Wisconsin Phenological Society

Department of Geography U.W. Milwaukee
P.O. Box 413 * Milwaukee, WI 53201

Tel: (414) 229-3740 * Fax: (414) 229-3981
  Email: mds@uwm.edu
Homepage: www.naturenet.com/alnc/wps

2007 - Newsletter

wpe1.jpg (5535 bytes)
Contents:

Spring Meeting
Message from the President
Natural History Workshops
Phenology on the Web
Annual Financial Statement
Membership

WPS Annual Spring Meeting
Please join us for our Annual Spring Meeting

on Friday, May 4th, 2007
From 1:30-3:30pm

UW-Milwaukee
Field Station


For directions: 
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/fieldstation/directions.html
or contact Mark D. Schwartz  mds@uwm.edu (414) 229-3740 

[back to top]

Message from the President

Although as I write this message (at the end of March) temperatures have sunk back into the 40s, we experienced a very warm and forceful start of the spring season in Milwaukee and across much of the state earlier this week. With high temperatures reaching 80 or more for several days, I was able to record first leaf on the common lilacs in my backyard on March 26th. That makes this year second only to 2000 as the earliest start of spring at my house since I began taking records there in 1994. We will soon see if things stay cool now for a while, or if the entire spring season “moves” at a brisk pace phenologically! 

I have been fortunate to recently receive two grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) this year. One is to support my research work, and the other is for development of the USA-National Phenology Network (USA-NPN). The research project is taking place at a site near Park Falls, WI. I and my graduate students will be monitoring a large number of trees (216 this year and in 2006, growing to almost 900 in 2008 and 2009) in several small plots. We hope to gain a better understanding of the variability of phenological timing among major northern species, such as Aspen, Red Maple, and Balsam Fir, as well as have a more representative set of this surface phenological data to compare to measurements taken from satellite. It would be quite useful for us to have as many phenological measurements as possible in the areas close to the research site, so if you live in northern Wisconsin, within 50 miles or so of Park Falls, and would like to help us monitor tree phenology, please let me know!

Nationally, planning for a USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) continued rapidly over the last year. As mentioned above, I received a NSF grant in support of the USA-NPN that will fund our meeting costs for the next five years. A second implementation workshop was also separately funded by the National Science Foundation, with additional support from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (US-FWS). Around forty scientists met as part of this workshop during the second week of October 2006 in Milwaukee, WI. A USA-NPN national office has been established on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson, and an Assistant Director has been hired. Interviews for a USA-NPN Executive Director will take place in mid-April, with the hope that the selected individual will start working later this year. Please visit the USA-NPN web site at http://www.npn.uwm.edu for more details, and consider registering and participating in USA-NPN as well as WPS. 

Closer to home, we would still very much like to include a geographically distributed set of sites in Wisconsin as a subset of USA-NPN that could contribute long-term observations. If you are associated with a nature center or other similar organization in the State and are interested in this, please contact me.

Lastly, I’d like to once again stress that your observations are extremely useful to the scientific community. Please consider becoming a fully active member of the Society, by recording and reporting phenological observations. As always, your support of the Society and its objectives is greatly appreciated.

Mark D. Schwartz
WPS President

[back to top]

2007 Natural History Workshops
at the UWM Field Station

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Field Station conducts a series of Natural History Workshops.

These workshops offer an opportunity to study focused topics at college-level instruction under the guidance of noted authorities.  Most workshops present two full days of instruction, with housing and meals available at the Station.

Enrollment is limited to 20; the atmosphere is informal and instruction is individualized.  Workshops may be taken for graduate or undergraduate credit by enrolling in UWM, Topics in Field Biology.

Please contact the Field Station for more information and a registration form, or visit our website at www.uwm.edu/Dept/fieldstation for full descriptions of each course, fee information, and a downloadable Registration Form. 

The 2007 workshop schedule includes the following courses:

µ Vegetation of Wisconsin
Instructor: Dr. James Reinartz
June 4-9 (Monday-Saturday)

µ Lichens: Identification & Ecology
Instructor: Dr. Susan Will-Wolf and Marie Trest
June 22 & 23 (Friday & Saturday)

µ Biology of Insects 
Instructor: Dr. Gretchen Meyer and Robert Clare
June 13 &14 (Friday & Saturday)

µ Grasses: Identification and Ecology
Instructor: Dr. Robert Freckmann
July 27 & 28 (Friday & Saturday)

µ Spiders: Identification and Ecology
Instructor: Dr. Michael Draney
August 3 & 4 (Friday & Saturday)

µ Ecological Geology
Instructor: Dr. Roger Kuhns
August 20-25 (Monday - Saturday)

µ Techniques in Mammal Censusing 
Instructor: Dr. Christopher Yahnke
September 8 & 9 (Saturday & Sunday)

To Register:

www.uwm.edu/Dept/fieldstation

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Field Station
 3095 Blue Goose Road
Saukville, WI 53080
Phone: 262 675-6844
Fax: 262 675-0337
email: fieldstn@uwm.edu
Contact: Gretchen Meyer

[back to top]

Phenology on the World Wide Web:

The world wide web is full of phenological possibilities. Check out the following links:

[back to top]

WPS Annual Financial Statement

For the fiscal year beginning March 16, 2006 and ending March 15, 2007.

Balance as of March 16, 2006
$4331.68
Withdrawals
Deposits
Interest
$200.00
$205.00
$59.50
Balance as of March 15, 2007
$4396.18

Waukesha State Bank, 100 Bank Street, PO Box 648, Waukesha, WI 53187

[back to top]

Membership Information

Please support the Phenological Society’s objectives by paying annual dues or becoming a life member. Annual dues are used primarily to defray the mailing cost of our Newsletter.

Please send your name, address, and which of the following actions you would like to take:

  • $2 for 2007/08 dues
  • $___ as further contribution to the work of the Society
  • $50 Lifetime Membership
  • Please delete my name from the membership list
  • Please send me information regarding programs of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

Please send to:

Nancy Dernehl, Treasurer
Wisconsin Phenological Society
UWC—Waukesha
1500 University Drive
Waukesha, WI 53186
ndernehl@uwc.edu

wpe1.jpg (5535 bytes)
Click above to view the
WPS Membership Information Statement
(requires adobe acrobat reader)

Copyright © 1997-2006 Aldo Leopold Nature Center.

All Rights Reserved.