Black River State Forest
offers multitude of recreational opportunities

BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- Sprawling over 67,000 acres in west central Wisconsin, the Black River State Forest offers visitors a multitude of recreational opportunities. From canoeing, to horseback riding, to deer and small game hunting, to snowmobiling and all terrain vehicle riding, to mountain biking and cross-country skiing, the Black River State Forest has become a popular destination for a wide variety of people seeking outdoor recreation.

The adjacent Jackson County Forest increases the total acreage open to outdoor recreation by another 120,000 acres.

Like other Wisconsin state forests, it is the geological features of the area that attract many visitors. The Black River State Forest lies on the edge of the glaciated central plain east of the rough coulee region, or driftless area, of Wisconsin. Visitors who hike the nature trail to the top of Castle Mound, can observe what was once the bed of glacial Lake Wisconsin. Unglaciated buttes, sandstone hills, and castellated bluffs such as Castle Mound dot the vast forest landscape.

Today the land is dominated by jack pine and scrub oak with a mixture of other species including aspen and regenerating white pine. The jack pine pulpwood has fueled Wisconsin paper mills and sphagnum moss in the state forest traditionally is harvested and baled for sale to greenhouses and plant packing facilities.

Prior to European settlement, the area was dominated by large white pines, which were prized by loggers during the 1880s when sawmill towns and their railroads dotted the area. In Eastern Jackson County the communities of Goodyear, McKenna, Zeda, Bear Bluff Station and Chaplin boomed during logging days, according to Ralph Eswein, Black River Falls author of “Logging Dilemma in the Big Swamp,” a history of the area.

Later, as settlers hungry for land came to the United State, much of the area was temporarily farmed. But marshy acid soils and adjacent sandy areas proved inhospitable for farmers and during the hot dry 1930s that created Dust Bowl conditions in the Southwest United States farms failed in Eastern Jackson County.

Under the New Deal Administration of Franklin Roosevelt the federal Reclamation Agency purchased farms in eastern Jackson County along with parts of Wood, Juneau and Monroe counties. The Wisconsin Conservation Department administered the state forest for the federal government until the mid-1950s, when the land was turned over to the State of Wisconsin.

Eastern Jackson County has traditionally been a prime deer hunting area leading Black River Falls to proclaim itself the state’s Deer Hunting Capitol during the 1960s. Hunters also go afield after ruffed grouse, turkeys and waterfowl on flowages created within the forest. Today a multitude of recreational users visit the forest.

All-terrain vehicle trails provide areas for motorized sports and trails for horse enthusiasts horseback riders. Canoeists enjoy the scenic Black River and hikers can take trails atop Wildcat Mound and at Castle Mound Campground to view remnants of sandstone areas formed 400 million years ago during the Cambrian Period. The forest has 24 miles of trails open to mountain biking in the summer, and groomed for cross-country skiing in the winter. Snowmobiling is also a popular winter activity on the 51 miles of snowmobile trails in the forest that connect to hundreds of more miles of snowmobile trails in the area.

The view will also show the vast bed of Glacial Lake Wisconsin, which was formed about 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age. Eastern Jackson County’s flat, sandy areas with poorly drained marshy areas are the inheritance of the Ice Age.

While the area has become a mecca for outdoor recreation with campgrounds, ski, mountain bike, ATV and snowmobile trails, the large tracts of undeveloped land also provide habitat for Wisconsin’s southernmost wolf pack.

More information on the Black River State Forest can be found on the DNR Web site by clicking on the “Natural Resources” button, then “Forestry” and “State Forests” links to reach <http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/Forestry/StateForests/meet.htm#BlackRiver>.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Black River State Forest - (715) 284-4103 or (715) 284-1417

Karner Blue Butterfly Festival
July 10 in Black River Falls

BLACK RIVER FALLS -- Adjacent to the Black River State Forest is a crescent-shaped swath of land that provides the prime habitat for a nationally rare blue butterfly and the native wild lupine that is the only food of this rare butterfly in its caterpillar stage.

The Karner blue butterfly is rare nationally, but it is relatively widespread in central Wisconsin, especially where pine barrens, oak savannas, and mowed corridors support wild lupine. Due to its rare national status, the Karner blue butterfly was listed as a federally endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Because the butterfly was more common in Wisconsin, this federal designation had the potential to have a major impact on public and private land managers in the state.

In response to this situation, the state Department of Natural Resources worked with other public and private land managers to develop a statewide plan that allows major land managers to continue using land occupied by Karner blue butterflies, provided the managers modify activities to protect the butterfly. This “Karner Blue Butterfly Habitat Conservation Plan,” approved in 1999, became the first statewide habitat conservation plan in the nation to be approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect habitat for a rare species. The plan allows smaller landowners to pursue Karner blue conservation on a voluntary basis, free from regulation.

The success of this statewide habitat conservation program for the Karner blue butterfly, will be the focus of a celebration at the annual Karner Blue Butterfly Festival (Exit DNR) July 10 in Black River Falls.

“This festival showcases the best of environmental conservation in Wisconsin: good will, voluntary cooperation, and celebration of our natural resources,” said David Lentz of the Department of Natural Resources. “The plan’s overall flexibility and allowance for voluntary participation among smaller landowners have led to an uncommon trust between government and private landowners. Black River Falls is showing that endangered species protection can be part of our state’s cultural heritage.”

The Karner Blue Butterfly Habitat Conservation Plan permits flexibility and voluntary cooperation. The plan and its partners were recently applauded by Sen. Herb Kohl, (D-WI) and the environmental group, Environmental Defense, as a model for other such projects.

“Black River Falls is committed to providing a home for the Karner blue,” said Jill Kaphengst, one of the festival organizers. “We’re happy to have it here. This butterfly is a symbol of regional pride.”

The Black River Falls festival will include landowner conservation awards, a Butterfly Princess crowning, and tours of the Bauer-Brockway Barrens habitat site. The site has been restored with help from the Jackson County Forest, volunteers and community groups

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: David Lentz - (608) 261-6451

Survey finding fewer native, nongame fish species

Researchers going back and checking sites surveyed 30 years ago

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. – Three decades after surveying Wisconsin lakes to learn the distribution and abundance of native nongame fish, researchers are returning to survey many of the same sites in southern Wisconsin this summer, with preliminary results suggesting that small fish species are disappearing even from lakes with the best water quality.

“We sampled small streams a few years ago and weren’t too surprised to find declines in populations of small fish because of the water quality abuses from urban and agricultural land uses,” says Dave Marshall, a Department of Natural Resources water resources management biologist. “But we didn’t expect to see that small fish populations are declining in lakes where the water quality is considered good and is not a limiting factor to the fishes’ survival.

“When you start seeing a decline in diversity that isn’t related to water quality, then you start looking at habitat. It could be a number of factors. Exotic species may play a role in some of these lakes we’re sampling, but the primary change over time has been shoreline habitat.”

Changes in shoreline habitat result from many different activities, so it’s difficult to single out mechanisms leading to changes in the abundance of individual fish species. Aquatic plants and downed trees that fish rely on for habitat in the near-shore area are being reduced or eliminated. More piers and larger piers, and more boats covering more of the water’s surface, are shading out aquatic plants. Waves bouncing off seawalls are scouring away lake bottom materials necessary for aquatic plants. Residents are clearing away downed logs to create swimming areas. Increased runoff from roofs and paved areas is carrying sediment into the water, potentially covering fish habitat.

On the lakes already sampled this summer -- Lake Geneva in Walworth County, Lower and Upper Nemahbin, Okauchee and Upper and Lower Phantom lakes in Waukesha County – researchers are finding fewer nongame fish species and they’re finding that some of the species that used to be common, like black-nosed shiners, are much less common. They have found only a handful of least darters and banded killifish in the sampled lakes, and no blackchin shiners and no pugnosed shiners, a state threatened species.

The loss of these small nongame species is disturbing because fish diversity is a sign of a healthy lake. They are part of the state’s natural heritage, and they are forage fish for game fish, Marshall says.

“These interesting and colorful little fish are more sensitive than most fish, but their demise is linked to the ecosystem and the health of game fish populations,” he says. “Beyond that, I think future generations are being robbed of a really interesting feature of lakes – biodiversity. These fish have inhabited our lakes for thousands of years.”

The sampling is being funded by a federal grant received by John Lyons, a DNR fisheries researcher and the other lead researcher on this project. Lyons will use the information for his efforts to update “Fishes of Wisconsin,” the seminal 1983 fisheries reference book by the late George Becker, with information about the distribution and abundance of rare fish in Wisconsin.

Marshall and the other natural resources aquatic biologists and fish managers helping out on the sampling are interested in learning whether there’s a greater trend in the loss of fish species and rare species of fish in what are considered good quality lakes. The 2004 sampling, in fact, grew from sampling Marshall and Laura Stremick-Thompson, a DNR fisheries manager, conducted in the late 1990s and 2001 on Lake Ripley and Rock Lake in Jefferson County as part of the normal lake management planning process.

“We found a decrease in the number of species overall, and in rare species,” Marshall says. “Now, with the sampling we’ve done so far this summer, we’re beginning to see a more widespread trend with the primary change over time being shoreline habitat.”

On Lake Ripley, the number of fish species declined from 19 in 1974 to nine in 2001; on Rock Lake, the decline was similar, from 17 species in 1974 to seven species in 2001.

This summer, researchers are comparing their results to those collected 30 years ago by DNR researcher Don Fago in the Fish Distribution Survey that sampled dozens of lakes. With funding and staff for such work much tighter now, researchers are surveying fewer lakes and are focusing on specific waters that will help answer their research questions, Lyons says. Most of the lakes are marl lakes, those with a clay bottom that contain lots of calcium carbonate, which helps buffer water quality from pollution. They also are lakes that past surveys revealed as having a large number of rare species, he says.

“No one’s really looked to see what their status is since the 1970s,” Lyons says. “Are these things still here, what numbers are they in?”

Lyons has updated the state fish species list to include 159 fish species in 27 families. One hundred forty-five are native to the state. Fourteen are introduced non-native species. No Wisconsin fishes are listed as endangered or threatened at the federal level. Ten fish species are listed as endangered at the state level and 11 species are considered threatened at the state level.

Other southern lakes scheduled for sampling in summer 2004 include Long Lake in Fond du Lac County, Rock and Silver lakes in Kenosha County, Big Cedar and Pike lakes in Washington County, and Lake Beulah, and Oconomowoc Lakes in Waukesha County. In addition to the sampling, the researchers will compare current and historical aerial photos of the shorelines where they’ve sampled, as well as the researchers’ written narratives describing the habitat present at the sampling sites in the 1970s and today.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Marshall - (608) 273-5612, John Lyons - (608) 221-6328 or Steve Galarneau - (920) 892-8756

Spring turkey harvest
up 10 percent over last year at 47,373

Fall season permit applications due Aug. 10

MADISON -- Preliminary figures show that hunters registered 47,373 turkeys during Wisconsin’s 2004 spring wild turkey season. This is a 10 percent increase over the 2003 spring harvest of 42,970 birds. The statewide hunter success rate remained stable at 25 percent.

Hunters took advantage of an expanding turkey population and an increased number of turkey permits. A total of 185,369 permits were issued throughout the 43 turkey management units and 12 state parks open for the 2004 spring season.

Andrea Mezera, assistant Department of Natural Resources upland wildlife ecologists, said zones 22 and 23 once again appeared to have produced the highest overall turkey harvests at 5,034 and 2,783 respectively. Final harvest figures will be published in the annual Wisconsin Big Game Hunting Summary, due out around March 2005.

More than 26,600 turkey hunters received second permits. Permit numbers are evenly distributed throughout the six time periods to provide a quality hunting experience. Interference rates and hunter satisfaction data are gathered from annual hunter surveys sent out to 10,000 hunters after the spring season.

There were three non-fatal hunting accidents reported during the spring season according to hunting safety officials.

“The three accidents were either self-inflicted (one) or cases of the hunters not positively identifying the target (two),” said Tim Lawhern, DNR hunter education administrator. “Details of these accidents are typical – the hunters were stalking what they thought was a turkey but shot another hunter.”

The fall 2004 wild turkey season will run from Oct. 9 through Nov. 7. Approximately 84,600 permits will be available. Applications cost $3 and are due by Aug. 10.

“Looking ahead to the fall hunt, it is difficult to predict fall hunting conditions until poult, or turkey young-of-the-year counts are completed in August,” said Mezera said. “Continually cool and wet weather generally is not favorable for young poults.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrea Mezera - (608) 261-8458

Wild parsnip blossoming

Easiest time to identify this noxious weed that can cause serious skin burns

MADISON -- Wild parsnip, a common weed found in fields and along roads that can cause serious burns to human skin, has begun flowering in Wisconsin, making this the easiest time to recognize and remove this noxious weed, according to state officials.

Wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) has been spreading rapidly in recent years and is invading naturally restored prairies and pastures, according to Kelly Kearns, a plant conservationist with the Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Endangered Resources.

“Now is the best time to recognize wild parsnip because it sends up large, coarse, umbrella-like clusters of yellow flowers generally from mid June to the middle of July,”Kearns says. “The flower spikes are 2 to 5 feet high, with basal leaves from 8 to 16 inches long.”

When the skin comes into contact with the chemicals, called furocoumarins, cause the skin to become photosensitive, which in turn can cause extreme blistering. This reaction is called phytophotodermatitis, and burns range from a mild red streak or spot, to large blisters.

According to David Eagan, a Madison area naturalist, people should note that the effects of wild parsnip are not immediate.

“Blisters appear a day or two after sun exposure, even on a cloudy day,” Eagan says. “The ultraviolet rays of the sun cause the blistering and may also cause the skin to discolor a dark red or brown in the area where the burn occurred. This hyper-pigmentation can persist in the skin for as long as two years. Because of its surface resemblance to poison ivy, and because wild parsnip burns are so rarely accurately identified, it nearly always is diagnosed and treated as poison ivy.”

If one is burned from wild parsnip, Eagan gives the following recommendations:

• Relieve the symptoms first. Cover the affected area with a cool wet cloth.
• If blisters are present, try to keep them from rupturing as long as possible. The blisters protect the skin below while it heals. When the blisters do pop, try to leave the skin in place.
• To avoid infection, keep the area clean and apply an antibiotic cream. For serious cases with extreme blistering, consult a physician.

Eagan says preventing exposure to wild parsnip in the first place is the best tactic to avoid the irritating burns and blisters, doctor appointments, and possible long-lasting skin discoloration.

“By learning to recognize wild parsnip when it is flowering, it is easier to find it in different seasons and different stages of growth, you can protect yourself and remove it when risk of exposure is at its lowest,” he says. “Some people pull up wild parsnip in the evening after the sun has gone down. Wearing long gloves, long sleeved shirts and long pants can protect your skin as well. If your skin is exposed to the plant, the sooner you thoroughly wash the area, the less you will be affected and may prevent the blisters from forming.”

Kearns says wild parsnip is becoming extremely invasive, and she encourages landowners and land managers to do what they can to control it and minimize its spread.

“The best way to control this invasive plant is through early detection and control,” she says. “For large patches, mowing in the early flowering stage will greatly reduce seed development. Mowing should be done as soon as possible now that flowering has begun. Once the seed heads mature and turn brown, mowing will just spread seeds farther.”

Other control measures include:

• Cutting off and disposing of flowerheads before the seeds turn brown is effective on small populations. Since plants die soon after flowering, preventing seed development is the key to control.
• Cutting the root of each plant just below ground level with a spade or shovel can effectively control small populations of wild parsnip. It is essential that the cut be made below the ground to prevent resprouting.
• In wet soil, the plant can be pulled out of the ground.

“If more people learn to identify and remove wild parsnip, we have a greater chance of controlling this painful weed from spreading and burning children and adults,” Kearns says.

More information on wild parsnip can be found in a June 1999 Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine story>.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Kearns (608) 267-5066