Autumn Arrives

While the beginning of this October has been mild, fall has officially arrived at Lakeshore State Park. Only a few forbs remain and wind sweeps the park, rustling the drying grasses. Early fall is prime viewing for some of the last flowering plants. Take a stroll through the park and view a variety of Asters (genus: Symphyotrichum) before they fade and go to seed.

Upcoming Events

Our park educators offer a wide variety of programs for both kids and adults and events that focus on nature education and exploration, all designed to be hands-on and family friendly. We hope you look forward to these upcoming events!

October 6: Public Seed Collecting Extravaganza, 3:00-4:30 PM (south entrance)

October 16: Scavenger Hike, 5:00-6:00 PM (south entrance)

October 16: Beach Bonfire and S’mores, 5:00-7:00 PM (pebble beach)

November 15: “Rock your Mocs” Hike, 5:30pm-6:30pm (south entrance)

November 29: #OptOutside Hike, 11:00am-12:00pm (south entrance)

December 6: Christmas in the Ward 5:30-8:30PM (Catalano Square)

Event details available here: FLSP Events Page
Contact: Elaine Zautke (Park Manager) elaine.zautke@wisconsin.gov 414-274-4281

Please note this change! All events will start at the park south entrance unless otherwise indicated. Public parking on the south side behind Summerfest Grounds can be found by entering “Milwaukee Pierhead Lighthouse” into a GPS map program. Approximate coordinates to the start location: 43.029163, -87.895880

Welcome Our New Board Members!

Stephanie Sansoucie is an executive coach with Thrive Dept. and Wisconsin Master Naturalist who enjoys spending time with the bumblebees of Lakeshore State Park. With a passion for both our natural world and our local community, she’s delighted to support efforts to protect and promote our beautiful urban gem. Stephanie brings her expertise in creative leadership and her love for the outdoors to her role on the board of Friends of Lakeshore State Park.

Andrez Aldape is an IT Data Analyst at Johnson Controls. He loves music, the outdoors and his German shepherd, Kumori. Andrez cares about the park because of its biodiversity and prime location, one that he’s visited since childhood. He has found the Friends to be a great group of people that truly care about our community and the park, and looks forward to making positive impact on the park and community.

Mike Marek is a Landscape Ecologist and founder of Marek Landscaping, LLC, a 28 year business based in Milwaukee.Their mission is “Protecting and restoring ecosystems where people and nature connect”. He’s the father of a 13 year old girl and 15 year old boy and lives in Riverwest. He is an avid canoeist, kayaker, surfer, free diver, skier, snowboarder, biker, foodie, and loves combining all of it with camping. His passion for Great Lakes ecology, water health, and fostering a healthy, diverse, and connected community are what led him to accept a board position with the Friends.

Want to know more about joining our board or a committee?
Please email inquiries to admin@friendslsp.org

Some Recent Activities in the Park

On September 16th, volunteers from Navico Group helped keep the park beautiful during their company’s Global Cleanup Day. Lakeshore State Park was one of 12 sites around the globe selected by the company for a cleanup. Many thanks to these volunteers including our board member Lee Kanwar of Navico who helped make this happen!

Did you notice how many more purple martins were at the park this season? Their chatter could often be heard by the park marina where they fully occupied their beautiful new home then taking off to fly in circles hunting insects in the air.The purple martins left several weeks ago, but they don’t do a clean-up on the way out, leaving more work for volunteers who lowered the house and cleaned each of the boxes to make ready for the return of purple martins next spring! Cornell Lab has more information about these fascinating birds here:

About Purple Martins

Get Involved!

We’re dedicated to environmental education and local community engagement. By supporting The Friends of Lakeshore State Park, our partners help us continue these vital programs and keep the park beautiful and accessible. Interested in joining us on our mission? Let’s connect! email admin@friendslsp.org

Coming Later in October: Creatures in the Park Lagoon!

For our story this month we interviewed Professor John Berges of UWM about small critters lurking in the park lagoon. We aren’t ready to share this story will you just yet, please look for an email in a couple weeks.

Membership Matters

Membership with the Friends of Lakeshore State Park helps ensure the continued growth and protection of the Park in many ways including maintaining trails, enhancing habitat for our resident foxes and other wildlife, and promoting environmental education programs that inspire visitors of all ages.

As a member, you will contribute directly to vital conservation initiatives and ongoing improvement projects. Your support is essential to the continues success of the Park.

The Prairie at Lakeshore State Park is Abloom!

We’re proud to share this beautiful photo essay by Eddee Daniel, highlighting our blossoming prairie here at Lakeshore State Park. Join the author and our DNR naturalist guide, Anne Duffy, on a tour through acres of wildflowers and tall grasses. 🌿

*Park Naturalist Anne Duffy leading a hike on a path in the Big Prairie – photo by Eddee Daniel*

With this essay, we have an opportunity to:

– Explore the colorful and diverse prairie landscape
– Learn about the significance of prairies in Wisconsin’s ecosystem
– Experience the park’s popularity and importance

Check out the full photo essay here: https://awealthofnature.org/photo-essay-the-prairie-at-lakeshore-state-park-is-abloom/

Pollinators in the Park

Summer brings warmer days with flowers, butterflies and bumble bees, and evenings made magical by fireflies. Lakeshore State Park provides these simple natural joys right on the shores of Lake Michigan. A new flower blooms or new insect buzzes here every day. Seemingly random, these occurrences are naturally orchestrated.

The habitat created at the park mimics a short grass prairie with native flowers and grasses with few trees. Native flowers bloom at various times of the season, attracting insects with nectar for sustenance, and the insects in turn pollinate the plants. These symbiotic relationships between the native plants and insects ensure successful reproduction for all involved.

One of the first to flower at the park is Prairie Smoke. Their pink flowers start out facing downwards at a height perfect for awakening bumble bee queens. After pollination, the flowers turn upright and unfurl their feathery blossoms in a smokey display. Next to bloom are Golden Alexanders, attracting tiny native bees which gather nectar and spread pollen plant to plant..

Ann Duffy leading a guided hike in the park. Photo by Eddee Daniel

Most bees are solitary, not living in hive colonies like non-native honey bees do. There are over 400 species of bees native to Wisconsin, many which can be found in the park including sweat, mason and leaf cutter bees. Ants, butterflies, and small birds and mammals can be pollinators too, and at night, moths and fireflies pollinate as well!

A concern of late is the decline of insects. Without them, we would have virtually no plants. And without plants, we would lose almost 50% of our food sources. Habitat loss and degradation and the overuse of pesticides are main factors causing dwindling insect populations. The average yard with a monoculture of non-native grass, decorated sparsely with non-native flowers and shrubs, provides little habitat for pollinators.

What can be done to help? Planting native flowers and grasses in our yards would provide a variety of beautiful, native habitat where native pollinators can thrive. In turn, the pollinators would help the native plants, thus freeing one to spend less time and effort maintaining a yard and more time enjoying the great outdoors!”

Milwaukee Riverkeeper Cleanup a Success

At first glance, our park may look quite clean.

Upon closer inspection though, one might find many plastic bottles and smaller trash such as microplastics in some areas. This trash negatively impact park wildlife and water quality. Thanks to our partnership with Milwaukee Riverkeeper and the support of our volunteers, our park is kept cleaner for all.

Our most recent cleanup was completed on a brisk and sunny April 20^th, when 23 volunteers and the DNR got together and collected 17 bags of trash! Afterwards, several of us celebrated the day with other partner organizations and volunteers at Rock The Green. Thank you Riverkeeper, the DNR and volunteers!

Want to know how you can help with a cleanup? please contact elaine.zautke@wisconsin.gov

Volunteer Opportunities

Fund for Lake Michigan Grant Awarded

Water quality impacts people, plants, and animals. Many species of birds frequent the park, including high numbers of Canada Geese. The geese feed on grass in the park, leaving excrement which negatively impacts water quality and the experience of over 450,000 annual visitors.

Thanks to a generous grant from Fund For Lake Michigan, FLSP will contract Migratory Bird Management to spray Flight Control® Plus, a non-toxic spray which deters goose populations from taking up residence in the park. Visitor experience will be enhanced through fewer goose droppings, enabling park patrons to walk freely and enjoy clean, green spaces. Thank you Fund For Lake Michigan!

Bird City Milwaukee

It’s not only winter-worn Milwaukee residents who flock to the lakefront and parks as May rolls around. Birds do too. And lots of them!

One reason is that Milwaukee is situated in the Mississippi Flyway. And, as Bird City Milwaukee notes, we have over six miles of lakefront and more than 250 hotspots scattered around the area. That’s a big draw for birds throughout the year. And it’s why having safe and bird-friendly environments is so important.

Bird City Milwaukee (BCW), a member of Bird City Wisconsin since 2012, is dedicated to doing just that. It provides education and support to help communities establish and maintain good bird habitats. During its initial years in Milwaukee, BCW was spearheaded by the Urban Ecology Center (EUC), but gradually the management is being turned over to Visit Milwaukee. As Tim Vargo of the Urban Ecology Center explains, the hope is that under the helm of Visit Milwaukee, Bird City will become “a networking/communication/marketing hub and a go-to place for anybody who wants to know what is happening in Milwaukee any month.”

To get involved with Bird City Milwaukee, check out its website, social media and Facebook pages. And UEC’s Vargo suggests people can also support the Bird City cause by simply going on a bird walk. If you’re a newcomer to birding, not to worry. “So many groups love it when new birders come because it’s sharing their passion,” Vargo says. “My suggestion is to get out with someone who can be a mentor and just do it over and over again. The first couple of times it might feel overwhelming but the more you do it, the easier it will be.”

A networking/communication/marketing hub and a go-to place for anybody who wants to know what is happening in Milwaukee any month.
Tim Vargo

May is a great month to get started. Not only is it prime migration season—May 11^th is World Migration Day—it’s when the annual Brew City Bird Fest is held! The Urban Ecology Center will be avian central for the fest, May 10-17, offering a variety of cheep fun and informative events, including morning bird walks; a Bird in Arts program; and a Keynote Lecture—Birdie Big Year: Elevating Women Birders by Tiffany Kiersten. A full listing of activities can be found on the Urban Ecology Center website.

The Friends of Lakeshore State Park will also be celebrating World Migration Day with a Bird Hike for all ages on Friday, May 10^th at 9:30 a.m. Come join us as we search the skies and shore for some of our favorite species. Check our events page for details.

Birds love our city. By supporting Bird City Milwaukee, you can give them a little love them back.

Bird City Milwaukee
https://www.visitmilwaukee.org/things-to-do/nature-outdoors/bird-city/
https://www.facebook.com/BirdCityWisconsin/

Brew City Bird Festival
https://urban-ecology-center.webflow.io/programs-and-events/brew-city-bird-festival

More Events

Purple Martins Get a New Home

On April 5^th, the installation of a new purple martin bird house was completed. The house is in the same location on the north end of the park just south of the bridge as the previous house. The house was generously donated by Katie and Doug Fisher. The installation took part in stages and was completed by DNR personnel and volunteers.

Some interesting facts about the installation:

The recommended height for a purple martin houses is 10 – 20 feet
The house weighs about 72 lbs.
An existing steel tube in the ground with a 2” inside diameter was re-used
A Schedule 40 steel plumbing pipe was used that fit into the existing tube.
Volunteer engineers designed the system to withstand 100 mph gusts
Purple martins exhibit site fidelity and they are back! (as seen in photo at top of page)

Sturgeon Protectors Signal Hope for our Rivers

For the first time in many years, sturgeon are returning to our rivers.

This has been the result of efforts by many groups, which Michael Timm reflects on in his recent article published in Urban Milwaukee: “Why do we care about the Sturgeon?”

When Sturgeon return home, we should be thinking about what kind of home that place will be. Like us, as Native people, sturgeon had been removed from their original homelands…so now our relatives are able to return, but return to what?
Mark Denning

We have summarized a few key points in the article below. The full article can be found here: https://refloh2o.com/water-stories

One of the groups that has been instrumental in the return of the sturgeon are the Milwaukee Sturgeon Protectors which use both native knowledge and environmental science to help heal the river. Mark Denning, a member of the Sturgeon Clan in the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin wrote “When Sturgeon return home, we should be thinking about what kind of home that place will be. Like us, as Native people, sturgeon had been removed from their original homelands…so now our relatives are able to return, but return to what?”

The ability of our rivers to support spawning sturgeon has been on the minds not only of
Sturgeon Protector members, but also children in nature science classes. Children are involved not only in measuring water quality through their classes, but they are also some of the most enthusiastic sturgeon releasers during Sturgeon Fest. To learn more about the Sturgeon Protectors, please contact them at https://sturgeonprotectors.org

Education and awareness are key parts of the ethos of the Sturgeon Protectors, who were
inspired by literal protectors preventing poaching during spawning season. The Sturgeon
Protectors have many members from different environmental organizations around Milwaukee
including Riverkeeper, Friends of Lakeshore State Park , UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences, and Wisconsin Green Fire, among others. The repair of our riparian environment is not only beneficial for Sturgeon, but for other native fish – and humans too. These long-lived fish will hopefully return to cleaner rivers that will continue on the path of restoration as the next generation becomes involved in their protection”

Several members of the Sturgeon Protectors group meet at the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences on Feb. 1, 2024. From left to right: Anne Steinberg, Eric Hansen, Mark Denning, Shirley Aspinall, Don Behm, David Wenstrup, Clare Eigenbrode, and Cheryl Nenn. Photo by Michael Timm.

Woman’s Club of Wisconsin Foundation Grant

More park improvements are coming our way! Thanks to the help of park manager Elaine Zautke, the Friends were recently awarded a grant of $3,000 for vegetative mat installation for the south end of the park.

These mats help reduce runoff and standing water during storms and wave surges, and provide habitat for many pollinator specites included monarch butterflies.

We are very grateful for the generosity of the Woman’s Club of Wisconsin Foundation
for their continued support of the park through funding the vegetative mat projects!