Crane No. 301 checks in from Florida

By David Horst  sandhill7@gmail.com  

I’ve been thinking a lot about cranes lately.

Crane #301 (at center) in Florida.
Photo courtesy of Harriette Canon

That’s not all that unusual for me, but I have had some triggers that got me going in that direction.

One was the March 3 Fox Valley premiere of “Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time.” The biographical film on my favorite nature writer, done by the Aldo Leopold Foundation, was terrific. And it featured some great scenes of huge flocks of cranes.

Then, on Monday, I was walking across Houdini Plaza in downtown Appleton and heard a bugling call that has been absent too long through this unending winter. A single sandhill crane – my first of the season – was flying high over College Avenue. Tuesday evening I heard a riotous burst of sandhill enthusiasm flying over the sand hill we call home.

But those were all warm-ups to an email I received from Pat Fisher, the New London bird rehabilitator who thinks about cranes way more than I do.

Film explores Sand County land ethic

By David Horst  sandhill7@gmail.com

The Fox Cities will host a premiere of a movie about a personal hero of mine.

March 3 at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley’s Perry Hall, “Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time” will be presented to what is shaping up to be a full house.

The showing of the film about one of the fathers of the conservation movement and the founder of the national wilderness system follows premieres in California, Baraboo – the location of “The Shack,” Leopold’s treasured weekend getaway for his years as a professor at the University of Wisconsin – and the Milwaukee Public Museum.

I’m happy to reveal a glaring conflict of interest in my reporting about this movie. My day job includes staffing the Environmental Stewardship Fund at the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, a major sponsor of the premiere here. No apologies for that.

Map for De Pere-Green Bay Moonlight Paddle

De Pere-Green Bay Moonlight Paddle - Aug. 12
An unusual evening paddle on a night with a full moon. Meet at 4:30 p.m., shuttle vehicles and launch at De Pere's Bomier Park at 6 p.m. and arrive at Green Bay Metro Marina near the mouth of the Fox River at about 9:30 p.m. 

Park-to-Park map

Map for Park-to-Park Paddle - July  23
Unload at Shattuck Park in downtown Neenah 7-9 a.m. Shuttle buses available back from parking areas near the finish. Safety talk and launch at 9:40 a.m. Arrive at Lutz Park in Appleton about 12:30 p.m. or take out early at Fritse Park in the Town of Menasha.