Presented by: Dave Mickelson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Geoscience, UW–Madison and Badger Talks This talk describes how Wisconsin’s landscape came to be what it is today. Southwestern Wisconsin, the Driftless Area, was never glaciated and its deep valleys and narrow ridges result from millions of years of stream erosion. Limestone and sandstone abound. At times in […]
         Presented by: Don Sanford, Author and Former Captain for Betty Lou Cruises in Madison Madison author Don Sanford spent more than a decade collecting stories, interviewing dozens of past and present Mendota “water rats” and searching for photos that help explain why this lake holds a […]
     Join the Friends of the Arboretum on Jan. 13, 2027 from 6:15 pm to 9:00 pm for an exclusive stellar evening (weather permitting) at the Washburn Observatory on the UW campus at 1401 Observatory Drive. The observatory was built in 1878 and has been the site of several major discoveries. Jim Lattis, UW-Madison Professor Emeritus […]
Photo credit: Don Greenwood Presented by: Mike Mossman and Lisa Hartman, retired Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Ecologists and Educators Nesting trumpeter swans were extirpated from Wisconsin in the 19 th century and DNR led a successful recovery effort beginning in 1987. Among the program’s many aspects, research played a critical role in the precarious […]
Photo credit: Dan Jackson Presented by: Dan Jackson, Master Naturalist, Educator and Record Reviewer for the Wisconsin Odonata Survey This presentation is designed to be a fun, informative introduction to the insect order Odonata, which includes dragonflies and damselflies. The presentation includes a discussion on the biology and life history of this order as well […]
Presented by: Steve Vavrus, Ph.D., Director of the Wisconsin State Climatology Office, Senior Scientist at UW–Madison’s Division of Extension and the Nelson Institute Like the rest of the world, Wisconsin is experiencing climate change and its impacts. The past two decades have been the state’s warmest on record, and the 2010s were Wisconsin’s wettest decade. […]
Presented by: David Drake, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, UW–Madison and Principal investigator of the UW Urban Canid Project. Since 2014, Drake and his collaborators have been live trapping and radio collaring red foxes and coyotes in the greater Madison area. This presentation will briefly cover urban canid ecology and the project’s […]
Presented by: Anne Readel, Ph.D., J.D., - Conservation Storyteller Conservation storyteller Anne Readel will delve into how she finds and documents compelling conservation stories in urban environments. Through her photography projects on city-dwelling birds, backyard bumblebees, and the American lawn, Anne will share insights on photographing urban wildlife and conservation issues. Learn how […]