Featherfoil, Wyassup

It was unnaturally chilly this morning, and on last night's "News for Lake Woebegon" segment of A Prairie Home Companion, host Garrison Keillor reported that, to the amazement of the citizenry of the "little town that time forgot," snow fell in mid-May. I know the feeling. From the forecast and the look of the clouds, it felt as if snow could start falling around here at any moment. But the temperature stayed on the plus-side of freezing, and as I walked fast to ward off the cold, I remembered to occasionally throttle down my speed to avoid missing anything along the trail. Good strategy, for along the shallow edge of a beaver dam I walked by, I noticed something very unusual: an emergent aquatic plant with feathery leaves, inflated stems, and flower heads of small white blossoms. I'd never seen anything like this before, and it took me awhile to identify it as Featherfoil, a plant on the state's Special Concern list. It apparently responds best to fluctuating water levels, so it must benefit from the work of the recently resurgent beaver population.