Visiting Project Northwoods Nature Center

I found myself back in the driver's seat of the Museum van after taking it to the border of the Upper Peninsula just a few days earlier. This time I drove southeast to the slightly smaller town of Winter, as dark clouds trailed behind me bearing heavy rain. The Project Northwoods Nature Center appeared only a few blocks into town. I approached the front steps lined with flower pots, eager to get inside and revisit some of the Museum's old taxidermy mounts.

Dr. Julie Ray greeted me through the narrow walkway established between lizard and turtle enclosures. Clearly, I thought, her past life experiences continue to spill into current work in northern Wisconsin. Dr. Ray once researched neotropical snakes in Panama, and has since actively contributed to our current understanding of snake ecology. Twenty years later, snakes still occupy much her mind--as well as the majority of the Project Northwoods front room. 

Many of the live animals who Dr. Julie Ray cares for have been injured
or abandoned, including this pet iguana who has lost parts of its back toes.

But our relationship wasn't based on snakes. Dr. Ray and I first became acquainted over squirrels, ducks, raptors, and other taxidermy mounts that the Museum could no longer care for in our own collection. As I followed her into a back "Northwoods" room, I noticed that our mounts had been supplemented by many more donations of local plant and animal specimens. 

These skulls were donated to Project Northwoods by one of the Museum's contacts.

Dr. Julie Ray's plan for Project Northwoods is to engage Winter School District children and visitors with the local environment--through displays, workshops, and even research in the live animals lab. That's a vision that we at the Cable Natural History Museum can definitely get behind. 

To learn more about Project Northwoods Nature Center, go to projectnorthwoodswi.weebly.com or visit their Facebook page.