Explore the wonder of Wisconsin’s Waubesa Wetlands in new film

As a child, Milwaukee filmmaker Ben Albert would get dropped off at his grandparent’s house every Friday to explore the wetlands in their southern Wisconsin backyard, where they have now lived for more than 50 years.

“They were just trying to open up this world to us as kids. Every time we went out, there’d be something new and interesting,” Albert said. “Every time we would pull [a dipnet] up, there would be this immense amount of organisms and all this life. And as a child, that was extremely fascinating.”

In a new film, Albert’s grandfather, Cal DeWitt, recalls his grandson’s fascination with the natural world from an early age. 

“Benny, who was 5, said, ‘I know what I’m gonna be when I grow up.’ He’s such an observant person,” Cal Dewitt narrates over a video of a young Albert examining a crayfish. “He says … ‘I’m going to be a scientist.’”

Albert’s prediction didn’t quite pan out — he eventually chose filmmaking as a career. But in 2020, he rediscovered his childlike wonder for the natural world by making a documentary about the place that inspired his curiosity as a child, the Waubesa Wetlands.

Ben Albert’s documentary, “An Invitation to Wonder: Waubesa Wetlands,” tells the story of the natural hidden gem just south of Madison and the scientist who aims to preserve it — his grandfather. Albert joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” to talk about the film.

It will air on PBS Wisconsin on March 16 at 6:30 p.m. and will be available to stream online from March 16 to April 27 at waubesafilm.com. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Rob Ferrett: How did the wetlands open up to you as you spent more time out there?

Ben Albert: On first impression, a wetland is a very inhospitable, challenging place to be in, and I think that’s a big reason why they’re so misunderstood. In Wisconsin alone, we’ve lost so much of our wetlands. And I think it’s that disconnect and fear people have for these places. It’s mosquito-infested, it’s challenging to navigate. … You go out there and you’re sinking into the peat, sometimes up to your waist. As you learn in the film, the peat extends way down below you, so there’s areas that you can fall in. 

My grandpa taught me to go out and spend the time there, and try to set aside some of our human expectations of, “I want to see this today.” You can’t really predict what’s going to happen in the wetland. There’s so much life, there’s so many different intricate systems happening all at the same time. The key was to go out every day, to be patient. And over the months, the wetland started to open itself up to me, and that’s when I really started to see the beauty that makes this place special. 

RF: What were some of the biggest obstacles you encountered while filming in a wetland environment?

BA: Everything is saturated with water. And when you’re out there filming with camera equipment that is not waterproof, that poses a significant challenge. So I learned quickly. I had to tie my camera down to the canoe. I had to invent some different DIY camera techniques for filming in this environment, especially for filming the underwater landscape.

Half of this ecosystem is under the surface, so I wanted to make sure I could capture that. I used a fish tank that I was able to set my camera down in, and that allowed me to film about a foot under the surface to capture most of that world. 

And of course, learning later about the depth of the marsh and that you can sink in, and that there are these holes … The peat extends up to 95 feet in depth below you, and some areas of the marsh are like walking on a trampoline. There’s a thin layer of vegetation on the very surface, and everything below you is saturated. There’s water slowly percolating through from springs deep underground. 

RF: In the documentary, your grandfather says, “If you try to understand it, you’ll discover that you have entered a system which always requires more knowledge. It doesn’t stop at the bottom of the peat and. It doesn’t stop, period.” Did you see what he was talking about during the time you spent in that ecosystem?

BA: One thing that’s really special about my grandpa’s perspective is he has always had that open, childlike wonder and curiosity for the world. And that’s something I think he has gained from being in relationship with the marsh. There’s always something new that you discover every time you go out there. 

I did become very humbled by being there. For example, in the fall, when there’s all these migrating birds and you see flocks of thousands of black birds overhead, it’s hard to not feel very small in comparison. … Over time, you realize that you are a guest entering this ecosystem that is so much bigger, so much older. We’re just a part of the system. 

RF: What would you say to encourage someone to pick that piece of nature — whether it’s in their yard, a local park or a state park — and keep making that visit, having that patience and persistence to see what they can learn from it?

BA: One of the most important lessons I learned from making this film is something my grandpa told me, and something he really lives by: In order for someone to care for and protect something, they first need to really love it. They have to love it on a very personal level. 

When he first moved into their home around the wetland, he was worried about it being developed. There were actually proposals of a highway being built across the marsh. He took his neighbors on field trips into the marsh, and he had his graduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison present their research to the neighbors. 

People needed to see it with their own eyes. That’s really how he was able to protect the Waubesa Wetlands: bringing people out there so they could build their own relationship with it, and seeing the research his students were doing. I think that applies to much beyond the Waubesa Wetlands as well. There really is so much to learn right in our backyards. I would encourage people to go out and discover what’s there.