Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
about 300 birds in 14 counties). The
International Crane Foundation
(E11376 Shady
Lane Rd., 608/356-9462,
www.savingcranes.com
)
has information on wonderful volunteer
opportunities to tramp through central Wisconsin counting the birds—great fun.
In 2000, the state also established nesting sites for whooping cranes over 100,000 acres
incentralWisconsin;eventuallynestswillbefoundattheSandhillStateWildlifeArea,Ne-
cedah National Wildlife Refuge, and two other sites. In 2002, before national media, the
firsteightwhoopingcranesmadetheirmigrationtoFloridabehindanultralightplane(most
returned). By 2020 hopes are to have 125 of the majestic birds in the state. Most amaz-
ing was the return of a nesting pair of
piping plovers
to the shores of the Apostle Islands
National Lakeshore in 1999. In the entire Great Lakes only 30 nesting pairs exist, all in
Michigan. As a result, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed setting aside nearly
200 miles of shoreline—20 in Wisconsin—for critical habitats, and possibly to establish a
colony.
One of the most visually amazing birds—the white pelican—has also made a recent
comeback. Thank the universe if you spot one in the Horicon Marsh National Wildlife
Refuge.
Though never extinct, the bald eagle, once perilously close to vanishing, may have had
the most successful recovery of all. The state now harbors about 1,400 pairs of breeding
eagles, and the birds are so prevalent along the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers that cer-
taincommunitiesmakemuchoftheirtouristincomebecauseofthem.Thestateisalsogob-
bling up riverine land near Prairie du Sac to continue the comeback.
WisconsindoestakeforcefulstepstopreservewildlifethroughitsDepartmentofNatur-
alResources.ItwasthefirststateintheUnitedStatestodesignateNaturalAreasthroughout
the state. These vigilantly protected areas harbor fragile geology, archaeology, or plant and
animal life; some are even being nudged toward a return to their presettlement ecology.
Absolutely the most intriguing question now is if
cougars
are preying the woods. Since
1994, more than 300 sightings have been reported, and many of these confirmed (the last
one supposedly perished in 1908); they're most likely migrating from the Black Hills of
South Dakota.
If there is one endangered fish all Badgers worry about, it's the
perch,
especially the
yellowperch.Inastatethattreatsfishfriesasquasi-religiousexperiences(thereisnobetter
fish than perch for a fish fry), plummeting lake perch populations in the early 1990s ab-
solutely freaked out the fish-loving population; the state banned commercial perch fishing
in 1996 and it hasn't been allowed except in Green Bay since. Sport anglers once caught
900,000 perch annually; now it's 17,000. (The main culprit is likely invasive species but
