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

• Gardening with Native Plants: Gardener’s Bookshelf December 2, 2025

  December usually brings cold days, crisp air, freezing lakes, animal tracks, and snow shoveling. This month always brings the longest nights and the winter solstice,… Read more

• People Caring for the Land: Volunteers, Communities, and Connection July 31, 2025

  Spring brought abundant blossoms, greening of the prairie, songs of migratory birds, and many volunteer groups active on the land. In just thirteen… Read more

• "Preserve" Art Installation Hosted at the Arboretum June 10, 2025

  “The City of Madison Arts Commission is proud to announce the installation of Preserve, a temporary environmental art installation, which is now on display at… Read more

• Welcome Micah Kloppenburg June 2, 2025

  The Arboretum is pleased to welcome Micah Kloppenburg as our new ecological restoration outreach coordinator. Micah most recently worked for the Xerces Society as the… Read more

• Marian Farrior: Restoration, Community, and Collaboration in Action February 4, 2025

  For the last twenty-two years, Marian Farrior has dedicated her work – at the Arboretum and with other environmental organizations – to a clear… Read more

• Gardening with Native Plants: Winter Reading December 2, 2024

  December is the first month of meteorological winter and brings the shortest days of the year, often with cold and snow. Gardens are quiet this… Read more

• Land Care Report: The Stages of Restoring Valuable Oak Savannas November 4, 2024

  When people think of Arboretum restorations, they likely envision prairies, especially Curtis and Greene Prairies. That makes sense, given the historical importance of Curtis and… Read more

• Summer Volunteer Groups: Myriad Motivations, Many Rewards July 30, 2024

  Summer is a busy time for volunteer groups at the Arboretum, with at least one service project each week from June through August. Corporate groups,… Read more

• Arboretum Restoration Team Leader Program Serves as a Model for Participatory Leadership May 1, 2024

  For more than three decades, the Arboretum’s drop-in restoration work parties have engaged hundreds of community volunteers each year in restoring and caring for Arboretum… Read more

• Art on View: Driftless Prairie Visions May 1, 2024

  “Driftless Prairie Visions,” a multimedia exhibit by the five-artist group Prairie Imaginarium, will be on view in the Arboretum Visitor Center in May and June. Read more

• Land Care Report: Growing Native Plants for Restoration February 29, 2024

  An old greenhouse, which has not been used to grow plants in several years, occupies the south-facing section of the Arboretum’s lab building, east of… Read more

• On the Trails: Greene Prairie Boardwalk Removal October 31, 2023

  Greene Prairie is an amazing 47-acre restoration – named after botanist Henry Greene who independently hand-planted the area – located in the southern part of… Read more

• Land Care Report: Skunk Cabbage Wetlands and Winter Restoration Progress May 16, 2023

  Winter and early spring of 2023 were an exciting time for the land care crew and their oak savanna and wetland brush clearing projects. In… Read more

• Spring Volunteer Trainings January 30, 2023

  The Arboretum is delighted to once again offer spring trainings for volunteers in essential roles that care for the land and engage with the public. Read more

• Land Care Report: A Record Year in Seed Collection and Donations December 30, 2022

  When the snow begins to fall, it brings a change in work for the Arboretum land care crew. Chainsaws and forestry mowers rumble to life… Read more

• Restoring Connections, Strengthening Communities November 1, 2022

  It’s been a busy autumn for volunteer engagement, with numerous organizations from campus and the broader community sending groups out to do service projects in… Read more

• Operation Fresh Start Conservation Academy Crew Assists Restoration Efforts August 30, 2022

  Over eight days in August, the Arboretum land care operation received a people-powered restoration boost from an Operation Fresh Start (OFS) Conservation Academy crew. Read more

• Land Care Report: Continued Improvements at Faville Prairie May 2, 2022

  In September 2018 I wrote about the Arboretum’s historical connection to the preservation of Faville Prairie near Lake Mills, Wisconsin. I also… Read more

• Research Update: Lost City Invasive Shrub Management January 28, 2022

  Invasive plant species are prevalent in southern Wisconsin. Two common non-native invasive shrubs are buckthorn (Rhamnus spp.) and honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.). Landowners and managers allocate… Read more