The Arboretum’s long-running Winter Enrichment series offers lectures for naturalists, volunteers, friends, and community members.

2023 Winter Enrichment Lectures

The 2023 lectures will take place on Thursday mornings in February and March. The February lectures will be virtual, the March lectures will be in person. Lectures are $10 each and advance registration is required. Registration for the Winter Enrichment series is now open.

Students can register for free using the student registration form.

The Arboretum Research Symposium will take place March 2, in person at the Visitor Center. It is a free event and no registration is required.

Virtual Lectures

The February lectures will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. (CST). Virtual lectures will include automatic closed-captioning and automatic live transcripts. They will be recorded and a link to view the recording will be available to registered participants only. Recordings will be available for one week.

February 2
Addressing Invasive Species in a Changing Climate. Carrie Brown-Lima, Director and Senior Extension Associate, New York Invasive Species Research Institute, Cornell University. Register by January 29.

February 9
Synthesizing Knowledge for Decision-Making in a Changing World. Rachel Mason (she/her), Research Scientist, Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science, Arizona State University. Register by February 5.

February 16
At the Confluence: Great Lakes Estuaries in the National Estuarine Research Reserves. Deanna Erickson (she/her), Director, Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve, UW–Madison Division of Extension, and Emily Tyner, Director of Freshwater Strategy, University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. Register by February 12.

February 23
Life at the Edge of Sight: A Photographic Exploration of the Microbial World. Scott Chimileski (he/him), Research Scientist, Marine Biological Laboratory. Register by February 19.

In-Person Lectures

The Research Symposium and the March Winter Enrichment lectures will be in-person events held in the Visitor Center auditorium from 9 to 11:30 a.m. (CST). The in-person talks will not be streamed or recorded.

March 2
Arboretum Research Symposium. Student, faculty, and other researchers will present findings from projects on Arboretum lands and in the Lake Wingra watershed. The research symposium is a free event, no registration required.

March 9
What Do We Know about PFAS in Wisconsin’s Surface Water and Fish? Meghan Williams (she/her), Environmental Toxicologist, and Patrick Gorski, PhD (he/him), Emerging Contaminants Research Scientist, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Register by March 5.

March 16
Injecting Ash Trees and Other Journeys in Governing, Stewarding, and Caring for Nature. Adena Rissman, Professor, People Institutions and Ecosystems Lab, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, UW–Madison. Register by March 14.

March 23
Dugouts in Wisconsin: More than Four Thousand Years of Canoe Craft. Sissel Schroeder, Professor, Department of Anthropology, UW–Madison. Register by March 21.

March 30
Global Approaches to Sustainable Development. Alberto Vargas (he/him), Associate Director, Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, UW–Madison. Register by March 28.