Friends of the Blufflands

10/23/2026

On October 17th, twelve UWL students from Dr Jaspreet Kaur's Conservation Biology class joined Friends of the Blufflands on Birch Point Prairie for a day of restoration work. We have been privileged to have these students chip in on Birch and other sites to help preserve this unique habitat...and hopefully they enjoyed and learned from the experience and maybe a few "caught the prairie bug!" As discussed in previous posts, Birch Point is in the early stages of restoration and every work outing is important to bring it into better shape. We accomplished a lot, but there is still much to do. Please add your name to our volunteer list by going to our website friendsoftheblufflands.org. Thanks!

10/15/2026

Over the last few years a lot of effort has been put into Birch Point Prairie. Though there is still much to do, this work has transformed it from a small remnant getting ever more invaded by black locust and the other ubiquitous nonnatives led by buckthorn and bittersweet to a site now increasingly liberated with room to grow. This effort by Friends was started in 2024 building on previous work and has included 4 contracts with Micheel Forestry, and a total of over 400 hours from a wide variety of volunteers. Recently this has included 6 WisCorp Crew members, 5 Capstone UWL students, and 8 Trane employees. Thank you to everyone who supported this work including individual donors, the La Crosse Area Community Foundation, the Natural resources Foundation, and the City of La Crosse Parks and recreation Department!

10/15/2026

Friends of the Blufflands is honored to be one of ten worthy finalists for Altra Federal Credit Union's $10,000 Best Life Community Choice Award! But We Need Your Vote!

Please support preservation of the natural areas in La Crosse’s blufflands by casting your vote for Friends of the Blufflands. With your help, we can win!

Please vote for Friends of the Blufflands using this link:
https://woobox.com/d8z4ve

10/13/2026

Here's Kathy Allen's post about the Friends of the Bluffland's work outing yesterday on Lookout Prairie with UWL Conservation Biology Students.

10/07/2026

For our October Second Saturday Hike, we are inviting folks to join our friends at Mississippi Valley Conservancy for their Fungi in the Forest Hike at the Kaplan Tract right here in the La Crosse Blufflands. The hike is this Saturday, October 10th from 8-10am, beginning at the Mathy Quarry Trailhead.

Find more info and register for this FREE event by tomorrow (October 8th) at the following link: https://mississippivalleyconservancy.org/events/fungi-forest-hike-la-crosse-blufflands-kaplan-tract

We hope to see you there!

10/05/2026

It was a good morning for working in the blufflands. We were on Stry Prairie with UWL students doing capstone projects. We gathered seed to spread on adjacent areas to help expand the prairie. The valley below Miller Bluff was full of fog, but it was sunny up where we were.

09/26/2026

Check out the latest blog post on the Friends of the Blufflands website:

In less than a week it will be October, the month when Doug Tallamy's book, The Nature of Oaks, begins. In the prologue, Tallamy writes, "Oaks support more forms of life and more fascinating interactions than any other tree genus in North America". Why start the book in October? Because, he says, "i...

09/18/2026

Recently Dan Carter, ecologist from The Prairie Enthusiasts, did an assessment of three bluff prairies in the La Crosse area, including Zoerb Prairie. As part of the assessment, he collected aerial photographs from 1938 to 2025. Here they are of Zoerb, showing the prairie in 1938 when it was quite extensive, reaching a low in 2015, then recovering through Friends of the Blufflands efforts in the years that follow culminating in a much expanded prairie in 2025. Since then, even more work has been done! Also note in these photos the neighboring prairies, Birch Point and Lookout. Birch Point was almost completely overgrown with trees and brush in 2022, then opened up again in 2025. And Lookout, and its savanna below, are seen to be much more open in 2025. Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped!

09/15/2026

Friends of the Blufflands is pleased to be mentoring 5 UWL students doing Capstone Projects for their Community-Engaged Sustainability class with Dr Alysa Remsburg. Each will spend time with Friends throughout the fall semester learning about remnant prairies and restoration methods. September 14th was their first day. On our walk to the prairie, each chose an aggressive plant that can invade the prairie and report back to the group about next time... there were many to choose from! We then focused on seed collecting while learning about several of the native prairie plants. Two noteworthy species growing in several areas were silky aster and Great Plains lady's tresses included in photos. Both of these plants have a Coefficient of Conservatism of 8, indicating that they are most often found on high quality sites with minimal disturbance. Thanks to Emma C, Emma J, Easton, Linsey, and Alhanna!