December, the Doorway to Winter: Surviving Freezing Temperatures

Exploring the outdoors during the winter months often provides unpretentious yet spectacular views of our natural world.  The winter months reveal nature’s basic structures as we marvel at the complexities that exist within.

“When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Aldo Leopold

Aldo Leopold, captured in black and white on a frozen Wisconsin waterway, exemplifies this reality, as do his words in from A Sand County Almanac which remind us of the imperative ecological work that lies ahead. Aldo Leopold is considered by many to have been the greatest influential conservation thinker of the 20^th Century. Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Archives at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The pinnacle of wintertime fashion is hats, gloves, scarves, and big, warm jackets - for us humans, at least! Have you ever seen a maple tree wearing a giant knit cap in the frozen winter temperatures? How about a squirrel in a sweater? A frog building a campfire? These questions may sound silly, but if they're obviously not true, then how do these wild critters survive harsh winter conditions? There's three main answers to this question - migration, hibernation, and adaptation.

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This resource was created by Von Scully and Kate Reilly.