Community Science Annual Reviews

If I’m being honest, I couldn’t even visualize a sturgeon in my head prior to working at the Urban Ecology Center. So, when a coworker mentioned there’d be a sturgeon release at UW-Milwaukee’s Great Lakes Research Facility, I jumped at the chance. It sounded intriguing—plus, I’d never heard of a fish release before. Which got me thinking: What exactly do sturgeons do? What is their backstory? And why do they need releasing in the first place? I quickly realized I didn’t have the faintest idea.

Is that tree ok? It looks like its bark is falling off. Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) is a native deciduous tree found across the eastern half of the United States. This species is characterized by its “shaggy” bark, which peels away from the trunk in curving plates. Despite its unusual looks, shagbarks are great eco-neighbors.

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) is a shrub or small tree native to much of the northern US and Canada. In Wisconsin’s forests, the chokecherry is a keystone species, supporting a whopping 340 caterpillar species. It's a choice host plant for butterflies like the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, as well as for large, showy moth species, like the Cecropia and Polyphemus moths. The shrubby, shorter structure of the chokecherry creates ideal hiding places for birds and other animals. This tree’s berries are also consumed by birds, insects, and mammals, including humans.

The Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) is a native Wisconsin tree that generates a lot of conversation. It’s a fast-growing deciduous tree, and at maturity, it is large, spreading, and impressive, sometimes reaching 150 ft tall. However, many people, especially in urban settings, shy away from planting cottonwoods because of their proliferate seeding in the early summer. They produce catkins that release thousands of puffy white seeds into the air.

Late last February (2018), we received an email from a community member about a beaver found dead in Riverside Park. This news was especially disheartening to us considering the near celebrity status the Milwaukee River Greenway beaver couple had gained not only publicly, but amongst staff. We had watched the activities of the beavers in Riverside Park for nearly five years and enjoyed hearing the stories from other staff and community members about their encounters.Learning about the death of one-half of the beloved couple seemed like an unnecessarily harsh way to end a long Wisconsin winter. Adding insult to injury, while going out to pay our respects to the beaver, we found it a mere three feet from the entrance to its ice-blocked den – as if it was trying to make its way back home to safety but met with misfortune first.