By Dan Engstrom, MIWP Forest Management Committee
The Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve has been battling the spread of woody invasive plants — buckthorn, barberry, and Eurasian honeysuckle — on our Island for more than 15 years. That effort, initially carried out by volunteers and seasonal interns, took a quantum leap in 2018 when we hired Nile Merton and his company, Chequamegon Environmental LLC (formerly Bay Area Environmental Consulting) to develop a systematic, island-wide plan to control the invasion and the threat it poses to the health of our Island forests. Now in its 6th year, the program has made remarkable strides…

By Victoria Erhart, 2021
Last fall, I went with several MIWP board members to tour two sites recently treated for buckthorn by Bay Area Environmental Consulting, Nile Merton and Michael Sinclair…

I was struck by how much our approach to buckthorn removal has changed since those early years when we believed we could get rid of it completely. It is always a hard, dirty business, but we now have a systematic seven-year plan, we are effective and efficient, we no longer do all that very labor-intensive cutting and hauling, and our focus is more on keeping the bad stuff from spreading than on making it go away completely.

Can I do something to help?

By Victoria Erhart, 2019
The MIWP has been wrestling with woody invasive species for a long time now… In spite of our best efforts, and there have been many of them, we still see a lot of these plants on the ground.

Recognizing this reality, over the last couple of years the MIWP has gently moved our goal away from eradication and towards containment.

“We never could have slayed this behemoth buckthorn without his expert chainsaw skills. Check out that stump! Who knew they even got so big? We estimate this bad boy to have been at least 120 years old.” Brigid Reina, Summer Intern

For 2015, the MIWP has hired two interns, Rebecca Flesh and Brigid Reina, well trained and articulate Northland College students whose jobs are to act as a resource to island landowners; to identify problem areas; to publicize their program and availability; and to do the actual cutting and treatment. While these interns technically are employed by the Town of La Pointe, the MIWP provides their salaries in the form of grants and an outright gift of $10,000; we also provide supervision, aka the unstoppable Bonnie Matuseski, as well as lakeside housing.

Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve, the Town of La Pointe, and the Madeline Island Ferry Line have collaborated for the third summer in hiring summer interns to coordinate control of invasive plant species.

2015
Our invasive species (buckthorn, barberry, non-native honeysuckle) campaign is the MIWP's biggest multi-year project ever.

Every year since 2007, MIWP has organized and funded an effort in this continuing campaign. Here's a quick timeline:

This article is an excerpt from Victoria Erhart's annual president's letter for 2013. It describes Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve's ongoing project to eradicate buckthorn from the island:

We’ve written about buckthorn off and on through the years, but I am not sure how clear we have made this:  buckthorn is bad.

Peter J. Wasson pwasson@ashlanddailypress.net, Dec 6, 2023
(Copyright © 2023 APG Media) click here to view article online
Scientists at Northland College have documented perhaps the first American marten on Madeline Island in more than a century.

In conjunction with assessing wildlife species and populations, the Wild Madeline and APIS projects also monitor white-tailed deer behavior. This is done through an arduous tagging process that records how each deer is behaving in each photo. Our goal is to see how deer act in the presence or absence of predators like coyotes or wolves. We tag deer behavior by determining whether they have their heads up or down, if they are foraging, vigilant or interacting, and if they are staring into the camera. And this is done for each deer in every photo — that's a lot of photos! So, for this particular photo, both deer would have their head up and would be marked as “camera stares”. We don’t know what makes them stare at the camera, but it does happen from time to time.  This photo is particularly interesting because male deer are usually not seen near fawns as male deer play no role in fawn rearing. Is this fawn the offspring of the buck? Why did the doe allow this buck to get so close to the fawn? Is this just a chance encounter captured on camera? These are questions we have but will likely never know the answers to.  Photo captured July 30, 2022…

Just like their coloring, blue jays are bold little creatures. Cyanocitta cristata coloration doesn’t come from pigments, it actually comes from the internal structure of the feathers. So, if a blue jay's feather is crushed, the bright blue will be gone because the structure would be destroyed. These birds can also learn to mimic different sounds — in some cases even human speech. For example, blue jays have been known to mimic local hawks' cries, they can be so good at it that you might not even be able to tell a difference! Photo captured October 15, 2022…

Snowshoe hare, Lepus americanus, get their name from their large hind feet. Their hind feet act as snowshoes keeping the hare from sinking into the snow when they’re hopping around. They also have fur on the soles of their feet to protect them from freezing temperatures. Another interesting tidbit about snowshoe hare’s appearance is their camouflage coat. During the winter their fur turns white to match the snow and in the summer their coat turns a rusty brown color.  Click read more to see photos captured July 29, 2022 and April 5, 2023…

Dryocopus pileatus, also known as a pileated woodpecker, is the largest extant (living) woodpecker in North America. We occasionally detect pileated woodpeckers on our trail cameras and when we do – it is always a special treat. Pileated woodpeckers are social animals. They form bonds with one another, and bonded pairs stay together all year. They are also defensive of their territory. To claim their territory, they perform a drumming show on a hollow log or tree trunk – or even a human structure - to project their drum and let other pileated woodpeckers know that this area is their turf. Oh, and pileated woodpeckers have extremely long tongues given their body size - approximately 3.9 inches or one third of their body length! Click read more to see photos captured August 25–27, 2022…

The American red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, can often be mistaken for a bird when projecting their alarm and bark calls. Other than being loud, they are also very good swimmers! In fact, one researcher observed a red squirrel swimming in Lake Superior up to a mile away from the nearest island. It’s likely that red squirrels are able to move between the islands of the Apostle Islands archipelago by swimming and, perhaps, occasionally crossing ice bridges in winter. Photo captured August 27, 2022…

Did you know that a raccoon can rotate their hind feet 180 degrees? This is so that they can climb down headfirst from trees. The scientific name for the common raccoon is Procyon lotor, which translates to “washer dog,” even though they are more closely related to bears. That nickname may have come about because raccoons are known to occasionally wash their food before they eat it, and if there isn’t water near, they may rub it in debris. Click READ MORE to see film clip from June 20, 2022…

This is an example of what NOT to do when you spot a trail camera. Although, this American black bear’s curiosity is entertaining to watch. This bear could have smelled our scent from when we were there installing the cameras since their sense of smell is seven times more sensitive than a dogs! This is part of the reason why we use “bear” boxes to protect our cameras. Even with bear boxes we had one camera that was destroyed by a black bear that bit the camera and its canine teeth punctured the lens and flash – ruining the camera. Click READ MORE to see film clip from August 26, 2022…

By Erik R Olson, Associate Professor of Natural Resources, Northland College
We have had a long winter, and mosquito season is just around the corner. Last summer our research team, myself and my two research assistants, Sydni Bennette and Bridget Stroede, set out to install camera traps for the Wild Madeline Revival Project. Despite clouds of mosquitos chasing us through the woods, high humidity, and a good thunderstorm, we were able to install all the camera traps over a two-day window. We bushwhacked, sprayed plenty of mosquito repellent, ate food around a campfire in Big Bay State Park, enjoyed a sunset on the beach, bird watched, waded through wetlands, and used a road bike and van to shuttle ourselves between sites. While checking one camera, I saw a coyote busting through marshland vegetation with a gosling in its mouth — explaining the racket of honks I had heard only moments prior. The coyote ran within 30 yards of us, mouth full of gosling. Surprised by my presence it bolted deeper into the marsh. We definitely had an adventure.

This elegant sandhill crane, Grus canadensis, may seem like a strange sight for a forest habitat, but this crane is likely one of the cranes nesting in the boggy wetlands of the Big Bay lagoon. Perhaps it was out for a stroll to find some food for dinner. If you were on the island this past summer, you probably heard their ancient rattling call from the lagoon area. Click READ MORE to see film clip from July 12, 2022…

Hoot! Hello all! Here we have a juvenile Great-horned Owl, Bubo virginianus. At six weeks old, Great-horned Owls will begin to practice flying, but they'll have to wait four to six more weeks to lose their down feathers. After six months, they should fully be on their own, searching for a new territory and mate. Click READ MORE to see film clip from July 29, 2022…

Some may think coyotes, Canis latrans, were put on this earth to be the tricksters of the natural world. This is not the case, they happen to be an essential part of our ecosystems. Coyotes are relatively common on Madeline Island. Click READ MORE to see film clip from June 28, 2022…

You may know them from running in front of your car or eating your bird seed, I’m talking about white-tailed deer! Or, to us science folk, Odocoileus virginianus. Click READ MORE to see film clip from July 9, 2022…

In 2020, Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve began sponsoring the Madeline Wild Project. Northland College Professor Erik Olson and Intern Sydni J Bennette are leading the research. This past June they installed 25 cameras around Madeline Island to monitor and identify wildlife. They returned in August to check the cameras and were excited to find what the cameras caught. In this clip, a mother bear, Ursus Americanus, and her cubs enjoy a sunny day on Madeline Island. June 19, 2022, 8:39am.

Despite all the bugs, thunderstorms, and hot weather, all the camera traps for the Wild Madeline project have been installed! We are delighted to announce that the cameras are up and taking photos as you read this. Professor Erik Olson of Northland College, and his research assistants, Sydni Bennette and Bridget Stroede, ventured out to Madeline Island in mid-June to install the cameras. They can’t wait to share the photos and new insights they gain with all of you!

By Erik R Olson, Associate Professor of Natural Resources, Northland College, 2022
Just like some of the best movies, research projects often have sequels — especially when attempting to understand how things change over time. Unlike most movie sequels, those to scientific studies often provide new and valuable information … as opposed to a rehash of a well-worn story line. Thanks to a gracious donation from the Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve, the Wild Madeline Project of Northland College will be revived in 2022. The goal of the Project is to assess the wildlife community of Madeline and to examine the long-term dynamics of wildlife populations within the larger Apostle Island archipelago.

by Marnie Sanborn Myhre, 2022
We’ve had a busy year with lots of new work accomplished on the trails in 2021/2022. The goal to make the trails more accessible to the community and visitors year round is an ongoing project, but we made a dent and will continue in our efforts.
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So what are we doing in response to last year’s survey reporting that our constituents want to see attention paid to our system of trails? Here’s a list of some of this year’s accomplishments, skillfully headed up by Tom Kromroy…
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We’ve also been working closely with the Madeline Island Trails (MIT) organization in the maintenance and grooming of the trails on the MIWP lands. Here’s a list of some of this year’s accomplishments by MIT….

by MIWP, 2022
The Wilderness Preserve is excited to share our new trail maps with everyone. Considering a few name changes and the addition of a new trail, our trails committee thought an update was in order. We wanted our friends visiting preserve lands to be better able to locate their position and explore our trails with ease.

Cartographer Elori Kramer generously committed her time to the new maps, and we are grateful for her efforts.

by Marnie Sanborn Myhre, 2021
The MIWP’s charter describes us as “a non-profit land trust dedicated to the protection and preservation of natural areas on Madeline Island for everyone's enjoyment.” Even though we spend much of our time and energy working to “protect and preserve,” we view our Island wilderness as a community asset to be enjoyed by Island residents and visitors alike. In fact, during this past year of global pandemic, our lands and trails have offered much needed solace to many.

With more people seeking refuge in the natural world, we are working hard to make our trails accessible and enjoyable, and we continue to dedicate time, energy, and resources to maintaining and improving our trail network.

Toward that end we have begun partnering this winter with the new Madeline Island Trails (MIT) organization to help us improve our trails and encourage their use and expansion.

We are planning to update our trail maps later this year to help hikers and skiers navigate the system. We will be replacing/repairing some bridges later this spring and are hoping to experiment with some boardwalk structures to promote use and enjoyment of the wettest areas of select trails.

The Madeline Island GIS project was undertaken in the late 1990’s, and was premiered at the 2003 MIWP annual meeting.

The Madeline Island GIS project was a computerized mapping system containing detailed information on then-current Island land-use, vegetation, topography, soils, ownership, roads and trails, etc., and was used for planning.