Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center provides unique opportunities to learn and explore the outdoors. With property on both the Minnesota and Wisconsin sides of the scenic St. Croix River, the nature center preserves 725 acres of wildlife habitat while also providing educational opportunities for over 7,000 K-12 students annually. Hiking trails wind through restored and prairie habitat and mixed […]
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The seeds of conservation and preservation were planted in me during my formative years while camping with my family in Columbia County just north of Madison. But it took a solo cross country bike ride for me to elevate my game and pursue land stewardship with a passion. The Ah-Ha! Moment It was the fall […]
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It is a late night in June in Wisconsin’s beautiful Kickapoo Valley and I am straining to hear the calls of frogs around me. It’s not that they’re faint, it’s that there are too many of them, coming from the woods in all directions. I try to remember what a seasoned birder once told me—that […]
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Seven years after staff at the Mequon Nature Preserve (MNP) in southeastern Wisconsin began a project to re-establish the hardwood forests that once dominated the landscape, they noticed wildlife returning. But while snakes, frogs, and birds had returned in abundance, one important resident family of species was still missing: salamanders. Farmland development, parking lot construction […]
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In 1986, a group of individuals associated with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources embarked on a journey to seek alternative funding for its programs, supplementing the scarce and diminishing financial resources appropriated through legislated channels. This is the fascinating story of that successful venture. Written by Ron Semmann, co-founder, first executive director, and Emeritus […]
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