We are excited, come April, to continue a longstanding Arboretum program: training and welcoming new volunteer restoration team leaders! Since 2002, team leaders have directed weekly Saturday work parties, where drop-in volunteers join in the rewarding work of land restoration. In 2025, restoration team leaders supervised thirty-two work parties, where more than 450 volunteers harvested prairie flower seeds, removed weedy plants in woodlands, and cut brush from prairies and savannas.

The Arboretum’s restoration team leader program began in 1992 to reconnect people to the land through land stewardship. Records kept since 2003 show that ninety team leaders have completed the comprehensive training, and many of them have fulfilled a two-year commitment of work party leadership. Some participants value their service so much that they continue as team leaders for many years, sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm at each Saturday work party. Three of our long-term team leaders have reached an incredible milestone: David Smith, Susan Wulfsberg, and Mark Horan have collectively served for forty years!

The work of restoring natural areas is incremental, and positive changes may take years to literally and figuratively bloom. Over their long team leader tenures, Mark, David, and Susan have witnessed how ecosystems change thanks to work party efforts. Mark sees the greatest improvements at the Grady Tract kettle holes, while Susan and David most enjoy working in and visiting Wingra Oak Savanna. “It used to be an overgrown mess of buckthorn,” David shares. “Over the twenty years I’ve volunteered at the Arboretum, Wingra Oak Savanna has greatly improved.” For Susan, the vibrancy of spring flowers under the oaks is enduring proof of decade-long efforts there. “It was a mass of garlic mustard. Look at the changes after a few years of removal. I love the spring ephemerals that grow there now!”

As ecosystem health has improved, volunteer engagement and contributions have also grown. David notes that Saturday volunteers “join us because they really want to be there. It’s been a great opportunity for me to meet new people and create new friends.” In addition, Arboretum team leaders regularly host upwards of thirty community groups each year who work alongside the drop-in volunteers at the work parties. Susan considers leading especially large groups – forty or more people! – a rewarding and significant achievement. “Volunteer enthusiasm and our work party accomplishments are amazing!”

To borrow an ecological concept, restoration team leaders are the “keystone species” of volunteer stewardship at the Arboretum. Through their presence, care, and dedication, each year hundreds of conservation-minded community members rekindle connections to local landscapes through work parties. This is exactly what inspired David to become a restoration team leader: “This was the natural next step for me to continue doing something good for and with the community, while also doing something I enjoy most – being outdoors.”

Susan’s involvement started by accompanying her teenage daughter, who attended work parties to gain high school volunteer hours. That duty evolved into a deeper sense of responsibility, and Susan continues to share her restoration expertise with her neighbors as well, helping to care for their neighborhood’s 23-acre woodland.

The Arboretum is incredibly grateful to David, Mark, and Susan, and to all the active team leaders, as well as to the many program alumni. We also are grateful to the many community members who join us on Saturday mornings to lend a gloved-hand in conserving and caring for the Arboretum’s natural areas. This shared responsibility to land and collaborative work motivates Mark each year he returns as a team leader: “So many people come out to volunteer with us – initiating changes that encourage a healthy, strong, and vital environment.”

Are you motivated to restore habitat and build social connections? We are actively recruiting volunteer restoration team leaders to join the April 2026 cohort! You can learn more about our work parties, the restoration team leader role, and the April training on our website. Or contact Micah Kloppenburg for more information.

– Micah Kloppenburg, restoration outreach coordinator