As our climate changes and visitor numbers climb, Devil's Lake State Park's bluff trails see…
Opinion – As the world changes, each new generation tends to accept their environment as normal. Science calls this “Shifting Baseline Syndrome”. It’s why you might not know what you’ve lost if you weren’t around to see it go.
Take Devil’s Lake State Park, for instance. Older folks might seem more vocal about changes to the park’s infrastructure or landscape. It’s not just “old dudes yelling at clouds” (though that does sound fun!). They’re comparing today’s park to their memories from 20, 50, or more years ago. Can you imagine what the East Bluff Trail must have looked like back in the late 1960s when the trail was freshly paved and the landscape around it was still untrampled and in a healthy condition? If you find it beautiful today, it must have been straight-up stunning back then!
The Devil’s Lake region – if you’re local, Sauk County – was a very different place when European settlers first arrived in the 1830s. (Or as it was for the Native families who called this land home for at least 500 generations before that!)
Ken Lange, a former Devil’s Lake State Park Naturalist, captured some early descriptions in his book “A County Called Sauk”. Elk herds of 500 or more roamed the land. Wolves howled in the night, which according to his book, made at least one early settler very uneasy. In 1875, two boys fishing in the Baraboo River caught catfish weighing 2 to 12 lbs each – as many as they could carry! The landscape was mostly open, with oak openings, prairies, and even desert-like areas with cactus near Spring Green.
Can you imagine Sauk County looking and sounding like that today? It seems almost unbelievable, doesn’t it?
With these thoughts in mind, we have to be careful not to let “shifting baselines” blind us to where we are on this continuing thread from our history to our future. When it comes to Devil’s Lake State Park, we can’t myopically look at where the park is today as an acceptable baseline, then talk about building new buildings or opening more access for recreation. For instance, we all know the issues we have with staffing and budgets today in Wisconsin State Parks. With that in mind, I believe that we really need to focus on how we can manage these issues while maintaining the park in a sustainable way before we seek to add a new Interpretive building to our often overcrowded north shore. As much as I know that we may eventually need more space, I can’t imagine how we can spend donations or take grants to add “more” before addressing the sometimes crumbling infrastructure we already struggle to care for throughout the park.
Just as it’s nearly impossible to envision the Devil’s Lake region in 1850, when the sound of an elk bugling in the distance was normal or to imagine how we allowed them to be extirpated (The last native elk in Wisconsin was shot in 1866), it’s also nearly impossible to envision how some of today’s decisions will impact our home over the next 25, 50 or 100 years in both positive and negative ways. Sometimes the best idea is to focus on protecting and restoring the land we love and establishing a healthy baseline before moving rocks or pouring new concrete. After all, we’re just one chapter in this park’s long story – let’s make it a good one.
Pic: An elk wandering through the grass at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
Ref
A County Called Sauk by Ken Lange
Shifting baseline syndrome: causes, consequences, and implications
Wisconsin Ranks Last in Per Visit State Park Funding –
For nearly 2 decades the Skillet Creek blog has focused on 3 main goals; To inspire you to visit and explore the Devil’s Lake region, to help you get the most your visit by sharing tips, events, and other helpful information. Lastly to advocate for our environment & wildlife and talk about how we can keep our natural areas amazing now and into the future! That last goal can sometimes cause controversy, but it’s the only way we can accomplish the first two. – Derrick Mayoleth, Owner.
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Extremely well articulated, sir. It’s always tempting to add new features to the estate. But, more importantly, maintenance / repair must always take the front seat even though it can be tedious, menial, and boring. If you don’t fix the big crack in the foundation wall, leaking water in heavy rains, you will end up not being able to add that new rec room addition because the house will be sinking.
Thanks Kurt. Right. We all know that you have to “Fix the roof before installing skylights.” ;). I can’t for the life of me figure out this idea of building an 18 million dollar center at a park where so much infrastructure is crumbling. Learning that a grant is being used to add climbing access on the East Bluff (which would be great eventually) before fixing the trails that everybody uses just sounds like advocacy group “influence” more than sound decision making. But if the public isn’t paying attention and the press isn’t functional (or gone) a lot of strange stuff begins to happen.
Thank You for replying. My Mom and Dad started going up to Devil’s lake in 1947 ( High School Senior “picnic” ) I can remember going up for vacations almost every year since I was 4 years old (1958). We stayed in these tiny cabins in a small resort across the road from the old Spinning Wheel Motel. I’ve so so many wonderful memories of not just the lake but, all the Baraboo area. For many years my wife and I took our young children up every year and stayed at the Blue and White (actual name) Motel, torn down for new condo’s about 15 years ago. So I truly empathize with your frustration of the special interest groups that are lured by the glitter over the prudent. Boy, the necessary and long lasting improvements / repairs to the Park’s infrastructure that $18 million could be used for would essentially guarantee the Park’s destiny for decades !! Have been following you and I believe your wife for several years now. God Bless you two and keep up the good work—I sort of live my life vicariously through you two !!
Kurt
Thanks Derrick. I enjoy learning from your excellent writing. I agree, Devils Lake north shore is too compact an area to build a large facility like a welcome/history center where visitors already have to compete for lakeside access without having to find parking outside of the park. Such a large facility should be sited outside of the DL bowl, perhaps on the West Bluff off South Shore Road or off of Cty Road DL.
It’s sad to see Devils Lake underfunded for its outdated bathrooms and shower facilities, boat launch, roads, P-lots, tree, campsites and less adequate trail maintenance on most climbing routes especially the East Bluff. It seems the government revenues investments do not relate to the number of visitors.
I recall a time when cottages dotted the North and South areas of this park and motorized watercraft sped around the lake leaving wakes of oil sheen pollution among the many swimming there. The CCC constructed some beautiful buildings there in the 1930-40’s that still serve the public purpose but I would like to more see improvement in overall maintenance. Also improvements on trail maintenance and better signage, especially on the top and descending S East Bluff side.
I like that Devils Lake is a Wis State park but suspect it may soon become a National park if our governing leadership maintaining it fails. Imagine the changes to our little gem. More restrictions and less access than we have now. Plus many more visitors- yikes. Wisconsinites deserve better.
-Gordon