Wisconsin
A Superior Exploration: Lake Superior’s History & Ecology
Program No. 24850RJ
“Superior” learning awaits on this adventure through northern Wisconsin’s natural wonders — explore the ecology and human history of this fascinating Great Lake!
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Protecting the Environment
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6 days
5 nights
12 meals
5B 4L 3D
1
Check-in, Registration, Dinner, Estuarine Research Reserve
Superior, Wisconsin
2
Indigenous Community Learning and Engagement
Superior, Wisconsin
3
History and Ecology Learning and Engagement
Superior, Wisconsin
4
Circle of Parks
Superior, Wisconsin
5
Lake Superior Research Institute Floating Classroom
Superior, Wisconsin
6
Program wrap up
Superior, Wisconsin
At a Glance
From Lake Superior’s glacial and tectonic geology to its significance to indigenous peoples and importance to environmental research, the largest freshwater lake in the world makes a fascinating study. Embark on a journey exploring western and southern Lake Superior, including a history of the Twin Ports, field trips to historical sites and presentations by local indigenous elders and historians. Enjoy hands-on learning experiences, wading in the rivers of the Brule River State Forest to catch and identify aquatic creatures and exploring natural wonders through canoeing and hiking!
Activity Level
On Your Feet
What You'll Learn
- Investigate freshwater ocean ecology through the University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Lake Superior Research Institute Floating Classroom, a new hybrid research and educational vessel.
- Learn from park experts about the rich geology and ecology of Amnicon Falls State Park, Pattison State Park and Jay Cooke State Park.
- Explore the indigenous history of the area through presentations from a local tribal historian and tribal environmental scientist.
Suggested Reading List
(4 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
A Superior Exploration: Lake Superior’s History & Ecology
Program Number: 24850
The Great Lakes Water Wars
The Great Lakes are the largest system of freshwater lakes in the world and America’s greatest freshwater resource. For over a century they have been the target of controversial diversion schemes designed to sell, send, or ship water to thirsty communities, sometimes far from the source. In part to protect the Great Lakes from overzealous entrepreneurship, the Great Lakes Compact was signed in 2008. Although the Compact fulfills that promise and ensures that Great Lakes water stays within the Basin, some would say it has only shifted the controversy closer to home. Now water diversion controversies of a different kind are some of the most fought-over environmental issues in the region. Will the water wars ever be settled?
Journalist Peter Annin delves deeply into the fraught history of water use in the Great Lakes region and recaps the story of the Chicago River diversion, which reversed the flow of the river, fundamentally transforming the Great Lakes ecosystem. A century later it remains “the poster child of bad behavior in the Great Lakes.” Today, with growing communities and a warming climate, tensions over water use are high, and controversies on the perimeter of the Great Lakes Basin are on the rise. In this new and expanded edition of The Great Lakes Water Wars, Annin shares the stories of New Berlin and Waukesha, two Wisconsin communities straddling the Basin boundary whose recent legal battles have tested the legislative strength of the newly signed Compact. Annin devotes a new chapter to the volatile issue of the invasive Asian carp—a voracious species that reproduces at a disturbing rate—which is transforming the ecology of the river as it makes its way through the Chicago River diversion and ever closer to Lake Michigan.
Minnesota’s Geology
Minnesota’s Geology provides a history of the past 3.5 billion years in the area’s development. In accessible language, Minnesota-based geologists Richard W. Ojakangas and Charles L. Matsch tell the story of the state’s past and offer a guide for those who want to read geological history firsthand from the rocks and landscapes of today.
Geology on display: Geology and scenery of Minnesota's North Shore state parks
This book is out of print but is often found in Minnesota Libraries. It is a great resource on understanding the geology of the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Roadside Geology of Minnesota
You may have heard that Minnesota’s ten thousand lakes are the hoofprints of Paul Bunyan’s big blue ox, Babe. “Don’t you believe it!” writes author Dick Ojakangas. Though the lakes, which formed at the end of the most recent ice age, may be Minnesota’s most famous features, the glaciated countryside disguises a much longer history of volcanoes and plate collisions—not surprising when you learn that Minnesota was at the active edge of the fledgling North American continent for several billion years.
Roadside Geology of Minnesota steers you over glacial moraines and till plains to some of the state’s unparalleled geologic features, such as the Morton Gneiss, once thought to be the oldest rock on Earth; the St. Peter Sandstone, one of the purest sandstones in the world; the banded iron-formation, the source of iron for the Great Lakes steel industry; and the ancient shorelines of Glacial Lake Agassiz, one of the largest glacial lakes ever to have existed in North America. The book’s introduction presents an overview of Minnesota’s geologic history, and forty-two road guides discuss the landforms and rocks visible from a car window and at nearby waysides and parks, including Pipestone National Monument, Grand Portage National Monument, and Voyageurs National Park.
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