Natural High

Terrestrial Ponds    

              

I dine on lake kale-emergent plants

such as rushes, reeds, buggy whips & tule.

I hide in the edges of sedges—

bulrushes that mimic my roundness;

the better to camouflage and hide inside;

the better to ambush unsuspecting

baby bass or walleye and ride

the tide among the cattails and marsh greens.

The tasty rushes of water

willow or pickerelweed

add cover and beauty. They create

a high-level home, until I roam

to the gatorgrass flowers and seeds –

that look nothing like weeds.

Creeping among the water primrose –

its canopy cover a mat of alligator weed,

I climb on & hide inside.

My olive-brown carapace pierces

the water’s surface, hiding my hinged plastron.

I pounce on dinner—I’m a winner!

Fresh food for lunch provides protein

to go with my salad.

                                                            ~ Annette Gagliardi

We took a walk recently at Woodlake Nature Center, which is called an “urban wildlife”  sanctuary and is within the city limits.  Wood Lake Nature Center is a 150-acre natural area dedicated to environmental education, wildlife observation, and outdoor recreation. We walked the forest trail and saw rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks along with a few other people strolling the trail as well.  A person can choose from  several trails  from just under 2-tenths of a mile to almost 2 miles long. Or you can walk several which is what we did, going around, coming back to the main trail, then onto another.

Then we walked the floating boardwalk above the marshy wetland. The kids could not resist the cattails crowding either side along the boardwalk like a throng of fans waiting for their star to appear. The cattails were close enough and were such a deep brown and so velvety, they proved irresistible. Numerous painted turtles in a variety of sizes were swimming in and out of the dense greens that supplied “understory” for the cattails.

It was fascinating to watch this turtle snag and eat the fish.

 We saw hawks and other birds flying low over the water, occasionally diving and dipping their heads into the water. We saw cranes and blue herons and muskrats. But the turtles were certainly the highlight. All animals seemed to be fishing.

The day was a wonder to me: the warmth, the sunshine, the lovely woods with maintained trails, spots for sitting. The kids chattered happily. The boardwalk is bigger and better than the last time I walked it, (a few years ago). There are maps along the trail, so if you got lost, you could regroup. The park board has really made the ‘wilderness’ accessible to us.

We all know how valuable spending time in nature is, and how challenging it is for us city-dwellers to find a fully natural space to enjoy. Woodlake is really great, because it is inside the city limits. Lyndale Avenue is right there. But, traffic noises are muted or silenced, so we could immerse ourselves in the feeling of being ‘in the middle of nowhere’. The sun shone brighter. The air smelled fresher. We were refreshed by our short time with nature.

We brought a water bottle and snack, so got to sit and sip, eat our snack and savor the treasure of this day.  Although, we did wear our masks going in/coming out and when approaching others on the trail, we mostly were alone and could go without them. Other folks on the trail kept their distance, yet we could see several other families going around, just like we were doing.

At one point, our 6-year-old grandson started talking to another boy about his age. They literally started talking to each other from 100 yards away, kept up their conversation as we approached them, as we walked past , and as we went away. I finally, said, “Ben, stop talking to him. We are too far away.”

I realized nature was great and the whole experience was a real treat for us. But, we still need that social interaction with other human beings-especially those similar to us. So we all got a nature renewal and Ben got a bonus: an almost-a-new-friend-chat. That is renewing, too.

Note: Wood Lake was once a recreational lake, surrounded by homes, but much of its water drained in the 1950’s. In 1969, the Richfield City Council approved the conversion of Wood Lake into a nature center. Wood Lake – dedicated as the first municipal nature center in 1971 – was one of the first nature centers built in the Twin Cities. Approximately 72,000 visitors a year visit Wood Lake for the trails and overall nature experience.

Resources

Woodlake Nature Center: https://www.richfieldmn.gov/around-town/wood-lake-nature-center