Friends Favorite Places - 24 December 2023

The group gathered at the Picnic Point entrance before setting off.

​Master Naturalist Paul Noeldner, founder and pied piper of the Friends of Urban Nature (FUN) fieldtrips, organizes our 4th Sunday outings.  Falling on Christmas Eve this year, a good-humored group happy to get out of the kitchen and into nature gathered in a light mist amid mild temperatures at the entrance to Picnic Point. Paul welcomed the 30 attendees and invited them to share their names and their favorite places in the Preserve.  While some visitors were returning to the Preserve after many years elsewhere, a few locals were entering it for the first time. After introductions by President Will Vuyk and Past President Doris Dubielzig, we walked up the service road past Bill’s Woods, where Will described plans for the new Visitor’s Center.  

Board member and Biocore student Yara Al-Rayyan explaining the history of the Biocore Prairie.

​Our next stop was at the Biocore Prairie.  There, Friends student board member Yara Al-Rayyan reviewed the history and significance of this tallgrass prairie.  Yara is enrolled in the undergraduate Biocore Honors Program.  In 1997, Biocore students and staff first planted the prairie on an abandoned and contaminated field. The 11-acre parcel now provides a site for classes and for undergraduate research projects. 

The group viewing the mist-enshrouded Picnic Point marsh

We walked down the road through Caretaker’s Woods to the old, unused bath house at the end of Picnic Point Marsh.  On this quiet side of the Point, some families investigated the sandy beach, while Will Vuyk captivated the group with a description of the two species of frogs that live in the Marsh.  The Eastern gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor) and Cope’s gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis), which look identical, can be distinguished by their calls and by observation of their red blood cells.  Cope’s gray treefrog (H. chrysoscelis) has 24 chromosomes (2n), while the Eastern gray treefrog (H. versicolor) has 48 (4n)!  Paul pulled up their calls on his cellphone and we were thrilled to hear the differences between the two frog calls.

Paul then spoke of his hopes for the stone Bath House, which was designed by noted local architect William Kaeser. Kaeser was an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright though he never studied directly with great man. The attractive building, constructed in 1968, was never used for its intended purpose and is now a locked storage unit.  Paul has long contended that it would be a great location for nature and outreach activities.  

We walked on the sandy path to the large, hemispherical Indian Mound on the bayside of the path to Picnic Point.  There, Doris showed a drawing of a “lanceolate fluted point” that was recovered in the Preserve. That piece is evidence that Native Americans have occupied this area for at least 12,000 years, following the melting of the most recent glaciation.  Construction of sacred burial mounds began more recently, about 2,800 years ago. Of the seven mounds that were on Picnic Point, six remain, and this one (#7) is the largest.

​The question of exactly who built the mounds is difficult to answer, because mounds were built over a ~2,200-year period and mound construction ceased almost 200 years before the arrival of Euro-Americans. 

A map of burial mounds on Picnic Point, provided by Daniel Einstein.

​Walking back toward the Picnic Point entrance, on the right just beyond Fire Circle #2, are five additional mounds. The mound building era is consistent with the age of the ancient canoe recovered from Lake Mendota in November 2021.  Doris suggests that the canoe maker(s) would also have been of the mound builder people. After the vegetation covering them dies in the winter, the mounds can be seen more easily from the trail. Guided by a map drawn by Daniel Einstein, retired Historic & Cultural Resources Manager, the children were challenged to find the mounds.

The group congregating around Fire Circle #2 at the end of the field trip.

​By this time, people were eager to gather around the fire at Fire Circle #2, drink Paul Noeldner-provided hot chocolate and toast marshmallows for s’mores, and gaze on University Bay.  Playing his euphonium, Paul led the festive group in some Christmas carols.  It was a joyous and friendly way to end the year.

Our monthly 4th Sunday Bird and Nature Adventures are co-sponsored by the Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve (http://friendslakeshorepreserve.org), Badgerland Birding Alliance and the Madison Friends of Urban Nature (FUN). Contact Paul Noeldner at (608) 698-0104, [email protected].

Report written by Doris Dubielzig. Photos taken by Paul Noeldner and Will Vuyk.