The second phase of the mudpuppy research at Wolf Lake will be explained at the 16th annual Winter Wonderland at Wolf Lake on January 14, 2017.
The event, sponsored by the Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative (AWLI), is free to the public. The morning session will be held at the Environmental Education Center, 2405 Calumet Avenue, Hammond. The afternoon session will be held at the visitor’s center at William Powers State Fish & Wildlife Area, 126th Place and Avenue O, Chicago.
SCHEDULE:
9:05 a.m.: Visit exhibits and displays and tour building and trout
stream with Racine Kovach, Lake County Solid Waste Management District
–Over the Line by AWLI; –Native American artifacts by Les Marszalek;
–Amphibians and reptiles of the Calumet Region by Alan Resetar
9:30 a.m.: Retrieving Native American artifacts by Les Marszalek
9:30 a.m.: Skating by John Pastirik
10:00 a.m.: Birding tour of Wolf Lake by Dr. Young Choi, Purdue NW
10:30 a.m.: Research Summit Report by Michael Boos, AWLI
11:00 a.m.: Studying mudpuppies at Wolf Lake by Jared Bilak, SIU
Noon: Transfer to William Powers State Fish & Wildlife Area
Afternoon Schedule of Events
Visitors Center, William Powers State Fish & Wildlife Area, Avenue 0 and 126th Place, Chicago
1:00 p.m.: Welcome
1:05 p.m.: Visit exhibits
1:05 p.m.: Skating by John Pastirik
1:15 p.m.: Studying mudpuppiers at Wolf Lake by Jared Bilak, SIU
2:00 p.m.: Wolf Lake Watershed by Michael Boos, AWLI
2:30 p.m.: Tree identification tour by John Pastirik
3 p.m.: Concluding comments
Jared Bilak, a doctoral student at Southern Illinois University, will present an overview of his study of mudpuppies to be conducted over the next 12 months. It follows a previous study by Alicia Beattie, who described her work at last year’s festival. Her work gathered such baseline information as the diets, population structure, and seasonal activity patterns of mudpuppies.
Study results will be published as an article in the February issue of the Journal of Great Lakes Research with co-authors Dr. Phil Willink and Dr. Matt Whiles. The multi-year research project was launched in 2014 by Willink, senior research biologist at the Shedd Aquarium. The project began over growing concern about the declining population of mudpuppies throughout the Great Lakes area.
A mudpuppy is a large aquatic salamander and a long-time resident of Wolf Lake. Featuring colorful gills, it grows to 11 to 18 inches long and remains in the water. It is most active during cold weather.
Other speakers and guides at the festival include archaeologist Les Marszalek, ecologist Dr. Young Choi of Purdue University Northwest, Racine Kovach of Lake County Solid Waste Management District, John Pastirik of Calumet Ecological Park Association and Michel Boos ofAWLI. Boos, executive director of AWLI, will talk about the work of researchers at Wolf Lake and the meetings being held as a follow-up to November’s Research Summit on the Wolf Lake Watershed. The all-day event attracted some 50 scientists, land managers and planners to Calumet College.
Consequences of that meeting will be aired at both sessions on January 14. Discussion will focus on 10 watershed projects that are now underway. A meeting to discuss the progress of the projects is scheduled to be held in November 2017 You may register for it on AWLI’s Website.
Marszalek will talk about his more than 40 years of archeology conducted in the Chicago metropolitan area, where he has discovered more than 100 Native American sites. Most of the sites are located in the south suburbs of Chicago.
The discoveries have been recorded with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. His work has been noted by historian Mark Lawrence Mattson and cited in publications at Chicago’s Newberry Library for Indian Studies and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. A resident of Calumet City, Marszalek is president of Gold Earth Science Club and Museum. He has spoken to numerous historical societies, museums, universities and libraries in Northwest Indiana and the Chicago metropolitan.
Outdoor activities at the festival, weather permitting, include skating, hiking and a tree identification walk.
AWLI is a bi-state not-for-profit organization and land trust headquartered at Calumet College of St. Joseph. Its mission is to work across state boundaries to protect and enhance the Wolf Lake watershed. Also on the Website is a 25-page report on the Research Summit. The next research summit is scheduled at Calumet College for November, 2021.
For more info call or click: 219 933-7149 http://www.wolflakeinitiative.org/
Susie Young Baxter, CEO, has published PanoramaNOW Magazine for 31 years. Her hobbies are Camping, Boating, Hiking, Nature, Gardening and Outdoor Activities. She is an Artist, Graphic Designer, an Avid Seamstress, Dabbles in Homemade Crafts and Landscaping. Since her Father was a Health Teacher, she also likes homeopathic Health Solutions. Since blogging started over 10 years ago, PanoramaNow has been added to Newsbreak – a national news affiliate.
