Jim Hess was just awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin (BRAW) in recognition of the 20 years he has spent building, installing, and monitoring bluebird houses near his home in rural Blanchardville. For many of those years he has mentored bluebird lovers in Lafayette and Grant Counties to do the same. Please use this link to a story in the Monroe Times with more information on Jim's great accomplishments.
Eastern Bluebirds on a nest box. Photo by Arlene Koziol
SoWBA extends our most sincere thanks and congratulations to Jim. Jim has also been a leader in kestrel conservation throughout much of southern Wisconsin. Again, he has installed and monitored kestrel nest boxes through SoWBA’s Kestrel Nest Box Monitoring Program, and mentored others to do the same. The next bluebird or kestrel you see in this neck of the woods might well be here because of Jim's work.
Jim has won awards for his protection of bats too. He and Marci, his wife, have devoted many, many hours and dollars to restore prairies, oak savannas, and oak woods at their home. It's pollinator and bird heaven, with plenty of space for other cool critters.
A restored prairie on Jim and Marci Hess’s property in Lafayette County. Photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA
Jim also conserves trout streams. He has been the President and is now the Conservation Committee of the Southern Wisconsin Chapter of Trout Unlimited (SWTU). He has organized our volunteer work days for many years, sometimes in cooperation with The Prairie Enthusiasts (TPE). Thanks to his leadership, SWTU focuses on holistic efforts to improve trout streams, targeting invasive plant species and boosting native plants, stabilizing stream banks, and improving aquatic and terrestrial habitat.
I've been blessed to know and work with Jim for many years now. He is a gentleman in every positive sense of that word. He is unfailingly kind to volunteers, landowners, and conservation professionals. He and Marci have generous hearts. I'll never forget when a young feral cat tottered out of the grass and collapsed at their feet at the end of a long work day. That was the luckiest cat in Wisconsin. Jim and Marci scooped it up, took it home, spent Lord knows how much on vet bills, and then found it a loving, inside home. He's a lot fun too. Over the years the number of volunteers at SWTU work days have grown—sure the work is worthwhile, but we learn a lot, hang out with great folks, and have fun. All thanks to Jim.
Jim Hess, left, helps coordinate SowBA kestrel banding efforts in Lafayette County. Photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA
Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance is also proud to claim Jim as one of our own. As he recounts in the Monroe Time, Mark Martin of SoWBA’s Goose Pond Sanctuary got him into the bluebird game. Goose Pond is also where Jim and Marci learned many of the prairie restoration techniques they applied to their own land. Their home serves as the base camp for many SoWBA kestrel banding events in Lafayette County, where they provide lunch, a space to gather, and access to 10 nearby kestrel nest boxes.
Jim, thank you so much. And see you this Saturday at Sawmill Creek for another funday—that's what we should call our work days. And if you get a chance to learn about bluebird and kestrel boxes from Jim, take it!
Topf Wells, advocacy committee
