ARBORETUM NEWS (PRESS RELEASES)
Winter Enrichment Lecture Series begins January 14
MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2009Naturalists, environmental educators and the general public are invited to attend a series of environmentally themed lectures held each Thursday morning at the Arboretum Visitor Center.
Lectures begin on January 14 and continue through March 18, meeting Thursday mornings from 9-11:30 a.m. in the Visitor Center auditorium.
There is a break at mid-morning for refreshments, socializing and phenology reports. Each presentation includes some time for questions and answers.
The series ends with a field trip. Participants will be able to sign up for this outing later in the series when details become available.
You may register and pay for the complete series by downloading a brochure and mailing your payment to the Arboretum. Download a registration form. Or you may pay for an individual lecture by following the links below.
The schedule is as follows:
January 14 “Spirits of Earth: The Effigy Mound Landscape of Madison and the Four Lakes.” Bob Birmingham, Anthropology lecturer, UW-Waukesha; former State Archaeologist, Wisconsin Historical Society.
Robert A. Birmingham has spent his career studying and writing about the effigy mounds of Wisconsin. He took his undergraduate and graduate school training from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and has conducted fieldwork throughout the state. He served as Wisconsin State Archaeologist at the Wisconsin Historical Society for 15 years, and is the senior editor of the Wisconsin Archeological Society special volumes “Wisconsin Rock Art” and “Wisconsin Archaeology” and received from that organization the Increase Lapham Research Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of archaeology.
Birmingham now teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha and writes from his home in Madison. He is co-author, with Leslie E. Eisenberg, of Indian Mounds of Wisconsin (awarded the Elizabeth A. Steinberg Prize), and, with Lynn G. Goldstein, of Aztalan: Mysteries of an Ancient Indian Town. His newest book, Spirits of Earth, is scheduled for release in December of 2009. He will present excerpts, theories, and photographs from that book. Register and pay for this lecture.
January 21 “Ferns: Natural History and Current Research.” Emily Sessa, Ph.D. candidate, UW-Madison Department of Botany.
Emily Butler Sessa’s dissertation is on the systematics and ecophysiology of ferns. She is very interested in community outreach and in teaching people about the lifestyle, history and identification of these important and unique plants. She has a gift for communicating her enthusiasm about ferns to others, and has led teaching tours for the Arboretum naturalist crew and other groups. Register and pay for this lecture.
January 28 “Urban and Suburban Permaculture.” Kate Heiber-Cobb, Educator/owner of Sustainability on Stilts, LLC.
Just what is “permaculture”? It can be defined as “agriculture that can be sustained indefinitely”—a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining process. Imagine agriculture with the stability and resiliency of a natural ecosystem!
Kate Heiber-Cobb holds an Advanced Permaculture Design course certification with Midwest Permaculture (an organization promoting more sustainable ways of living and providing quality permaculture education and training throughout the Midwest and beyond). She’s the founder of the Madison Area Permaculture Guild, and the owner of Sustainability on Stilts LLC - her own permaculture design and consulting service.
Kate has years of experience in community organizing; group facilitation; and small business development, management and administration. She will draw upon all of those skills in her talk, sharing her real-life experiences – from her start as a relative permaculture novice to becoming an active and accomplished permaculture designer with her own business.
In her business, Kate consults with individuals, companies, and organizations on how they might apply permaculture principles and design to their upcoming projects. In her personal life, she and her husband Tom are going about transforming their traditional suburban home into a beautiful and productive site. As a teacher, Kate helps make the broad and sometimes overwhelming subject of permaculture understandable, practical and doable. As she tells her students, “Hey, if I can do this… so can you!” Register and pay for this lecture.
February 4 “History and Ecology of Prairies in Wisconsin.” Rich Henderson, research scientist, Wisconsin DNR; Recipient of 2007 Leopold Restoration Award.
Rich Henderson has dedicated his life to understanding and restoring Wisconsin’s prairies and oak woodlands. He holds degrees in Biological Aspects of Conservation and Landscape Architecture from the UW-Madison and spent eight years as a consultant in natural-area management. Since 1983 he’s been an ecologist with the Bureau of Science Services of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
All told, Rich has 34 years of experience in natural area inventory, assessment and management of a wide variety of ecosystems. His research projects have included investigations of the effects of the seasonal timing of fire on prairie plants, purple loosestrife ecology and control, prairie insect inventory and management, and the effects of fire in oak woodlands.
An active volunteer with the Wisconsin chapter of The Nature Conservancy (and former member of its board of directors), Rich also serves in a leadership role with The Prairie Enthusiasts. Restoration is not just his professional passion, but it’s been important in his personal life as well – for over 30 years he’s been restoring an oak savanna near his home.
Rich will share an in-depth presentation on the plants and animals of the prairie, and their interactions with one another. He promises many colorful photographs! He will conclude with a brief discussion of conservation efforts currently underway in our state. Register and pay for this lecture.
February 11 “Listening Lessons for Naturalists: Animal and Bird Communication.” Jesse Ellis, Research associate, UW-Madison Department of Zoology.
Jesse Ellis has been birding since before he can remember, and is fascinated with how wild creatures communicate with one another. He grew up in St. Paul, Minn., but went to the West Coast for his undergraduate college work. He has a doctorate from Cornell University, renowned for their Lab of Ornithology.
He has a special interest in jays: His dissertation examined the factors that influence vocal repertoire size in the white-throated magpie jay. (Just how many different songs and calls do these birds use, and in what situations?)
After an overview of animal communication, Jesse’s main focus will be techniques for learning and differentiating bird sounds, including demonstrations of some computer programs that provide a visual representation of the sounds. He also plans to bring in and demonstrate some field-recording equipment. Register and pay for this lecture.
February 18 “Herding Sparrows: Investigations of Grassland Bird Biology in Southern Wisconsin.” Mike Guzy, Associate Professor, College of Lake County.
A licensed bird bander and multifaceted bird scholar/enthusiast, Michael J. Guzy lives in Edgerton. He grew up in Missouri, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Fisheries and Wildlife from the University of Missouri in Columbia. For his master’s degree he studied the forest bird community in the North Carolina mountains; he then came to Wisconsin to earn his doctorate in Wildlife Ecology, studying – you guessed it – grassland birds. In addition, he’s worked in the renowned lab of Sidney Gauthreaux (now emeritus) at Clemson University, researching bird migration.
In the spring of 2009 Mike published an article called “Herding Sparrows: an Exploration of Methods to Capture Grassland Birds” in The Passenger Pigeon, the journal of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology. Written with a blend of scientific observation and humor, the article details some of his adventures banding and studying Eastern meadowlarks, bobolinks, upland sandpipers, various grassland sparrows, and other birds in and around the Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area. He and his volunteer crew learned a great deal about field techniques and the value of banding and radio-monitoring birds. Register and pay for this lecture.
February 25 “Pollinators: Their Biology and Importance.” Eric Mader, National Pollinator Outreach Coordinator, The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
In his role as the National Pollinator Outreach Coordinator with the Xerces Society, Eric Mader works to raise awareness of native pollinator conservation techniques among growers and government agencies. His previous work has included commercial beekeeping and crop consulting for the native seed industry. He is currently an adjunct extension professor at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Entomology. Eric has authored several books and government management plans for native pollinators.
Why should we care about pollinators, particularly the native ones? Because they provide essential services for native wildflowers, and also for more than 2/3 of the world’s crop species. They are also in trouble – the number of managed (non-native) honeybee colonies in the United States has dropped by 50 percent since 1945. Diseases, parasitic mites and Colony Collapse Disorder have created a honeybee crisis; increasingly, farmers, scientists and conservation professionals are turning their attention to the value of native bees to fill the void.
In his presentation, Eric will provide an overview of native bee biology, the value of insect pollination in Wisconsin, basic identification of our local native bees, and an overview of pollinator conservation efforts now in place nationwide. It’s safe to say that the room will be “buzzing” with important information. Register and pay for this lecture.
March 4 “Fungi Underfoot and Overhead: Cryptic Transformers of the Native Environment.” Andrea Gargas Ph.D., Owner of Symbiology LLC
Dr. Andrea Gargas has over 20 years’ experience in DNA amplification, sequencing and analysis. Her expertise and research interests include fungal molecular systems and phylogeny, and the evolutionary origins of symbioses (the living together of two dissimilar organisms).
Andrea’s resume shows pages and pages of publications on topics ranging from white-nose syndrome in bats to lichen symbionts to forest mycorrhizae (you might guess that the common factor here is involvement by a fungus). Fluent in English, Danish and German, she has taught in botany departments at the University of California-Davis, the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and the UW-Madison. She now owns and operates Symbiology, LLC, promoting “accessible microbiology” and a better understanding of the natural world. Register and pay for this lecture.
March 11 “Wolf Recovery in Wisconsin, 1980-2010”/”Ojibwe Tribal Perspectives on Wisconsin Wolf Policy.” Adrian Treves, Professor, and Tory Shelley, Graduate student, The Carnivore Coexistence Lab, UW-Madison Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
Adrian Treves grew up on the East Coast and has studied wildlife in faraway countries such as Uganda and Ecuador. Since 1997 he has lived in Wisconsin and studied the state’s wolves, which have quietly been making a comeback here since their near-extinction in the late 1950s. Of course as the wolf population grows and expands its range, wolf-human interactions increase, and with them the controversy about just how many wolves is “enough” in a given area.
Adrian will summarize 30 years of wolf conservation in Wisconsin, after which graduate student Tory Shelley will discuss Ojibwe attitudes toward the wolf. Expect a skillful weaving of science and culture. Register and pay for this lecture.
March 18 “Wisconsin Frogs, Toads and Salamanders.” Randy Korb, Author/wildlife educator, St. Croix Wildlife, Inc.
An ambassador for amphibians, Randy Korb has entertained children and adults throughout the upper Midwest with his informative, educational presentations. Often live animals are involved!
Randy was born and raised in Clintonville, Wisconsin and grew up in a family with 10 children; first-hand experiences with birds, frogs and turtles right outside his back door nurtured a deep love for nature at an early age. After graduating from UW-Green Bay he worked at the nearby Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in an administrative capacity in charge of captive wildlife for 5 years, then earned his master’s degree in environmental education and interpretation from UW-Stevens Point and launched an entrepreneurial career in wildlife education, now in its 23rd year.
Randy also shares his passion and knowledge by taking children and parents into the outdoors on wildlife-themed field trips. He leads frog night hikes, Monarch-butterfly-tagging events and other wildlife excursions in cooperation with environmental organizations and centers in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Randy is immediate past president of the Northeastern Wisconsin Audubon Society in Green Bay and the Wisconsin Audubon Council, Inc., a coalition of the state’s 17 chapters and centers. He recently started a non-profit organization, St Croix Wildlife, Inc., in order to connect more children and parents with nature. In 2008, he initiated the Wisconsin Salamander Survey, and currently serves as the project’s director. He is the author of books for children and adults. Register and pay for this lecture.