science - Aldo Leopold Nature Center

Welcome

Our facility is open on weekdays from 9am to 4pm and on weekends from 10am to 2pm.

As always, our grounds and trails featuring self-guided tours are free and open daily from dawn until dusk.

November 2017: Blue Marble

For millennia, humans have stood on our planet, gazed outwards, and pondered the seemingly endless resources and vast diversity that cover our globe. This month, take a giant step forward to look back down at our planet. Heading out into Space to view Earth from this uniquely modern perspective, we are reminded that we live […]

FIRST® LEGO® League Project Presentation

Wisconsin FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) teams will be sharing their research completed for the 2014 WORLD CLASS℠ Challenge. This challenge asks teams of kids ages 9-14 to come up with innovative ways to improve learning for the future. Public admissions visitors can stop by on Saturday, October 25, between 10:30am-12:30pm, to see these projects, ask […]

Wisconsin Science Festival Mad Science Saturday

Are you mad about science? Put on your thinking caps and delve into the exciting world of science with hands-on experiments and activities at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center just for the Wisconsin Science Festival! […]

Aldo Leopold Nature Center is at Aldo Leopold Nature Center.

10 hours ago

Did you know that earthworms ARE NOT native to Wisconsin!?It’s hard to believe but it’s true. While there’s no real way of knowing if there were worms here before glaciers altered the landscape of the state, we do know that our forests evolved without the presence of earthworms. While there are worms native to North America (mostly in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest), the species found in Wisconsin all originate from Europe and Asia.They were brought over with non-native plants, living in the soil the plants were transported in. There are also species that were introduced by fishermen dumping their leftover bait on the side of rivers. Because of this, certain types of worms are extremely abundant on the shores of Wisconsin’s waterways. Many people believe that earthworms are harmless, or even good for the environment but that's not entirely true. While good for your garden, earthworms are detrimental to our native northern forests. Forests rely on leaf litter to shelter small animals and insulate the ground, becoming mulch that helps wildflower seeds grow. Leaf litter decomposes slowly with bacteria and fungi but worms eat it up at a much faster rate. The worms can even eat the wildflower seeds themselves. The worm’s diet leaves (no pun intended) a hostile environment for seeds and reduces the abundance of shelter and food sources for animals.Programs like the Great Lakes Worm Watch have dedicated themselves to researching and studying the effects of invasive earthworms in the Great Lakes Region.Learn more here: wormwatch.d.umn.edu/ Photo: Aldo Leopold Nature Center#PhenologyFriday #Earthworms #InvasiveSpecies #WIEnviroEd #NatureIsEverywhere #NatureIsForEveryone #EveryBodyOutside ...

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