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posted by Barbara Dixson, information and photos provided by Alex Mentele The Fall Candlelight Hike Festival is this Friday, November 1! Just picture the trails of the Reserve blazing with torches and glowing with the smiles and leers of hundreds of jack-o’-lanterns, while the pavilion and surrounding areas buzz with craft and learning stations,...

by Barbara Dixson From Thursday, August 15, through Sunday, August 18, this summer, Schmeeckle Reserve echoed with the poetic, sometimes puzzling, and often bawdy lines of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. It’s the fourth year in a row that the Central Wisconsin Area Community Theater (cwACT) has performed Shakespeare in the Reserve, sponsored...

by Barbara Dixson This summer, Steve has been noticing our busy and beautiful insect life in Schmeeckle. He labeled this submission “Bugs!”...

by Rae Henneman Pictured above: striped skunk kits This spring and summer Schmeeckle was awash with babies! Big and small, we had them all. We had a doubled up family of geese with about 20 goslings combined! Good luck walking past them unscathed. We also had multiple pairs of twin fawns. Having twins is...

by Barbara Dixson Point of Jazz performed for the Friends’ third entry in our summer music series, and they were wonderful! The five musicians–Jessie Crandall, Colt Maichle, Kadin Yach, Mat Chapman, and Jayce Gorski–are recent UWSP grads, brimming with creativity and energy to give pzazz to their finely honed skills. Friends gathered early, chatting...

by Barbara Dixson For the past two weeks, a dozen or so children of younger elementary age have spent their afternoons exploring Schmeeckle, led by Em Sinclair, a UWSP forest recreation major, and Adasyn Bullard, a UWSP soils major, with backing from Schmeeckle staff members Griffin Bray and Melissa Ruether. This is the first...

by Barbara Dixson More lovely photos from Steve Faber! Steve calls the one above “self-portrait from final wetlands bridge.” Maple leaf, fallen in our very moist late spring. Blue flag iris leans onto the boardwalk....

by Barbara Dixson The official opening of Moses Creek Meadows really was grand! Such an accomplishment to celebrate: a woods trail to be part of the Green Circle Trail, a spur trail over sedge meadows and across beautiful boardwalks, and a viewing platform offering a vista of the headwaters of Moses Creek. Such wonderful...

by Barbara Dixson Among the Friends of Schmeeckle Reserve is an amazing group of people called the Friends of Schmeeckle Volunteer Crew, sometimes lovingly known as the Tuesday Crew. These folks have been in action in the Reserve since at least 2017, launching themselves into projects as ordinary as cutting downed trees and as...

by Melissa Ruether With the Candlelight Hike just days away, Schmeeckle staff, Friends, and volunteers are busy putting together the final touches! The biannual Candlelight Hike brings in thousands of people for a night of themed activities. This May’s theme is Hopping into Spring! Visitors will meet some of Wisconsin’s bouncy, jumping residents during...