A Northwoods Almanac for 2/27 - 3/12/26

 A Northwoods Almanac for 2/27 - 3/12/26  

March Madness

            March instigates an emotional yo-yo, a roller coaster of glorious ups and dismal downs. No month is more promising but also deceiving, more transformative but also relapsing, more exciting but so quickly depressing. Only those who haven’t lived here think spring is actually coming, while those of us who have been led down this bridal path over many years know it’s fool’s gold. 

            Still, even those of us who should know better are prone to thinking, well, maybe THIS time will be different, proving that hope springs eternal no matter how hopeless the case.

            Of course, we’re not the only ones who have experienced March’s deception. March, the carnival barker of months, has teased and tormented many, many others. Here is just a small sampling of the laments made over centuries:

            It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. - Charles Dickens

            In March, winter is holding back, and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too. - Jean Hersey

            March: where weather forecasts take wild guesses! - Unknown

            Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

            March was an unpredictable month, when it was never clear what might happen. Warm days raised hopes until ice and grey skies shut over the town again. - Tracy Chevalier

            So, buckle up. When I think of March, I see in my mind’s eye the unforgettable beginning of ABC’s Wide World of Sports - “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat - the human drama” - as the Yugoslavian ski jumper Vinko Bogotaj goes careening of the ski jump head over heels. March will always be like that, a drama of risky transformation, a veritable jump off a cliff. But if we can tamper our expectations, ease our dreams and desires, we can smile at it, albeit ruefully, and just, seatbelt fastened, go along for the ride.

 

Sightings - Trumpeter Swans

            Trumpeter swans must be the earliest of our nesting waterfowl to return in the spring, even when the ice is still a foot thick on all of our lakes. Mary, Callie and I saw a pair of trumpeters resting on the ice of the Little Turtle Flowage on 2/12. And Jennifer and Joe Heitz reported seeing four trumpeters fly over their heads in the Star Lake area on 2/15, noting there was no open water anywhere in the area.

            It’s true, however, that some trumpeters winter-over in our area. A small flock has spent the winter for many years on the open water of the Manitowish River between Rest Lake and Benson Lake, and some are seen on the open Wisconsin River by Rhinelander. Could those that we saw and that Jennifer and Joe saw be from over-wintering flocks?

            Yes, it’s certainly possible, but given how far they were from open water would seemingly make it less likely. 

            Trumpeters are aquatic plant eaters, so they have to feed on open water. So, why return so early when ice-off is at least a month or more away? Is it the vying for optimal territories?             I honestly don’t know, but assuredly they know what they’re doing. It just isn’t at all apparent to me.

 

2025 Deer Hunt Stats

(All data from Paul Smith, 2/8 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel):

*In the fall, the DNR estimated the state herd at 1.82 million deer, the highest ever on record.

*As of Jan. 27, 2026, hunters registered 338,685 white-tailed deer through the various hunting seasons.

*The total harvest is on track to be about 4% higher than the previous year and the highest since 2012, when 368,313 deer were registered.

*The buck kill of 165,614 is 14th highest on record and the most since 2007.

*The Nov. 22-30 gun season resulted in 183,094 deer registered, a drop of 4% from the previous year. Take into account, however, a heavy snowstorm hit much of the state late in the nine-day season (you might remember that little 30+ inch snowfall) and likely reduced hunter effort.

*The crossbow deer kill of 70,047 (43,006 bucks and 27,041 antlerless) is up 10% from last year.

*The archery (vertical bow) deer harvest increased. As of Jan. 27 the total was 41,459 (25,701 bucks and 15,758 antlerless), a 7% year-over-year increase.

*Yet, the number of deer hunters has dropped by 116,640 (or 16%) in the last 25 years, according to the DNR.

            The question when presented with an array of data points like this is what conclusions one can draw from them? What do these numbers say about the state of our deer herd, the impacts of winter weather, of wolves, the continuing decline in deer hunters, the increase in bow hunting and archery on the gun season, et al?

            It’s complicated, so I’ll listen to voices that have been around the longest time and speak with the most experience and integrity. Two come to mind: Keith McCaffery, retired deer biologist and likely the most trusted voice on deer ecology in the state, and recently retired deer biologist Jeff Pritzl. I recommend trusting their writings.

 

Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program

            The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program was created in 1989 as a bipartisan initiative to provide funding for the DNR to protect natural areas, water quality, and fisheries while expanding outdoor recreation. Signed by Governor Tommy Thompson, it was renamed in 1993 to honor former governors Warren Knowles (Republican) and Gaylord Nelson (Democrat), highlighting a long-standing bipartisan commitment to conservation. 

            The program has provided over 1,500 grants in all 72 counties of Wisconsin to land trusts and conservation nonprofit organizations, state park friends groups, and local governments, enabling improvements to parks, trails, and waterways. The program has helped permanently protect well over 750,000 acres in Wisconsin, and almost every Wisconsin resident has a Knowles-Nelson project within a mile or two of their home. In a poll taken of Wisconsin residents, 93% said they favored the program - nine out of ten.

            From its inception, the Stewardship program has funded not just DNR land acquisition and recreational development, but a family of grants through which local communities and nonprofits, matching the state investment dollar-for-dollar, have expanded parks and public nature preserves, boat landings, town parks, ATV trails, snowmobile bridges, you name it.

            On 2/18, Senate Republicans canceled a vote on a $28.25 million GOP-authored bill to extend the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program for two years ($14.12 million per year). The amount may sound like plenty, but the bill provides nothing for buying land, except $1 million designated for the Ice Age Trail. Everything else in the bill would fund maintenance work and habitat restoration.

            This is a dramatic decrease in funding from the program’s inception. The key loss is the elimination of funding for buying land over the next two years, thus tying the state’s hands to take advantage of any opportunity to increase lands for hunting, timbering, recreating in any form, and to secure critical wildlife habitats.

            I’ve heard a few people saying, “So what? We have too much land already, and the cost is too much. My taxes are already too high.”

            For the record, the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program costs $11 per Wisconsin resident annually, debt service included, way less than the cost of a state park sticker, a fishing license, or a typical campground fee for one night. 

            Still, it’s eleven bucks. What are you getting for it? 

            Well, for extensive details of why the Stewardship program matters, go to the link: https://knowlesnelson.org/toolkit/, and click on the “Explore Impact Sheets” tab. 

            There you can search by county, Assembly district, Senate district or “Ice Age Trail” community, and learn how many projects, how many acres, and how much taxpayer money Knowles-Nelson has invested in Wisconsin, and specifically your county, over the last 36 years.  

            Still, some are saying the program is only for buying more land and helping hikers and the non-motorized crowd.          

            Nope. It benefits everybody. Everybody. 

            Examples abound. In Oneida County, 135 projects have been done including new restrooms and renovation of the Lake Tomahawk Boat Landing, a new bathhouse and boat landing renovation at Hodag park, landscaping with benches and picnic tables along with the construction of the Newbold Recreational Trail, and new bathrooms, beach improvement, a picnic area and swing set at the Monico Town Park. It did include a 680-acre expansion to the Oneida County Forest, but remember, timber harvests on county forest lands provide large revenues for nearly every northern county.

            In Vilas County, 180 projects have been done, including to help purchase 960 acres of land in the Tenderfoot Forest Preserve, perhaps the best stand of old-growth forest left in our state. But over a half million dollars also went to an ATV wash station, shower facility, utility upgrades and expansion of the Torch Lake Campground. One-third million went to a new pavilion and playground at the Conover Town Park, and a couple hundred thousand went to a picnic area, parking and restrooms at Rearing Pond Park in Presque Isle.

            In Forest County, money went for a 2,800-acre expansion of the Forest County Forest (counties harvest timber!), but grants also were given for the reconstruction of a snowmobile bridge on the Nicolet State Trail, aquatic weed harvesting equipment for the Pine Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District, and the construction of a bike trail connecting the Crandon School complex to the Wolf River State Trail.

            Money went in Florence County for County Forest ATV trail rehabilitation and a new culvert, along with a boat landing and shelter at the Long Lake Swimming Beach.

            So, please look more deeply into what this program does for our state and for your county, and then decide what your 11 bucks is worth to you. 

            For me, it’s one of the best ways I can think of to spend it. 

            As outdoor writer Pat Durkin says, “Stewardship isn’t a burden – it’s a smart investment.” If you agree, call your legislators and tell them to fully fund the program.

 

Celestial Events

            For planet watching in March, look after dusk very low in the west for Venus, for Jupiter high in the South, and for Saturn very low in the west but only through mid-month. Before dawn, there’s not much - look for Mercury very low in the southeast.

            As of the first of the month, our average high temperature reaches 32° for the first time since November 29.  

            The full moon occurs on 3/3 with a total lunar eclipse in the morning reaching maximum at 5:33 AM. The eclipse will be viewable by nearly everyone in the U.S.

            On 3/8 look after dusk low in the west for Venus just one degree above Saturn.

 

Thought for the Week

            A land ethic “reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of land . . . Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.” - Aldo Leopold