FISH TALES

Trail Conditions:  Poor to Fair.Groomed  Monday. Some track are holding up, but many so wear and have bare spots.

FISH TALES LECTURE:  Thursday at 7:00

In-person or available on Zoom and Facebook Live

WHERE  WATERS MEET

Crossroads’ educational theme this year is “Where Waters Meet.” So, in the week leading up to the United Nations World Water Day, we have planned a number of water-themed activities starting with our Fish Tales presentation on Thursday, March 16, at 7:00 p.m. Dr. Val Klump will present “An Uncertain Future: Meeting the Challenge of Restoring Our Great Lakes.”

Zoom and Facebook Live links will be available and offered in partnership with the Door County Library. To participate online, visit the Door County Library calendar at https://doorcountylibrary.org/event on the date of the talk to access the link.

On St. Patrick’s Day Saturday, March 18, our family Saturday Science program will feature “Green in the Water” with videos, hands-on activities, and a make-and- take craft all offered in the upper level of the Collins Learning Center.

Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., a naturalist-led hike called a “Seep Seek” will start from the parking lot kiosk. Hikers will visit the many places in which ground water seeps into the waters of Big Creek and enjoy the view from Cedar Crossing Bridge.

Finally, on Wednesday, March 22, which is the official United Nations World Water Day, members of the Junior Nature Club will be visiting Big Creek. In the afternoon, Crossroads will screen video recordings of some of the marvelous lectures about water which were presented at the Healthy Water Door County’s Celebrate Water Summit in 2019.

According to World Water Day organizers, the objective is to accelerate change to solve the world-wide water and sanitation crisis because “dysfunction throughout the water cycle is undermining progress on all major global issues, from health to hunger, gender equality to jobs, education to industry, disasters to peace.”

Environmental problems in the Great Lakes and its bays are examples of that dysfunction.

Dr. Val Klump is the former dean and a Professor of the School of Freshwater Sciences at UW-Milwaukee. During his Fish Tales presentation, he will describe how Lake Michigan and Green Bay have “long suffered from environmental deterioration from our activities — industry, urbanization, agriculture, you name it.”

According to Klump, “Our goal is to foster the restoration of the Green Bay ecosystem through looking at what can be done to reduce dead zones, improve water quality and bequeath a healthy ecosystem to future generations.”

We at Crossroads are becoming a part of that research and restoration effort. Our theme “Where Waters Meet” alludes to the fact that waters from the Big Creek Watershed, from the Bay of Sturgeon Bay, and from groundwater (which travels through the fractures of our bedrock) all meet in The Cove Estuary.

The water quality from any and all of these sources will greatly impact the plants and animals of our preserves. Through our on-going efforts, we hope to be worthy stewards of our preserves … and to share what we learn with others who are endeavoring to improve water quality.

Other programs include the March meeting of the Door County Beekeepers at which Max Martin will lead a discussion on conducting a necropsy (the animal equivalent of an autopsy) on a winter-dead hives and offer advice on evaluating old hive frames. Visitors are encouraged to attend.

In observance of Women’s History Month, at the monthly Crossroads Book Club on Wednesday, March 22, at 10:00 a.m.. participants will join Crossroads staff around the fireplace to discuss “My Double Life” by Frances Hamerstrom, a falconer, naturalist, and student of Aldo Leopold. All are welcome to attend, whether or not they have read the book. A limited number of copies of the book are available at Crossroads.