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STATE OF THE RIVERWAY SYMPOSIUM

Friends of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway Presents
The State of the Riverway Symposium
September 16 and 17, 2017 
at The Wisconsin Riverside Resort Spring Green, WI  View Map
Door Prizes
will be awarded during lunch.
Must be present to win.
About the Symposium
Geared for a broad audience, including residents, users, scientists, managers, educators and students.  The goal: to help develop an informed and engaged public that can best ensure wise stewardship of this very important ecological, cultural and recreational resource. There will be presentations and discussions on the Lower Wisconsin River’s natural and human history, management, land use issues and user-experiences, an evening banquet with program by Curt Meine on riverway writings from a newly published “Driftless Reader”, Sunday field trips by bus or canoe, and a Friday evening campfire.
Listen to hear Mike Mossman talk about the State of Riverway Symposium on WORT.
Sponsors:
Doug & Sherryl Jones of Spring Green
Margot Madsen of Spring Green
The Peoples Community Bank, Mazomanie
WI Canoe Racing Assoc.
Lonesome Stone Milling
Powell Petroleum Inc.
Supporters:
REI
Voice of the River Valley
Cedar Grove Cheese
Wisconsin Riverside Resort
Rutabaga Paddlesports

FLOW gratefully acknowledges our symposium sponsors and supporters.

Presentations​        
Click on presenter's name for more information.
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Overviews
  • Mark Cupp - A Brief History of the LWR: A look at its social history and the creation of the Riverway law.
  • Mike Mossman - The Ecology of the LWR.
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Science Session
  • Eric Carson - Geology of the Driftless Area and LWR.
  • Dave Marshall - Oxbows and Sloughs: Wisconsin’s Forgotten Lakes.
  • Ken Wade - River Hydrogeology and Pollution.
  • Jean Unmuth - The Phosphorus Legacy - LWR and Beyond Our Borders.
  • John Lyons - The Amazing Fish Fauna of the LWR. 
  • Sarah Johnson - Over the River and Through the Woods: LWR Floodplain Forests and How They Change.

 

Culture / Recreation Session
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Evening Presentation
Field Trips
Each has a main leader and several co-leaders who will cover ecological, cultural and historical aspects of that section of the riverway. Some short hikes included. 
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Lower LWR Bus Trip:
  • Frank’s Hill - effigy mounds, native history, geology.
  • Balmoral millpond - management, feeder streams, ecology.
  • Muscoda village park - lunch, Orion mussel beds.
  • Blue River Sand Prairie and Fishtrap Slough - ecology, geology, management.
  • Jones Slough - fish, water quality, riverside living.
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Upper LWR Bus Trip:
  • Cruson Slough - ecology, landforms, fish; management of marsh, slough, wet forest, wet-mesic woodland and sand barrens.
  • Norton Slough - water quality and biota monitoring, private landowner experience.
  • Millen Tract - floodplain forest, terrace prairie and bluff woodland-savanna- prairie restoration, landowner experience, geology.
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Canoe / Kayak Trip:
  • Hwy 14 to Riverside Resort - Tower Hill State Park, take part in river sandbar fish and mussel sampling. Canoes provided.
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Sunday morning indoor option (including if bad weather):  
Dave Erickson presents LWR video documentary Rhythm of the River, at Grandma Mary’s Café on Hwy 14 in nearby Arena. Coffee, breakfast available. http://www.grandmamaryscafe.com
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If there is severe weather and we can not do the field trips, we will all gather at Grandma Mary's for the video.
Exhibits / Posters
  • Arcadia Books and UW Press (featuring titles related to the riverway history, ecology etc)
  • Photography by Steve Meyer and Jill Metcoff
  • FLOW (Friends of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway)
  • River Alliance of Wisconsin
  • Wisconsin Wetlands Association, and LWR Ramsar status
  • Wisconsin Master Naturalist Program and the LWR
  • Ferry Bluff Eagle Council
  • The Prairie Enthusiasts
  • Natural Resources Foundation
  • A Flora of the LWR – Michael Nee
  • LWR Turtle Nesting Ecology – Greg Geller
  • Wisconsin Society for Ornithology
  • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (mussels, invasive plants and earthworms, State Natural Areas)
  • Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters
  • Riverway maps, aerial imagery and 3D models
  • 72 Years of Change in the LWR, 1937-2010
  • Life-size poster of Wis fishes
Additional Infomation
        or 608-370-1208.
 
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