Bird & Nature Blog
A clutch of the latest stories from Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance
When you think of conservation work, restoring habitats, or surveying wildlife, or conducting prescribed burns might immediately come to mind. But what about the work that’s a bit less dazzling? One important effort is cleaning up roadside garbage—much of which is completely preventable.
photo by Mark Martin
If you know Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin, you know they live, breathe, talk, and dream about conservation. Independently, their careers have made a huge difference in how Wisconsin values and manages natural resources. And together, their impact as long-time Goose Pond Sanctuary managers is almost immeasurable. Almost.
This past Wednesday, we joined Gathering Waters and the conservation community in celebrating Mark and Sue, recipients of the 2021 Harold "Bud" Jordahl Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations to Mark and Sue!
Photo by Arlene Koziol
I attended my first “burn” in 1992 while a graduate student at UW-Madison. I was hooked. The sights, sounds, smell and the skill exhibited by the burn team made me want to learn more. Then life got in the way.
Fast forward to 2010.
In 2010 I retired from a career in Landscape Architecture and embarked on a new career path in Photography. I began an ongoing project documenting the activity of local burn teams throughout the area.
The pandemic put a hold on burn activity for 2020, which gave me the opportunity to review my work and go forward when the world started opening up again.
Last year 2020 (fall) and this year 2021 (spring) I worked with Graham Steinhauer and the team creating imagery from several burns at the Goose Pond Sanctuary.
Photo by Carolyn Knorr
The question I get asked the most is “why”.
My reason for making these images is two-fold. First, I want to document and bring awareness to the public of the importance of the science of burning. Wisconsin is fortunate to have remnants of prairie, oak savanna and wetlands that are on conservation lands and are managed through burning. These tracts provide shelter to a rich variety of plants and animals. Habitats that would otherwise be overtaken by invasive species, if not for the burning.
The second reason I make these images is for the beauty and artistic nature of the burns themselves. They are a metaphor for so many human emotions. Life, death, rebirth, renewal to name a few.
My goal with this project is to heighten awareness of the importance of land management through burning and to ultimately present this project in book form and a traveling photography exhibit.
Written by Carolyn S. Knorr, fine art photographer and Goose Pond Sanctuary volunteer
Our good folks at Goose Pond and Faville Grove had a different and much healthier attitude toward the snow. On Friday morning, I was lucky enough to be among the dozen or so volunteers who finished sowing a new prairie at the newly acquired Benade tract just down the road from Goose Pond. Just about as the last bucket was thrown in the truck (I think you could make the case that buckets are among the most essential pieces of equipment for prairie management—you can't collect or sow seeds without them), a mix of rain and snow started. With the forecast of snow a near certainty, we couldn't have been happier. Nothing is better for a winter prairie planting then a nice blanket of new snow. It keeps the seeds in place and the freezing and moisture really help with germination.
Photo by Drew Harry
This year and next year we're going to put a special emphasis on dragonflies and damselflies. Our goal with your help is to find as many species as possible at Goose Pond, Erstad Prairie/Schoenberg Marsh, and Otsego Marsh.
Could you help us search, identify, and tally them? This is an independently completed citizen science project. Details and guidance are below!
Photo by Graham Steinhauer
