Advocacy

The best day of the Year

The best day of the Year

The 55 fourth graders of Madison's Lincoln Elementary School celebrated Earth Day a day early on Friday, April 21. They planted dozens of oak trees along Black Earth Creek and saw some of the storied inhabitants of the creek up close and personal.

Photo by Brenna Marsicek / Madison Audubon

Kindness, Love, and Care

Kindness, Love, and Care

I think Madison Audubon's grappling with the John James Audubon legacy and deciding to change the Chapter's name is also motivated by kindness, love, and care. We want to reach out to everyone in our community with care and kindness and share our love of the natural world. We can't share that love and extend a hand of kindness and camaraderie if we ignore the effects of Audubon's cruelty and racism. Madison Audubon’s staff and board have certainly been extraordinarily careful in their consideration of Audubon's history and the pain it still causes today.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

Beauty and Guilt

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed yesterday what southern Wisconsin birders have known for several days.  The Lake Michigan shoreline in Milwaukee is hosting a male Mandarin Duck, arguably the world's most spectacular and beautiful duck.  

If you don't want to drive to Milwaukee and join dozens of other birders, check out the photos below. WOW, WOW, WOW.

Photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren

Payne a gain for the DNR

On Dec. 27, Governor Evers announced that he appointed Adam Payne the new Secretary of the DNR.

Mr. Payne might be appropriately named because he has a lot of that awaiting him. The DNR always has contentious issues and he'll step into two of the most controversial: wolf management and water pollution, PFAS  immediately and agriculture-related run off soon thereafter. Powerful legislators and lobbyists for some business and agricultural interests don't want much, if anything, done about the pollution. Wolves always evoke passion; I don't know if any management plan will achieve a consensus among the folks for whom the plan is important. Plenty of other tough issues will arise.

Photo by Karen Viste-Sparkman/USFWS