Incredibly Sad

Incredibly Sad

I took a break from the advocacy blog after the massive push to renew the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program this summer. The conservation community's official position is that we tried hard and that the Stewardship re-authorization was better than it would have been without that extraordinary effort on the part of many conservation organizations and thousands of citizens.

True but not true enough. The re-authorization is inadequate in funding and duration; and any anonymous member of the Joint Finance Committee can, in effect, veto many Stewardship grants. Incredible and incredibly sad.

Photo by Joshua Mayer

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Mark and Sue, recipients of Lifetime Achievement Award

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If you know Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin, you know they live, breathe, talk, and dream about conservation. Independently, their careers have made a huge difference in how Wisconsin values and manages natural resources. And together, their impact as long-time Goose Pond Sanctuary managers is almost immeasurable. Almost.

This past Wednesday, we joined Gathering Waters and the conservation community in celebrating Mark and Sue, recipients of the 2021 Harold "Bud" Jordahl Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations to Mark and Sue!

Photo by Arlene Koziol

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The quest for Milkweed Seeds this fall!

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Milkweeds are the host plant for monarch caterpillars, making them essential for healthy monarch populations. This fall, Madison Audubon and in particular our staff at Goose Pond Sanctuary have established a goal for volunteers to collect 50 pounds of milkweed seed for the butterflies, and we need your help!

The primary focus is on common milkweed since it is indeed common and found in old fields, along roadsides, and possibly in your yard. We also would like people to collect butterfly, whorled, and swamp (red) milkweed seed as they are highly desirable species that are not easy to locate in large numbers.

Madison Audubon photo

So long pond, hello great habitat!

A bulldozer on a prairie is not a common sight, nor a vision that comes to mind when one thinks of habitat restoration. But it is often a necessary tool in the process of bringing the land back to its previous state. Over the past 20+ years at Faville Grove Sanctuary and 50+ years at Goose Pond Sanctuary, we have put bulldozers, backhoes, excavators, and many other heavy machines to work filling man-made ditches, re-grading large areas, re-installing wetlands, and more. Our goal is always to bring the land back to its native and former glory.

Photo by David Musolf