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2022 Programs
The Kettle Moraine Wild Ones meets at 10 AM (unless otherwise noted) on the third Saturday of each month except December.
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Indoor programs are given at the South Kettle Moraine State Forest Headquarters, Eagle, Wisconsin: S91 W39091 Highway 59 (one mile west of Eagle). Outdoor programs, April to September, are held in various locations and are for members only. No dogs allowed.
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Membership: Basic annual family membership is $40. For more information, email KMWildOnes@gmail.com. To join: wildones.org/membership/.
Climate Change: How Birds are Dealing With It and What Recent Findings Prompt Us to Do
January 15, 2022
Dr. Ben Zuckerberg, UW-Madison Ecologist
The evidence that wildlife are responding to modern climate change is now overwhelming. There is strong scientific consensus that environmental tipping points are being crossed, and many species are adapting (or failing to adapt) to novel climatic conditions. Birds serve as the proverbial “canary in the coal mine” when it comes to climate change. For this presentation, Dr. Zuckerberg will cover how birds are responding to a rapidly changing climate as well as extreme events. From changes in behavior to range-wide shifts, birds are the winged sentinels of modern climate change.
Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Zuckerberg arrived a bit late to the wonderful world of ecology. He was, however, lucky enough to start studying birds as an undergraduate at Connecticut College, and went on to receive his Masters from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Ph.D. from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry where he focused on studying range shifts in bird distributions as a consequence of climate change. He then spent three great years as a postdoc and research associate at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Dr. Zuckerberg joined the faculty at UW-Madison in 2011 and has built a lab focused on studying how modern climate change impacts birds and mammals. He remains a strong advocate for the role of the public in collecting data on wildlife and feels that citizen science has opened entirely new fields in ecological research.
Invasives, Plants, Animals, Fungus… Who Knew?
February 19, 2022
Bernadette Williams, Plant Pest and Disease Specialist, Division of Forestry – Forest Health, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource
Invasives come in all different shapes and sizes. Some are overlooked while others are showy and loud and some are lurking but most are here to stay. And the question often comes back to: how did it get here in the first place? Well, they all have a story to tell!
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Bernadette (Bernie) Williams has been with the DNR for 14 years and working with invasives, and particularly worms, for 18 years. She loves science and biology and everyday she’s surprised by how exciting and dynamic it continues to be. Bernie is originally from Pennsylvania and went to the University of Pittsburgh (PITT) for both undergrad and grad school. She lives with her husband Quinn and their exceptional cats in Lake Mills. She loves to garden, and not only does she have bees in her backyard, but worms too!
Beneficial Backyard Bugs
March 19, 2022
P J Liesch, Director of the University of Wisconsin Insect Diagnostic Lab
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Wisconsin is home to 20,000+ insect species—the vast majority of which provide benefits to humans. In this presentation, we’ll discuss the many ways in which insects help us out and also take a look at how common these beneficial creatures can be in our own area.
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Patrick (PJ) Liesch is a statewide entomology specialist and Director of the University of Wisconsin Insect Diagnostic Lab (IDL). Every year, the IDL handles over 2,400 insect identification requests from Wisconsin’s farmers, private industry, university and government agencies, the general public, and other groups. PJ also provides entomology-related outreach throughout the state, including regular appearances on Wisconsin Public Radio.
Life and Death in a Massachusetts Cemetery: Tracking Lichens Through Time to Understand How They Grow
April 16, 2022
Dr. Anne Pringle, UW-Madison Botanist
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For many years Dr. Pringle has traced individual lichens growing on tombstones in a Massachusetts cemetery. She wanted to understand how lichens are born, how they grow and reproduce, and if they ever die. After a decade of research, she's come to understand her original questions as misguided. Come hear her explore her data and together we can think about HOW to think about the strange communities we call lichens.
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Anne Pringle was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and spent her childhood traveling through Southeast Asia and West Africa. After being dragged along on one-too-many birding expeditions, she abandoned the birds for fungi. She was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, and then completed a Ph.D. in Botany and Genetics at Duke University. After completing a Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, she joined the faculty at Harvard University. She next moved to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she is now Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the Departments of Botany and Bacteriology. She has been awarded the Alexopoulos Prize for a Distinguished Early Career Mycologist (2010), the Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award from the Harvard University Graduate Student Council (2011), the Fannie Cox Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching from Harvard University (2013), and a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship (2011-2012).
Tour: Agrecol Native Seed and Plant Nursery in Evansville, WI - Cancelled
May 21, 2022
Details for the tour that will replace the cancelled tour will be sent to members.
Tour: Oak Woodland and Savannah at the Home of Wild Ones Members
June 18, 2022
The property is approximately two acres of oak woodland and oak savannah with dry mesic soil on an unnamed pond and a small wetland. After moving from Minnesota in the fall of 2018, these members began to remove the dense buckthorn and honeysuckle that obscured their house and pond from view. Very fortunately, one of the team helping eradicate invasive vegetation was Chris Mann. Chris was the impetus for learning about native plants. He helped create a shady woodland garden with ephemerals and other natives in Spring of 2019. Chris and the owners seeded the landscape in sections in 2019 and 2020. Early results are a radical improvement. It is clearly a welcome conversion from the traditional gardening the owners employed in Minnesota.
Special Event: 2022 Native Garden Tour
July 9, 2022
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE!
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Wild Ones Kettle Moraine Chapter is proud to host a tour of some of our members' native gardens. The 2022 Native Garden Tour showcases four private gardens in the Eagle area of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. The Native Garden Tour provides an invitation for gardeners and homeowners to share and learn about the beauty and conservation opportunities a native garden naturally provides. Take in the spectacular view of a rolling prairie restoration. Catch some shade under a towering oak, a keystone species helping to sustain all forms of native life. Enjoy the native butterflies, bees and other pollinators that depend on our native plants to survive. Delight in the birds attracted to the food sources provided by native plants.
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For more details: Native Garden Tour 2022
Tour: Wildflower Meadow and Oak Savannah/Woodland at Home of Wild Ones Members
July 16, 2022
This tour will include two different areas on the property:
#1 Wildflower meadow embedded in a traditional landscape:
Discussion of site preparation and seeding of the meadow created over 25 years ago, evolution of plants within the meadow, and maintenance required.
#2 Restoration in progress of small oak savannah/woodland within an environmental corridor:
Discussion of changes to the approximately two acres over a quarter century and recent efforts to remove invasive species and improve habitat. The small size of this parcel allows use of mechanical (non-chemical) methods of control such as hand pulling and cutting, stump blackout (covering cut stumps with black plastic), reseeding and subsequent mowing, and occasional controlled burns.
Tour: Prairies and Woodlands at the Home of Wild Ones Members
August 20, 2022
This property comprises 15 acres of woodland, wetlands and both remnant and restored prairie. It lies in the Kettle Moraine area and is a key property in a larger environmental corridor. The property borders both Waukesha and The Nature Conservancy lands. The tour will focus on the past and continuing challenges and triumphs of the work involved in the restoration. The main restoration prairie was seeded in late 2018. This is a good opportunity for those new to restoration to learn what to expect in their first years and to learn from the owners' experience; amount of physical labor in managing invasive species, obtaining grants and tracking, hiring competent professionals, and finally costs. For those who would like to stay, we will continue the tour through the woodlands where extensive removal of buckthorn has taken place. Please be aware that the tour will require walking up a small hill to get to the main prairie.
Special Event: Hummingbird Banding
September 10, 2022
Micky O’Connor, an ornithologist at the Milwaukee Zoo, will again be banding hummingbirds at a member’s home. The owners have landscaped their 30-acre property to attract wildlife of all types. Every year, banding efforts have been very successful including their first recapture of a female banded in 2014! Enjoy watching the banding and holding a hummer in hand! Children are welcome.
Special Event: Monarch Tagging
September 10, 2022 (Rescheduled from September 11)
Wild Ones members and Rock County Conservationists will gather at a member’s home to tag Monarch Butterflies. A short talk on monarchs with instructions on how to tag monarchs will be followed by hands-on netting and banding of monarchs. The owners have created a Monarch Wayside Station and have landscaped their 30-acre property to attract wildlife of all types. Monarch banding has been helpful in determining monarch migration and winter sites. Children are welcome.
Tour 1: Four Prairies at Home of Wild Ones Member
Tour 2: Early Savanna Restoration at Home of Wild Ones Members
September 17, 2022
Tour 1: This member will give a tour of the four restored prairies on the his 4.5 acre property in the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest. They include 16,000 sq. ft. of tall mesic (medium) soil prairie and 9,000 sq. ft. of wet mesic-mesic soil freshly planted in the fall of 2019, as well as two additional prairies started since 2020. Most of the invasives are now under control (buckthorn, honeysuckle and parsnip etc.). He makes horse manure compost and adds it to his gardens and prairies. Now that the parsnip is gone, he has been able to plant seedling trees and shrubs.
Tour 2: These members' 43-acre parcel abuts up to the Kettle Moraine Forest on two sides. The property had been all pastured or farm field in the past. Five acres of the approximately 20 acres of now forested land was planted to Norway Spruce and Red Pine in the 1960s. The land was purchased in 2016 and much of the Red Pine and Norway Spruce was logged off early spring 2021. They have begun the monumental task of returning the land back to open-grown oak savanna. The area around the house has been landscaped with mostly natives, and some re-wilding along the driveway has started to reduce the mowed lawn area.
Members' Native Seed Exchange
October, 16, 2022 - Details will be emailed to members.
Every Native Plant Has a Story
October 15, 2022
Betty Adelman, Member and Owner of the Heritage Flower Farm
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Every Native Plant has a Story recounts how Native Americans creatively used plants, such as punishing witches as well as healing newborns’ navels with Swamp milkweed; using Queen of the Prairie as an aphrodisiac, and gambling with the thistle-like flower head of Rattlesnake Master for good luck. It also tells about the lives of intrepid explorers, some risking their lives to collect and introduce plants to gardens. This connects us and our plantings to American history and the people who made it. All this enriches our appreciation of native plants and their varied contributions to our lives.
Betty Adelman started Heritage Flower Farm 23 years ago. It became an award-winning nursery growing more than 1,000 kinds of ornamental heirloom plants, primarily perennial flowers, many native. Its plants grow in backyard gardens and botanic gardens around North America including Smithsonian, Canada’s Royal Botanic Garden, Washington Crossing Park, the Governor’s Palace Garden at Colonial Williamsburg, and Bartram’s Garden, America’s oldest botanic garden. Betty and the nursery have been featured in Country Gardens, American Gardener, and Better Homes and Gardens. She has authored articles published in Midwest Gardens and California’s Native Plant Society’s Journal, Fremontia.
The Forgotten Layer
November 19, 2022
Presentation will be followed by Annual Membership Meeting and Election of Officers
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Danielle Bell, Landscape Designer
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Shrubs play a vital role in all landscapes. Yet they are so easily excluded from our urban designs. This talk will explain the importance of the shrub layer and the best native shrubs to include in your native landscape design plan.
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Danielle was the Wild Ones Garden Designer for Milwaukee. Growing up in rural Wisconsin, Danielle explored the natural world starting in the oak hickory woodland of her parents' home. While working in the green industry and on restoration projects, she noticed the disconnect humans have with our landscapes, especially in the urban environment. The restoration projects that she managed focused on large scale projects and not on homeowners with a smaller urban property. Seeing this need, she began Native Roots, LLC to help homeowners incorporate native plants into their landscapes. She uses her experience from restoring native wetlands, prairies, and woodlands throughout Southeastern Wisconsin to inspire her residential designs. Her passion is to restore sterile turf monocultures into healthy, sustainable, diverse habitats that both people and wildlife can enjoy. As part of helping homeowners create healthy, functional landscapes, she educates them on how to sustainably manage their property through invasive species monitoring and plant identification.
Happy Holidays!
December
No program in December.