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Cofrin Center for Biodiversity Newsletter - Summer 2022
White Pine Gazette (Toft Point Newsletter) - Spring 2022
Cofrin Center for Biodiversity Newsletter - Winter 2022


Friends of Toft Point, Inc. Consolidates with UW-Green Bay Foundation

Green Bay, Wis.— The Friends of Toft Point, Inc., a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation of the Toft Point Natural Area in Door County, is combining forces with the UW-Green Bay Foundation. The Friends’ stewardship work will be done through the Friends of Toft Point Stewardship Board to support the University’s Center for Biodiversity in its mission to protect Toft Point. The consolidation enables volunteers to focus their time on their important roles of serving as docents and property caretaking, the activities that inspired them to become involved in the first place. You can find the full article here.


Meinhardt a guest on 'A Line Meant,' a podcast by Wisconsin Poet Laureate Dash Kelly Hamilton

In early December, UW-Green Bay Human Biology professor and Richter Museum of Natural History Curator was a guest on Dasha Kelly Hamilton’s podcast, “A Line Meant.” Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate Dasha selects a line of poetry and then invites guests from around Wisconsin to ponder its meaning. This episode was also features veterinarian Dr. Robert Davis, who is currently President and CEO of Milwaukee’s American Black Holocaust Museum. It is presented in three parts (links below).

 Access the podcasts on Dasha Kelly Hamilton’s YouTube channel.

Nature's Insensible Loss Presented by Vicki Medland

Tune into the TEDx talk entitled "Nature's Insensible Loss," presented by Dr. Vicki Medland, retired associate director from the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity. Dr. Medland presents a very moving talk as she steps through how much wildlife has been lost in such a short period of time and how it is difficult to detect.


Researchers investigate impact of water birds on Green Bay

 If you spend any time on or around the bay you're likely familiar with the birds that feed on its fish. Center scientists (both faculty and students) are working to unravel the details of this complex food web. Read the full article here.

UW-Green Bay faculty member makes a 'moss' exciting discovery

In the average lawn, moss is rarely a welcomed sight. (Usually indicating poor soil nutrient levels and drainage issues.) But in Keir Wefferling’s world, as curator of the Fewless Herbarium within UW-Green Bay’s Cofrin Center of Biodiversity, encountering moss is not only welcomed but occasionally transformational.

That was the case one morning this fall when he, along with a couple of eager volunteers, Joan Berkopec and Ron Eicchorn, trekking through a sedge meadow and fen in northeastern Wisconsin, happened upon Paludella squarrosa or “tufted fen moss”. To any passing hiker with an untrained eye—just another plant.

But this expedition’s mission was to perform a preliminary bryological (mossy things) survey of the region. And even to Wefferling’s well-trained eyes, this was a mossy thing he had never seen before.

“When I saw it, I didn’t know what it was. I knew it was a moss and I knew it was a moss I’d never seen before. It was just unique looking.”

Read the full article here.