Book excerpt: Most Wisconsin citizens share a deep appreciation of the shape and texture of their familiar landscapes-the abundance of fresh water, the fertile soils, the northern forests, the varied landforms. All these features are directly related to a special set of geologic processes and materials that collectively define the land on which we all live, work, and play. But how did it come to be this way? How did it look in the past? What kinds of creatures lived here before us? In Wisconsin's case, the geologic story is long, complex, and incomplete, beginning over three billion years ago and still in progress. Wisconsin's Foundations is just the book for a broad audience of interested citizens who simply want to know more about the origins, evolution, and geological underpinnings of the Wisconsin landscape.