MD Leader

15,000 years ago, glaciers covered central Wisconsin from the northeast extending to just east of present day Wausau and Stevens Point. As the climate warmed, glaciers released torrents of melt water causing deep gorges in locations throughout Wisconsin.  One such area can be seen just north of Hatley, the Dells of the Eau Claire River. On this stretch, the Eau Claire River cascades over outcrops of Precambrian-age rhyolite schist.  Rhyolite schist (a very hard rock) was formed through metamorphosis and later tilted to a nearly vertical position allowing the rock to split readily along the cleavage planes. In the dells, the river tumbles and spills across the rock’s cleavage planes while it runs smoothly in other areas where the river flows parallel to the planes. This image is looking upstream from the Dells just east of the bridge.

This is an HDR image. Several different exposures of the same scene were taken by changing only the shutter speed. The images were then combined using Photoshop and Photomatix.

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Bear Creek is in eastern Portage County.  The image was taken on a bitterly cold morning from a bridge on Lime Lake Road.    This portion of the Creek stays open year round and is often mist covered early in the morning.  I had stopped by this location a dozen or so times hoping to image a pair of mallards living under the bridge.  I missed them again but captured this image. The trees had become ice coated the night before.  As the sun rose over the tree line, the cattails were thrown into an intense silhouette while the ice on the trees shimmered.

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This image was attained near Smokey Hill Road in The George W. Mead Wildlife Area.  “The Mead” consists of approximately 30,000 acres, bordering both sides of the Little Eau Pleine River in northern Wood and Portage Counties and southern Marathon County.  It is managed by the DNR as a mixture of habitats for plants, animals and birds, especially those associated with water. Parts of the wildlife area are open for hunting and fishing during regular seasons.

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The Buena Vista Grasslands, south of Plover, uses a variety of methods to prevent overgrowth of woody plants.    Without attention, the grasslands will slowly convert to woody vegetation further reducing prairie chicken habitat.  Activities including periods of grazing and cutting for hay are all part of the management plan aimed at maintaining our population of native prairie wildlife.

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New Hopes Pines is a  Wisconsin State Natural Area.  Located just to the east of Rosholt, it is the largest northern dry-mesic forest remaining in central Wisconsin. The vast forests found in the region prior to settlement have been logged with a precious few undisturbed tracts remaining.  

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Stevens Point, Wisconsin

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This image is a HDR, a composite of several images taken several f-stops apart. An off camera fill flash was used to brighten the back side of the bull thistle. The images were captured just prior to sunrise on a very still morning.  The ridge line 3 miles in the distance is the terminal moraine from the Wisconsin Glaciation.

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