THIMK SPRING!

WISCONSIN SNOW COVER

RED OAK LEAVES

Thursday, 9:00 AM.  22 degrees F, wind WSW, calm to very light.  The sky is overcast and very dark in the west.  The humidity is 70% and the barometer is more or less steady at 29.87".

   We had a good trip to Madison and an excellent Urban Forestry Council meeting at the Capitol.  We met with our state Representative and Senator and brought them up to date on state urban forestry issues, including Emerald Ash Borer infestations and other pest and disease issues, and we thanked them for their strong support for the recent, $49,000 Forest Service Great Lakes Clean Water Initiative grant  that we recently received.  I have several forestry issues I will discuss in tomorrow's post, but for today I would like to make some observations on the trip itself.

   US Hwy. 51/I39 pretty much bisects the state of Wisconsin, north to south, so traversing it really gives a pretty accurate overview of seasonal and other changes taking place in the state.  Most noticeable is that despite a lot of recent melting, Wisconsin north of Wausau, in the middle of the state, is still heavily covered with snow.  South of there  snow cover gradually diminishes and is mostly gone by Madison.  It is mid-March but outside of the coloring of the willows and the reddening of red maple buds not many signs of spring are noticeable from a moving vehicle, although I am sure the skunk cabbages are blooming in marshland in the southern part of the state at least.  I did notice a definite purple-gray coloration on gray dogwood branches as well, but I can't compose a photo of something so vague.  We saw a few local geese moving around south of Wausau where there is some open water, and the Wisconsin River, which twists back and forth across our route numerous times, is still frozen north of there but has a lot of open water south.

   Another thing I noticed is that the dried leaves are much more prevalent on red oaks the further one goes south.  It is very obvious but I have no explanation for the phenomena.  

   Thimk Spring!