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Before the Beginning

Fifteen years before the Apostle Islands became a park, faculty and students established a field laboratory on Rocky.

October 15, 2020

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Northland College faculty Jesse M. Caskey and Franklin C. LaneIn 1955, fifteen years before the Apostle Islands became a national park, little was known about the ecology of the islands. Partial surveys had been done in the 1820s and in the early 1900s but nothing comprehensive.

Two Northland biology professors set out to change that. With retired Professor Bob Newton as their advisor, Jesse M. Caskey and Franklin C. Lane applied for and received an $8,500 grant from the Louis W. and Maud Hill Family Foundation (now called the Northwest Area Foundation) to survey the flora and fauna of the islands. And they wanted to do it with the help of students.

“By utilizing student help in some of the fieldwork, we hope that we will be doing a better job of preparing future teachers of science in secondary schools,” then-President Gus Turbeville wrote to the foundation.

Caskey and Lane set up their headquarters on Rocky Island at the Laurie Norse cabins, transporting microscopes and lab equipment to establish a field laboratory. Monday mornings, they would load students and supplies into the Northland College Beagle, a twenty-five horsepower boat—one student arrived by seaplane—and they would get to work.

The students were a mix of regional teachers and Northland graduates and students—Fred Harries ’55, Alan Larson ’57, and Paul Penn ’58 were named in a newspaper article. Seven attended the first summer; six the second. They would divide into two groups—Caskey’s group to collect zoological specimens; Lane’s group to gather botanical.

Meanwhile, the students completed coursework in plant ecology, invertebrate zoology, general zoology, plant taxonomy, and conducted special research in mycology and plant pathology. They created and added to their own insect collections; pursued their own research; and spent evenings on photography hikes, making dinner and doing dishes, and of course, talking science.

“There are some spirited discussions about the various findings of the day and looking them up in the many reference books on hand. In this informal atmosphere, faculty and students exchange more ideas, the latter getting not only theory but a practical knowledge of their subject,” a Minneapolis Star newspaper article reported.

Faculty and students collected specimens from all islands except for Eagle and they made significant collections from islands never collected before. They documented 257 species of flowering plants, gymnosperms, ferns, and related plants. The specimens were processed, pressed, and labeled and sent to the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, and the National Museum. More than three hundred are stored at Northland and used in biology classes.

“We are confident that their almost encyclopedic work in classifying the flora, in particular, will be a landmark in botanical research to the area,” Turbeville concluded in a final letter to the Louis W. and Maud Hill Family Foundation.

Caskey and Lane noted: “These students are now or plan to teach in the future. It is impossible to say how much improved their biology teaching will be as a result of having had this experience, but it is hoped that they will take advantage of their knowledge of nearby biological resources to improve the effectiveness of their teaching.”

While the three students we know of—Harries, Larson, and Penn—have passed away, Northland records show, as Caskey and Lane had hoped, they went onto have prominent careers in science and in teaching.

Caskey and Lane also correctly concluded in their 1957 report: “It is possible that this survey has initiated interest in the islands and we hope that interest will continue and that in time, certain of the islands may be set aside as permanent wilderness areas.”

In 1970, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson sponsored the federal legislation that established the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Northland faculty, staff, and students have continued to assist the National Park Service in research and baseline ecological surveys ever since.

Editor Note: This is the first in a series to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. 

  • Professor Dick Verch recorded plant taxonomy samples on Stockton Island in the early 1970s.

    The Beauty and Fury of Lake Superior

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    The Great Lakes Regional Office of the National Park Service came to professors Sarah Johnson and Jonathan Martin to help answer a question: Do natural…

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    Monitoring Vegetation in the Apostle Islands
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    The Hidden Lives of Island Carnivores

    Researchers placed 160 cameras on 19 of the 22 Apostle Islands on Lake Superior, near campus, to see which carnivores were living there. After taking…

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    Olson Receives Funding for Wildlife Surveys on Madeline Island

    Northland College’s research project—Wild Madeline: Assessing the Wildlife Presence and Abundance of Madeline Island—was one of thirty applications to receive grant funding from the Natural…

    Olson Receives Funding for Wildlife Surveys on Madeline Island
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    Researchers in northern Wisconsin have placed 25 trail cameras on Madeline Island to gather a better picture of the diversity of wildlife on Lake Superior’s…

    Researchers Monitoring Wildlife On Madeline Island
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    WPR: Scientists Seek To Solve Marten Mystery On The Apostle Islands

    Spotting the American marten in Wisconsin is no easy task. So, it’s no surprise that park officials at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore initially doubted…

    WPR: Scientists Seek To Solve Marten Mystery On The Apostle Islands
  • Student and professor in wetland

    Chasing Dragonflies for Science

    Senior Joe Fitzgerald been involved in graduate level research for the last four years at Northland College, leading plankton research in Chequamegon Bay, developing a phytoplankton…

    Chasing Dragonflies for Science
  • Joe Fitzgerald and Randy Lehr drive boat to islands

    Fitzgerald: From Plankton Guy to Water Resources Policy Economist

    By Marie Zhuikov, University of Wisconsin Sea Grant

    Wisconsin Sea Grant undergraduate student, Joe Fitzgerald, has spent the past two years working with Northland College Professor…

    Fitzgerald: From Plankton Guy to Water Resources Policy Economist
  • Dragonflies: Canaries in the Coal Mine

    The adult dragonflies that we often see flitting about near any lake or stream, are quite the common sight. But did you know that just…

    Dragonflies: Canaries in the Coal Mine
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