Meet the Overlooked MVP of Our Ecosystem: Moss!

 By Everix Machan, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Writing Intern

Moss is an absolutely underrated part of our ecosystem! Mosses are ancient, evolving from aquatic plants nearly 450 million years ago. For 300 million years after that, they have been diversifying and growing in all kinds of environments (Zhang et al., 2025). 

"Hummock" by Nicholas_T

Moss forms hummocks, which look like little hills on the ground in forests and wetlands. Along with promoting biodiversity and growth of many types of native plants, these hummocks also provide dry resting, roosting, and nesting areas for birds during high tides in marshes (Coastal Conservation League, 2023). Many endangered birds use these areas a lot! Moss can soften the effects of flooding in general, and in drier areas, it can keep the soil fertile, because it’s more drought-resistant than grass, too. In those drier areas, sometimes moss can even resist forest fires (Keane et al., 2025)!

In cold-climate places, moss helps to keep permafrost from melting (Turetsky et al., 2025). This is really important because when permafrost melts, the ground that was held together by ice becomes unstable, sea levels rise, and ancient bacteria people can’t fight anymore are released. Also, permafrost holds about 2.5 times more carbon than in the atmosphere of Earth, so when it melts, it contributes a lot to global warming! Plants can’t keep up with the amount of carbon released by permafrost, so moss is an essential protector for our environment (National Snow and Ice Data Center, 2025). 

While lots of people overlook moss as an environmental side character, it actually can be a hero against pollution! In areas where there’s a lot of mining, weathering processes can release heavy metals into the local environment. This often leads to less plant growth, biodiversity loss, and general damage to the ecosystem. It also contaminates water in the area, which makes it very difficult to restore balance. However, in these areas, moss can still grow and adapt to the pollution even when plants can’t! There, it helps improve the soil by maintaining water and nutrients, fighting the effects of metal pollution (Huang et al., 2025). 

"A Mossy Tree Trunk" by Gilbert 

Recently, scientists have been using mosses to study how viruses and infections affect plant life (Zhang et al., 2025). Plants can get sick, just like animals, and because mosses have a simple structure and shorter life cycle, they’re a great candidate for seeing how infections affect plants in the most basic ways. Right now, we don’t have a great understanding of what plant genes cause immunities to certain infections, but studying moss is a promising way to learn more. Someday, these studies on moss could help us understand our own agriculture and farming a lot better – because of moss, we could get better at cultivating crops and feeding our communities!

If you’re especially passionate about this friendly environmental friend, you can consider growing moss in your own garden or changing out your grass lawn for a moss one. It doesn’t need any mowing and grows well in shady areas! 

Otherwise, Beaver Creek hosted a Moss Hike this past weekend. Keep an eye on our program calendar for upcoming phenology hikes!

Bigger Mirror... Better Views - Hobbs Observatory Update!

By: Mike Brown, CVAS Volunteer and Local Astronomer

The large reflector telescope in the west dome at Hobbs Observatory features a 24-inch-diameter, 4-inch-thick quartz mirror. A mirror of this size gathers nearly 5,000 times more light than the unaided human eye, allowing us to see faint galaxies, glowing nebulae, and intricate lunar detail. Simply put, the bigger the mirror, the brighter and more detailed the view.
 Check out our website for more information!

A reflector telescope uses a mirror instead of a lens to collect light. Its concave surface has been precisely ground and polished to within millionths of an inch in the shape of a parabola. The front surface of the mirror is coated with an extremely thin layer of aluminum,  just 1/300th the thickness of a human hair,  which makes it reflective. The polished quartz itself is very stable, but the delicate aluminum coating slowly loses reflectivity over time. As that happens, image brightness and contrast decline. To restore peak performance, the old coating must occasionally be chemically stripped and a fresh layer of aluminum applied.

The Hobbs mirror was last recoated in 2005, so it was time for renewal. At the end of February, members of the Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society and the UW–Eau Claire Physics and Astronomy Department carefully removed the mirror, crated it, and shipped it to a recoating facility in California. The total cost for recoating, shipping, and insurance is estimated at $4,000, covered by UW–Eau Claire.

The refreshed mirror will be reinstalled and aligned in time for the start of the public observing season.

Hobbs Observatory is open to the public, free of charge, on clear Saturday evenings from May through October (except July 18 and September 12), beginning about an hour after sunset and continuing until 11:00 p.m. We invite you to visit this summer and see the universe come alive through the eyepiece.

Bluebird Monitor Training: Knowledge Can Come Out of the Blue!

 By Everix Machan, UWEC Writing Intern

On Saturday, February 21st, Beaver Creek welcomed local bird lovers for their Eastern Bluebird Monitor Training! 

Beaver Creek has offered bluebird monitoring for over ten years now, and the practice still has a huge draw. Last year, 51 bluebird boxes were logged, including 192 bluebirds born and fledged, meaning they are able to fly! This year, we hope for an even more successful year for our feathered friends, with volunteers surveying all of our routes in the county. 

At the training, volunteers received a monitoring toolkit and training on how to best track the data collected through NestWatch, a free program developed by Cornell Lab of Ornithology through Cornell University. You can download it right onto your phone! This monitoring lasts from March to August while our local birds nest and raise their young. Through our training, volunteers learned to care for nest boxes to protect bluebirds, and through NestWatch, important research is collected by civilians about tens of thousands of Eastern bluebirds a year, especially throughout the Midwest and Eastern United States. Because these bluebirds nest in tree cavities in grasslands or open woodlands, they aren’t as visible as other nests, so it is important to have as many volunteers monitoring as possible!

While we can help our bluebirds by monitoring their nests and young, a nest can “fail” in many ways, including abandonment, inability to find food, encountering predators, or bad weather displacing or destroying nests. Bluebirds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, meaning we are not allowed to touch nests without a permit, but our nest monitor volunteers take precautions to avoid stressing out our local feathered friends or leading predators to the nests. To prevent nest failure in our county, we can put up predator guards on poles where there are nest boxes and check on the boxes before storms to ensure they will stay dry and intact. Finally, it helps to keep cats inside. Even cats who are well-fed hunt by nature, and you might not even know it if they don’t take the prey back to you!

If you’re interested in learning more about identifying bluebirds or any other feathered friends, feel free to download the Merlin Bird ID app, developed by the Cornell Lab, which can help you identify birds by their plumage and calls. Also, keep an eye out for other bluebird-related events this spring and summer, including April’s bluebird house building program and May’s bluebird watercolor paint and sip!

If you’d like to get involved with Eastern Bluebird Monitoring, but missed the training, feel free to email our wonderful AmeriCorps Avian Field Technician, Santiago Tabares Erices at santiago@beavercreekreserve.org!

Express Your Love For Our Educational Animals This Week!

 By: Everix Machan, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Writing Intern

As Valentine’s Day draws closer, it’s the perfect time to show your favorite Beaver Creek residents how much you love them! 

From now until Sunday, February 15th, Valentine boxes will be available for all of our scaly, feathered, and amphibian friends in the Wise Nature Center, so feel free to stop in and spend some time drawing pictures or writing notes to drop in the boxes outside their enclosures in Scheels Discovery Room! We know they would especially love to see young explorers take advantage of the holiday by paying them a visit!

While you’re stopping by to leave some wonderful messages, now would be a great time to learn a little bit more about our educational animals with our interpretive displays. If you come during feeding time, you might even be able to sneak a peek of a critter up close and ask a few questions! After all, the best way to show your appreciation for someone is by getting to know them!

You can come visit our animal friends from 9:00am to 4:00pm Mondays through Saturdays, and 12:00pm to 4:00pm on Sundays! They can’t wait to see the beautiful notes and drawings you’ll make for them this week! Keep an eye on our program calendar for upcoming programs with our animals.

Beaver Creek Holiday Gift Guide 2025

By: Cali Martozie, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Writing Intern

Outside, there is beautifully fresh fallen snow, and the season of giving is upon us! That means it’s time to hustle to get gifts for your loved ones. If you’re among those who are stressed, hustling, and bustling to get gifts along with everyone else, look no further! We have plenty of items here at Beaver Creek Reserve in our Nature Store that are perfect for the nature lover in your life, no matter the age.

This holiday season, our Nature Store has plenty to offer:

• BCR Apparel: Sweatshirts and T-shirts ~ Represent your favorite animal, or Beaver Creek, on a t-shirt or sweatshirt with our various designs and size options.

• Field Guides ~ Know someone who is looking to grow their identification knowledge? Our guides help identify different plants, animals, phenology, and more!

• Children’s Books ~ Gift a fun story that includes some of their favorite animals.

• Stuffed Animals ~ All different types of cute animals that children are sure to love. We even have chirping bird stuffed animals where the sounds match the species it is!
• Holiday-Themed Swedish Dishcloths ~ Consider adding reusable cleaning cloths that are both sustainable and save money in buying paper towels to your kitchen.

• Animal Ornaments: Care for our Animals Fundraiser ~ Purchase an ornament created by our staff and volunteers, with 100% of the proceeds going to support our animals here at Beaver Creek!
  

  

  BCR Maple Syrup

• Phenology Calendar ~ Get our new 2026 Aldo Leopald Phenology Calendar that is full of beautiful animals and seasonal happenings to take you through the new year. 
• Maple Syrup ~ Tapped, boiled, and bottled here at Beaver Creek, ready to use for any recipe from pancakes to baked beans.

• BCR Memberships ~ Free admission, 15% discount at our nature store, discounted fees for programs, summer camps, and equipment rentals, an invitation to Beaver Creek’s annual meeting, and more!
  

• Programs & Events ~ Sign up or gift one of our seasonal programs to a loved one, from DIY crafts, to Candlelight Hikes to Snowshoe Lacing. Check out our program calendar or purchase event tickets in person to guarantee a spot!

New this year, our Nature Store will offer:

• 

  3D Puzzles

  Micro Block Sets ~ These miniature building block kits provide fun for all ages and come in
  various designs!
• Monarch Gift Bag ~ This adorable gift bag includes a monarch sticker, milkweed seeds, and planting instructions.
• 3D Puzzles ~ Our puzzles that flew off the shelves all summer are officially available to purchase
  for the first time during the holiday season.
• Tootsie Pop Holders ~ Decorate a candy-holder for a simply sweet gift or give as a craft.
• Hand-Painted Rocks ~ Each one of these rocks has a unique design created by a local artist.
• Jabelo Earrings ~ Handmade, nature-themed earrings that are made from recycled cereal boxes.
• Teacup & Saucer Watering Stations ~ Upcycled pieces that can be used outdoors for either water or birdseed, made by some of our staff members.

• 

  Hand-Painted Rocks

  Nature-Themed Tote Bags
  ~ Reusable bags that are perfect to carry whatever you need, all while having a cute nature design on the front!
• Handmade Greeting Cards ~ Special cards created by local artists.

Feel free to stop by, take a look, and ease those holiday jitters! Our Nature Store is open Monday-Saturday from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM and Sunday from 12:00 PM-4:00 PM. All holiday gifts can be bought in person, with the exception of our membership, which can be purchased online. If you are already a member, you get 15% off our Nature Store for the entire December. We hope to see you stop in, warm up, and take a look at what we have!

Put Down the Rake, Let Nature Do Its Thing!

 By: Cali Martozie, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Writing Intern

It’s officially that time of the year when the leaves falling from the trees have sped up their pace, leaving the beautiful array of reds, oranges, purples, and yellows to settle on the soil. This means it’s time to take out the rake and throw them away, right? Well, not exactly… Instead, you can save time in yard work and leave them be!

While there may be the initial instinct to look at the yard filled with leaves and say it’s messy, then bag them up, there are harmful processes that occur when bags of leaves go to landfills. When leaves don’t have enough oxygen to decompose, they release a harmful greenhouse gas that is 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, methane, which traps heat in the atmosphere. Letting the leaves stay could help everyone do their part in reducing these harmful emissions that contribute to climate change (Environmental Protection Agency, 2025) (Tangley, 2015). 

On the other hand, by letting the leaves stay, a lot of healthy and natural processes unfold that wouldn’t occur otherwise. They provide many benefits to yards as they decompose, creating a mulch that suppresses pesky weeds and places healthy nutrients back into the soil. Not only that, but leaves provide shelter for wildlife that stay overwinter, such as turtles, salamanders, toads, moths, fireflies, butterflies, and bees! By the time one starts raking, these creatures could have already found their home, and others will be left without one (Black, et .al, 2025) (Tangley, 2015) (Zoological Society of Milwaukee).

In the end, I’m not saying you have to leave all the leaves where they fall. If there are too many in one area and not a thin and healthy spread, they can be moved to garden beds, and be used to make compost, be used to make a brush shelter, or even be given to other people who will use them in the community! It is also beneficial to be careful and keep an eye out for any wandering leaves that could end up in storm drains and pollute waterways (Zoological Society of Milwaukee) (Tangley, 2015).

Go out, spread the word, and save the extra work and back pain! For more information on how to safely dispose of leaves, reach out to your local county sustainability office. If you are interested in learning more about pollinators and how to help them, keep an eye on our program calendar for our spring seasonal programs here at Beaver Creek!

Northern Saw-whet Owl Season Recap!

By: AmeriCorps Avian Field Technician, Santiago Tabares Erices

Our Northern Saw-whet Owl (NSWO) season had a slow start but climbed to new heights. After a few nights with no owls, we captured our first two owls on October 7th. Across 29 nights of banding, we captured 192 owls, representing 169 individuals. Of these, 153 were new birds that we banded, and 14 were “foreign” recaptures from other banding stations, 3 of which we caught twice. So far, we know that one owl was from Steven’s Point, and another one was from Carpenter Nature Center! We also caught 17 “local” recaptures, and caught 3 of those a 3rd time! 

We only captured 1 male this season, along with 159 females and 9 unknowns. The male, our smallest bird of the season, weighed just 77.1 grams, while the "chunkiest" owl was 114.9 grams. This skewed ratio is normal for our station and banding stations across the nation, and new research is trying to find out where the male owls spend the winter. Our Motus station also detected an owl! Tagged in northern Wisconsin, a Saw-whet flew near Beaver Creek on its way to another station in Missouri, where it may spend the winter. 

October 19th was our busiest night, with a new station record 36 owls captured in one night! 

We hosted 3 public programs to share knowledge about the owls of Wisconsin and bird banding, focusing on the research efforts surrounding NSWO. More than 60 people attended! 

8 new volunteers attended our bander training, and our volunteer team collectively put in almost 1,000 hours this season! Some also exciting news, we banded our 2,000th owl since the start of the program here at Beaver Creek in 2004.

Thank you to all our incredibly dedicated volunteers and to the landowners we worked with. It was a wonderful season, we look forward to the next one! If you are interested in getting involved with our Citizen Science Center, visit our website for more information.