Category: Wellbeing | Accent on Natural Landscaping

It’s Time to Reauthorize Wisconsin’s Stewardship Program

February 24, 2021

In 1989, Governor Tommy Thompson and the Wisconsin legislature created the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program to preserve valuable natural areas and wildlife habitat, protect water quality and fisheries, and expand the opportunities for outdoor recreation. Normally, the Stewardship Program is on a 10-year cycle, but it was only budgeted for three years until 2022. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has recommended that Governor Evers’ next biennial budget include 10-year reauthorization of the program through 2031. The Nature Conservancy was deeply involved in crafting this recommendation and will work with the governor, state legislators of both parties, and the WDNR to ensure that this recommendation is adopted in the next state budget.

We have time to get a coalition of partners from other conservation, hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation groups to increase funding for the program, and reauthorize it for a longer period of time.

What Does the Stewardship Program Do?

One of the projects that was helped by the Stewardship Funds. This is the Guckenberg-Sturm Marsh on Little Lake Butte des Morts. Photo taken by Donna VanBuecken.

More than 90 percent of Wisconsinites recognize the importance of reauthorizing the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program to protect our state’s lands, waters, and wildlife, fight climate change with natural solutions, maintain our mental and physical well-being, and grow our outdoor recreation and local economies. (The Nature Conservancy)

Clean Water — Protecting the forests, wetlands and grasslands that filter out pollutants in runoff before they reach our lakes, rivers, and groundwater.
Groundwater Protection — Protecting the lands that are essential to replenish the groundwater is critical to ensure a consistent supply of clean, safe water.
Flood Protection — Protecting grasslands, wetlands, and forests along rivers upstream to store water and help reduce the risk of severe flooding downstream.
Recreation Economy — Protecting hundreds of thousands of acres of land and hundreds of river miles for hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, and other types of recreation.
Urban Outdoor Opportunities — Providing outdoor opportunities near home for all Wisconsin residents, including more trails and parks for those living in cities and surrounding urban areas.
Wildlife Habitat — Protecting large blocks of wetlands, forest, and prairie for birds, waterfowl, pollinators, bats, small and large mammals, and other rare, protected, and endangered species to roam.
Working Lands — Protecting working forest, prairie, and rivers in Wisconsin, along with the jobs and products they provide.

Nonpartisan Program

The Stewardship Fund is a nonpartisan program. It was named after former governors Warren Knowles, a Republican, and Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat. It’s the right thing to do for Wisconsin’s land, water, and wildlife. We have to make sure our lawmakers know how important land and water protection is for our state.

Write the legislature today.

Please let them know what you think about it.

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The e-mail photo courtesy of WDNR.

Bird/Pollinator-Friendly Garden

February 16, 2021

As cold as it has been, the birds have nowhere to go other than to hunker down in the bushes and leaf piles. Just sparrows – this was a result of my bird count.

In general, bird are nature’s messengers. As populations of birds change, those fluctuations may indicate shifts in pollution levels, climate change, habitat loss, migration timing, and more. How will birds be affected by habitat loss, pollution, disease, climate, and other environmental changes? How will you change?

Bird/Pollinator-Friendly Garden

Plant a landscape in which birds and pollinators will have a chance of dealing with climate change. More native plants means more choices of food and shelter for native birds and pollinators. More native plants will be colorful, visually appealing, and more healthy for the landscape. The landscape will need no watering or fertilizer because of the deep roots. More than half of the birds and pollinators are threatened as a result of the changing world.

The National Audubon Society has some points for your native-plant garden:

Chickadees feed 300+/- caterpillars to their chicks daily. Photo by Doug Tallamy. — Chickadees feed about 300 caterpillars to their chicks daily. In the 16 days it takes to fledge, chicks can eat more than 9,000 larvae. Photo by Doug Tallamy.

557: Varieties of butterflies and moths are supported by native oak trees, as compared to only 5 butterfly and moth species supported by non-native ginkgo trees.

96: Percentage of land birds that rely on insects to feed chicks.

1,200: Number of crops that depend on pollinators to grow.

30-60: Percent of fresh water in American cities used for watering lawns.

40 million: Acres of lawn in the U.S. currently.

80 million: Pounds of pesticides applied to lawns in the U.S. annually. Native plants, on the other hand, support a balance of predator and prey, and thrive without pesticides.

17 million: Gallons of fuel used each year for refueling lawn equipment while polluting the air and groundwater.

800 million: Gallons of gasoline used annually by lawn mowers. This produces significant amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, driving climate change.

Easy Ways to Create Bird/Pollinator Friendly Gardens

Recommended native plants for sunny areas by designer Rosemary Eiden (WOFVAC).

Create native landscapes that will benefit birds and pollinators and you. This website provides practical, educationally sound information on native landscaping developed specifically for first-time native-plant gardeners. Included in the website is native-garden designs created by professional landscape designers for multiple ecoregions in the United States. The native-plant list takes into account the various light, soil, and moisture conditions. Read more at the Wild Ones.

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The e-mail photo is by Doug Tallamy.

Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman

January 23, 2021

Twenty-two-year-old Amanda Gorman recited her poem The Hill We Climb as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris looked on. This Youth Poet Laureate was the youngest poet to perform at a presidential inauguration. The day was January 20, 2021, the Presidential Inauguration.

The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman

When day comes we ask ourselves,

where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

The loss we carry,

a sea we must wade

We’ve braved the belly of the beast

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace

And the norms and notions

of what just is

Isn’t always just-ice

And yet the dawn is ours

before we knew it

Somehow we do it

Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed

a nation that isn’t broken

but simply unfinished

We the successors of a country and a time

Where a skinny Black girl

descended from slaves and raised by a single mother

can dream of becoming president

only to find herself reciting for one

And yes we are far from polished

far from pristine

but that doesn’t mean we are

striving to form a union that is perfect

We are striving to forge a union with purpose

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and

conditions of man

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us

but what stands before us

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside

We lay down our arms

so we can reach out our arms

to one another

We seek harm to none and harmony for all

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:

That even as we grieved, we grew

That even as we hurt, we hoped

That even as we tired, we tried

That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious

Not because we will never again know defeat

but because we will never again sow division

Scripture tells us to envision

that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree

And no one shall make them afraid

If we’re to live up to our own time

Then victory won’t lie in the blade

But in all the bridges we’ve made

That is the promise to glade

The hill we climb

If only we dare

It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit,

it’s the past we step into

and how we repair it

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation

rather than share it

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy

And this effort very nearly succeeded

But while democracy can be periodically delayed

it can never be permanently defeated

In this truth

in this faith we trust

For while we have our eyes on the future

history has its eyes on us

This is the era of just redemption

We feared at its inception

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs

of such a terrifying hour

but within it we found the power

to author a new chapter

To offer hope and laughter to ourselves

So while once we asked,

how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?

Now we assert

How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was

but move to what shall be

A country that is bruised but whole,

benevolent but bold,

fierce and free

We will not be turned around

or interrupted by intimidation

because we know our inaction and inertia

will be the inheritance of the next generation

Our blunders become their burdens

But one thing is certain:

If we merge mercy with might,

and might with right,

then love becomes our legacy

and change our children’s birthright

So let us leave behind a country

better than the one we were left with

Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,

we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one

We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,

we will rise from the windswept northeast

where our forefathers first realized revolution

We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,

we will rise from the sunbaked south

We will rebuild, reconcile and recover

and every known nook of our nation and

every corner called our country,

our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,

battered and beautiful

When day comes we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid

The new dawn blooms as we free it

For there is always light,

if only we’re brave enough to see it

If only we’re brave enough to be it

World Soil Day

December 4, 2020

World Soil Day is held annually on December 5th to increase soil awareness. This day is:

Soil is on the critical resources for life on Earth.

to encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals worldwide to commit to proactively improving soil health and human well-being
to address the growing challenges in soil management and fighting soil biodiversity loss
to keep soil alive and protect the soil biodiversity that aims to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems

Soil Colors of the Continental United States

There is a two-sided poster, “Soil Colors of the Continental United States.” The unique mosaic of colors communicates the variety of soil properties. Soil conditions vary, hence the need for different soil-management and conservation practices.

This publication is available in PDF format at the poster size. Click the download button to get the portrait sizes.

Reference my three blogs:

What’s Happening to Land Use?

“S” Is for Soil!

Symphony of the Soil