoors are to everyone at a time of crisis, worry, and misery. As the plague started, people wanted to be outside. While some pursued favorite activities like birding or fishing, many just wanted to be outside walking and surrounded by Nature's variety and beauty. These walks and outings became a consistent and safe consolation. Backyards, neighborhoods, and small municipal parks were certainly important for folks, but a huge number of us hungered for bigger, more varied, and more beautiful places. Places we could—at least temporarily—lose ourselves and the burdensome consciousness of all that was going wrong and might get worse.

Here are the top 6 lessons I think we as a nature-loving community have learned or should learn through our rollercoaster experience with COVID-19.

Madison Audubon photo

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Protecting Jefferson Marsh Wildlife Area

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Protecting Jefferson Marsh Wildlife Area

Dear Board Members,

On behalf of Madison Audubon Society (MAS), I respectfully ask your support of the addition of 75.42 acres to the Jefferson Marsh State Wildlife Area and State Natural Area. MAS has approximately 3,200 members in ten counties in south central Wisconsin, including many in Jefferson County. We own and manage major wildlife sanctuary lands that feature remnant and restored prairies, wetlands, and savannas just to the north of the Jefferson Marsh.

Photo by Joshua Mayer

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Red Touch Yellow

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If you grew up in the south, the range of the eastern coral snake, at some point you heard the thankfully easy to remember rhyme:

Red touch yellow
Kill a fellow
Red touch black
Friend of Jack

The poem refers to the color of two very similar looking but oh so different snakes. The eastern coral snake has bands of red, yellow, and black but the red bands are always next to the yellow. The kingsnake has the same color bands but red bands always touch black. Good to remember because the coral snake has the most potent venom of any American snake while the kingsnake is harmless (except to other snakes).

Photo by FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

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Action Alert: Stand up now for birds & the Migratory Bird Treaty Act

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The Trump administration is attempting to roll back major protections laid out in the 100+ year old Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), the most important bird protection law in the U.S. The administration is seeking to ease regulations on incidental take that will utterly dismantle existing protections. The changes will allow industries and corporations to kill untold numbers of protected birds without any legal penalty because they can claim they didn't intend to kill them. It's an egregious and unprecedented attack on our birds.

Photo by Arlene Koziol