Exclusive Deal--Save 15%!!!!

Save big and sign yourself, your teen or your family up for an adventure of a lifetime the Aldo Leopold Nature Center’s (ALNC) special sea kayaking trip for all ages, adventure camps for ages 11-16 or family camps! 

Plus, for a limited-time, you can save 15% off registration for the sea kayaking trip, one adventure camp for ages 11-16 or one family camp! Click here to get the discount online! To receive the exclusive discount, give the secret code “15 OFF” when registering by phone.
 

Programs eligible for the discount include:

Adventure Camps for Ages 11-16

ALNC’s adventure camps offer your tween or teen hands-on learning and adventure as they test survival skills like orienteering, explore nature interpretation and photography, fish Madison area lakes, backpack and camp on the Ice Age Trail and much more!

Family Camps

Family camps are offered both as a special two-night Evening Family Campfire program at the Monona Campus and as an overnight camp at the Black Earth Campus where the whole family  will enjoy nature activities, singing, storytelling, stargazing around the campfire and much more!.

Apostle Island Sea Kayaking Trip

Treat yourself, your family or your friends to an excursion they’ll never forget on this exciting naturalist-led sea kayaking adventure through the breath-taking sea caves of the historic
Apostle Islands.

Prices for camps and trips vary. All Camps, except the Black Earth Overnight Family Camp, begin at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center Monona Campus: 330 Femrite Drive, Monona. The Black Earth Overnight Family Camp will be held at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center’s Black Earth Campus: 10648 Sutcliffe Rd, Black Earth.

Information/Register:www.naturenet.com/alnc, call 216-9371 or email alncreg@naturenet.com

Stars & Stripes for 57 Years! Celebrate Memorial Day with Nature!

Join us this Memorial Day, March 28 for the 57th Annual Monona Memorial Day Parade!

Each year, the Monona Chamber of Commerce puts together this wonderful event to honor those that have and continue to serve our country, and the Aldo Leopold Nature Center will have a fun float featuring some special fuzzy guests, special giveaways and more!

The Parade will run from 10 am - 1 pm. The 1.5-mile route will start just past Monona Grove High School, continue down onto Monona Drive, then right onto Owen Road until it disperses at Village Lanes.

This is the state's largest (more than 100 units!) and longest running Memorial Day Parade, so please join us and support ALNC! Hope to see you there!

A Wonder Weekend Success

Dear Readers,

My name is Tom Slattery and I have recently joined the Climate Change Exhibit Team as an intern for the summer. I am currently a Junior at UW-Madison majoring in Environmental Studies and Economics with special interests in environmental conservation and alternative energy. Hopefully my knowledge on climate change will distract you from my newbie blogger status. Enjoy!

In case you missed it, this past weekend at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center we hosted our first ever Wonder Weekend where we offered visitors an in-depth look at what constitutes being “green” and explored how ALNC and Miller Park have more in common than what meets the eye! I think I speak for every fan when I say a Brewer’s game wouldn’t be the same without the new low-flush toilets, recycled beverage cups and additional recycling dumpsters…on second thought, maybe that’s just the “green geek” in me speaking. While it may not directly change all fans' experience of the game, Johnson Controls’ recent efforts to make Milwaukee’s favorite ballpark “greener” is already having a positive impact on the environment. Click here to read about Miller Park’s green features. As stated by our guest speaker Molly McElligott, a variety of behind-the-scenes energy efficient solutions and sustainable ideas allow ALNC and Miller Park to operate with minimal negative effects on the environment.

Supplementing the “Green Building” theme, the Science On a Sphere showcased a feature video on the “Energy Revolution”. Viewers learned how renewable energy technologies, such as Smart Grid electrical transmission and solar cells, can reduce carbon emissions, effectively decreasing the human impact on climate change.

The transparent framework of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) promotes an image of high performance and high efficiency. Upon exploration of ALNC’s digital touchscreens, the efforts to make our own facility “green” quickly become evident. Features such as thermal solar panels, motion-sensor lights, extra wall insulation and hydronic heating not only ensure financial savings in the long run, but more importantly reduce ALNC’s carbon footprint. Click here to find out more about ALNC’s greenbuilding features.

Over all, the event was a tremendous success! We hope you can join us on Father’s Day weekend for our next Wonder Weekend which will focus on the connection between fish and climate change. We’ll post more details about the event soon! Our Fishing Family Fun is also that Sunday, so bring the Father in your life to ALNC for a day full of fun and learning!

Wonderbugs: Lizard Wizard

Dear Wonderbugs,

This is a bittersweet week for me since it is the last week of spring classes. I said goodbye to some friends who will “graduating” from Wonder Bugs. Other friends are signed up for the 4-7 year old summer camps so I will not be seeing them either this summer. Finally, once my baby comes (August-ish!) I will be taking some time off from Wonder Bugs heading into the fall session.  I have enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you.  Thank you for coming, singing, and playing. It has been an absolute delight!

There was no disguising the enjoyment this week! Aside from the goodbyes, we had a blast!  We learned all about chameleons AKA lizard wizards.  I wonder what makes chameleons so special.  For one thing, they can change the color of their skin!  Their mood, the temperature, and the amount of light can initiate the change from green skin to red, blue, black or a mix of colors.   

To help them hide in the trees and leaves, they have y-shaped feet; three toes are fused and two toes are fused.  Chameleons can also see in more than one direction at once! That’s right, their eyes can move independently of each other in different directions. This helps them find their favorite food- insects.  Chameleons are slow-moving, though, so to catch the insects they use their super-long, sticky tongues to slurp them up.  

Our tongues are not nearly as long, but we practiced using them at snack time anyway to “catch” our food.  Outside we had a fun time taking turns playing hide-n-seek with our transparent chameleon friends. I wonder what the chameleon would look like on my pillow. What about in my sandbox? Has your chameleon friend been to any new places since you took him/her home? 

For more fun, check out these lizard wizard stories!  The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle; AColor of His Own by Leo Lionni.

Don’t change too much until I see you next and have fun this summer with our other Wonderbugs teachers! If you have any pictures or suggestions to share, please contact me at tara.vondollen@gmail.com. I hope to see you around the nature center this summer!

All my best,

Miss Tara

Click here to see the Wonderbugs programs this summer!

Mayflies, Indian Paintbrush blooms and Black Bears, Oh My!

May is one of nature's most vibrant and sensational months! Keep your eyes peels for brightly-colored blooms and young goslings, ducklings and crane colts!

Here are some other sights to look out for this week:

• The mayflies are hatching, just like they did when the dinosaurs were around!
• The elm trees are dropping their seeds.
• The Indian Paintbrush is blooming!
• The black bears are once again beginning to mate.
• The Painted Turtles are digging their nests in the ground to prepare to lay their eggs. Click here to learn more about turtles in Wisconsin and here for a cute kid's craft making baby turtles out of yarn and pipe cleaners.

Remember, summer is just around the corner! Don't forget to sign your youngster up for ALNC's summer camps for ages 2-16! Click here to find out more!

Wonder with Us this Weekend!

Remember to stop by the Aldo Leopold Nature Center this weekend for our first Wonder Weekend, a fun new way to enjoy our interactive exhibits!
 

WONDER WEEKEND
Third Weekend of Every Month
Saturdays, 11 am - 4 pm & Sundays, Noon - 4 pm

Treat yourself to a one-of-a-kind eco-adventure at our new Wonder Weekends featuring guided experiences through our new hands-on interactive exhibits, special speakers and exciting presentations each month. Topics and themes will change monthly, so come back often and bring your friends for a new experience each visit!

This month’s theme is Green Building, and will include the following highlights in addition to exploration of the ALNC's interactive exhibits:

• Energy Revolution – this special showing on the Science On a Sphere is an inspiring, in-depth look at how rising temperatures are changing Earth's climate and the ways that renewable energy technologies and smart buildings can help address the problem by reducing carbon emissions!
   
• Interactive Green Building Tour – this interactive tour will teach your about the green features at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center on our digital touchscreens. Then, see if you can spot them in action around the facility!
   
• Special presentation Sunday, May 20 from 2-3 pm - Green Buildings: Old and New – this presentation by Molly McElligott, Sustainability Program Manager for Global Energy & Sustainability at Johnson Controls, will cover conscientious construction, sustainable practices, and an inside look at the newly LEED-certified Miller Park stadium!

ALNC Members receive free admission for three people;
Non-Members: $5.50/person.

Click here to learn about the other benefits of ALNC Membership!

World Wide Web of Life

 Dear Wonder Bugs,
 

The World Wide Web is all around us, and we’re not talking about the internet or a spider web. We’re talking about how everything needs to eat! In nature, everything is connected by what it eats and what eats it- we call it a food chain. Everywhere you go outside you can find examples of food chains.

Start with the sun that helps the plants grow. Look closely at a plant and search for insects or signs that they were there (holes in the leaves, eggs, cocoons, etc.).  Maybe you saw a butterfly or bee on drinking nectar.  What eats butterflies? Then look around in the sky, in the trees or on the ground. Do you see animal holes? Do you see birds, squirrels or rabbits?  Do you hear birds? Some birds eat butterflies! What might eat a bird?  Search the sky for soaring hawks or listen at night for owl hoots. You just made a food chains! When you connect all the food chains together in an area, you get a complicated food web.

Have fun singing the song below and replace the nouns with the insects and animals you found!  I wonder where kids (humans) fit?  That’s right! We’re kings of the food chain mountain, too. (Although technically, we are omnivores, not carnivores.)

King of the Food Chain Song

(Tune: “Farmer in the Dell”)

By Miss Tara Von Dollen

The sun up in the sky. The sun up in the sky. Hi-ho the good chain-oh. The sun up in the sky.

The plants get the sun. The plants get the sun. Hi-ho the food chain-oh. The plants get the sun.

The herbivores eat the plants. The herbivores eat the plants. Hi-ho the food chain-oh. The herbivores eat the plants.

The carnivores eat the meat. The carnivores eat the meat. Hi-ho the food chain-oh. The carnivores eat the meat.

The carnivores are the kings. The carnivores are the kings. Hi-ho the food chain-oh. The carnivores are the kings.

Bye for now, Miss Tara

Remember to join us to share the Wonder Bugs experience with your entire family at our NEW Family Camps! Here are the details:

Evening Family Campfires (2 days each)
Wednesday & Thursday June 20-21 OR Tuesday & Wednesday July 31 and August 1
6:30-8:30 pm

Family camp is NEW for summer fun with grandmas, grandpas, parents and all the kids! If you have found yourself jealous of your kids going off to camp each summer, this one is for you. Bring the whole family for 2 evenings of nature activities, singing, storytelling, and stargazing around the campfire on a summer weeknight. Can you think of a better way to spend a summer evening?

Overnight Family Camps (AT our Black Earth Campus)
Friday, July 20-Saturday, July 21 OR Saturday, August 18-Sunday, August 19
6 pm-10 am

Bring the whole family for an overnight campout at our Black Earth Campus filled with nature activities, singing, storytelling, and stargazing around the campfire on a summer night! Bring your own sleeping bags, pillow (required) and tent (if you have one). Please indicate when registering if you would like to use an ALNC tent (limited supply available) or if you will be bringing your own. 

Memorial Day Parade

On March 28, 2012, the Aldo Leopold Nature Center (ALNC) will be proudly represented in the 57th Annual Monona Memorial Day Parade! Each year, The Monona Chamber of Commerce puts together this wonderful event in order to honor those that have and continue to serve our country.

The Parade will run from 10 am - 1 pm. The 1.5-mile route will start just past Monona Grove High School, continue down onto Monona Drive, then right onto Owen Road until it disperses at Village Lanes.

NEW this year!! Be sure to watch for our float and pick up one of our hands-outs! Each hand-out is good for $.50 off any admission to our new, interactive exhibits! What a deal!

This is the state's largest (more than 100 units!) and longest running Memorial Day Parade, so please join and support ALNC!

Walk-in Weekdays & Wonder Weekends!

We love visitors at ALNC! Our lobby, gift shop, bird nest touch table, informational table and restrooms are open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 am - 4 pm and on select weekends for family programs and special events. We encourage you to take advantage of our outdoor trails which are open from dawn to dusk, seven days a week!

We will hold "Wonder Weekends" on the third weekend of each month, when visitors can see our new expansion and explore our interactive exhibit! ALNC will also invite speakers and host special events and family programs for the public to enjoy.

Wonder Weekend hours will be on Saturdays from 11 am - 4 pm and Sundays from Noon - 4 pm. Admission will be $5.50/person, and ALNC members receive free admission for up to three people! Join us and experience all that the nature center has to offer!

Blooming Columbine and Eagle Chicks!

Summer is on the wing! Here's what's happening outside this week:

• Columbine is blooming!
• The wilderness is thick with mosquitoes and wood ticks.
• Eagle chicks are hatching and need to be fed by their parents.
• Do you smell something? Skunks are giving birth to their young.
• The ants are on the move – seal your cupboards!

Have you made your summer plans yet? Remember to check out our NEW outdoor adventure camps for ages 11-16 and NEW family campfires for all ages!

Camps, like our Apostle Island Sea Kayaking trip and The Great Outdoors camp are filling quickly, so click here or call 608-221-0404 x1 to register today!

Sprouting Grass...Hidden Ginger

Photo Credit: Althea Dotzour

Dear Wonder Bugs,Signs of spring were sprouting up all over this week!  Grasses, flowering plants, weeds, and even ginger were showing their green colors. It was fun to “plant” dandelion seeds by blowing on the seed heads! Creeping Charlie and mint had interesting smells that some of us liked better than the smell of wild ginger.

Wild ginger is a fun, native plant because the flowers are like little surprises. Wild ginger flowers hide under the tall, heart-shaped leaves right along the ground; you have to carefully push the leaves aside until you find them.  I wonder why the flowers would be so close to the ground and not up in the air like the dandelion flowers?

There are insects that like the flowers and use them for different reasons!  There is a certain type of fly that lives underground through the winter. When it emerges in the spring, the flowers provide a warm and dry place to hide during the changing and surprising spring weather.  Once the flowers make their seeds, ants are attracted to a special part of the seed that makes a delicious food for the ants. So the ants follow the scent to the wind ginger seeds, carry the seeds back to their homes, eat the special, fleshy part, and leave the seed. If everything goes well, the wild ginger seed will sprout the next year into a new wild ginger plant!But the fun doesn’t stop there! Wild ginger can also sprout from their special root called a rhizome. Wild ginger makes a great ground cover because of its spreading ability!

Find that spring in your step!  There is more sprouting than grasses, dandelions and wild ginger- you just have to get outside and look. Create your own scavenger hunt sheet or fill up a page by drawing what you find.  Or try to sprout some seeds inside and watch what happens.

Over and sprout,
Miss Tara 

Remember to join us to share the Wonder Bugs experience with your entire family at our NEW Family Camps! Here are the details:

Evening Family Campfires (2 days each)
Wednesday & Thursday June 20-21 OR Tuesday & Wednesday July 31 and August 1
6:30-8:30 pm

Family camp is NEW for summer fun with grandmas, grandpas, parents and all the kids! If you have found yourself jealous of your kids going off to camp each summer, this one is for you. Bring the whole family for 2 evenings of nature activities, singing, storytelling, and stargazing around the campfire on a summer weeknight. Can you think of a better way to spend a summer evening?

Overnight Family Camps (AT our Black Earth Campus)
Friday, July 20-Saturday, July 21 OR Saturday, August 18-Sunday, August 19
6 pm-10 am

Bring the whole family for an overnight campout at our Black Earth Campus filled with nature activities, singing, storytelling, and stargazing around the campfire on a summer night! Bring your own sleeping bags, pillow (required) and tent (if you have one). Please indicate when registering if you would like to use an ALNC tent (limited supply available) or if you will be bringing your own.