Wisconsin Women in Conservation: 2024 Summer Camp #1, Land Management with Contractors, May 23

Have you been wanting to hire contractors to reach your restoration and management goals on your land? Are you curious to learn how other landowners utilize contractors to advance restoration goals? Or perhaps you use contractors already and would like to expand your comfort and confidence in hiring and negotiating more complex projects or seek cost sharing programs. Wisconsin is fortunate to have a depth and diversity of restoration contractors available to support landowners in meeting restoration goals, but it may feel daunting to know where to start. In this webinar, we hear from Hannah Spaul, Director of Land Management with The Nature Conservancy and Asenath LaRue, a Driftless Area private landowner, to learn about finding, selecting, hiring and coordinating the right contractors with the right tools to meet your management goals and objectives.


Hannah Spaul is the Director of Land Management at The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin. Hannah oversees the management of over 30,000 acres of TNC owned land in Wisconsin. She ensures that TNC lands are managed with the best available science to provide for the sustained health of preserves, that restoration efforts are undertaken, and that preserves are available to the public for a variety of uses. Some of the efforts include implementing prescribed burning, conducting ecological monitoring, removing invasive species, native seed reintroduction to savannah and prairie habitats and tree planting and forest management. One of her favorite aspects of the job is working with the inspiring volunteers that assist TNC with land management work.

Asenath LaRue grew up on small farms in Iowa, but spent most of her adult life out West. A move back to the Midwest in 2018, combined with retirement, gave her the opportunity to pursue a decades-long interest in habitat restoration. Her 25 acres in Sauk County, WI, was blessed with several interesting habitats, including remnant ridge prairies. But, the woods and bluffs were choked with honeysuckle and red cedar, and the old field was full of smooth brome and Canada thistle. Where to start? And how? A year of lone-ranger work with a lopper and chainsaw convinced her that help was needed. Since then, she’s developed a plan for restoration and maintenance work with a land stewardship company that has moved things along.


Resources mentioned in the webinar chat, or shared by presenters afterward:

Wisconsin Restoration Contractor List: https://kenosha.extension.wisc.edu/fi...

Urban Forestry Consultant Directory: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/sites/defau...

Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Council https://prescribedfire.org

Wisconsin DNR Prescribed Fire https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/fores...

Firewise: Home and property protection in the Wildland Urban Interface https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/fores...

Climate change field guide for southern Wisconsin Forests: https://forestadaptation.org/field-gu...

https://www.driftlessgrasslands.org/ is the Southern Driftless Grasslands page, and while a resource primarily for southwest WI, it references many funding and networking resources that would be useful to landowners state-wide. In particular, scroll to bottom of page and look for the link to the “Conservation Guide” the “Contact Directory” and the “Resources” PDFs.

The USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program https://www.fws.gov/program/partners-...

The WiWiC Summer Camp webinar series is an opportunity to join women landowners, farmers and conservation professionals from across the state who share your passion for stewarding the land. Join in to connect with experts, resources, and opportunities around the virtual campfire.

WiWiC is a state-wide collaborative effort led by the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in partnership with Wisconsin Farmers Union, Renewing the Countryside and Marbleseed (formerly MOSES). A five-year multi-faceted project funded by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), WiWiC brings together Wisconsin women landowners, farmers, farmworkers, urban growers and conservationists to connect and learn about conservation practices, resources, and funding opportunities. Sign up for our monthly newsletter here.


Disclaimer
While the Wisconsin Women in Conservation (WIWiC) project strives to make the information provided to individuals as timely and accurate as possible, we make no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of our webinars. The information presented is solely the speakers’ expressed views and WiWiC expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents. WiWiC also does not specifically recommend any of the businesses that may come up in the course of the presentations.