Calendar

Apr. 30:
Brown Bag: Within Reach Movie

May 8:
Woodland School: Birding the IBA

The Woodland School

In the coming year, we are offering an array of Woodland School classes to advance your land stewardship practice, from the classics—chainsaw safety, prescribed fire—to new opportunities like birding the Leopold Memorial Reserve with experts. We hope you'll let one pique your curiosity and join us in the field!

Support the Work of the Foundation

Become a key partner in helping us spread the land ethic, advance the science of land health, preserve the Leopold shack and farm, and train new leaders for the future of conservation. Join today!

Visiting the Leopold Center

The Leopold Center is closed for the season. Visits from Nov.-Apr. are by appointment only. Beginning in May, the Leopold Center will be open Monday-Saturday, 9am-5pm.

The Outlook e-Newsletter

April 2010

Earth Day at 40 Conference Features Leopold Fellows

Earth Day turns 40 this year! Come celebrate at a two-day conference held by UW-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies on April 20-21. Our Senior Fellows Stan Temple and Curt Meine will be among the featured speakers, alongside Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Margaret Atwood, Bill Cronon, Tia Nelson, and many others. The first Earth Day, founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and held on April 22, 1970, inspired 20 million people to participate in environmental teach-ins across the United States.

Welcome Gayle Blanch to Our Staff!

We'd like to introduce you to Gayle Blanch, our new receptionist at the Leopold Center! She previously worked for the International Crane Foundation, also in Baraboo, in the Visitor Center but prior to that Gayle, a native Kiwi, worked in libraries in New Zealand and Macau. She worked primarily for the National Library of New Zealand as a Manager of a provincial (state) service center similar to the size of Wisconsin providing support services to schools and public libraries. Gayle looks forward to welcoming visitors to the Leopold Center this summer, saying, "Working in non-profits since I have lived here in USA has opened my eyes to the generosity of visitors and members who have been inspired by the work and goals of such organizations." We hope you'll come meet her in person this season!

Upcoming Lunchtime Seminar at the Leopold Center

Friday, April 30: The Within Reach Movie team presents a comprehensive video slideshow to answer the questions “What is a Sustainable Community” and “What Does it Take to Create or Live in One?” Mandy and Ryan are bike-packing more than 6,000 miles around the U.S. visiting and documenting 100 Sustainable Communities of all types. Join them for this lunchtime presentation and discussion. Brown-bag seminars are held at the Leopold Center and run 12pm-1:30pm. Bring a lunch and come enjoy hearing from our speakers!

Find more upcoming events on our website. If you'd like a printed version of our even calendar, please call our office at 608.355.0279 and we'd be happy to send you one!

Leopold-Pine Island IBA Named Top Birding Spot!

The Leopold-Pine Island Important Bird Area (IBA) was recently named one of the top six birding locations for 2010 in the National Wildlife Foundation's magazine. While we do not have much infrastructure right now to support birding visits on our property, much of the IBA is on adjacent public land and birding from the roadside is great, too! Learn more about the IBA and how to visit, or check out this Google Map to help you find spots along the road that make good stopping points. We also will be offering a birding class in the IBA in May--a great chance to visit with professional ornithologists as your guides!

Come Garden With Us!

Are you looking to get outside this summer and learn about prairie plants? We welcome volunteers who would like to come work with ALF’s Stewardship Crew in the native plant gardens around the Leopold Center on the second Wednesday of each month May through September. The crew will work on a variety of tasks from weeding to seed collecting from 8:30-10:30 a.m. Visit with the crew and learn all about the various native plants around the center as you work. Please put these dates on your calendar: May 12nd, June 9th, July 14th, August 11th, and September 8th. Coffee, a morning snack, and garden tools will be provided. Please bring your own gloves. No need to RSVP, but please contact Carson Main if you have questions.

Notes from the Field

Last month you watched a video of ALF interns Carson Main and Fletcher Clark battling buckthorn on the Leopold Memorial Reserve. This month, you can read about the summary of their work in the 2010 Buckthorn Report! Common buckthorn has become a threat to woodland health across much of the northeastern United States. It is an invasive tree from Eurasia that grows in dense thickets in forests, shading out native vegetation. The buckthorn report details the Foundation's work controlling buckthorn on the Leopold Memorial Reserve, including our specific methods and procedures. Take a look!

Pepsi Grant Wrap-Up

Thank you to all of you who clicked away in February voting for the Foundation's documentary film Green Fire to be funded through a grant from Pepsi. Unfortunately, the effort wasn't enough. With a late surge for some of our competitors, we finally ended in 41st place. However, the attempt did succeed in generating some interesting and valuable feedback from our members and followers about whether and how the Foundation should be using new media. We received criticism from some of our members who viewed our participation in the contest as supporting Pepsi and did not appreciate being asked to give their information to Pepsi's website. But we also heard from supporters who enjoyed contributing to the Foundation's goals in this way and spread the word about the contest to many of their friends. Some comments included:

"I am saddened and disappointed and I am sorry to tell you, you won't get my vote. As I look at the email, in order to vote, and vote daily mind you, one is exposed to the Pepsi logo each and every time. I don't know how many members of the foundation you have emailed this to, but by doing so, you are providing daily advertising to Pepsi for free - and you still may not 'win' the money."

"I viewed the Green Fire Project and was deeply moved by what you are doing. I would like to be able to vote for the $50,000 funding so that you can make the documentary film. However I am really uncomfortable with giving Pepsi my e-mail address."

"I've been campaigning hard for your Pepsi grant. I've put the word out to all the LEP State coordinators, to all the people at work, and to as many as I can on Facebook. Hopefully it will pay off."

Thank you to everyone who shared comments with us. We do not intend to participate in these kinds of contests on a regular basis, but doing it has been an illuminating experience in many ways.