That's not the usual topic of a blog. Failure is not something either individuals or organizations admit to. But, if we're not failing sometime, we're probably dead or not really honest with ourselves.

My fishing trips are often lessons in failures but last week was a doozy. I had carefully planned the day with a half mile hike to one end of the stream and then I'd fish slowly and carefully back to the car. When I arrived, I discovered I had left my fishing vest with all my flies and much other gear in the car. That was a long, sweaty, unhappy trek to fetch the vest.

The aftermath illustrates two dimensions of failure: lessons and opportunities. The lesson here is pretty obvious. Don't leave the car without checking that you have all the gear. I was too tired to retrace my steps and so I started fishing much closer to the car. Opportunity arrived in the form of Seth. He was checking the stream out and wandered into me. Seth is just getting into fishing and was eager for advice. He hit the motherlode in me (bless his heart). He also got some free flies. He's an agronomist, specializing in potatoes. I now know much more about Wisconsin's potato industry and how big it is (Seth's company alone produces 200 million pounds of potatoes, all for the fresh market). And then I caught some trout just upstream.

A volunteer scatters seed at Goose Pond Sanctuary. *Photo by Brenna Marsicek / SoWBA*

SoWBA has its failures too, as does just about every conservation organization that I know of. Several years ago, part of one of our Goose Pond prairies failed. Invasive thistle dominated it and was increasing despite many attempts to control it. So, the Goose Pond staff put the land back to crops for a couple of years, planned anew, and for the last couple of years have sowed an even better variety of plants and are managing it carefully. I'm really eager to see the progress this summer.

This example reminds us that conservation is hard. Any restoration of habitat is complex with many site-specific variables. Every restoration has its problems and sometimes (rarely, thank goodness) we just have to start over.

Another lesson concerns blame. When failure happens a common impulse is to blame. Not so fast would be my advice. In the case of the thistle bound prairie, staff had carefully planned and executed the first restoration and had diligently addressed the thistle. They did not lack effort and did not make any obvious mistake. They learned from the experience but that doesn't mean they were at fault.

Any significant failure calls for analysis and soul-searching but finger pointing and blaming never help.

The wild storm on May 21 resulted in a sad example of failure in nature: an eagle nest failure. Our Bald Eagle Nest Watch program team reports that most nests came through the storm unscathed, but one nest in western Dane County wasn’t as lucky. The entire nest tree fell over, taking the nest and its three eaglets with it. All three eaglets died, likely on impact, just a couple weeks away from fledging. While this event is part of the ups and downs of the natural world, it still stings, and leaves us hoping the adults will show the same tendency to resilience as much of the natural world and its protectors.

One of the most difficult failures for Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance and any land trust occurs when a land purchase evaporates. Land trusts don't publicize those because land negotiations are confidential. Our misses are probably more frequent than we'd imagine. Buying land is tough. Much of southern Wisconsin has a land market with many buyers and escalating prices. The land that land trusts like SoWBA, Groundswell Conservancy, The Prairie Enthusiasts, Driftless Area Land Conservancy, or Mississippi Valley Conservancy hope to buy is attractive to nearby farmers or developers or folks who want their own spot or natural heaven. In more cases than I care to remember, the owners of the land have died and multiple heirs have a tough time deciding to sell and for how much and to whom.

And here we find the most important lesson failure teaches: persistence. All the land trusts I mentioned are successes because they don't give up. Every once in a while one of them can revive a land deal that was on life support. More importantly, they keep looking for the land that needs protection and they negotiate in good faith with the owners. Because of that persistence, they succeed a lot.

So what does this mean for us? Well, don't give up when the first batch of native plants in the front yard doesn't do so well. If you think SoWBA has failed or made a mistake or let you down, let us know. But give us the benefit of the doubt and assume we've tried hard and will try to make it right. With regard to land purchases, we sometimes ask you to donate to replenish our acquisition funds. If you can, please do. Ready money always improves the odds of us buying some important land.

Thanks and have a peaceful Memorial Day,

Topf Wells, advocacy committee