A Spring Phenology:
Celebrating the Beauty, Science, and Spirit of the Northwoods

With John Bates

Saturday, May 23rd
7:00 PM
Madeline Island Museum

Cost: $30.00/person 

RSVP: Steve Mueller

If you aren't already a member of MIWP, attending this event is a good way to learn about our organization and our work!

There’s no more exciting season in the Northwoods than spring!

• The snow and mud are gone (we hope!)

• The sun is finally warming

• It’s the “greening-up” of millions of leaves

• Birds are mating/nesting/hatching or still migrating

• Ephemeral wildflowers are blooming

• Mammals are birthing and growing

• Butterflies and dragonflies are hatching or returning

• It’s all of life coming into full flower

And every day, one wants to be out in it and part of it!

With John's guidance, we’ll celebrate the progression of spring and explore how our relationship with the natural world comes from understanding both the external landscape and our own internal landscape.  

John Bates, of Trails North Naturalist Guide Service, is the author of seven books, and a contributor to seven others, all of which focus on the natural history of the Northwoods.

John won the 2006 Ellis/Henderson Outdoor Writing Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers for his book Graced by the Seasons: Spring and Summer in the Northwoods.

John’s poems have also appeared in five different art/science collaborations, several of which have traveled nationally.

He’s worked as a naturalist in Wisconsin’s Northwoods for 26 years, leading an array of trips all designed to help people further understand the remarkable diversity and beauty of nature, and our place within it.

He has also served on the Board of Trustees for the Wisconsin Nature Conservancy and the Wisconsin Humanities Council, and now serves on the Board of the River Alliance of Wisconsin and the Board of the Northwoods Land Trust.

John and his wife Mary live on the Manitowish River in Iron County where they raised two daughters.