I enjoyed the conference, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't skip a few seminars to get in some top notch botanizing. For weeks, months, I had read up on the natural areas of the state, even plotted a few potential routes. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has a great website that catalogues each State Natural Area (there are 673 of them) and provides juicy details on what you can expect to find there, along with access and maps.
The sad part about the whole excursion was that my Canon DSLR decided to start kicking the bucket somewhere near the Michigan-Indiana border, I blame Gary, IN. Forbes ranked it #20 on America's most miserable cities list. Anyways, in addiiton to all the memories etched in my mind, here are a few photos...most of the photos, that my dying and undependable camera managed to capture.
Here Alyssa enjoys the awesome expanse that is the Avoca Prairie, a sand outwash prairie on the banks of the Wisconsin River. It's the largest natural tallgrass prairie west of the Mississippi!
And home to a healthy population of rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium), a target plant I had for the trip. So crazy to see this stuff growing in the wild by the thousands.
Another stop, the Pleasant Valley Conservancy. Look at that savanna, that's what I'm talking about. I've been following Tom's Blog for years, really great to see the effort being put into managing/stewarding these sites.
The Mazomanie Oak Barrens sounded promising so I gave it a shot one afternoon. After passing through a grove of pine at the parking lot, what's the first herbaceous plant I lay eyes on?
Virgina Goat's Rue (Tephrosia virginiana)! I know, pretty awesome eh? This plant is only known from Norfolk County in Ontario, it's Endangered provincially and federally. I've seen it at Turkey Point, but here it was just another common groundcover species...along with hundreds of other plants that I wish I could have photographed and shared here.
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