Marinette County Land & Water Conservation

08/11/2026

Have you noticed the giant mowed paths out at the Harmony Arboretum? This is the beginning of our fire break for the east side of the prairie.

Native prairies need disturbance to keep out woody encroachment such as trees and shrubs and encourage prairie plant growth. Fire is one of the most common and important ways restorationists add disturbance back into an ecosystem. Fire returns nutrients to the soil and can encourage seed germination.

The Marinette County Land & Water Conservation Department hopes to burn it sometime this fall. Over the next several years, stay tuned to see how the prairie evolves into a healthier ecosystem.

Visit https://www.marinettecountywi.gov/departments/land-information/environmental-education/harmony-arboretum/ for more about this location and the outdoor experiences it offers! You can also visit the Northern Lights Master Gardeners Association Volunteers (NLMGA) page - they are the volunteer caretakers for the 3-acre demonstration garden enclosure at the arboretum and hold various public events there.

08/11/2026

Land trusts help conserve wild areas for habitat, biodiversity, and natural beauty. Marinette County belongs to the Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust (https://newlt.org) and this video by our neighbor to the west - the Northwoods Land Trust - explains why people participate in land trusts and how land trusts help preserve wild areas for all of us. For more about land trusts, visit https://gatheringwaters.org/ - it is the alliance for land trusts in Wisconsin.

08/11/2026

From 8/9, but happy belated birthday to Smokey and follow his guidelines for a safe campfire! 😉

08/11/2026

Share your input!

Scan the QR Code below or visit: bit.ly/marinettecampus to complete the survey. You may also visit Stephenson Library for assistance.

08/11/2026

Opossum tail power!

08/10/2026

🪐 One planetary alignment — two perspectives!⁠
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On August 12, 2026, six planets — Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune — will gather in the pre-dawn sky. ✨⁠
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But here’s the trick: they aren’t actually lined up in space! 🌌 The planets are spread across their orbits, but from our point of view on Earth, they appear together along the ecliptic.⁠
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Same planets. Same moment. A completely different picture depending on where you look from. 🌍🔭⁠
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08/10/2026

While we're enjoying what's left of summer, fall is on the horizon.

Although it means monarchs will soon depart from much of their breeding range, fall also provides us with one last hurrah for the monarch season as monarchs complete their spectacular journey to overwintering sites.

Starting in about mid-August, emerging monarchs enter reproductive diapause, meaning they don't reproduce. Instead, they take flight in search of their overwintering grounds. Across the eastern U.S. and southern Canada, monarchs funnel toward Mexico, pausing for refuge at stopover sites with abundant nectar sources and shelter from harsh weather. If you're lucky, you may even spot a monarch roost or two along the migration path.

West of the Rocky Mountains, monarchs head for the California coastline, where they'll roost for the winter in eucalyptus, Monterey cypress, Monterey pine, and other trees.

When we get to 2027, and it's time to start thinking about spring, these same monarchs, sometimes called the super generation, will be the ones to start the migration back across the monarch's breeding range.

08/10/2026

On Wednesday, Aug. 5, Kyle Johnson, a Zoologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources presented a wonderful program about moths at the Harmony Arboretum & Demonstration Gardens near Peshtigo. Over 100 people attended and it was a beautiful night for learning about moths. The Northern Lights Master Gardeners Association Volunteers (NLMGA) sponsored the event as part of their education programming for the summer.

Kyle has studied moths for the past 36 years – since age five – from all over Minnesota and Wisconsin to the wilds of Alaska. He currently conducts moth surveys for the Minnesota Biological Survey (MN-DNR) and small projects for various conservation organizations outside of Minnesota.

People learned that all butterflies are moths - they all belong to the insect order Lepidoptera, which means “scale winged,” (they are covered in microscopic, plate-like scales) - but not all moths are butterflies. He also talked about how to generally tell the difference between them, although there are exceptions - for example, there are species of day-flying moths like hummingbird clearwings and Virginia ctenucha moths. He also talked about how to start your own 'moth life list' and how to 'go mothing' (looking for moths). The audience was invited to 'go moth' in the gardens as well.

Here is a link to an interview with Kyle about moths from the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine -
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/issues/2026/jan-feb/moths.html .

And for more about Wisconsin & Great Lakes region moths, visit -
- https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/region/wisconsin
- https://www.greatlakesmoths.org/
- https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/57
- https://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-type-and-region.php?thisState=wisconsin&thisType=Butterfly%20or%20Moth .

08/10/2026

The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most prolific meteor showers of the year. The shower is active from mid-July until late August and will peak on the night of Aug. 12, before dawn on Aug. 13, 2026.

Viewers should start observing around 11 p.m. local time when the rates of shooting stars increase and can watch the sky until dawn. The best way to watch a meteor shower is from a dark sky site, so it helps to get away from city lights as much as you can. Skywatchers should go to the darkest place they can, let their eyes adjust, and look overhead.

Moonlight will not interfere with the Perseids this year, as the peak occurs at the same time as the new moon phase.

For more about this meteor shower and some cool videos, visit:
- https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower/

- https://www.space.com/perseid-meteor-shower-2026

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwbxBjgZUJk

- https://www.planetary.org/articles/your-guide-meteor-shower