What tree is this?

Despite the cooler weather today, the North Lakeland Discovery Center’s staff is beginning the construction of their 4^th of July float! The theme this year for the Manitowish Waters parade-“Manitowish Waters Goes Green on the Red, White, and Blue”- is a perfect complement for the Discovery Center’s mission to promote stewardship of Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Our float will promote stewardship though environmentally friendly forms of transportation including biking, hiking, swimming, paddling, and skiing. The only debate left to settle is who will become the swimmer…

Construction began with Ryan, our exceptionally creative facilities coordinator.  Can you ID this tree species? It should begin to leaf out by the end of the day.

Other happenings today include the 2^nd outing in the Adventure Club series! Today, it’s all about fishing. I just stopped down to the docks on Statehouse Lake to check out their haul. It looked like a bunch of small perch and bass so far, so they’ll head to other fishing holes around Vilas county in hopes of catching the fish that’ll win them the prize for Biggest Fish. 

--Caitlin

Weekly Adventure Club Gets Started!

Have a summer adventure with the Discovery Center! On Tuesday June 21^st, the weekly “Adventure Club” for youth ages 9-14 kicks off with a mountain-top adventure to the Porcupine Mountains.  We’ll be exploring multiple destinations within the Michigan State Park, including hiking trails along the waterfalls and rapids of the Presque Isle River, the sand beaches of Lake Superior, and the stunning Lake of the Clouds.  For this trip, please bring a backpack to hold your gear, a water bottle, closed-toe hiking shoes, a pack lunch, and swimming gear. Snacks and extra water will be provided.

This summer’s Adventure Club excursions are led by Caitlin and Emily, who both possess First Aid & CPR training. Emily holds lifeguard certifications.

Trips depart from the Discovery Center every Tuesday at 9 am  and return to the Discovery Center at 4:30 pm. In the event of bad weather, trips will be moved to Thursday. This program is $30 for members and $35 for non-members. To register, visit DiscoveryCenter.net or call (877)543-2085.

This summer, don’t see the same things twice…

June 28^th- Fishing Tournament

July 5^th- Paddle and Snorkel the Mighty Manitowish

July 14^th- Climb the World’s Largest Ski Jump

July 19^th- War Canoe Warriors

See our Program Guide or DiscoveryCenter.net for more Adventure Club trips!

The Big Event Slide Show

Thanks again to our many members and guests who made this year's Big Event one for the record books!
The Big Event Slide Show

Phenology Notes June 1-7

Here's what we're seeing in the area.
       Plants:
dogwood,       blueberries,       columbine,       wild ginger,       strawberry,       venus looking glass,       wood anenome,       choke cherry,       false solomon seal,       solomon seal,       meadow rue,       starflower,       Maianthemum,       dandelion,       wood betony,       wood violets,       rock clematis,       gaywings,       barren strawberry,  bog laurel,  cotton grass,       pitcher plant,       lady slippers,       bog rosemary,       labrador tea
  

 Wildlife:       

swallowtails,       monarchs,       veery,       chipping sparrow hatched,       baby snapper,  fireflies  

What are you seeing?

Beetle Collectors Wanted!

The North Lakeland Discovery Center is gong out to collect purple loosestrife beetles Wednesday, June 8. We are looking for volunteers!

We will meet at the Discovery Center at 9am to carpool to the collection site. Anyone who is interested, please bring water and waders if you have them, although the discovery center has extras if you need them!

Thanks for your interest in aquatic invasive species!

~Anne Kretschmann

AIS Co-Coordinator

North Lakeland Discovery Center

Manitowish Waters, WI

This Week at the Discovery Center

National Trails Day, June 4

This Saturday, June 4, is National Trails Day! 

We have a great system of trails here at the Discovery Center. On Saturday Licia will be taking a tour through the bog on our awesome bog trail!

 Here is what a few members of our staff have to say about the trails:


From Licia Johnson, one of our naturalists:

The River Trail provides a quiet trek along the Manitowish River.  Swans and many other migrating birds tend to frequent the area.  It’s my favorite trail!

From Anne K. our water education intern: 

The Discovery Center put a gauge in at the dock by the fork in the trail to monitor the water level in Statehouse Lake as part of the citizen science lake level monitoring program in the county. We started the summer season at 53 cm, stop along the trail and see what is it today!

And from Katie, our assistant director:
I've really enjoyed wandering around the trails. So many plants that I haven't seen in years! And yesterday the dragonflies were emerging. It's always a great day for a hike!

Click below for PDF of our Trail Map; head out and enjoy!
Trail Map

Lake Captain Training and AIS Tour

Become a part of the Citizen Lake Monitoring Network!
Lake Captain Training and AIS Tour
June 10, 9- 11:30 am

Are you interested in monitoring what’s happening to the health of your lake? We are looking for volunteer ‘lake captains and deck hands’ to monitor water clarity, water chemistry, aquatic plants, and aquatic invasive species in area waters. Since 1986, volunteers statewide have provided data to biologists on what is happening on their lakes, providing essential data that is necessary to make decisions to protect the health of lakes.

Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) are invading northwoods waters and costs of controlling these species are increasing every year. In 2010, Vilas County spent over $600,000 to control invasive species. Early detection is essential to preventing invasives from spreading throughout your lake system as it is much more cost effective and easier to target new infestations before the species become established. We need your help in identifying where infestations occur in the area so that we can ‘nip them in the bud’!

On June 10, you can learn how to become a ‘lake captain or ship hand’, monitor the health of your lake, and conduct aquatic invasive species surveys. As part of this training, we will travel by boat to purple loosestrife and curly leafed pondweed infestations. We will provide an array of tools and resources for free or loan to interested volunteers.