May Spring Wildflowers Here in Wisconsin, witnessing the wane of winter is a delight to all who crave warmer days and longer daylight. No sign of spring goes unnoticed nor uncelebrated. And even if Garrison Keillor contends, "Winter is God's compliment to us. It says: I know you can handle this," we sure are glad when it's over. One of many celebrated signs of spring are the ephemeral wildflowers that color the floors of Wisconsin woodlands. With a perfect balance of ...Continue Reading →

April Every Day is Earth Day Not every cause gets its own day. Okay, well maybe they do -- after all there is International Bacon Day (celebrated the Saturday prior to Labor Day), National Cheese Fondue Day (this month!) and National Pickle Day (November 14), just to name a few. But none carry the same political and historical heft of Earth Day. In 1970 the first Earth Day was observed by twenty million people (10% of the US population) with marches, rallies, concerts, and teach-ins designed to speak ...Continue Reading →

March Gearing up for Garden Season Are these longer days making your green thumb twitch? Are you ready to get out into the soil to sow and witness the amazing emergence of roots and shoots? We know our friends at Community GroundWorks are enjoying this early spring preparation time and if you simply can't wait to get gardening, we are pleased to feature their sage advise on indoor gardening ideas. Read on for a guest blog entry from the Wisconsin School Garden Initiative Brief: Why Garden ...Continue Reading →

February Backyard Bird Count Just last week while walking the wee ones to school, I heard the happy song of chickadees calling "seeee-breeze" from the mid level branches just over our heads. It's a sound that lightens one's mid-winter heart as this mating song signifies that spring is indeed on its way. It's also a reminder that the annual Great Backyard Bird Count is about to begin - and it's time to dust off the binoculars and dedicate a bit of time to outdoor observation and citizen science. The ...Continue Reading →

January Wisconsin Conservation History Cruising the streets of Madison, Wisconsin (and surely other Wisconsin communities) it's easy to find elementary schools donning famous names like Lapham, Thoreau, Van Hise, Muir, Leopold - all founding fathers of nature conservation as we know it today. Their work in the 1800s and early 1900s set the stage for preserving wildlife and wild places in Wisconsin and fairly earned them the right to have schoolchildren sing their names at every school assembly. As Wisconsin became a territory (in ...Continue Reading →

December Tracks in the Snow "Tracking an animal is opening the door to the life of that animal. It is an educational process, like learning how to read. In fact, it is learning how to read. Following an animal's trail may bring you closer to the animal physically, but, more important, it brings you closer to it in perception." So writes Paul Rezendes in "Tracking and the Art of Seeing." He believes that tracking animals strengthens our connection to them, ...Continue Reading →