Matt Ranz caught a 44-pound blue catfish at Miami Whitewater Forest on May 17, 2018. Congratulations, Matt!

“Let’s go to the park!” That’s what we hear children say that visit Parky’s Farm: “Can we go to the park?” Silly kids; our time will be spent looking at more educational aspects of this park. We will compare hay and straw hay (hay is a grass, mowed, dried and fed to livestock; whereas straw is […]

Over the last several years we have seen the news report on the mega-wildfires in the western United States. Every year these fires seem to get bigger and more destructive. The loss to life, property and habitat of these mega-fires will have consequences that we will not fully understand for years to come. These fires […]

Spring was in full bloom at Miami Whitewater Forest Lake on Sunday May 6. Wow, what a difference two weeks can be! On April 21 these fishermen braved a 32-degree morning with spitting snow. The weather was much more comfortable for this derby, but the fishing was very challenging. Successful fishermen understand seasonal patterns. They […]

Recently I was witness to a ruby-throated hummingbird’s (Archilochus colubris) seemingly miraculous recovery from an onslaught of attacks from another territorial hummer. When I came upon the tiny feathered creature it was laying in the grass with its head down. It was hard to know whether it was going to make it. I, on the […]

“During all these years there existed within me a tendency to follow Nature in her walks.” John James Audubon and Ben Forkner. Selected Journals and Other Writings. Penguin Books, 1996. For anyone who has visited the Miami Whitewater Forest visitor center in the past 25 years, a familiar, and sometimes unsettling, face has been there […]

It was snowing at Miami Whitewater Forest Lake three days before the first Bass Series Tournament on Saturday, April 21. It was only 32 degrees when 64 bass anglers launched their boats. Toss in cold and off-colored water, and you have very difficult fishing conditions. All results Most of the field, no doubt, expected the […]