Milwaukee Urban Ecology Blog

Have you had an awesome adventure in one of our kayaks? Listened intently to your child's enthusiastic Summer Camp story? Enjoyed stopping by our Center after a warm walk in an adjacent park? Use the #MyUEC hashtag and share these experiences on your favorite social media!

My first month as an Urban Ecology Center intern is in the books, and while I already feel totally at home here, I still have a lot to learn about the everyday happenings at the Center. Last week there was a brief lull in activity for myself and the other interns; our official training sessions had ended, and most of the interns were working on refining their lesson plans for the coming Summer Camps they would be assisting with. I used the quiet week to explore some of the activities that happen at the Center every day, all year long.

You know that old saying: “you can’t judge a book by its cover?” It turns out the same is true of restoration projects like Three Bridges Park. You can’t get the full story just from looking at the “cover” — what’s visible above the surface. What you see above ground doesn’t tell you everything, because the proof is in the pudding ... or in this case, the soil. Three Bridges Park is on the site of a brownfield (a vacant post-industrial parcel of land) in the Menomonee Valley. With every passing year, Three Bridges Park loses its resemblance to a brownfield and gains resemblance to a natural greenspace.

A lot has been said about the youth of today, sparking a long-winded conversation regarding the merit of each generation. Questions of generational inferiority, criminal intentions and crippling apathetic mindsets have all seemed to elicit less than flattering opinions about those of us set to inherit the nation. Conversations like these only rarely involve the subject of the discussion: teenagers. As an 18 year-old high school senior, I am left to wonder about the accuracy of this conclusion.

Protection and restoration of the land is an essential part of what we do. Through hands-on work, our Land Stewardship team and volunteers grow healthy native habitats in which animals and plants can thrive. These areas are also important to our environmental education programs. Plus they are a great place to explore the natural world! See for yourself how we are caring for the land.

One of my favorite places to take school groups is Lake Michigan. It is such a valuable resource right in the backyard of our city. We use it in many ways to teach lessons to students. One lesson is that our drinking water comes from Lake Michigan. Another is the rock cycle, during which we collect different rocks at the “skipping stone beach.” Recently, my co-teacher Tory and I used the beach to teach 4th graders about glaciers and glacial landforms.

Summer internships tend to get a pretty bad rap; most people hear the phrase and immediately conjure up images of windowless offices with fluorescent lighting, mind numbing data entry tasks, and endless coffee runs. At the Urban Ecology Center, however, interns do pretty much everything but sit in an office! Over the last two weeks, the Center’s thirty summer interns participated in training and teambuilding activities at all three branches, and we had a blast doing it. Check out these highlights!

One of my favorite things to do is be fully immersed in nature while hiking in the middle of the city. The fact that you can walk from a street full of houses into a beautiful green haven in a matter of moments is so amazing! I love watching people’s faces their first time out hiking in one of the parks at our branches, especially those who have lived in Milwaukee all their lives but have never seen this natural side of their city. It’s great. I’d like to invite you to take part in an urban nature hike with me!

We are so grateful to all of our supporters who attended the Urban Ecology Center's 8th annual Summer Solstice Soiree last Saturday. The Riverside Park branch came to life as guests gathered to celebrate nature in an urban setting. We want to thank all of our guests, sponsors, board of directors, and friends who came to support our mission!

They say that you don’t know the true value of what you have until it’s gone. I grew up in Milwaukee, and while I spent lots of time in the parks, I never fully appreciated the uniqueness of our city’s urban natural spaces. Now, as I begin my summer working with the Urban Ecology Center, I'm excited to explore these recently rediscovered hidden outdoor gems!