In the world of Wisconsin conservation late spring and early summer are pretty busy times. Burns have just concluded and some planting is wrapping up. That can range from thousands of trees planted in our national forests to 75 native dogwood shrubs at Goose Pond to provide habitat for Willow Flycatchers. Many volunteers, landowners, and restoration professionals are picking (and absolutely not grinning) garlic mustard. My friends at Trout Unlimited are undertaking stream projects that can be accomplished manually while the DNR is about to start the stream restorations that require heavy equipment. In the not too distant future Madison Audubon, The Prairie Enthusiasts (TPE), and other land trusts will begin the cycle of seed collecting (as I write this, a friend is concluding his collection of Dutchman’s Breeches).
Dutchman’s Breeches in full glory, photo by Drew Harry
Such variety is not found in the offices of conservation organizations. Every one that I know about is focused on convincing the Legislature to re-authorize Stewardship. See this link as examples and more advice on how to contact legislators. Or check out my blog post from Earth Day to get more tips.
I'm following suit but with a difference. All of us are being asked to contact our legislators, which is sound advice. Many of you have done so and please do so again. But we're in the same place. We need Republican votes and I'm not sure how many of those we've garnered.
As a long-shot but worth it given the value of Stewardship, please consider doing the following:
Use https:/legis.wisconsin.gov/ to take you to lists of all the members of the State Senate and Assembly. These have photos of each legislator and contact information.
Look at each Republican Senator and Assembly Member.
If you have a personal connection* to any legislator regardless of what area she or he represents, please contact him or her and ask that they support the reauthorization of Stewardship.
*What sort of connections? A second cousin you saw at the family wedding two years ago would be fine. Someone you met in a Northwoods supper club while you enjoyed a vacation—that's fine too. Any connection that you think the legislator will remember positively is what you're looking for (the legislator who rear-ended you at the stoplight is probably not worth a contact).
This will take some time and might resemble looking for the proverbial needle. But any contact any of us can make to remind a Republican legislator how important this program is to so many Wisconsin residents is extraordinarily helpful.
Thanks for considering this request.
Topf Wells, Madison Audubon board of directors and advocacy committee chair
