This article is an excerpt from Madison Audubon’s Summer/Fall 2022 Newsletter.
Access the full issue here.
Madison Audubon is widely recognized for excellence in land restoration and management. Our large, intensively managed sanctuaries provide prime habitat for diverse, native plants and animals. Madison Audubon’s focus on management, together with its efforts to connect people with land and to advocate for public policies that benefit the natural world, put the organization at the forefront of the land trust movement. Traditionally, land trusts have emphasized legal protection of land, a necessary and important function, but as the land trust community increasingly recognizes, we need to do more.
Having staff and volunteers in residence at each sanctuary is a key part of Madison Audubon’s land management efforts. When living at the sanctuary, it’s easier to know what needs to be done and when, whether it’s conducting controlled burns or tackling weeds or collecting seed. And it’s easier to be available at all hours, for early-morning bird surveys or late-night mop-up after a burn, for example.
But there’s another, less obvious, benefit to having resident stewards: it allows us to build stronger relationships with our neighbors, helping the sanctuary become part of the community.
Neighbors can support the sanctuary effort in many ways, large and small. Both Faville Grove and Goose Pond sanctuaries would be very different without the close partnerships we have with nearby landowners. Faville Grove Sanctuary alone includes 14 separately-acquired parcels of land, all contiguous or in proximity and part of an ecologically-significant landscape. That represents a lot of friendly collaborations over the years!
When we recently asked the Faville Grove interns what unexpected things they’ve encountered so far this summer, one student expressed surprise at the degree of interaction she saw with the neighbors. And not just land negotiations, but chance greetings on the roads or cooperating to control weeds, seeking advice on land management, helping to maintain and monitor bird boxes, counting bats, offering use of their shed when we need it, even hosting a fundraiser. All these interactions, no matter how small, make for better habitat in the long run.
Madison Audubon’s land management model may not be the least expensive around, but it’s one of the best. After all, our native wildlife deserves our best efforts.
Written by Roger Packard, Faville Grove Sanctuary resident manager.
Cover: A green expanse of Martin Prairie (photo by David Musolf/Madison Audubon).
