Woods & Waters Project

Fall 2010 American Martin research

The 2010-2011 field season marks the 12th year of the Woods & Waters Project. This is a long-term project that began in 1999 as the “Furbearer and Forests” program for Hurley and Mercer students. It began in response to teachers requests in both schools for assistance in meeting environmental education needs for Wisconsin Education Standards. The WDNR and Iron County Forestry Committee began supporting and funding the project through the North Lakeland Discovery Center in 1999. The WDNR has provided equipment, training for students, and a wildlife biologist to assist with capture and collaring efforts.

Iron County is very rich with lake and wetland habitat and in an effort to expand students’ knowledge about water resources the project was expanded in 2000 to include a lake component, and it was renamed the “Woods & Waters Project.” The Waters component is funded by the Iron County Land and Water Conservation Department (LWCD). The LWCD and Discovery Center instruct the waters component including loon research and placement of loon platforms, shoreland development education, aquatic and shoreland plant inventories, and water quality monitoring on 6 Iron County lakes. Research and data collected has proven a 50% increase in loon reproduction on study lakes. Long-term data has also been documented and can be utilized in the future as baseline data to compare to any future changes in water quality.

The project has grown substantially since 1999. Landowners on these lakes and adjacent to the county forest lands studied, are often interested in the data and results. Furthermore, hundreds of students have participated in the project and several of them have gone into a Natural Resource field in college. Although we will never know the full impact that this project has had on more than 300 Iron County students, we do realize that all of them have learned immensely. Regardless of their academic level in the classroom, they have all developed skills through field research, data collection and reporting that some of them could not have achieved in a classroom. They have gained knowledge about land use and management and they have connected with our local forest and water resources. Most importantly, these students truly enjoy the project and are interested in connecting with the natural world, and that is one of the many reasons why the project continues!

For more information about the Woods and Waters Project please contact Zach Wilson at the North Lakeland Discovery Center in Manitowish Waters at 715-543-2085 or the Land & Water Conservation Dept.