Conservation Digest

05/16/2025

If you are a Wisconsin landowner with buckthorn on your property, you know how tough it is to control. A free webinar on May 21st covers new treatment options for this difficult invader.
Invasive buckthorn continues to threaten native ecosystems, but new and creative management approaches are showing promising results. This webinar will explore cutting-edge strategies to control and replace buckthorn, including the Cover It Up program, which utilizes native plantings to suppress regrowth, targeted goat grazing, and the use of fungal pathogens to weaken buckthorn populations. Join experts as they share research-backed insights, real-world applications, and success stories from the field. Whether you’re a land manager, conservationist, or homeowner, this session will equip you with practical tools to restore habitat and reclaim invaded landscapes.

03/26/2025

We can all use a little help especially when starting out.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension Department of Forestry is hosting a series of three virtual webinars that invites new and prospective landowners in Wisconsin to connect with conservation professionals and...

01/30/2025

Join your neighbors for the 2025 Cabin Fever Sessions. These free talks deal with a variety of conservation topics and are presented by the Baraboo Range Preservation Assocation.
Wednesday, February 19
Amphibian and Reptile Conservation in Wisconsin
Dr. Joshua Kapfer, Associate Professor at UW-Whitewater, Department of Biological Sciences
Join us in welcoming Dr. Kapfer, a certified wildlife biologist, as he will highlight our local frogs, toads, turtles, snakes and salamanders soon to awaken with the return of spring. Joshua’s interest in herptiles has a connection to Sauk County, and his research is intended to inform the conservation of these uncommon species.
Sponsored by: Terrence & Barbara McCormick, The Village Booksmith
Wednesday, March 5
Effigy Mounds of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway
Mark E. Cupp, Executive Director Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board
Mark is one of the leading experts on locations of Native American mound sites in the lower Wisconsin River valley. He hopes to educate youth and adults about the prehistory of SW Wisconsin and the interaction between Native Americans, European explorers, and Euro-American settlement of the region. Expect to hear ideas on how we can preserve and protect our cultural sites in and around the Baraboo Range.
Sponsored by: Hiroshi & Arlene Kanno, MSA Professional Services, Mary-Luckhardt-Klemm
Wednesday, March 19
Journey to Mongolia with the International Crane Foundation
Dr. Robert Rolley and Dr. Karen Mesmer, Career Biologists and BRPA Members
Join our intrepid travelers Robert and Karen for an evening recounting their 2024 adventure to the land of the eternal blue skies. Learn about this exotic country and the work ICF has been doing together with their Mongolian colleagues to conserve five species of cranes and other wildlife. The wetlands that cranes depend on are shared with thousands of sheep and goats and the nomadic people. Bonus: It’s our pizza party night.
Sponsored by: Ursula Muehllehner, Cross, Jenks, Mercer & Maffei Law Firm
Major funding for the series is provided by the Rotary Club of Baraboo and members of BRPA. This event is cosponsored by the Carnegie-Schadde Memorial Public Library, 230 4th Avenue in Baraboo, where all lectures will be held. For more information email [email protected] or call 355-7512 . The auditorium doors open at 6:30 pm for cookies and coffee, talks start at 7:00 pm.

01/29/2025

CWD does appear to have a tipping point -- and the DNR seems to have found it. Their findings does not bode well for the Wisconsin deer heard.

If you’re seeing too few deer in southwestern Wisconsin for your hunting or viewing pleasure, it’s time to accept the obvious reason:

10/27/2024

Even as autumn is passing its peak, it's not too early to think spring.

Claytonia virginica Description: Morphology of Virginia Springbeauty (Claytonia virginica): Ecology of Virginia Springbeauty: Virginia springbeauty is a beautiful indicator of early spring and a key part of forest ecosystems, supporting early pollinators. Its...

10/23/2024

The people who inhabited the United States before European settlement did not have steel axes or plows. Their primary tool for managing the land was fire. They used that tool to performs a variety of tasks from increasing their food supply to providing for their defense and improving transportation. Indigenous fire shaped the American landscape for 10,000 years. In the process they vastly increased the biodiversity of the continent. See how indigenous fire created the North America that is our natural heritage today.

For many millenia, fire was integral to many Indigenous peoples’ way of life. This page describes ways Indigenous people used fire in the past, as well as current partnerships working to preserve cultural burns.

10/15/2024

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today announced that due to prolonged drought conditions and potential for elevated fire danger throughout the fall, the agency is reinstating DNR burning permits by issuing a Special Fire Order in 13 Wisconsin counties.

The permit reinstatement will begin at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in designated DNR protection areas until further notice.

The permit reinstatement applies to the following 13 extensive DNR protection area counties outside incorporated cities and villages: all of Columbia, Crawford, Green Lake, Marquette, Portage, Richland, Sauk, Waupaca and Waushara counties and portions of Oconto, Dane, Grant and Iowa counties.

A DNR annual burning permit is now required for burning in a barrel, a debris pile and grass or wooded areas as outlined by the permit, unless the ground is completely snow-covered. Before burning in these areas, anyone wishing to burn must obtain a DNR burn permit and then visit WisBURN for the current burn restrictions.

Traditionally, DNR burn permits are required in extensive protection areas from Jan. 1 through May 31, anytime the ground is not snow-covered. Reinstating permits allows the DNR to restrict burning on a given day during times of elevated fire danger.

10/05/2024

Fall is a great time to get out of the house and discover the natural beauty of Wisconsin. This new natural travel guide contains 400 great ideas to make your autumn memorable.

Bookstore shelves are crammed with travel guides for Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. There are hiking guides, camping guides, geological guides, fishing and hunting guides, canoeing and kayaking guides; even...

09/24/2024

Time for Wisconsin landowners to apply for assistance in 2025. https://conservationdigest.com/get-help-restoring-your-land/

08/20/2024

Celebrating today the 100th bird species visiting the squirrel farm. Probably an early migrant headed south.

Perhaps one of the easier flycatchers to identify in the notoriously difficult Empidonax genus, the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher sports yellowish underparts and a bold eyering, unlike others in the family. It is a bird of the boreal forests and bogs where its yellowish belly seems to disappear on its b...

07/16/2024

This is really good way to think about prescribed fire. https://conservationdigest.com/fire-in-a-box/

07/04/2024

The time to reduce wildfire risk here in Wisconsin is now! Ample rain this season means higher than average growth of invasive shrubs and unwanted saplings. Instead of shutting off fireworks, I will be trimming my woodland to reduce canopy cover and increase sunlight pe*******on to the soil. Nobody wants to celebrate Independence Day like this:

The Thompson fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 70 miles north of Sacramento, in and around the city of Oroville, in Butte County.