Wetland Coffee Break
The Wetland Coffee Break series helps keep our community of wetland lovers connected and learning about wetlands throughout the year, from anywhere! Bring your coffee and learn about wetlands, the plants and animals that call them home, and the many natural benefits they provide to our communities. Sessions are held on Zoom and feature time for audience Q&A.
See below for a list of upcoming presentations and to register. Once you register, you’ll receive an automatic email including the URL link and password you’ll need to access the meeting. We record and post each presentation so you can watch any that you missed live. You’ll find links to these recordings below, and you can also find them on our Facebook page.
We are grateful to all of the presenters for sharing their knowledge and expertise and to everyone interested in learning more about wetlands! If you are interested in giving a Wetland Coffee Break presentation, or if you have a wetland topic you’d like to see covered, please contact Katie.Beilfuss@wisconsinwetlands.org.
Register for a Wetland Coffee Break
Spur Lake: A long and unfinished journey
Carly Lapin, WDNR, and Nathan Podany, Sokaogon Chippewa Community Environmental Department
Friday, December 1, 2023
10:30 am CT
Description
Spur Lake is a 113-acre, shallow, muck-bottom lake in eastern Oneida County that historically supported very good wild rice crops of cultural and ecological significance. Wild rice declined noticeably during the 1990s, and it is now largely absent from Spur Lake. Carly and Nathan will discuss the efforts of a collaborative working group to understand why wild rice has disappeared from Spur and explore options for bringing it back.
Carly Lapin works as the North-central Wisconsin District Ecologist for WDNR’s Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation, based in Rhinelander. She monitors, restores, and protects State Natural Areas across 9 counties and assists with monitoring and protection of rare species. Nathan Podany works for the Sokaogon Chippewa Community Environmental Department, where he manages the physical, chemical and biological aspects of their surface water program.
Mink frog calling surveys: The newest addition to the Wisconsin Frog and Toad Survey
Friday, December 15, 2023
10:30 am
Description
The Wisconsin Frog and Toad Survey, the country’s longest running amphibian monitoring program, recently added new survey routes in northern Wisconsin to target the mink frog. The mink frog, a Species of Special Concern, is a special focus due to its rarity, susceptibility to climate change in Wisconsin, and unusual calling pattern. Join conservation biologists Rori Paloski and Emma Pauly-Hubbard to learn about this species and the new program being implemented to better monitor its status and condition.
Rori Paloski is a Conservation Biologist with the Wisconsin DNR specializing in herpetology and endangered species regulation. She is involved with a variety of herpetology projects throughout Wisconsin. Rori is also currently working on her Ph.D. at UW-Madison researching the endangered eastern massasauga rattlesnake.
Emma Pauly-Hubbard is a seasonal Conservation Biologist with the Wisconsin DNR specializing in herpetology. She has worked on the Wisconsin Frog and Toad Survey’s mink frog survey since it was created. Emma received a master’s degree in biology from Emporia State University, where her research focused on prairie ring-necked snakes.
Watch previous presentations
Click “Older Entries” below to see more past presentations, or view our Google Sheet index of past presentations here.
Wetland Coffee Break: Wetland conservation practices for landowners
Learn from Tally Hamilton and Gretchen Skudlarczyk—wetland experts with years of experience working with private landowners—about some of the practices and programs available to restore and enhance wetlands on private lands.
Wetland Coffee Break: Fascinating species frequenting ephemeral ponds
Learn more about the multi-year citizen science amphibian-focused research project studying ephemeral ponds in east central Wisconsin from citizen-scientist Greg Burns.
Wetland Coffee Break: Establishing a citizen science salamander and ephemeral pond monitoring program in Wisconsin
What are ephemeral ponds, and why are they important to amphibians and other critters?
Wetland Coffee Break: Bryophyte floristic quality assessments of Wisconsin peatlands
Join Keir Wefferling to learn what these non-vascular plants, like mosses, liverworts, and hornworts, can tell us about the health of Wisconsin peatlands.
Wetland Coffee Break: Getting the most out of chemical control of wetland invasive plants with herbicide-additive systems
This presentation will demonstrate ways to get the most out of chemical control by taking advantage of herbicide-additive systems and detail the essentials of target plant anatomy and physiology as they relate to invasive species suppression.
Wetland Coffee Break: Celebrating wetlands through poetry: The art and craft of Mary Linton
Join us for this special Wetland Coffee Break to honor Mary’s memory and celebrate her craft as a poet.