Wisconsin Science Festival
2022-10-10 - 2022-10-16 | WI
Join hundreds of organizations around Wisconsin that connect people with science, technology, engineering, art and math. More than 90 communities and 40,000 people participated last year.
Info here.

Urban Nonpoint Source (UNPS) Construction and Urban Targeted Runoff Management (TRM) Grants In BITS: DNR’s BMP Implementation Tracking System
2022-10-11 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Chicago)
This webinar will be hosted by the WI DNR and UW Madison-Division Extension. It will provide an overview of the BMP Implementation Tracking System (BITS) and the use of this system to submit Urban Nonpoint Source (UNPS) Construction Grant and Urban Targeted Runoff Management (Urban TRM) Grant final reports. This webinar is targeted towards county and municipality conservation professionals who have an active UNPS Construction or Urban TRM grant, may be applying for a such a grant in the future, or are interested in learning more about BITS. You will receive a confirmation email after you register.
Info here.

MKE Women's Urban Ag Network: Fall Gathering
2022-10-11 16:00 - 18:00
Join in the Community Room of Urban Ecology Center’s Riverside Park location, to learn about urban agriculture!
We’ll hear from a few amazing women who are doing urban ag work in/near Milwaukee, and also learn about the different programs and resources available to Milwaukee County folks interested in urban agriculture
Info here.

Understanding Bird Populations and How They Change
2022-10-11 19:00 - 20:30, 2022-10-18 19:00 - 20:30, 2022-10-25 19:00 - 20:30
October 11 – November 1 (Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 pm each week)
In less than a single human lifetime, 2.9 billion breeding adult birds have been lost from the United States and Canada, across every ecosystem, and including some of the most abundant and familiar bird species. In this course we will examine how we determine the abundance and distribution of different bird species, for both bird populations in Wisconsin and at the national level. State and federal monitoring programs will also be discussed. We will also consider how bird populations have changed, what species are currently “at-risk” and why, and how monitoring programs can be used in management and conservation. We will also review the many organizations that work on studying bird populations.
Info here.

Understanding UW-Madison Division of Extension’s new approach to Agriculture Staffing
2022-10-12 09:00 - 10:00
In response to evolving budgets and needs in the state, Extension has reformulated its approach to agriculture staffing across the state. Please join us for a discussion to understand the changes and provide feedback on how those changes will impact county conservation staff and opportunities for continued collaboration to support agricultural producers in Wisconsin.
Heidi Johnson, Patrick Robinson, and Amber Radatz from Extension will be facilitating the discussion.
Info here.

How do crop advisors do conservation?
2022-10-12 09:00 - 10:00
Ever wondered how to engage the private ag consulting world on soil conservation practices? Tune in to a webinar from the Minnesota Office for Soil Health, to discuss the findings of recent interviews with MN crop advisors who work with conservation practices. Participants will learn what difficulties and opportunities crop advisors see for increasing adoption of practices like reduced tillage and cover crops. A moderated discussion will follow to discuss how local government and agency employees can better engage with private retail or independent crop consultants to promote and implement conservation practices across Minnesota.
Info here.

Badger Crop Connect
2022-10-12 12:30 - 13:30
Tillage Costs and Benefits Dr. Francisco Arriaga, Soil Science Professor and Extension Specialist at UW-Madison
Introducing the New Entomology Precision Pest Ecologist Dr. Emily Bick, Precision Pest Ecologist at UW-Madison

Info here.

Managing Plant Surplus Carbon to Generate Soil Organic Matter in Regenerative Agriculture
2022-10-12 13:00 - 14:00
Soil degradation is a global problem. Intensive, chemical-based conventional agriculture focuses on aboveground biomass production and yield and overlooks belowground plant carbon input and plant-soil-microbe associations, leading to declined soil organic matter levels. In this webinar, Dr. Yichao Rui will explain how regenerative agricultural practices such as judicious use of fertilizers, incorporation of legumes, and adaptive grazing can increase SOM levels by enhancing plant surplus carbon. Fine-tuning of agricultural practices may provide an opportunity to facilitate SOM regeneration while optimizing long-term crop yields.
Info here.

The Earth Beneath Our Feet: Climate Change and the Soil Loss Crisis
2022-10-12 19:00 - 21:00
Jo Handelsman, Ph. D, will discuss our soil, the causes for its degradation, its relation to carbon transfer and climate change, and our relation to the issue. The Master Gardeners of Door County, Crossroads at Big Creek, The Ridges Sanctuary, and Waseda Farms are co-presenting this event on Wednesday, October 12 at 7 p.m. at the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor.
Info here.

Conservation Innovation Grants: New Grazing Lands Innovations
2022-10-13 11:30 - 13:00
Join to learn about two projects:
• A National Grazingland Information System: Expanding GlobalRangelands.org Through a Grazing land Thesaurus and Mobile Content Access
• Deploying CERT: Integrating satellite and field measures for improved grazing land management at ranch scales
Info here.

Boerson Farms Soil Walk
2022-10-13 13:00 - 15:00
Come and learn how Boerson Farms in Green Lake County has been utilizing rotational grazing, silvopasture development and minimum till vegetables to build their soil health.
Info here.

Conservation Innovation Grants: New Grazing Lands Innovations
2022-10-13 13:00 - 16:00
Come celebrate fall and harvest season with other women who share your commitment to land conservation! Gather ideas and information for establishing your land conservation plan and how to use the upcoming winter months for planning, research and connections with NRCS.
All women farmers, landowners and conservationists from Marathon, Portage, Shawno and surrounding counties are welcome to attend– whatever your background, from beginners to experts!
Info here.

Get Loud: Speaking Up for Rural Wisconsin
2022-10-13 18:00 - 20:30
Learn how to authentically and powerfully tell your story and lift up the issues affecting our farms and communities. Wisconsin Farmers Union invites you to a special session focused on sharing our rural stories to build power and raise awareness. We’ll cover the importance of storytelling, how to connect personal stories with collective interest, and practical skills for elevating rural issues through storytelling. Whether you’re a seasoned storyteller or are uncertain if you even have a story to tell, this training is for you.
Info here.

Soil Health Workshop-Marathon County
2022-10-14
Soil Health – Fenwood Creek Watershed – Marathon County
Location: Bauman Dairy
Farm, 221584 Fairfield
Dr, Edgar, WI
Date: Friday, October 14, 2022
Time: 9:30am – 3:00pm
Join us to discuss practices that benefit your farm and help water infiltrate into your soil. See how different management practices conserve soil and nutrients, and witness the results in real time with a rainfall simulator.
Get an earthworm’s view of the field from a soil pit and learn how to assess your own fields’ soil health; participating farmers will also be able to take a free soil-health test kit back to their farm to measure compaction, infiltration and soil stability, compliments of a grant. Hear from local farmers about their experiences, and from Marathon County CPZ about conservation funding opportunities.
Lunch is included in the registration. Pre-registration by October 12 is requested to ensure enough meals and handouts for all participants.
Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email. If you do not receive a confirmation email, send a message to Kevin.Erb@wisc.edu .
Please complete one form for all participating from your farm or business
There is no registration fee.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to limited funding, priority for attendance (and soil health kits) will be given to those who farm in and around the Fenwood watershed. If capacity limits are reached, those outside the target area may be placed on a waiting list.
Register here.

The Confluence – Rock River Coalition 2022 Conference
2022-10-15 08:00 - 14:30
The 2022 Confluence: Protecting What We Love in the Rock River Watershed
The Rock River Coalition Conference, The Confluence, will be held on Saturday, October 15th in the City of Watertown. We’re excited to invite our members, partners, water stewards, and community members from across the Rock River basin to participate in this day-long conference. Our programming will include updates on basin news, current research, and opportunities for community members to learn more about the Rock River Basin and ecosystem.

Agenda
Historian Dr. Curt Meine will kick off the conference, celebrating 50 years of progress under the Clean Water Act. Morning programming includes concurrent sessions on fisheries and climate change, E.coli contamination, stream reconstruction, wetland restoration and more! Over lunch (included in registration) keynote speaker, Michael Engleson, Executive Director of Wisconsin Lakes, will address attendees on the future of our watershed. Afternoon programming and participatory tables include inspiring examples of actions individuals can take to improve water quality. Stay after the presentations for a guided walking tour of the Rock River boardwalk into downtown Watertown; observe how the new Town Square is supported by the vibrant Rock River over ice cream from Mullen’s Dairy Bar.
Info here.

Climate Fast Forward 2022
2022-10-17
Climate Fast Forward 2022 gives everyone in Wisconsin the chance to be a part of the solution to the climate emergency. Participants will take stock of the progress Wisconsin has made towards mitigating and adapting to climate change since the 2019 conference, and will confront the challenges we still face in accelerating transformational change.
The 2022 conference brings together changemakers, including seasoned professionals, new voices, and diverse audiences representative of the Wisconsin people who are and will continue to be most impacted by the effects of climate change in our state. Conference attendees will work collaboratively in facilitated sessions to confront roadblocks and identify immediate and long-term actions that will move Wisconsin forward in combating climate change.
Info here.

WI DGA-NRCS Event featuring PaddockTrac
2022-10-18 08:00 - 17:00
NRCS PaddockTrac, Fall Grazing
Info here.

Introduction to Pastured Pigs for Profit
2022-10-18 12:00 - 13:00
Join us for an introductory conversation about the production and marketing of pigs raised in pasture settings. Pigs can function as a profitable stand-alone enterprise or can be integrated into your existing farm structure to provide a variety of products and make use of marginal lands that would otherwise go unused. Pigs are also ideal for turning agricultural wastes such as spent grain, whey, or seconds into a valuable products, and with proper management, they can improve the land where they are kept. Come with questions!
Info here.

Upper Mississippi Conference
2022-10-19 - 2022-10-20
Save the dates to attend the 2022 Upper Mississippi River Conference.
We’ll look at how the private and public sectors can address climate change.
Info here.

Wisconsin Association for Floodplain, Stormwater, and Coastal Management (WAFSCM) Annual Conference
2022-10-19 - 2022-10-20
The Wisconsin Association for Floodplain, Stormwater, and Coastal Management (WAFSCM) is holding its 20th Annual Conference. Professional Development Hours (PDHs) and Continuing Education Credits (CECs) can be earned at the main conference. The main conference will include plenary and speaker sessions throughout the day. Specialized workshops, field tour, and a social reception.
As always, we anticipate a dynamic group of professionals coming to share their experience in a variety of water‐related issues from all sectors: local government leaders, community administrators, planning agencies, public works departments, developers, consultants, environmental groups, state and federal agencies and students.
Info here.

WiWiC Conservation Educator Network Falll Meet-Up
2022-10-19 10:00 - 11:30
Are you a conservation educator working with women landowners in Wisconsin? A warm invite to join the WiWiC Conservation Educator Network at their Fall Meet-up. The WiWiC Conservation Educator Network is an inclusive network of conservation educators to collaboratively support each other in our conservation outreach and work.
The goal of this network, facilitated by the Wisconsin Women in Conservation (WiWiC), is to regularly connect educators who work with women farmers and landowners, to share best practices and challenges, to develop cooperative strategies for effective programming, resource sharing, and how to work most effectively together.
Info here.

Identifying trade‐offs and opportunities for forest carbon and wildlife using a climate change adaptation lens
2022-10-19 15:00 - 16:00
On a warming planet, a key challenge natural resource managers face is protecting wildlife while mitigating climate change—as through forest carbon storage—to the greatest extent possible. But in some ecosystems, habitat restoration for imperiled species may be incompatible with maximizing carbon storage. For example, promoting early successional forest conditions does not maximize stand-level carbon storage, whereas uniformly promoting high stocking or mature forest conditions in the name of carbon storage excludes species that require open or young stands. This webinar will briefly review the literature regarding carbon and wildlife trade-offs and then explore four case studies from the Northern Forest region of the United States. In each case, human activities have largely dampened the influence of natural disturbances; restoring or emulating these disturbances is typically required for habitat restoration even when doing so equates to less carbon storage at the stand level. This talk will propose that applying a climate adaptation lens can help managers and planners navigate these trade-offs and steer away from maladaptive practices that may ultimately reduce adaptive capacity. Instead, critically evaluating the consequences of stand-level management actions on both carbon and wildlife can then facilitate landscape-scale climate adaptation planning that supports a diversity of habitats alongside opportunities to invest in maximizing forest carbon.
Info here.

Grazing cover crops
2022-10-20 17:00 - 20:00
Hosted by Roger Bindl, at S10620 Weidner Rd, Spring Green. This pasture walk will be focused on grazing cover crops and will showcase information collected as part of an ongoing research project with the Sand County Foundation and four graziers from SSWIG.
Info here.

Life Hacks Over Lunch: A Meet-up Series for Watershed Professionals
2022-10-21 11:30 - 12:30
This free, virtual meet-up series is a peer-learning opportunity for watershed professionals to share ideas and advice for solving real-life challenges of watershed projects.
If you work with farmers and communities on watershed-scale projects to improve water quality and have ever found yourself thinking, “I don’t want to recreate the wheel,” this meet-up series is for you.
In each meet-up, one person kicks things off by presenting a challenge or issue to the group to “hack.” Conversation, collaboration, and commiseration will ensue.
Info here.

"Birds of North America" plus Climate Discussion
2022-10-23 14:00 - 16:30
Sunday movie matinee at 2:00pm, followed by a discussion on its relation to climate change
A moving dramatic play by Anna Ouyang Moench.
John and his daughter Caitlyn are birders. As they scan the skies over their backyard in suburban Maryland looking for elusive birds, years go by. Relationships begin and end. Children grow up and parents age. The climate and the world change in small and vast ways. BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA takes a close look at the relationship of a father and daughter over the course of a decade as they struggle to understand the parts of one another that defy understanding.
Info here.

Upper Midwest Invasive Species Conference
2022-10-25 - 2022-10-27
Please save the dates for the Upper Midwest Invasive Species Conference 2022.
Info here.

Smart Salting for WI Roads Workshop
2022-10-25 07:30 - 12:00
Free training for winter maintenance professionals who remove snow, apply road salt or maintain snow removal equipment used on roads.
Learn how using the right amount of salt can save time, budget and our waters.
The training will include: best management practices to keep paved areas safe, benefits of using a liquid salt system, guidance on how to determine the right amount of salt to use, and case studies from local applicators.
Info here.

Harvest Your Conservation Potential
2022-10-25 12:00 - 15:00
Come celebrate fall and harvest season with other women who share your commitment to land conservation! Gather ideas and information for establishing your land conservation plan and how to use the upcoming winter months for planning, research and connections with NRCS.
All women farmers, landowners and conservationists from Racine, Walworth, Milwaukee and surrounding counties are welcome to attend– whatever your background, from beginners to experts!
Info here.
