Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
honestly,ifthestatespenthalfasmuchonperchasitdidstockingtroutandsalmoninLake
Michigan, things would be better.) Trout lovers rejoice—blue-ribbon status streams have
increased 1,000 percent in 20 years.
Still, the picture could be much better. Even as many species are rebounding, annually
other native species are added to the threatened and endangered lists. Just under 3 percent
of native plants are now threatened or endangered. And one-quarter of the state's species
are nonnative, or invasive.
Birding
Avian species have always found the state's flyways crucial to survival. With the reintro-
ductionofsomany—alongwithwetlandsrestorationandprotection—thestatehasfantastic
birding opportunities. The statewide
Oak Leaf Birding Trail
(
www.dnr.state.wi.us
)
has 35
prime birding spots; the terminus is Whitnall Park in Milwaukee. Even better is the newer
Great Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail,
which covers the whole state; check
wiscon-
sinbirds.org
for more information.
Oneplacefewpeoplevisitistheoutstanding
Baraboo Hills
regionincentralWisconsin,
a major node on a transcontinental birding flyway.
The
Great River Birding Trail
(
www.audubon.org
) along the Mississippi River pos-
sibly equals it; head to the La Crosse/Onalaska area for mid-May's grand
Mississippi Fly-
way Birding Festival.
(Actually, the Mississippi River region has year-round birding fest-
ivals.)
Zebra Mussel
One culprit for the decline in Lake Michigan's yellow perch population could be this pesky
little mollusk, the species that best represents what can happen when a nonnative species is
introduced into an environment. Transplanted most likely from a visiting freighter from the
Caspian Sea in the mid-1980s, the zebra mollusk is a ferocious, tough little Eurasian mol-
lusk that found it loved the warmer waters and phytoplankton of the Great Lakes. Problem
is,itlovestobreednearwarmareas—suchasatdischargepipesaroundpowerplants.They
breedsorapidlytheycreateunbelievablydensebarnacle-likecruststhatdoseriousdamage.
Worse, they're being blamed for the decline if not decimation of native species as they lit-
erally suck all the nutrients out of an area. Great Lakes states are frantically fighting a war
to keep them from spreading into inland lakes and streams.
