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We’ve raised $16,500 so far to buy our first tractor and mower. Only $11,000 more to go!

Groundswell continues to improve access to Westport Prairie and to restore the prairie landscape for plants and wildlife. To care for our restored prairies and to mow our new trails, we are raising funds for our first tractor (~$25,000) and pull-behind mower (~$2,500), including insurance and maintenance.

We’re planning to buy these items used, so the kind of tractor and mower will depend on what we find available on the market. Here’s an example of a tractor and mower we’re interested in purchasing.

Give today in support of a tractor and mower! You can give online (indicate in the gift notes: for tractor) or mail a check to Groundswell at 303 S. Paterson St, Suite 6, Madison, WI 53703. Indicate in the check memo: for tractor.

Please consider joining the donors below who have already generously given to our tractor campaign:

The tractor and mower will be instrumental in our efforts to restore and care for Westport Prairie.

Of the original 64,000-acre Empire Prairie that historically covered much of Dane and Columbia Counties, there are only 202 acres left that are protected. This huge loss of prairie habitat has led to dwindling populations of native plants, insects, and animals.

Westport Prairie is a 227-acre wildlife area in Waunakee, WI managed by Groundswell. It is open to the public for recreation with 1.5 miles of hiking trails. It is also part of the Empire Prairie State Natural Area that preserves approximately 100 native plant species—some endangered—and many types of grassland birds. Each year, Groundswell converts more and more agricultural land to prairie at this special place for the benefit of people and the biodiversity of Dane County.

We are in year 4 of an ambitious 14-year plan to convert a total of 170 acres of land to native prairie. As we continue to plant more prairies, we need proper equipment to manage the land and ensure that the prairie habitats we’ve planted continue to thrive well into the future. Groundswell would like to purchase a tractor to help us with the long-term land management at Westport Prairie.

If you have questions about the tractor or mower, please contact BJ at bj@groundswellconservancy.org.

Are you looking for an easy way to support conservation where you live in 2023?

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.

“I deeply care about spending quality time and connecting with my kids through time spent in the outdoors. Groundswell helps create, protect, and give access to those places close to home.”
-Alton Multhauf (pictured above with his family), Groundswell Sustainer & Board Member

Monthly giving is:

We 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.

Groundswell continues to improve access to Westport Prairie and to restore the prairie landscape for plants and wildlife. To care for our restored prairies and to mow our new trails, we are raising funds for our first tractor (~$25,000) and pull-behind mower (~$2,500), including insurance and maintenance.

We’re planning to buy these items used, so the kind of tractor and mower will depend on what we find available on the market. Here’s an example of a tractor and mower we’re interested in purchasing.

Give today in support of a tractor and mower! You can give online (indicate in the gift notes: for tractor) or mail a check to Groundswell at 303 S. Paterson St, suite 6, Madison, WI 53703. Indicate in the check memo: for tractor.

To date, we’ve raised $13,529 for the tractor and mower thanks to these generous donors:

The tractor and mower will be instrumental in our efforts to restore and care for Westport Prairie.

Of the original 64,000-acre Empire Prairie that historically covered much of Dane and Columbia Counties, there are only 202 acres left that are protected. This huge loss of prairie habitat has led to dwindling populations of native plants, insects, and animals.

Westport Prairie is a 227-acre wildlife area in Waunakee, WI managed by Groundswell. It is open to the public for recreation with 1.5 miles of hiking trails. It is also part of the Empire Prairie State Natural Area that preserves approximately 100 native plant species—some endangered—and many types of grassland birds. Each year, Groundswell converts more and more agricultural land to prairie at this special place for the benefit of people and the biodiversity Dane County.

We are in year 4 of an ambitious 14-year plan to convert a total of 170 acres of land to native prairie using local-genotype prairie seed. This type of seed is well adapted to the region and has a high chance of seeding success. As we continue to plant more prairies, we need proper equipment to manage the land and ensure that the prairie habitats we’ve planted continue to thrive well into the future. Groundswell would like to purchase a tractor to help us with the long-term land management at Westport Prairie.

If you have questions about the tractor/mower, please contact BJ at bj@groundswellconservancy.org.

We cannot thank you enough for making #GivingTuesday such a big success!

You were part of a huge outpouring of support. Thank you for showing how much you care about local conservation.

You helped raise $26,682 to support conservation where you live. An anonymous donor matched your generosity dollar-for-dollar, bringing our total to $53,365! (As of 11/30/22)

Your gift will help protect special places in our community, connect kids with nature, provide equitable access to land, restore wildlife habitat, act on the climate crisis, and so much more.

Thank you again for being part of this special day of giving.

#GivingTuesday is your chance to honor local land with a gift to Groundswell.

Every gift made on #GivingTuesday will be DOUBLED thanks to an anonymous donor! Your donation of $50 becomes $100, $100 becomes $200, $200 becomes $400, and so on.

Click here to DOUBLE YOUR GIFT!

#GivingTuesday is the perfect time to support conservation where you live. By donating today, you’re helping conserve wildlife habitat, connect people to nature, provide equitable access to land, and much more.

You can also give by phone by calling 608-258-9797. Or you can mail a check to 303 S. Paterson St., Suite 6, Madison, WI 53703. Please include a note indicating your gift is part of #GivingTuesday.

Thank you for caring about special places!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Yesterday on #GivingTuesday, Groundswell supporters were part of a huge outpouring of support for local conservation. Thank you for showing how much you care about special places in our community.

You helped raise $28,581 to protect special places, right here in and around Dane County, forever. Thank you!

A generous, anonymous donor tripled each gift with a 2:1 match which means a total of $85,743 was raised for local conservation.

Thank you to everyone who gave on #GivingTuesday:

Scott and Rebecca Allen Ed Lauzon
Patricia Arndorfer Herbert Ley
Alexandria Baker Jane and Wes Licht
Jane Bannerman Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin
Aleta and Duane Barmore Seth and Sarah McGee
Michael Benish Kristine Merrill and Bill Hans
Sandy Bennett Jim Molloy and Chris Hess-Molloy
Judy and Ed Borke William and Virginia Nelson
Steve Born Shawdi and Rick Nesbit
Jim Bredeson and Cheryl Becker Ed Neumueller
Melissa Clements Dave and Lavonne O’Malley
Gary Coenen Pat and Pam O’Malley
Mitch and Sandie Custer Jefren Olsen
Greg Delwiche Kathy and Carl Olson
Cal and Ruth DeWitt Paul Patenaude
Marcia and Joseph Doll Connie and Mark Pelton
Bill and Amy Dunlop Kathy Perleberg
Chris Elholm Harry and Sylvia Peterson
Ron and Sheila Endres Caleb Pourchot and Heidi Habeger
Mike Engel and Hannah Spaul Shawn Pourchot
Martha and John Fechner Stacy Rhone
Doug Fendry Jamie Richardson
Don Ferber Mark and Dana Roffers
Mike and Doreen Festge Veronica Rueckert and Benson Gardner
Andrew Fitzpatrick Mike Rupiper
Mike Foy and Carrie Morgan Mark and Holly Schleicher
Elizabeth and Tom Ganser Gregory Schneider
Stacy Gates Rodee Schneider
Keith Gilkey Gary Schwager and Gabrielle Banik
Susan and Gary Gimmestad Lon and Susan Sprecher
Jorden Grubb Sandra Stark
Justin Gutoski Jennifer Stenglein
Terry and Nancy Habeger William Taylor
David and Lynn Hanson Mark and Daria Thomas
Sharla Hanson Patty Tipson
Todd Hanson Vern and Vicki Treinen
Tamara Hill Jonathan and Lily Yee Van Dyke
Cary Hunkel Ross and Rosalie Volkert
Steve Jandl Robyn Weis
Sarah Janowski Jim Welsh
Susan and Conrad Jostad Alex Wenthe
Peter and Beth Kaseman-Wold Zane Williams
Kathy Kershaw Scott and Amy Wisner
Marjorie King Studio Fred Wolf
Mary Anne Koos and Will Abberger Fred and Karen Wollenburg
Ed Krois and Joan Hayden Eli Woyke
Katherine and Richard Larson Carla Wright
Joseph Lasee William Zane
Renee Lauber and Graham Cody Jan Zimmermann
Matt Zine

 

Today’s the day! It’s #GivingTuesday and it’s your chance to support special places in our community like Westport Prairie and Patrick Marsh.

Every gift made today will be tripled thanks to an anonymous 2-1 match! When you give $100, the matching donor gives $200. That’s a total of $300 for protecting local lands.

#GivingTuesday is the perfect time to support conservation where you live. By donating today, you’re helping conserve wildlife habitat, connect people to nature, provide equitable access to land, and more.

You can follow our #GivingTuesday progress on Instagram and Facebook. And you can help spread the word about the importance of local conservation by sharing our posts and telling your friends and family why you support Groundswell.

Thank you for protecting special places.

There will soon be another reason to visit the Patrick Marsh Wildlife Area in Sun Prairie, WI (map): a unique wildlife viewing platform in the shape of a bird in flight is currently being constructed on the west shore of the marsh by crews from Operation Fresh Start, a job-training program for at-risk youth. The official unveiling of the viewing platform is scheduled for 1 pm on Sunday, October 4, 2015.

The new viewing platform and other improvements at the Patrick Marsh Wildlife Area are made possible under a partnership that includes Groundswell, Patrick Marsh Conservancy, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Operation Fresh Start. The viewing platform was designed by Shane Bernau of Ken Saiki Design, based on a plan Shane developed in 2006 while a student in landscape architecture at UW-Madison.

The platform will provide easily accessible wildlife viewing, just a short walk from the Patrick Marsh parking lot on Stone Quarry Road. The bird shape will make it possible for an entire class of students from nearby Patrick Marsh Middle School to get a front-row view of the marsh during outdoor classroom activities. In addition, a new distinctive metal entrance gate (also in the shape of a bird) will soon welcome visitors at the parking lot, along with an updated information kiosk orienting visitors to Patrick Marsh. Students in the Discovery Club at Patrick Marsh Middle School are designing new interpretive signs for the trails that will explain the history of the marsh from pre-settlement times until now. A new trail will connect neighborhoods on the south side of the marsh with the wildlife viewing platform

Funding for the improvements to Patrick Marsh has been provided by the Sun Prairie Rotary Club, Evjue Foundation, Rotary Foundation District 6250, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, Courtier Foundation, Natural Resources Foundation, Dane County Environmental Council, members of Groundswell, and many community members. Fund-raising efforts are on-going.

For more information about the wildlife viewing platform or the unveiling event, or to make a tax-deductible contribution to support this work, please contact Jim Welsh, Executive Director, Groundswell, at jim@groundswellconservancy.org or (608) 258-9797.

 

Starting this fall, employees of state government (including UW System employees), Dane County, City of Madison, Madison Metro School District, Monona School District, and Madison College, can donate to Groundswell through EarthShare Wisconsin in their workplace giving campaigns, primarily through payroll contributions.

Giving to Groundswell through EarthShare Wisconsin is an easy and cost-effective way to support permanent land conservation here in the Dane County region. EarthShare Wisconsin’s goal is to be the public’s trusted and proven way to support Wisconsin’s and the nation’s most respected environmental and conservation charities at work. Earthshare has earned the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance accreditation.

“We are very happy to have Groundswell as a member of EarthShare Wisconsin,” said Managing Director Darren Blankenship. “They have been a very effective organization for many years protecting vital lands, lakes, and streams in Dane County and beyond. That is why my wife and I have been longtime members of the organization.”

EarthShare Wisconsin’s benefiting organizations work hard every day to safeguard public health and the environment by seeking solutions to climate change and sustainability issues, advocating for clean and renewable energy, protecting ancient forests and conserving wildlife and habitat, cleaning up our water and air, saving endangered species, and many other vital initiatives.

If you would like more information about EarthShare Wisconsin and how they can be an option in your workplace giving campaign, please contact managing director Amanda Oenbring at amanda@earthshare.org or (240) 333-0306.

Groundswell is now enrolled in Thrivent Financial’s member-advised charitable grant program, Thrivent Choice®. This is thanks to Fred Wollenburg of Dalton who nominated Groundswell through his local Thrivent financial representative. On March 6, 2014, we received the first electronic grant from Thrivent Financial to help support our local land conservation efforts.

Thrivent Choice lets eligible Thrivent benefit members recommend where some of the organization’s charitable outreach funds go. “In 2014, I directed Choice Dollars to Groundswell because I want to help protect John Muir’s legacy in Wisconsin,” said Fred Wollenburg.

Here’s how the Thrivent Choice program works:

Eligible Thrivent members are designated Choice Dollars® that they can direct online, by phone, or through their Thrivent Financial representative. By directing Choice Dollars, participating members are thereby recommending that Thrivent provide charitable grant funding for their choice among thousands of enrolled congregations and nonprofit organizations, including Groundswell.

During the past 4 months, five individuals have directed Choice Dollars to Groundswell. Choice Dollars directions have ranged from $20 to $1,000, with the median direction being $72.

Click here to learn more about supporting Groundswell through the Thrivent Choice program or contact Heidi Habeger at 608-258-9797.