Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

Go Outside Fund

The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin is currently seeking proposals for their Go Outside Fund grant program. This quarter’s deadline is December 31, 2019.

Donna with young visitors at the WILD Center. Photo by Tom Young http://www.tommytroutphoto.com/
Donna VanBuecken with young visitors at the WILD Center. Photo by Tom Young

Connecting students and teachers with the outdoors

The Go Outside Fund provides funding that helps connect students and teachers with outdoor, nature-based learning experiences. Teachers or partner organizations may apply for funding to purchase field supplies, or pay for transportation, substitute teachers, or educator costs. Grants up to $500 are available.

Grantmaking Priorities:

  • Projects that demonstrate a clear connection to classroom learning and standards.
  • Projects that have a significant component of outdoor activity.
  • Projects must directly engage children in outdoor, nature-based activities and learning.

Eligibility:

  • Applicant must be one of the following: a nonprofit organization with approved 501(c)(3) status; a federal, state, or local governmental unit, an Indian tribe; or an accredited school, college, or university.
  • Project must directly engage children age pre-K – 12.
  • Project activities must take place after the Go Outside Fund due date.
  • Project expenses may not have incurred prior to submitting the application.

How to Apply:

  1. Determine if your project addresses our grant-making priorities and meets our eligibility requirements.
  2. Complete the application.
  3. Include proof of IRS tax-exempt status.
  4. Submit all materials to Caitlin Williamson by March 31st, June 30th, September 30th, or December 31st.
  5. Applicants will be notified six weeks following the submission deadline.
DOWNLOAD THE GRANT APPLICATION
   Send article as PDF   

2020 Pollinator Partnership Poster

The following announcement is taken in part from the P2 newsletter dated 11/18/2019:

2020 “Pollinators, Plants, People, Planet” Poster Job Advertisement

Pollinator Partnership (P2) is seeking an artist to render the 2020 Pollinator Poster, this year focusing on “Pollinators, Plants, People, Planet.” To apply, send a one-page narrative concept idea with a draft sketch to Kelly Rourke at kr@pollinator.org by Friday, December 13, 2019.

A bumblebee making his livelihood on Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum). Recent declines in pollinators have alarmed scientists and naturalists alike. Pollinators include not only bees, but also birds, butterflies, bats, beetles and more.

Purpose
Each year, P2, along with a wide range of partners (including federal agencies, non-profits, for-profits, individuals, etc.) design and distribute an educational pollinator poster. About 100,000 posters are distributed throughout the United States each year. They are one of the most popular outreach material items offered and are distributed for the cost of shipping and handling.

Use
Each year’s poster is unique in size and content, and the posters are enjoyed and used in a wide variety of venues from classrooms, fairs, conferences, and offices, to homes and educational trainings.

Poster Image – Vision
The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), managed by Pollinator Partnership, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020 and P2 is embarking on a coordinated climate action initiative. Working for healthy pollinators has a direct impact on the health of humans, plants and the planet. Actions for pollinators, like the planting of habitat such as buffers, pollinator gardens, hedgerows, cover crops, and green roofs, feed the health of our air, water, biodiversity, and sustainable agriculture. Pollinators and pollinator habitat provide ecosystem services, including but not limited to:

  • Pollination
  • Biodiversity support
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Erosion control
  • Food and nests for wildlife
  • Nutrient cycling
  • Food security
  • Raw material production
  • Recreation and hunting
  • Soil health
  • Resilient ecosystems
  • Water filtration

We envision this poster being an artistic depiction of the ecosystem services that pollinators provide through the lens of planetary health and climate action. Use of past poster themes or elements may be a way to tie in and celebrate the 20 years that NAPPC has worked collaborative to promote pollinators and protect the planet. Let this spark creativity, but do not feel limited to these visions. The most important part of creating any poster is to make it a beautiful work of art that also communicates an idea or behavior that supports pollinator heath. A scientific/naturalistic style is preferred. P2 staff will work with the artist on scientific accuracy and detail. To view past pollinator posters, please visit http://pollinator.org/posters.htm.

Submittal Details
If interested in submitting a poster concept idea for consideration to render the 2020 “Pollinators, Plants, People, Planet” poster, please submit the below information as one PDF kr@pollinator.org:

  • Contact information (name, email, physical mailing address)
  • Background
    • Resume, CV, past projects, etc.
    • 2 pages maximum
  • Narrative about the poster concept
    • Method used (digital, traditional, etc.)
    • 1 page maximum
  • Sketch of the proposed poster as digital art submitted as a pdf, .eps., or .jpg. (300 ppi at 8.5 x11)

Timeline
A one-page narrative concept idea with a draft sketch is due to Kelly Rourke at kr@pollinator.org by Friday, December 13, 2019. The final illustration is due by Friday, February 28, 2020.

Poster Size
There is flexibility with the size of the poster, but past posters have ranged from 30 in x 12 in to 30 in x 32 in (including a galley at the bottom of the poster for partner logos). We suggest using a standard poster size so that the poster may easily be framed.

Compensation
Pollinator Partnership does not make any profit off of the poster and distributes them for free (not including shipping and handling). P2 works to create the poster each year to help educate the public about the importance of pollinators. The chosen artist will receive $1,000 upon completion of the agreement and delivery of the product of contracted work for the 2020 poster.

Legal
Pollinator Partnership will own the rights to the final submitted digital artwork.

Questions? Contact Kelly Rourke at kr@pollinator.org or 415.362.1137

   Send article as PDF   

WCHF Announces 2020 Inductees to Hall of Fame

The Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame (WCHF) has announced the selection of three conservation leaders for induction into the Hall of Fame on April 25, 2019 at the SentryWorld (the Atrium) in Stevens Point. The 2020 Induction Ceremony will celebrate our 100th inductee into the Hall of Fame.

The Inductees – Stephen Born, Jens Jensen and Stanley  Temple

The inductees this year will be Stephen Born, a well-known UW-Madison professor who specialized in environmental planning and worked on almost every aspect of water management, from the Great Lakes to inland lakes to groundwater and rivers and watersheds, and is an expert fly fisher; Jens Jensen, a landscape architect who developed many of our Midwest parks, focusing on indigenous plants and ecological processes of this region’s prairie landscape, and also founded the “school of the soil” in Door County known as The Clearing; and Stanley Temple, a UW-Madison professor who worked in the areas of habitat fragmentation, invasive species and other factors leading to species declines, and now serves as a Senior Fellow with The Leopold Foundation, researching, writing and speaking about Leopold.

The Induction Ceremony

The public is invited to join us in the day’s events held at SentryWorld. SentryWorld is located at 601 Michigan Ave N, Stevens Point, Wisconsin

9:00AM Social Time & Coffee Reception
9:45AM Welcome
10:00AM Induction Ceremony
1:00PM Luncheon

The Induction Ceremony and Coffee Reception are free. There will be a fee for the luncheon of $25.00. Reservations for lunch can be made online or by calling Schmeeckle Reserve at 715-346-4992.

Watch this blog post for more details during the next few weeks. Again, all activities are open to the public.

Inductee Biographical Summaries

Stephen Born

Stephen Born’s impact on conservation in Wisconsin and beyond is so broad and varied it almost defies description, except to say he has been tireless in his work.

A resident of Wisconsin since 1969, he was a faculty member in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at UW-Madison for 36 years, a director of State planning and energy offices and a founder of non-governmental conservation organizations like the River Alliance of Wisconsin.

An intrepid angler, he is also co-author of “Wisconsin’s Trout Streams: The Anglers Guide,” a seminal work which focuses not only on where to fish, but also on stream ecology and the story of how these cold-water treasures were saved and restored.

His broad range of services included co-chairing the Waters of Wisconsin Initiative of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. He has served on national and State Trout Unlimited senior leadership boards, including presidency of Wisconsin Trout Unlimited. He was a chief advisor to former Governor Patrick Lucey on the decision not to dam the Kickapoo River in the 1970s, which lead to the creation of the 8,500-acre Kickapoo Reserve. He served on Gov. Tommy Thompson’s Blue Ribbon Stewardship Task Force. He also had key roles in development of policy on Wisconsin’s ground water and coastal resources.

These are but a few of his contributions to State and national conservation causes. Born is simply a force of nature when it comes to bringing people with differing views and ideologies together to forge unified and strong coalitions to protect Wisconsin’s natural resources. Since he continues to serve a number of non-profit groups as a board member or other volunteer, his resume is still under construction.

Jens Jensen

Danish born Jens Jensen was a landscape architect and a tireless advocate for conservation of our natural heritage. Aesthetics, in his work, always came second to protecting nature. Through his vocation and avocation, his aim was to bring people and nature together. Upon his death, the New York Times called him “dean of American landscape architecture.”

In 1913 Jensen initiated Friends of Our Native Landscape. There were chapters in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan with several hundred members, including Aldo Leopold. Jensen was a persistent proponent for national parks, forest preserves, state parks, state forests, scenic areas, county parks, and sanctuaries with notable successes in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Florida.

He was a strong proponent of urban planning and railed against urban sprawl, especially when it intruded on natural areas. He was instrumental in development of a plan for parks throughout Chicago and in establishing the Cook County Forest Preserve, a collection of dozens of wetlands, forests, and prairies, throughout greater Chicago. Jensen campaigned against urban sprawl along the southern Lake Michigan shoreline, leading to creation of Indiana Dunes National Park, contiguous with Indiana Dunes State Natural Area.

Jensen moved to Door County in Wisconsin in 1935, where he zealously continued his advocacy for protection of natural areas. He was a principal proponent of The Ridges Sanctuary, Cave Point county park, Whitefish Dunes state park, and Ellison Bay Bluff county park among others. One of Jensen’s many legacies is The Clearing, established on his Door County property in 1935 with the aim of immersing people in nature for “spiritual renewal.” Thousands have attended a short-course at The Clearing, now a non-profit school, where Jensen’s philosophy of working with nature is the pervasive theme.

Stanley Temple

Stanley Temple’s impact on Wisconsin’s natural resources has been wide. He has worked as a scientist, communicator and teacher. During his 32 years on the faculty of the UW-Madison Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, he worked on endangered species such as Peregrine Falcon, Trumpeter Swan and California Condor. His research on habitat fragmentation has helped manage areas such as the Baraboo Hills. Temple’swork has been instrumental in the areas of habitat fragmentation, invasive species and factors leading to species declines.

Now that he is re tired, he helps spread Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic as a Senior Fellow for the Aldo Leopold Foundation, researching, writing and speaking about Leopold. Using Leopold’s original botanical records and more recent surveys, Temple co-published new research on climate change impacts on plant phenology through the paper “Record-Breaking Early Flowering in the Eastern United States.” He brought the Passenger Pigeon alive to Wisconsinites with presentations and articles during the 100th anniversary of the passing of the pigeons in 2014, and he has advised organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, International Crane Foundation, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and Aldo Leopold Foundation.

Temple created and was the first editor of the peer-reviewed journal Bird Conservation published by Bird Conservation International, served as the editor of the Wisconsin ornithological journal The Passenger Pigeon published by the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, and served as associate editor of the peer-reviewed scientific publication of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) The Auk and the scientific journal of the Ecological Society of America Ecological Applications.

Temple continues his life work today on behalf of Wisconsin’s natural resources. He is frequently cited as an expert not only on the State’s natural history, but as one who has worked to protect it.

   Send article as PDF   

Prairie Strips have Big Impacts on Pollinators and Water Pollution

Iowa State University initiated a program in 2003 which focuses on planting tallgrass native prairie strips in farm fields, benefiting soil, water and biodiversity. It is called STRIPS. The benefits determined so far can be found in their easy to read report Prairie Strips: Small Changes, Big Impacts.

Prairie STRIPS

The Science-based Trials of Row-crops Integrated with Prairie Strips (STRIPS) program studies the effects of native tallgrass prairie on soil, water, and biodiversity on farms.

Photo of prairie strip courtesy of Iowa State University

Strips of native prairie of varying sizes have been planted on experimental and commercial farms. The strips are often employed in concert with other regenerative agriculture techniques such as cover crops and no-till practices. (Regenerative agriculture seeks to capture carbon in soil and above-ground biomass to reduce greenhouse gas accumulation and support soil health, water quality and native wildlife.)

After several years of data collection, the STRIPS team found including even a small amount of native prairie on a farm substantially improves water quality and nutrient retention, reduces erosion, and generates other benefits.

For example, in farmed watersheds, the addition of only “10 percent prairie reduced sediment export by 95 %, phosphorus export by 90 %, and nitrogen export by nearly 85 % in surface runoff water when compared 100 percent row crop watersheds.”

Tallgrass prairie is a diverse mixture of native grasses and flowering plants uniquely adapted to the climate and soils of the central United States. Prairie strips keep vital soil resources in crop fields. Deep-rooted prairie plants increase soil organic matter and improve water infiltration. The
plants’ stiff, upright stems slow surface runoff and help hold soil in place during heavy rains. (Prairie Strips: Small Changes, Big Impacts) Photo taken at Flint Hills Scenic Byway Wildflower Identification Garden

Further, after seven years, “an average of 51 native plant species were found in prairie strips, compared to 13 species found within the row crop areas.” These native plants, of course, provide habitat for birds, small mammals, bees and butterflies, and other beneficial organisms that cycle nutrients, increase soil fertility, and provide pest control and pollination services. Fields with prairie strips host “twice as many birds and bird species than those with 100 percent row crops.” (Prairie Strips: Small Changes, Big Impacts)

There is one concern, however. The Xerces Society is concerned about the results from farmers who are integrating the STRIPS program, but still using agricultural chemicals in the surrounding row crops. These chemicals could potentially harm pollinators and other organisms attracted to the prairie strips. The Xerces Society is monitoring this concern.

A really good article about the STRIPS program can be found at Civil Eats.

Wouldn’t it be grand if farmers would begin to reverse the loss of native habitat and biodiversity which has resulted because of modern-day agricultural practices, by simply adding some prairie strips to their fields? ‘Practical and beautiful as well!

The information above was reprinted in part from the Native Plant Conservation Campaign with permission from Emily B Roberson, PhD.

Thanks also to Sharon Bochner who brought a similar article to my attention.

   Send article as PDF