Mother Nature has been stubborn this year, or maybe it’s
payback for the last few winters (or lack thereof). The yearly march toward tulips and warblers
has been slowed by the seemingly never-ending grasp of ice and snow, making
people pine for last years warm and early spring. Such is life in Wisconsin. Spring will eventually arrive with a
sweet-smelling southern breeze that carries with it the perfume of hundreds of
wildflowers and erase any lingering arctic chill. The robins that have migrated
to find Wisconsin still in winter will soon find puddles to play in, potential
lovers to serenade and unsuspecting worms to fill their bellies with. Winter isn’t all gloom and iced windshields
and spring isn’t all flowers and beauty though.
While spring signals the rebirth of the forest and its
animal inhabitants, it is also the season of mud. Trails turn from a wondrous frozen ski or
snowshoe path to a filthy, muddy slop more fit for a pig than a hiker. Sure, you can drive with your window cracked
open, but the pure beauty of a snowy landscape has been replaced with the wastewater
grey of melting snow banks, revealing garbage accumulated over the last few
months (in the city at least). Lawns
reveal themselves, giving homeowners a nudge and wink that they’ll shortly need
attention.
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| The beauty of spring |
Winter, on the other hand, provides the base for life in
Wisconsin. The snows replenish the lakes
and rivers. The cold gives the trees a
chance to rest from the furious growth of summer. And people get a break from yard work,
mosquitos, black flies and ticks (are people really that excited to feel the
sting of a mosquito or dig a tick out of their leg?). Wisconsin wouldn’t be Wisconsin without the
winters (do we really want to be more like Illinois?).
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| The majesty of winter |
A good, cold, snowy winter is also an important part of
Wisconsin tourism, bringing snowmobilers and ice fishermen to the Northwoods
and elsewhere. The ski hills are
definitely not complaining about the shortcomings of spring. Winter saw
Wisconsin host the World Ice Fishing Championships in Wausau, the largest cross
country ski race in North America with the American Birkebeiner, the North
American Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships in Eau Claire, the U.S. Cheese
Championships at Lambeau, and another successful spearing season in the best
most productive Sturgeon fishery in the world on the Lake Winnebago chain. And people are eager for winter to end? It’s easy to whine about lasting cold and
snow, but the impact winter imparts on the state is immense.
I am a fan of winter and its passing always brings me a
little sadness. I am not against spring,
but it’s worth considering the ugly parts while you cheer the warmth of the sun
on a bright March day that begins the melting of 3 months of snow. I take comfort knowing the snows will fall
again in the autumn and return Wisconsin to a more elegant state. Then again, beach season isn’t too bad; maybe
the coming of spring isn’t so terrible.
