Guided Eco-Tour

Saturday, June 15, 2013

1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Jackson Harbor boat launch

Jackson Harbor and Carlin's Point !

This year's eco-tour at beautiful Jackson Harbor and Carlin's Point is intended to be educational, about local natural history and the environment, as well as an encouraging outing for beginner and novice paddlers. Stephen Schmidt and Terri Cooper, our tour guides, will point out swans' nests, Canada geese, Great Blue Herons and spawning bass. Canoeists or kayakers who have never paddled Jackson Harbor are encouraged to join this flotilla of paddlers.

Stephen is an enthusiastic naturalist who spends several weeks each summer with his family on Washington Island.. Stephen has been an avid sea kayaker since he and his wife took a tour of Prince William Sound in Alaska in 2004 and a six-week Arctic science expedition to study climate change aboard the USCGC Healy. Since then he has attended several Sea Kayak symposia in Lakes Superior and Michigan, including the first WICKE crossing of Death's Door. One of his favorite memories was a paddle of the west shore of the island with daughter Maggie who was 3 at the time when she said with a dreamy voice "It's so quiet Dad". Other Island Life activities Steve enjoys include coaching youth soccer, family picnics at School House Beach, fishing and hunting. His love of nature led him to earn a BS in Environmental Science from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas and a MS in Fisheries from UW-Stevens Point. He resides in Wausau where he teaches K-College Science as owner/manager of Snapshot Science, LLC and as an adjunct instructor of Principles of Sustainability at Northcentral Technical College.