2024 or 2012: Déjà Vu at Devil’s Lake?
I've been thinking about how much 2024 is feeling like the infamous drought year, 2012 so far. But I also know that we humans have a way of connecting dots in ways that are not always factual. So, I decided…
I've been thinking about how much 2024 is feeling like the infamous drought year, 2012 so far. But I also know that we humans have a way of connecting dots in ways that are not always factual. So, I decided…
What are some of the common myths or misunderstandings you've heard about Devil's Lake State Park? There are quite a few! One that came up recently is the idea that Devil's Lake has some form of NATURAL underwater drainage. So,…
We all know that planting trees benefits our environment...usually. Looking back, Wisconsin was the nation's top timber producer between 1890-1899. By the 1920s, logging had decimated Wisconsin’s seemingly endless forests. Reforestation efforts ramped up in the 1930s and 40s. In…
From today, going back far into the haze of time, the Ho-Chunk people lived on this land. Just 200 years ago, around 1823, Devil’s Lake, or “Tee Wakącąk”, was still a sacred space known only to the Ho-Chunk people. We…
With the "Effigy Mounds: Sacred Sites and Native Arts" program coming up tomorrow, Thursday, August 10, from 2 pm to 4 pm at Devil's Lake State Park, I thought I'd try to wrangle out a timeline that might help "time-confused"…
Throughout Devil’s Lake State Park, you can find long linear mounds of rock so old that large trees now grow right through and on top of the rocks. These stone rows offer us a snapshot of the hardships early farmer’s…
Happy New Year! Thank you for being here! We are so thankful for your engagement over the many years we've been at this! Your knowledge, thoughts, comments, ideas, corrections, concerns, and yes, respectful disagreements make this a pretty good job!…
It's August and we're heading into ragweed allergy season! Ragweed season usually peaks here in Wisconsin in the late summer and early fall, but ragweed can produce pollen until the first frost. Often folks will confuse ragweed with goldenrod. Both are found…
Did you know that every Thursday we share a historic Devil's Lake State Park postcard, photo, stereogram, or other bric-a-brac from our personal collection on our social media pages? If if you're interested in these little slices of Devil's Lake…
Yesterday was Indigenous Peoples' Day of course and many of us know of the importance of Devil's Lake to local indigenous culture and we may even know a bit about the effigy mounds within the park. What we often don't…