New interactive nature journal for Toft Point created by UWGB program to be available Dec. 12
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GREEN BAY - A new book that not only celebrates Toft Point State Natural Area in Baileys Harbor but also gives people the chance to include their own thoughts and images from the place is being released Dec. 12.
"Wandering Toft Point: A Nature Journal" includes original illustrations of Toft Point and some of the plant and animal life found there, some found nowhere else in the state, with information about the flora and fauna and poetry about the area. As a journal, it also offers space on its pages for those hiking or visiting the area to write down their own observations and sketch what they see.
The book is a product of The Teaching Press, a University of Wisconsin-Green Bay program that teaches students about book publishing from start to finish, down to making the books on campus, and works with aspiring authors to make their book projects come to life.
Spearheaded by UW-Green Bay graduate student Cayla Cavey, the Toft Point journal is a collaboration between students and advisers in the the school's Scientific Illustration Student Organization, regional poets and writers, University Archives staff and the program's undergraduate editors. Teaching Press director Rebecca Meacham said the idea of an interactive journal celebrating Toft Point fit with the school's "Eco-U" ecological focus.
“Our editors just ran with this idea,” Meacham said in a press release. “We thought, what better way celebrate our ‘Eco-U’ roots than with a book you can write in as you hike?”
Adjacent to The Ridges Sanctuary, the state's first land preserve, Toft Point is recognized by the National Park Service as a National Natural Landmark and was designated a State Natural Area in 1967. The late Emma Toft, a co-founder of The Ridges and renowned conservationist in her time, sold the property in 1967 to the Wisconsin Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, which entrusted it to UWGB a year later.
With more than two miles of Lake Michigan shoreline that include wave-cut dolomite cliffs and limestone cobble beach, Toft Point provides habitat for more than 440 plant species and one of the most diverse mosses and liverworts in the state, along with many area-sensitive bird species, including 17 species of nesting warblers.
The launch of "Wandering Toft Point: A Nature Journal" will take place at 4 p.m. Dec. 12 in the STEM Innovation Center on the UWGB campus. Attendees can buy copies of the book, learn about Toft Point, Emma Toft, and scientific illustration and use press equipment to bind their own book. It is free to attend, but RSVPs are requested. The book also will be available starting Dec. 12 from The Teaching Press website; Meachem said they hope to make it available in Door County shops in the near future, depending on supply of the handbound book.
To RSVP for the book launch or for more information, visit uwgb.edu/teaching-press.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: New interactive nature journal focuses on Baileys Harbor natural area
