Archives

• A Big Year for Volunteers and the Arboretum April 3, 2025

  What can a small group of committed individuals accomplish? A lot! What can a large group accomplish? Even more! When the group is 970 people… 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

• Arboretum Volunteers: Welcoming Faces in Visitor Center Spaces January 7, 2025

  Walk into the Visitor Center and the first person to greet you will be, on most days, a volunteer. A team of twenty-seven volunteers staff… Read more

• Summer Education and Outreach Program Highlights September 3, 2024

  Education and outreach programs at the Arboretum never really slow down, but summer is especially abuzz with activity! From long-standing programs to newer partnerships, we… 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

• Appreciating the 2023 Volunteers April 1, 2024

  The Arboretum is a gift from past generations to the present, and in the present we pass on this gift by stewarding the land for… 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

• Vibrancy, Energy, Collaboration – Working with Volunteers April 3, 2023

  Vibrancy, energy, welcoming, dedication, caring, and collaboration – these are all ways staff described working with volunteers again in 2022. In all, at least 738… 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

• 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

• On the Trails: New Stewards and Curtis Prairie Boardwalk August 30, 2022

  The summer is always a busy season for the ranger unit. It is a time for assistant ranger and volunteer steward trainings, high visitation, trail… Read more

• Director's Note: Migratory Monarchs Added to IUCN Red List as Endangered Species August 1, 2022

  I spent much of the last week of July talking to reporters about the recent announcement from the International Union for the Conservation of… Read more

• Celebrating Persistence and Re-emergence: Appreciating the 2021 Volunteers March 31, 2022

  Spring, April: a time of rebirth and renewal in the north, a time to appreciate having endured another cold dark winter and embracing the return… 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

• Dedicated Volunteers Return in Key Roles this Fall September 1, 2021

  As UW–Madison prepares to reopen campus and resume in-person classes and activities, Arboretum staff and volunteers are resuming a regular schedule of Saturday restoration work… Read more

• The Volunteer Community March 30, 2021

  The Arboretum is a community, made up of many interconnected elements: forests, prairies, visitor center, wetlands – and volunteers everywhere, in Madison, Wisconsin, and across… Read more

• Connecting with the World Around Us March 15, 2021

  Growing out of a desire to maintain connections between volunteers and the Arboretum throughout the pandemic, I began writing a weekly newsletter. Initially, I shared… Read more

• Reimagining Volunteer Engagement During COVID-19 July 1, 2020

  A typical spring at the Arboretum brings many volunteer activities. This year, most volunteers have been on furlough since mid-March due to coronavirus. During this time, employees and volunteers are planning safe ways to resume appropriate volunteer activities and envisioning new ways to engage volunteers in conservation work. Read more