Last year’s extremely warm early spring now seems like an anomaly. You know, when we set 11 record high temperatures in March. Plants didn’t know what to do and started sprouting over a month earlier than normal. This year, however, the trend seems to be in the opposite direction, where some plants are sprouting, budding, and blooming later than usual. PNM reporter Hayden Marx wanted to look into this to see if this was really happening. So, he visited the one place in Madison that studies a large number of diverse plant life, the UW Arboretum. There he talks with Wisconsin native plant gardener Susan Carpenter and Assistant Ranger Laura while walking through the arboretum.
Hayden also brings us another story, this time concerning a potential danger in the recovery of Whooping cranes. Black flies are quite the nuisance to humans when camping or hiking. But they cause havoc around Whooping crane nests, that can result in fewer offspring during mating season. Co-director of communications for the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership Heather Ray explains in Hayden’s report.