Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center

11/13/2024

11/13/2024

Cody visits us every week and we were excited to share with him that we have his cards in stock again in the gift shop! Cody lives with his parents and dogs near Lake Superior. He has autism and communicates through his art. Cody is an accomplished visual artist of nature and landmarks using pencils, watercolor and acrylics. We love that he chose to paint the Visitor Center and Forest Lodge!

11/12/2024

We are announcing an opportunity to join the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Outreach team at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center. Please share with networks and anyone who might be interested in this role, which focuses on creating connectivity through partnerships and outreach programs across the region. Outreach & Partnership Coordinator applications are due December 2, 2024. Apply at: https://wj.wi.gov/15929

11/11/2024

Now that November is underway here in the Chequamegon Bay, it's time for spawning season for our resident Lake Trout. These deep dwellers, commonly found in the Great Lakes at depths of 200 feet or more, have come as close to the surface as they get. For our Lake Superior Lake Trout neighbors, surface spawning is at around 120 feet, but this can be quite different for the Lake Trout who live in inland lakes, who spawn in just a few inches of water. From October all the way through November, Lake Trout flock to the rocky shores of Lake Superior to lay eggs. Unlike many fish, Lake Trout don’t make nests, but prefer to deposit their eggs in crevasses of rocks. These crevasses not only keep the eggs safe, but the current keeps the eggs oxygenated and free of debris like silt that may damage the eggs. The baby Lake Trout, called fry, will hatch around February and March and when they are big enough, meet their parents back in the lake’s deeper waters and continue to grow!

To learn more about these deep-water dwellers visit: https://www.fws.gov/species/lake-trout-salvelinus-namaycush
Photo Credit: Jay Fleming /NPS

11/10/2024

Friends of the Fitz is a group of Superior locals who are working on a plan to make 2025, “The Year of the Fitz”, in honor of the 50th anniversary of this tremendous loss. They are planning special programs, exhibits and raising funds for a historical marker. Follow them on Facebook for more information.

On Nov. 9, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald was carrying a full cargo of ore pellets leaving the port of Superior.

The next day, on Nov. 10, the ship was caught in a monster of a storm on Lake Superior with waves up to 35 feet high. All twenty-nine men aboard the ore boat lost their lives. Eight of them were residents of Wisconsin.

A group of locals from Superior are starting to plan activities for the Year of the Fitz in 2025, which will memorialize the 50th Anniversary of that fateful voyage.

The Friends of the Fitz Committee is also hoping to erect a Wisconsin Historical Society marker on Barker’s Island in memory of the Edmund Fitzgerald and its crew and the Douglas County Historical Society is accepting donations to help make the marker a reality. Follow their progress on Facebook as they plan for book club readings, speaker programs, and other commemorative ideas the community has.

Learn more about Edmund Fitzgerald: https://wihist.org/48yPCXK

📸: On the St. Marys River, Michigan | Photo by: Bob Campbell. UW Great Lakes Maritime History Project

11/09/2024

"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 'Gitche Gumee'
The lake it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy"
- Gordon Lightfoot "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

Tomorrow marks the 49th anniversary of one of the greatest tragedies of the Great Lakes shipping industry, when the mighty Edmund Fitzgerald and its crew of 29 men were claimed by the icy waters of Lake Superior on the fateful evening of Nov. 10th, 1975.

This weekend, join us in celebration and remembrance of the Fitzgerald and its crew. Come down to the center to watch a film on the ship, or chat with one of our rangers to learn all about the wreck and where it rests at the bottom of Lake Superior.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum’s annual Edmund Fitzgerald memorial ceremony will be offered as a livestream ceremony on Sunday at 7:00 pm EST. Watch the stream here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1612086986410299/?rdid=YPSDhMrJzeWDOWmE&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2FknJY1vfoTVFPTiCm%2F

11/08/2024

If you were planning to join us for our "Casual Nature Journaling walk" with Jennie beck tomorrow, 11/09, we regret to inform you the walk has been cancelled due to illness. We will have another walk scheduled for Dec. 14th at 1:00pm. Keep an eye out for more information on future walks!

11/08/2024

This post has been edited for accuracy.

Happy November everyone! Now that all the leaves have fallen and many of our woodland neighbors have completed their winter preparations, it’s been pretty quiet here in the Chequamegon Bay. But anglers, human and bird alike, know that November is anything but quiet under the surface of Lake Superior. Right now, spawning season is just wrapping up for our Coaster Brook Trout that live here in Northern Wisconsin. Coaster Brook Trout are just like the Brook Trout that live in our inland lakes and streams except that that these fish migrate into Lake Superior after spawning in streams. Spawning season for these fish happens between September and October and they prefer to spawn in shallow water. When a female Coaster Brook Trout reaches the right stream, and has chosen a partner, she digs a nest, also called a redd, into pebbles at the bottom of the stream. Once the eggs are in the nest, she covers them up with more pebbles and returns to the big lake for the majority of her life. The eggs will hatch between February and April and when the new Coaster Brook Trout are big enough, they will join their parents in Lake Superior. Today, most migrating populations of Coaster Brook Trout in Lake Superior have disappeared due to habitat loss. The populations that have survived are found on the north shore of the lake. Our partners at Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge, are working to restore habitat and hopefully one day welcome back Coaster Brook Trout to Whittlesey Creek.

To learn more about these coasting fish visit: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Fishing/lakesuperior/cbrktrout.html
Photo Credit: Ryan Hagerty/ USFWS

11/08/2024

Local resident Jim Whyte shared a picture of the tamaracks from our tower today. Look at all the golden color!

11/06/2024

Temperatures have been dropping rapidly over the last few weeks and winter is now knocking on our door. Many of the residents here in the Chequamegon Bay have been bundling up to keep warm as it gets colder and colder. For all of us at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, this means another sweater or maybe an extra pair of socks, but for our hooved friends, the White-tailed Deer, bundling up means something slightly different. During the fall months, White-tailed deer eat an excessive amount of food which turns into fat that is stored under their skin and around their organs to prepare for when food becomes scarce. Not only does this fat get used as nutrients during the colder months but also acts as an insulator to keep the deer warm. White-tailed Deer grow a thick and woolly undercoat that acts as one of two layers of insulation. On top of this undercoat the deer grow an overcoat with hollow fur shafts. These hollow shafts trap in more heat than a solid one would keeping these woodland dwellers extra warm. This under and overcoat will be shed in the summer and replaced with a single coat of solid fur shafts to keep our antler adorned neighbors nice and cool when summer comes back around!

To learn more about these layering experts visit:https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/deer_yards.pdf
Photo Credit: Addison Mohler/USFWS

Notice: Edited for grammar. Photo is of Mule Deer, found in the western United States.

11/06/2024

indiGO is hosting an outreach meeting to hear directly from community members about the public accessibility barriers they face. Together, we will work together to make the necessary changes in each community! The coalition will continue our efforts of increasing public accessibility and decreasing social isolation and loneliness.
Please take part on November 22, 2024~ 11 am-1 pm at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center Multi-Purpose Room.

11/05/2024

Ryan Brady shared a photo of the center with the Tamaracks golden yellow. We get lots of questions on Tamaracks during this time of year when travelers passing through ask why the evergreens are turning yellow and dying. A tamarack loses its needles in the fall after turning this golden color.

The tamarack is known to treat many medical ailments from gout and arthritis, to lung, liver and spleen treatments. The book listed in the picture below is available in the gift store at the visitor center and is filled with Anishinaabe botonical teachings.

11/05/2024

Yesterday the Bayfield County Historical Society presented a enjoyable program on some of the stories of the 170 schools and 2,000 teachers that have are part of our counties history. They compiled a 700 page book that took 40 years to complete, and it’s available in our gift shop!

11/04/2024

Now that we are well into fall, and almost to winter, many of us have been pulling our annual plants from our gardens to get them ready for winter. While digging in the earth, you might find a buried acorn, walnut, or other nuts native to the Chequamegon Bay area. But how did they get there? As it turns out, we are not the only ones preparing for winter, and the culprit for the mysteriously buried nuts is our local Grey Squirrels. Grey Squirrels spend the majority of fall finding and hiding food for winter; this behavior is called Caching. Grey Squirrels collect and then hide one nut at a time in proximity to their home- which can sometimes reach up to 7 acres! Unfortunately for the Grey Squirrels, other animals have caught onto this behavior and use this knowledge to score some free food. As a result, a Grey Squirrel can lose up to 25% of their caches to uninvited dinner guests. So how do the squirrels outsmart thieves? They use a behavior called deceptive caching where a squirrel will pretend to burry a nut in once place but actually burry it in another. They have also been known to dig up previously buried caches and move them elsewhere. Because of deceptive caches, our tree preferring rodent friends will be able to store enough food to get them through the winter until food becomes available again in the summer!
To learn more about sneaky squirrel habits visit: https://www.nwf.org/en/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2008/Science-Sleuths-How-Squirrels-Hide-Nuts
Photo Credit: Leah Schrodt/USFWS

This post was edited for grammar.

11/03/2024

Have you heard of the Spruce Goose? Read the post below to get the scoop on its ties to Mellen.

11/01/2024

This post was edited to change 'hibernation' to 'dormancy'.

When we think of fall here at the Northern Great Lakes Visitors Center we think of not only cooler temperatures but also all of the wild animals preparing for winter! Right now, black bears are out fattening up, also known as hyperphagia, to get ready to hunker down for the winter. During hyperphagia a Black Bear can eat anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 calories a day! This also means that they need to start drinking more water to help process out nitrogen waste that comes from the large quantities of food they are consuming. When hyperphagia ends, the bears crawl into their dens to begin a long period of dormancy which can last anywhere from 5 – 7 months depending on the region’s typical harshness of winter. During dormancy, the bear’s body slows, breathing is reduced down to once for every 15-45 seconds and their heartbeat drops to 8-21 beats per minute. Both breath rate and heart rate will return to normal when winter ends and our bear friends leave their dens and join us again in the woods for the summer months! Although bears are often said to hibernate in the winter- true hibernators' body temperatures drop substantially, along with its heart and breathing rate.

Photo Credit: Tim Bowman

10/31/2024

Come TRICK-OR-TREAT INDOORS at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, NOW until 6:00pm! We have candy, cookies, cider, hot chocolate, crafts, and more! Bring your kiddos to warm up and enjoy our family-friendly spooky decor!

Your best adventures begin here! It's the perfect time to visit Lake Superior's South Shore! Come