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Wisconsin State Parks: Extraordinary Stories of Geology and Natural History - Paperback | Diverse Reads

Wisconsin State Parks: Extraordinary Stories of Geology and Natural History

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Hit the trail for a dramatic look at Wisconsin’s geologic past.

The impressive bluffs, valleys, waterfalls, and lakes of Wisconsin’s state parks provide more than beautiful scenery and recreational opportunities. They are windows into the distant past, offering clues to the dramatic events that have shaped the land over billions of years. 

Author and former DNR journalist Scott Spoolman takes readers with him to twenty-eight parks, forests, and natural areas where evidence of the state’s striking geologic and natural history are on display. In an accessible storytelling style, Spoolman sheds light on the volcanoes that poured deep layers of lava rock over a vast area in the northwest, the glacial masses that flattened and molded the landscape of northern and eastern Wisconsin, mountain ranges that rose up and wore away over hundreds of millions of years, and many other bedrock-shaping phenomena. These stories connect geologic processes to the current landscape, as well as to the evolution of flora and fauna and development of human settlement and activities, for a deeper understanding of our state’s natural history.

The book includes a selection of detailed trail guides for each park, which hikers can take with them on the trail to view evidence of Wisconsin’s geologic and natural history for themselves.

ISBN-13: 9780870208492

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society

Publication Date: 04-27-2018

Pages: 228

Product Dimensions: 6.90(w) x 17.10(h) x 0.60(d)

Age Range: 3 Months to 18 Years

Scott Spoolman is a science writer who has focused on the environmental sciences, especially those stories of natural science and the environment related to Wisconsin and surrounding states. After earning a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, he worked for several years as an editor in the publishing industry, specializing in textbooks and other educational materials. Since 1996, he has worked as a freelance writer and editor for a variety of outlets and has coauthored several editions of a series of environmental science textbooks.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 The Big Picture: An Overview of Wisconsin's Geological and Natural History 1

2 The Rift Zone: The Northwest Corner 19

Pattison State Park 26

Amnicon Falls State Park 32

Big Bay State Park 38

Copper Falls State Park 44

Straight Lake State Park 52

Interstate State Park 55

3 The Driftless Area: The Southwest Corner 65

Perrot State Park 72

Wildcat Mountain State Park 79

Tower Hill State Park 83

Blue Mound State Park 88

Governor Dodge State Park 90

Wyalusing State Park 99

4 Carved by Water and Ice: South-Central Wisconsin 107

Devil's Lake State Park 115

Mirror Lake State Park 129

Rocky Arbor State Park 132

Mill Bluff State Park 137

Roche-a-Cri State Park 141

5 The Glacial Showcase: Southeastern Wisconsin 149

Aztalan State Park 158

Kettle Moraine State Forest 165

Kohler-Andrae State Park 174

Point Beach State Forest 179

High Cliff State Park 183

6 On the Bones of the Land: The Northeast Quarter 191

Rib Mountain State Park 198

Potawatomi State Park 203

Whitefish Dunes State Park 207

Peninsula State Park 212

Newport State Park 220

Rock Island State Park 226

Acknowledgments 235

Notes 237

Selected Bibliography 241

Index 243