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It is with a mix of sadness and gratitude that we say goodbye to Liz Pelton this week. We wish her the best of luck in her new job with Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (formerly Madison Audubon). We thank her for her hard work and passion these past several years.

This means we are looking to hire a Development Coordinator. The Development Coordinator works to create, renew, and strengthen relationships with financial supporters of Groundswell Conservancy. This position plays a crucial role in effective stewardship of our supporters. This person will be supervised by Groundswell’s Director of Major and Planned Gifts.

As with all staff at Groundswell, this employee will help build lasting relationships with people and partners that enable us to create a world where everyone can enjoy nature and equitable access to land.

This position is part-time (24 hours/week) salaried with paid benefits including health and dental insurance, annual and sick leave, and retirement.

Check out the full job description to learn more. The application deadline is Friday, April 12, 2024.

To Apply:

Please email a resume and cover letter via email in one PDF format to Heidi Habeger, Director of Major and Planned Gifts at heidi@groundswellconservancy.org. In the subject line include Development Coordinator Application. The cover letter should summarize your interest and qualifications for this position.

Groundswell’s Westport Prairie is a 227-acre wildlife area east of Waunakee that is open to the public.  In the middle of it, Wisconsin DNR owns the 14-acre glacial drumlin as a State Natural Area.  The drumlin is home to over 100 plant species and is a prime example of a healthy shortgrass prairie.  This prairie is only a small part of what used to be the Empire Prairie, that covered up to 150,000 acres in Dane and Columbia Counties.

When Groundswell first purchased the land surrounding the State Natural Area, most of the land was farmed.  Scattered around were a few small remnant prairies just a couple of acres in size. These prairies are steep, rocky, and impossible to farm.  That’s why they remain today.

Volunteers help collect prairie seed in 2023 from a prairie we planted in 2019

Groundswell has a goal of turning all of the farmland (over 200 acres) into native prairie, and we’re doing well!  Every year, we take more than 5 acres of farmland out of use and plant it to native flowers and grasses. We use seed collected on-site and from other remnant prairies in the area.  This type of prairie planting is called “local genotype restoration” because we use seeds from the local area.

From May to November of each year, we collect prairie seeds with the help of volunteers, interns, conservation crews, and a part-time seed collector that we hire in the fall.  We also get seeds donated from the Wisconsin DNR as well as from Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance.

In winter, when it’s snowy, we sow all the seeds collected during the year and start planning for the next year’s planting.

A map showing Groundswell’s plantings over the years

Our most recent planting from this winter (listed as ‘2023’ on the map) was a historic planting.  It was the largest yet at Westport Prairie, covering 6.5 acres.  Also, it connects two remnant prairies that used to be one but were separated over time due to farming (the pink remnant prairie to the south with the DNR-owned area in blue to the north).

With each prairie that we plant our seed source grows.  This means the size of our plantings will also grow.  Next year, we plan to plant 7.5 acres, and 9.5 acres the year after that. Piece by piece, our goal is to bring back a lost landscape by creating habitat that will live on the landscape forever.

What a rollercoaster of weather we’ve been having lately!  Some days I walk outside and feel like I’ve been teleported to early summer and the very next day I’ve travelled back to February.  Just the other day we had close to a 60F drop in temperature overnight!  I’d hate to be a weather-predicting groundhog right about now because even with years of experience, these predictions seem to be getting more and more difficult.

As we scramble to adjust our outdoor attire just about every other day, let’s take a minute to see what nature has been up to!

Mallards bobbing for apples

With all of the warm weather we’ve been having, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that our lakes are already opening up and the ice is quickly melting away.  In areas where we would normally see crowds of people ice fishing, we now see ducks and geese floating on the water.

Out of curiosity, I checked out UW’s Climatology Office website to see how long Lake Mendota was frozen over this year compared to last year.  Apparently, Lake Mendota only had 44 days of ice cover this year compared to the 98 days of ice cover last winter!

Owl pellet

Recently, I went out on a hike with my family to soak up the sun and explore nature.  The trail led us under a large willow tree overlooking a marsh and near the trunk of the tree we discovered an owl pellet!  We don’t find them often, but when we do it’s very exciting because my 6-year-old loves taking them apart to look for bones (I do too).  If you look closely at the pellet pictured above, you can see the yellowish-orange front teeth that belong to a rodent skull!

Owls usually start nesting in late January to early February which is considerably earlier than most birds.  About a month later, their eggs will begin to hatch which should be about this time!

What could this be?

While out with my monthly outdoor volunteers, we discovered another little brown blob (pictured above).  This was very clearly not an owl pellet.  It felt sort of like hardened foam and it was attached to a stick.  At first, I thought it could be a type of fungus but then discovered that it was actually a praying mantis egg case!

Praying mantises create this protective casing for their eggs in the summer.  It insulates the eggs all winter and, in the spring, the nymphs emerge by the dozens.  *Note that if you find an egg casing that looks similar to this one, it likely belongs to the invasive Chinese mantis.  The native mantis creates more elongated egg cases.

Snoozing muskrats

Lastly, I’ll leave you with these adorable muskrats that were taking a nap in the sun.  With most of the ice melted you’ll probably notice more muskrats swimming around lake edges and basking in the sun.  Fun fact: I learned just a couple of weeks ago that muskrats can hold their breath for up to 15-20 minutes, allowing them to swim great distances under the ice!

I hope you enjoyed this month’s nature update and I’ll see you next time!

Cheers,

We’re thrilled to share the good news that the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program awarded the Town of Westport a grant of $812,100 to support the purchase of a prized property on the northside of Lake Mendota.

Groundswell protected this special place, once slated for development, in December 2022. Since then, we continued to work with the Town of Westport and Gathering Waters to secure additional funding for this large purchase through the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program. Our request for funding was approved last week.

A mix of grassland, wetlands, and oak woods, the land is an important part of the Lake Mendota watershed. It is home to a wide variety of wildlife. It also provides essential outdoor recreation space for the community.

Protecting special places is always a team effort. We are grateful to Steve and Marianne Schlecht and the citizens of the Town of Westport for their support.  A special thanks to Senator Dianne Hesselbein and Representative Alex Joers for championing this grant. Thank you to Governor Tony Evers for making the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program a priority.

And thank you to our Groundswell supporters for caring about conservation where you live.

It’s CSA Week! Supporting local and sustainable businesses in our community goes hand in hand with the work we do at Groundswell. Check out how our partners at Fairshare CSA Coalition can connect you to the local farmer that fits your needs. Support local farmers today!

CSA Week is a nationwide celebration and promotion of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The 40+ organic, small-scale CSA farmers in FairShare’s Coalition work hard to grow delicious food for their communities across the Midwest. We want to lift up their work and help eaters like you get connected to a CSA share in your community.

FairShare provides information on how folks can pick the share that works best for their needs on their About CSA page. And their online Farm Search Tool is a great resource for people to find a FairShare farm near them.

CSA Week is the busiest time of year for CSA share signups. Don’t wait to sign up as shares sell out quickly! CSA is more than food – it’s about directly impacting your local community, knowing and supporting your local farmer, and building a resilient and sustainable future.

Happy February!  I don’t know about you, but if someone were to ask me what my favorite month is or even my top 5 favorite months, February usually isn’t in the running.  When I think of February, the color gray immediately comes to mind.

I need to kick this habit though because February is a wonderful time of year!  The days are finally getting longer, buds on trees are starting to form, and cardinals are starting to sing in the early morning!  While we watch the snow melt from this unseasonably warm week, let’s get outside and see what else February has to offer.

Rodent tracks in the snow

Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of rodent tracks in the snow which always brings a smile to my face because of how sneaky they generally are.  While I have seen mice and voles run right by me while out on hikes, it’s not very common.  As sneaky as they are, covering their tracks is impossible so it’s nice to see where they choose to hike when no one else is around.

While looking at the tracks found at Westport Prairie, I heard what sounded like a Red-tailed Hawk screeching overhead and when I looked up, it was actually a Blue Jay!  Did you know that Blue Jay’s often mimic the screech of a Red-tailed Hawk?

Coyote tracks in the snow

Being a mouse means you really need to plan your hikes, because right about where the mouse tracks ended, the coyote tracks (pictured above) started… One easy way to tell if tracks belong to a domestic dog versus a fox or coyote is to look at the path of the tracks.  Dogs rarely walk in a straight line while foxes and coyotes are much more efficient with their consumption of energy.

These tracks were fairly large and spaced pretty far from one another which helps with my coyote identification.  Fox tracks are generally a little smaller and spaced closer together.

Just looks like grass, right?

As I continued my hike, I ventured a little off the trail to identify some prairie plant seed heads (as one does).  As I got closer, I saw a cottontail rabbit burst from the grass and it raced away from me.  It was startling but also confusing because the grass here was very short and this was a fairly large rabbit.  It didn’t seem possible for something that large to be completely obscured less than 5 feet from me.

I carefully walked around the area to see where it came from.  I thought maybe there was a hole in the ground that it was hiding in.  It crossed my mind that maybe it was just in plain sight but not moving so it camouflaged in with its surroundings and I just didn’t see it.

Eastern cottontail nest

As I crouched down to get a better view, I found this perfect little nest (pictured above) tucked away under the grass.  It looked well-insulated and very cozy!  There’s no way in a million years that I would have ever found this nest if I hadn’t accidentally flushed the rabbit.  In that moment, I looked around and wondered about all of nature’s other secrets that are almost literally under our feet, and we just don’t notice.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my virtual tour of nature as it’s happening.  Spring is not all that far away so try to get out and enjoy all that February has to offer!

See you next month!

Groundswell is growing and we have an exciting career opportunity to share! Thanks to the support of our generous foundation partners, we’re hiring a full-time Farm & Land Management Specialist.

The Farm & Land Management Specialist is a new position that works with our Community Director (50% of time) and Land Management Director (50% of time). This position is responsible for helping manage our two community farms, two nature preserves, create infrastructure and partnerships at our community conservation projects, and develop and strengthen relationships with financial supporters and partners of Groundswell Conservancy.

As with all staff at Groundswell, this employee will help build lasting relationships with people and partners that enable us to create a world where everyone can enjoy nature and equitable access to land.

This position is salaried with paid benefits including health and dental insurance, annual and sick leave, and retirement.

Check out the full job description to learn more and for directions on how to apply. Applications are due by Friday, February 23, 2024.

We are happy to share the good news that last week Groundswell purchased 20 acres of wetlands in southern Columbia County. We are grateful to the Bredeson family for their interest in conservation.

The property lies within the Anderson Waterfowl Production Area (WPA). Anderson is one of thirteen WPAs in Columbia County. These areas spread across 13,000 acres of land and water in Columbia County. They are managed as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System for ducks, geese, and other waterfowl.  They also provide important habitat for other wildlife.

This property is open for hunting, fishing, and trapping (subject to applicable Federal and State laws). It is also open to hiking, cross country skiing, and observation. Groundswell will donate the property to the Fish and Wildlife Service for long-term ownership and management.

Funding to purchase the property came from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and Groundswell supporters.  Thanks to Ducks Unlimited for its role in securing the federal acquisition funds.

Are you looking for an easy way to support conservation where you live in 2024?

It’s fast and simple to set up automatic monthly gifts to Groundswell. Your gifts will provide reliable, ongoing support to help protect special places for everyone in our community.

In a short period of time, our land has been destroyed by exploitation and extraction of what our Mother Earth lovingly gives us. As an individual, I can only do so much to protect her, but when we come together we can be stronger and achieve more. This is why I contribute to Groundswell Conservancy’s efforts to protect land from being developed and further destroyed. I have seen closely, right in my own town, the work they do and I’m grateful for it.” Yolibeth Rangel, Monthly Sustainer (pictured above)

Monthly giving is:

I hope you join the community of Groundswell Sustainers by signing up online today and selecting the monthly donation type.  You can change your monthly gift amount or cancel at any time by calling 608-258-9797.

Thank you for caring about conservation where you live.

Happy almost New Year!  I’m not sure about you, but it seems like this past year flew right on by.  In my mind, I’m still picking tomatoes from my garden but when I look outside, I see snow.  Before you know it, spring will be here so let’s get outside and try to enjoy every minute of it!

I know that I enjoyed just about every minute of the past week because I was fortunate enough to get outside and enjoy nature in Florida.  I visited some family who recently moved there, so sit back and let’s take a quick virtual tour of what’s happening outside right now (a little further south)!

Brown pelican

One of my favorite critters to watch on my trip were these brown pelicans.  They reminded me of home in Wisconsin where we have American white pelicans.  Just hop over to Patrick Marsh in the summer and you’ll see hundreds of them loafing about and hunting for fish.

Brown pelicans on the other hand are found in places with saltier water.  They’re smaller than white pelicans, are much darker, and don’t have that bright orange beak.  They also fish a little differently than our white pelicans in that they dive into the water from the air to catch fish.  Seeing such large birds dive into the water from great heights was quite a spectacle!

Brown anole on palmetto

I don’t even have to ask what my 6-year-old’s favorite part of the trip was.  Seeing these small brown anole lizards around every corner and attempting to catch them was definitely his highlight.  Did you know that Wisconsin is home to four different lizard species?  There’s a really good chance you’ve never seen any of them though.  However, these brown anoles were everywhere we went and that’s not surprising considering they are an introduced and very invasive species.

We have our own invasive species in Wisconsin (many of which I work to control), so it was interesting to learn about invasive species in Florida.  These brown anoles displace the green anoles that are native to the state.  The brown anoles are more aggressive, are better at adapting to the environment, and won’t be leaving anytime soon.

Manatee migration

The highlight for me was getting to see migrating manatees in the wild!  The whole experience was incredibly bizarre because we simply have nothing like this in Wisconsin.  These slow-moving sea cows were such graceful swimmers and were much larger than I had thought (~10′ long)!

When I think of migration, my mind goes straight to birds even though there are tons of different species of wildlife that migrate.  One of those species is the manatee which, like many people, travel to Florida in the winter months.  Manatees are not able to tolerate water temperatures below 68F for long periods of time, so when it gets cold, they swim to natural springs (like the one pictured above) where the water stays at around 72F year-round.

Baby alligator

It would be hard to talk about Florida without mentioning the alligators.  Wisconsin has quite a few different species of reptiles, but none as large as the American alligator.  We kept a ‘gator tally’ for the whole trip and ended with 18 of them!  The alligator pictured above was a juvenile and only measured to about 2′ long.  The mom wasn’t too far away so I snapped a few quick pictures from a safe distance and we got out of there ASAP!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my virtual tour of nature as it’s happening.

P.S. Give a year-end gift to Groundswell today! Thank you for helping to protect special places and connect others with nature. 

See you next year!