“Chella” beetles ATTACK! (We hope)…

Our ACE team of naturalists were out releasing Purple Loosestrife bio-control "Chella" beetles at Wild Rice Lake on July 21, 2011.  Bio-control is using one living organism to control another - most often a pest species.  The pest in this case is the non-native, invasive plant species Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).  The organism used to control loosestrife in this case is an aphid (Galerucella spp), affectionately referred to as "Chella" beetles as it is much easier to say than the full Genus name!


 Anne Kretschmann and Zach Wilson (pictured) were hard at work in the midst of the heat to get these beetles out on site so they could get to work (the beetles, not the naturalists... they are always working hard!)


These highly effective beetles only eat loosestrife, weakening the plant and suppressing flowering; essential to controlling the spread of loosestrife which threaten our native plant species.

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To read more about Purple Loosestrife, an other aquatic invasive species, you can check out the link to our webpage: http://www.discoverycenter.net/aquaticinvasivespecies3.html.

Beam Me Up Scotty!

The Discovery Center's Adventure Club (ages 9-14) has done some amazing things so far this summer- paddled a 26 ft war canoe on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage, climbed the world's largest ski jump, explored the Porcupine Mountains- but next week's trip is sure to be the most unique.
In Monico, Wisconsin, a man named Frank Kovac dedicated ten years of his life to building a planetarium in his backyard. Not just any planetarium, but the world's only mechanically rotating planetarium.
He hand-painted all of the northern hemisphere stars visible to the unaided eye within his 22 foot diameter globe!
I'm incredibly excited to visit the Kovac Planetarium and meet this dedicated man. www.kovacplanetarium.com has the full story.

We still have spots available for this Adventure Club trip! Other activities planned for the day include swimming and geocaching.
Contact the Discovery Center (715-543-2085, or www.DiscoveryCenter.net) to reserve a place!
-Caitlin

Cattail Fail

A recent cooking incident with some wild foraged cattails inspired me to write this phenology update.

Phenology is the study of the timing of plant and animal life cycle events. Scientists study phenology during the seasons as a means to track change. Wild-foragers, those who gather wild edibles, track phenology to learn when their favorites plants are ready to eat. In this case, I wasn't paying close enough attention to phenology!

In my family, the ripening of cattails is a major phenology event.This week, I heard from my Minnesota-dwelling cousins that they were harvesting the young flower heads for eating. I though that this week's Adventure Club, a canoe trip down the Manitowish River, was the perfect excuse for some foraging.

As our intrepid group of canoers paddled around a bend, we noticed a large stand of cattails accessible from the water. Rylie, Jon, and I set out to gather what I thought were perfect male flower spikes- covered in floppy stamens holding the yellow pollen.  I placed the flower spikes into a spent granola bar box to capture the pollen -it makes a great addition to pancake mix- with plans to boil them back at the Discovery Center.

To make a long story short, the boiled flower spikes looked pitiful and tasted horrible. Here's why it failed:

Cattail species are monoecious, having both male (pollen-producing) and female (seed-producing) flowers. The male flowers grow together in a dense cluster called a spike at the top of the stem, and the female flowers are clustered below the males in a fatter spike that looks like a hot-dog. As the male flowers mature, they grow stamens that produce mustard-yellow pollen. Eating the male flowers at this point gives an unpleasant mouthful, which is exactly what we experienced.

The key is to harvest the /young/ male spike just as it is emergering from the leaves, when it is yellow on the inside and green on the outside. Boiled and covered in butter like corn in the cob is a simple preparation.

This week's phenology update literally comes from my mouth. It appears that it is too late to eat the much-beloved male flower spikes, but cattail pollen season is here! Shake the pollen into a paper or plastic bag, sift, and add to any recipe that uses flour with a 1 part pollen to 3 part flour ratio. It adds a nutty flavor and a golden color.

Always make sure you forage from a clean environment, as polluntants can accumulate in plants. Also, be sure you have correctly identified your target species. If you are not sure, don't eat it!

Enjoy!

  -Caitlin