Erosion at the Nature Center
Water is washing away the very earth beneath your feet as you cross the bridges along Wehr’s boardwalks. The Friends completed a project to temporarily stabilize the stream banks under the bridges on the boardwalk in 2022 with the help of high school students enrolled in Cream City Conservation Corps. We also hired a consultant to identify…
Read MoreMoving Forward Safely
Written by Deb McRae The warbers are back, the wildflowers are incredible, and we are still safer at home! But “safer at home” is taking on a little different look. Summer-like temperatures are teasing us, and all of us are tired of being cooped up. Everyone is heading outdoors. All of us at Wehr want…
Read MoreClimate Change is Changing Wehr
Written by Bev Bryant We tend to think of climate change as being a far-away problem; something that is happening in Australia or to Polar bears, or to our great-grandkids at some point in the distant future. The reality is climate change is happening right now and right here. At Wehr we have noticed the…
Read MoreA Great Time to be a Birder – updated 5/14/21
Written by Jennifer Rutten “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” Aldo Leopold “A Sand County Almanac” In his foreword to A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold wrote these familiar words. They ring true to me as a newish birder (3 years now) for I along with others cannot lie…
Read MoreKeep Calm and…SQUIRREL!
Written by Holly Walz Who’s that bushy-tailed, gray, and furry fellow on the birdfeeder?! It’s no bird – must be a gray SQUIRREL! Common visitors to parks and backyards in Milwaukee, squirrels also live in hardwood and mixed coniferous hardwood forests throughout Wisconsin – wherever there are trees with nuts. If you have a bird…
Read MoreCharmed by Hummingbirds
by Brooke Gilley To see a group of hummingbirds (also known as a charm or tune) is a marvelous thing. I remember my first experience witnessing a charm of hummingbirds. It happened at the Woodlands Nature Station located in Land Between the Lakes National Recreational Area in Western Kentucky Among the multiple native plant gardens…
Read MoreBluebells and the Bumble Bee Brigade
By Brooke Gilley The blooming of Virginia bluebells marks the busy season for bumble bee queens and the beginning of monitoring season for the Bumble Bee Brigade. Bumble bee queens have been hibernating underground, waiting for the soil to warm up so they can start to gather the nectar and pollen needed to lay the…
Read MoreGo Outside and Play: Mud Pies and More
By Bev Bryant, Wehr Interpretative Naturalist Spring! Even the word is full of energy. I have to admit that spring has always been my favorite time of year. Something about the bright color of fresh green, the abundance of wildflowers and the sweet sounds of birds and frogs calling makes Spring THE TIME to fall…
Read MoreHow to Keep Yourself and Nature Safe When You Explore
Research has proven that getting outside into nature helps reduce stress…and right now we all have a lot of stress. The trails at Wehr are still open at this time for you to use to explore and relax. And judging by the number of cars in the parking lot, many people are indeed using Wehr’s…
Read MoreHow to Run a Nature Center During a Pandemic
Like the rest of Wisconsin, the last several weeks at Wehr Nature Center have been a whirlwind of emails, agency updates, and change. As the reality of this pandemic settled over our state our parent agencies, Milwaukee County and the UW-Madison (Division of Extension), took a lead in informing citizens of the dangers of the…
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