Archives

• Giving Thanks and Celebrating Volunteers December 2, 2025

  We’ve entered the season of thanksgiving and celebration, reflection and connection – an ideal time to “bellow forth the tubas and sousaphones, the whole rusty… Read more

• Explore Citizen Science at the Arboretum April 3, 2025

  Nature is giving hints of warmer days ahead, and the first signs of spring are emerging all around us. On Saturday, April 5, from 1… Read more

• Charting a New Path: Journey North Migrating to Monarch Joint Venture March 17, 2025

  As we look toward spring and the arrival of cherished seasonal events such as migration and spring blooms, we are pleased to announce… Read more

• April Is Citizen Science Month! April 1, 2024

  Are you curious about the natural world? Do you want to make valuable collective contributions that advance scientific discovery and support initiatives locally and globally?… Read more

• Arboretum and Community Partners Discuss Ways to Reduce Salt Contamination in Lake Wingra May 31, 2023

  This spring, two meetings at the Arboretum brought together stakeholders from the Lake Wingra watershed with the overarching goal of reducing the amount of salt… Read more

• ­­Celebrate Citizen Science Month April 3, 2023

  April is Citizen Science Month! Join the UW–Madison Arboretum to celebrate citizen and community science projects and the volunteers who help create knowledge about our… Read more

• Monarch Butterflies Have Been Declared Engangered. What Can We Do to Save Them? July 24, 2022

  Ayesha Rascoe speaks with conservation biologist Karen Oberhauser about why the migratory monarch butterfly was just declared endangered, and what can be done in response. Read more

• Monarch Butterflies Are Endangered, Leading Wildlife Monitor Says July 21, 2022

  North America’s monarch butterfly, whose showy looks and extraordinary migration have made it one of the continent’s most beloved insects, has been classified as endangered… Read more

• Dragonfly Education and Research at the Arboretum June 1, 2022

  Dragonfly citizen science began at the Arboretum in 2018 with the Dragonfly Monitoring Project. Volunteers monitor nine sites across the grounds and have submitted over… Read more

• Monarch Winter 2021–22 Population Numbers Released June 1, 2022

  On May 24, 2022, the World Wildlife Fund-Telmex Telcel Foundation Alliance (WWF) and the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas in Mexico (CONANP), released data… Read more

• Citizen Science Spotlight: Wingra Springs Monitoring and Common Loon Migration March 31, 2022

  Spring beckons us to get outside. It’s an eventful time of year to observe nature with the reappearance of many plants and animals. And it’s… Read more

• Journey North Publishes Monarch Butterfly and Hummingbird Data Packages March 2, 2022

  For over twenty-five years, Journey North has tracked arrivals and departures of migratory species. And now, this volunteer-generated data is more accessible to researchers than… Read more

• Celebrate Citizen Science Month: Explore, Learn, Get Involved April 13, 2021

  This April, volunteers will look to the skies to report arrivals of migrating birds and insects, such as monarch butterflies. Some will search wooded areas… Read more

• Three ways to help save monarch butterflies and other pollinators September 21, 2020

  “Every fall, declining day length triggers one of the most incredible phenomena found in nature: the annual fall migration of monarch butterflies. Across North America,… Read more

• Get Involved in Citizen Science at Home April 15, 2020

  Spring’s renewal is all around us as longer days, warming temperatures, and the reappearance of many plants and animals help lift our collective spirits. The… Read more

• Volunteers Turn Dreams into Reality February 27, 2020

  Emily Dickinson wrote “To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, / One clover, and a bee. / And revery. / The… Read more

• Ecological Monitoring: Process and Purpose May 30, 2019

  Ecosystems are dynamic, with vegetation and animals changing seasonally and over long time periods. Ecological monitoring is an important scientific practice of taking systematic, repeated… Read more

• Citizen Science Monitoring Program, Journey North, Finds a Home at the Arboretum February 5, 2019

  Spring might officially be more than a month away, but for some animals making a trek back north after wintering in the south, the spring… Read more

• Director's Note February 2019 February 5, 2019

  Arboretum Citizen Science: Commitment and Growth When she was three, my daughter asked, “What does science mean?” I probably answered with something like: “it’s how… Read more

• New Citizen Science Staff February 5, 2019

  The Arboretum has added two staff members to the research program in the last six months. Jessica Ross started as the citizen science coordinator in… Read more