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Monday 8am - 4:30pm Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm Thursday 8am - 4:30pm Friday 8am - 4:30pm

Groundswell Conservancy

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Groundswell Conservancy

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Our mission is to protect special places, forever. Our Mission: Protect special places, forever. We are a Wisconsin nonprofit and community-based organization.

We believe everyone should live in a world filled with green places where communities thrive. Land is essential for people’s physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. All should enjoy equitable access to the benefits of land and nature. If we don’t protect undeveloped land now, it may be lost forever. The environmental issues facing our world have never been greater – our climate is changing, farmland is disappearing, not everyone has good access to land, wildlife habitat is vanishing, and people are losing their connections with the outdoors. Groundswell is pushing back. With the help of our supporters, landowners, partners and volunteers, we are taking on big issues with focus and resolve. Acre by acre we are getting results. How We Work:
-Act on Climate Crisis
-Connect People with Nature
-Conserve Wildlife Habitat
-Provide Equitable Access to Land
-Keep Farmland, Farmland
-Create Green Schoolyards

Learn more at www.groundswellconservancy.org

10/12/2026

This Indigenous Peoples' Day, we encourage you to reflect on the Indigenous roots of the places we call home.

We honor and celebrate the traditions, sovereignty, and living histories of Indigenous Peoples as the original stewards of our lands.

Last week, we had the privilege of hosting a field trip at the Breed Conservation Easement, a permanently protected 48-acre property near the Yahara River rich in cultural and natural resources. Groundswell board member and former Ho-Chunk Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Bill Quackenbush, shared powerful stories of this site's cultural significance that tell the living histories of Indigenous peoples on this protected land.

Thank you to the Breed family for inviting us to tour this historical site, and to Bill for sharing his knowledge and insights to this land. We're grateful to our field trip sponsors for making this event possible: Quercus Land Stewardship Services First Business Bank Murphy Desmond S.C. FairShare CSA Coalition Spencer Real Estate Group

We’re proud to work alongside Dane County Land & Water Resources Department and the Ho-Chunk Nation to continue our ongoing commitment to honoring Indigenous sovereignty and protecting culturally significant lands. Thanks to this landmark partnership, 165 acres of ecologically and culturally important land will be protected along the Yahara River in the Town of Dunn.

📷: Roberta Herschleb

10/11/2026

Help us collect native seeds for this winter's 18-acre prairie planting! 🌾

Through the end of October, join Groundswell staff and volunteers for seed collection at Westport Prairie and Patrick Marsh. No experience is required and all are welcome! Check out the upcoming workdays:

Westport Prairie:
October 14, 9–11 a.m.
October 15, 4–6 p.m.
October 29, 4–6 p.m.

Patrick Marsh:
October 16, 9–11:30 a.m.

RSVP now: groundswellconservancy.org/get-involved/outdoor-volunteering

📷: Mario Quintana, Groundswell Conservancy

10/07/2026

Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day at Patrick Marsh!

On Sunday, October 18 from 9–11 a.m., the City of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, USA will host Migration at the Marsh, a morning celebrating migratory birds and the conservation of places that support wildlife.

Enjoy bird and nature activities, a Bird City designation ceremony for Sun Prairie, and native plant ecology walks (beginning at 9:30 and 10:30) led by Groundswell's own Easement Stewardship Manager, Brandon Mann. 🌿

Learn how conservation efforts of special places like Patrick Marsh provide important habitat for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife, and find out what you can do at home to protect birds.

Event details: Migration at the Marsh

10/01/2026

"If you’ve wandered aimlessly, or even purposefully, through a prairie this month, you may have noticed quite a few banded garden spiders out and about. Their webs are incredibly strong, and I often find surprisingly large grasshoppers tangled up in them. The evening I found this particular spider, the sunlight was hitting its web just right, creating such a striking scene that I had to stop and take a photo.

I did a little research on banded garden spiders and discovered that they often orient their webs from east to west. They also tend to hang head-down with the dark underside of their abdomen facing the sun, allowing them to absorb as much solar heat as possible late in the year. In other words, this spider's positioning wasn't random at all!"

From sunbathing banded garden spiders to the adventures of fungi fanatics, there's a lot happening outdoors!

🌱 Read this month's Nature Now by Groundswell's Land Management Director BJ Byers: groundswellconservancy.org/september-fungi-spiders-bottle-gentian/

📷: BJ Byers

09/30/2026

Celebrate the grand opening of the Marsh Lake Public Access Project with us! 🚣

When: Thursday, October 1, 4 p.m.
Where: Marsh Lake Public Access Area

Join us as Jefferson County WI Parks officially opens the new accessible canoe and kayak launch, and parking area at Marsh Lake. These improvements create a welcoming access point for paddling, wildlife viewing, and exploring this special landscape. You’re encouraged to bring your canoe or kayak and give the new launch a try following the ribbon cutting!

This event also celebrates the many people and partners who made this project possible. Originally owned by the Trieloff family and protected by Groundswell, the property will be managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as part of the Lake Mills Wildlife Area.

Event details and registration: groundswellconservancy.org/event/marsh-lake-public-access-project

If inclement weather forces us to cancel this event, we will notify all who are registered via email.

📷: Jefferson County Parks

09/29/2026

🔊 VOLUME UP 🔊 Do you hear that noise? It sounds like seed collectin' time!

Our Land Management Director, BJ Byers, captured this video of flowering spurge (Euphorbia corollata) pods *crackling*. Once collected and dried, the seed capsule of this pollinator plant ruptures, creating a crackle/pop noise, and ejects the seeds out of their pods a short distance. And no, this doesn't just happen in kitty pools–that's just our process for drying out the seeds we collect from our preserves to help us prep for dispersal. 🍂

Want to learn more about these fascinating parts of nature and get involved in the fun? Join us for seed collecting at Westport Prairie this fall:

TOMORROW–Wednesday, Sept 30, 9–11 a.m.
Wednesday, Oct 14, 9–11 a.m.
Thursday, Oct 15, 4–6 p.m.
Thursday, Oct 29, 4–6 p.m.

Learn more and RSVP: groundswellconservancy.org/events

09/28/2026

Land Trust Alliance Rally may be over, but we're still smiling! 💚

Four of us traveled to Denver, CO for Land Trust Alliance's Rally 2026 Conference. Our staff attended learning sessions on land conservation and farming, fundraising, stewardship, and more. We connected with dozens of land trusts from across the nation to collaborate on our conservation efforts, build lasting partnerships, and bring back fun and inspiring stories!

Thanks to LTA for creating a space where our community of land trusts can continue to grow and strengthen. A special thank you goes to the Oberweiler Foundation for making opportunities like this possible for our staff.

📷: A selfie with our friends at Gathering Waters by Danni Niles and photos from Heidi Habeger

09/26/2026

Today is National Public Lands Day 🌲

Take this opportunity to get outside, explore and appreciate our natural areas, and help protect the special places you love. Everyone should enjoy access to nature, and caring for our public lands depends on all of us.

Visit one of our public preserves, volunteer for an upcoming seed collection workday, and get involved in conservation where you live!

Visit groundswellconservancy.org/get-involved to learn more.

📷: Roberta Herschleb, Mario Quintana, Amanda Dambrink

09/25/2026

"If you’ve walked the drumlin at Westport Prairie this summer, you may have noticed flags and cages scattered across the hillside. These mark Jillian Neece’s graduate research at UW-Madison where she’s studying milkweed pollination.

She’s excluded certain pollinators from milkweed flowers with mesh of varying sizes, and is now testing the seeds for successful pollination as they mature. In essence, Jillian is working to understand which insects actually pollinate milkweeds and whether milkweeds depend exclusively on larger insects to set seed."

It's migration season for monarchs butterflies at Westport Prairie, and there's a lot happening in the field for these pollinators. Check out this month's Field Notes from Groundswell's Farm & Land Manager Sam Douglass to learn about our work with monarchs and milkweed, from seed production research to butterfly tagging 🦋

Read the full blog post: groundswellconservancy.org/september-field-notes-from-sam

Want to contribute to this meaningful work? Sign up for our fall seed collection days: groundswellconservancy.org/events

📷: Timon Keller, Sterling Ruemmler, Roberta Herschleb

Address

211 S Paterson Street, Ste 250
Madison, WI
53703

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday	8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday	8am - 4:30pm
Thursday	8am - 4:30pm
Friday	8am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+16082589797

Website

https://linktr.ee/groundswellconservancy

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