Wilderness Field Station Course Offerings

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Session 1: June 14 - July 12, 2025

Aquatic Ecology (BIO-275 and lab): Carrie Kissman, Biology, St. Norbert College
Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Power and Sustainability (POL 185): Pablo Toral; Political Science, Beloit College
Animal Behavior (BIO-285 and lab): Jesse Ellis, Biology, Coe College

Session 2: July 12 - August 10, 2025

Environmental Toxicology (BIO 23X and lab): Tawnya Cary, Biology, Beloit College
Writing Wilderness (RHE 345): Chris Fink; English, Beloit College
Northwoods Ecology (BIO 203 and lab): Alyssa Hakes; Biology, Lawrence University

Brief Course Descriptions

Aquatic Ecology (BIO-275/275L)

Study of the biota of lakes and streams in northern Minnesota and adjacent Ontario, and their abiotic environment. Extensive field sampling enables students to study predation, diel vertical migration, stream drift, induced morphological defenses, and food-web interactions. Regional and North American lake and stream biodiversity and the effects of introduced species and human intervention on aquatic ecosystems are reviewed.

Prerequisite: One college biology course.

Carrie Kissman (St. Norbert College, De Pere, Wisconsin)

Animal Behavior (BIO-285/285L)

This class will explore the ways scientists have tried to unravel the mysteries of animal behavior and the understanding that this research has provided. Extensive field observations and independent projects will give students hands-on experience interpreting and investigating behavior. We investigate any animal at hand, from beavers to dragonflies.

Prerequisite: One biology course, or permission of instructor.

Jesse Ellis (Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Power and Sustainability (POL-185)

This course introduces the students to field-based research in the social sciences. Students will become familiar with survey research by learning data-collection techniques such as participant observation and interviewing techniques. Students will also learn to record, analyze and present data. They will conduct research from two different cases of wilderness preservation, the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area in the United States and Quetico Provincial Park in Canada. Cross-national comparisons of political institutions, regulatory styles, and state-society relations will reveal different styles of environmental management and wilderness preservation. Students will interview key stakeholders on both sides of the border, including members of native communities (called "first nations" in Canada), business groups, environmental groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and government. The course is designed for undergraduate students with an interest in environmental studies and social research methods, but no previous knowledge of political science or research methods is needed. Students considering graduate school will find this course particularly valuable because many graduate programs in the social sciences require strong field research skills.

Prerequisite: None.

Pablo Toral (Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin)
Click here for Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Power and Sustainability full course description.

Northwoods Ecology (BIO-203/203L)

Learn methods and principles of field ecology in this class as it explores the various ecosystems of the boreal forest biome. Examine predator-prey interactions by collecting data on the food consumed by carnivorous pitcher plants in a bogs. Understand the dynamics of the processes of disturbance and succession as you paddle through the Boundary Waters visiting healthy mature forest, areas recently burned, and areas affected by massive windstorms known as derechos. Examines relationships between organisms and their biotic and abiotic environment with a focus on the near-boreal communities surrounding the field station. Field work augmented by readings, lectures and discussion will cover ecology at the population, community and ecosystem levels. Applications to human ecology in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area will be integrated into the course.

Prerequisite: None

Alyssa Hakes (Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin)

Writing Wilderness (RHE-345)

This course investigates strategies for writing about the natural world in an informal workshop format. Class members explore the terrain around the Field Station and share with each other their written observations about those experiences. The composition assignments invite everyone to express their insights in various genre options: daily field journals, essays, poetry, short fiction, journalistic articles, memoirs, etc. By exploring and writing about this immersion into the north woods--plus reading works by such classic naturalists as Thoreau, Muir, Leopold, Olson, and McPhee--we should all gain a richer understanding of our relationship with the wilderness.

Prerequisite: None.

Chris Fink (Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin)
Click here for Writing Wilderness full course description.

Environmental Toxicology (BIO-23X/23XL)

This intermediate biology course will introduce students to the field of environmental toxicology, which investigates how environmental pollutants affect living organisms. This course will focus on sources, fate, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of metals, a class of pollutants with a long social, economic, and environmental history in the region. Students will read and discuss published literature in environmental toxicology, explore social and economic issues around mining, play with quantitative data, and engage in field sampling around the Wilderness Field Station on Low Lake.

Prerequisite: One college biology course.

Tawnya Cary (Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin)