Wetland Coffee Break

Ecological restoration, the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem, is a process of mending. In mending, there is much promise –- for both lands and people. Nancy Aten’s work practicing ecological restoration, especially involving wetlands, interacts with her work as a monotype printmaker — especially around this idea of mending. Join this Wetland Coffee Break to learn more about Nancy’s work and how these domains interact for her.

Nancy Aten, PLA, ASLA is an award-winning landscape architect practicing ecological restoration and conservation planning at her firm Landscapes of Place in Wisconsin. She is also an accomplished monotype printmaker who has exhibited at Urban Ecology Center and UW-Madison Arboretum.

A 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case SWANCC v. the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers interpreted a provision of the Clean Water Act that was the basis for the federal wetlands permitting program. The decision led to the removal of federal protections for “isolated waters” (including isolated wetlands). While all wetland practitioners know the impact of the SWANCC decision on wetland jurisdiction, few people know the backstory of the site that led to this monumental court decision. Join ecologist Vince Mosca to learn some of the unique facts about the site in Bartlett, IL, and failed wetland permitting attempts to provide context for how we got to where we are today.

Vince Mosca is Vice President and Senior Ecologist at Hey & Associates. He has been involved with thousands of wetland and ecological assessment projects over the past 30 years in northeastern Illinois and Wisconsin. He graduated from Northland College with a bachelor’s in biophysical environmental studies and chemistry and holds a master’s degree in ecosystem studies from UW-Green Bay.

Snapshot Wisconsin is a citizen-science-based trail camera project that seeks to collect wildlife data needed for wildlife management decision-making. Volunteers host cameras in a variety of habitats throughout the state. Join WDNR research scientist Emily Buege Donovan to hear how the project works and how the trail camera data can be used to monitor wildlife in Wisconsin’s wetlands and beyond. She’ll also let you know how you can get involved!

Emily Buege Donovan has been a Research Scientist for the Snapshot Wisconsin project since 2018. She received a bachelor’s degree in ecology from Winona State University in Minnesota and a master’s degree in geography from the University of Alabama. Her thesis research examined habitat selection by cichlid fish in Belize.

Many Wisconsin volunteers participate in monitoring projects to track the distribution and abundance of pollinators. These projects collect data crucial to conservation research and land management, but wetlands are underrepresented in the monitoring efforts. Join citizen-based monitoring coordinator Eva Lewandowski to learn more about how data collected by citizen scientists help scientists and land managers. Eva will also discuss opportunities for volunteers to monitor bees and butterflies in wetlands and other habitats across the state.

Eva Lewandowski is the Citizen-based Monitoring Coordinator at the Wisconsin DNR, and she serves on the board of the Citizen Science Association. She earned a PhD in Conservation Biology from the University of Minnesota.

Details coming soon!

Ryan O’Connor is an ecologist who coordinates and conducts biotic inventories of natural communities for WDNR’s Natural Heritage Conservation program. His professional interests include providing land managers with high-quality data to make better decisions, developing adaptation resources, and hunting for rare and invasive plants.

Join conservation biologist Thomas Meyer to learn about the Wisconsin DNR’s State Natural Areas Program, the oldest and largest state-wide nature preserve protection program in the nation, celebrating its 70th year in 2021. Thomas will give a brief history and highlights of the program and then take a virtual tour of some of the state’s most outstanding natural areas — from old-growth forests to vibrant prairies to biologically diverse wetlands — and learn more about what makes them so special.

Thomas Meyer is a conservation biologist with the Wisconsin DNR. His 35-year career with the Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation in Madison has focused on protecting native ecosystems and habitat for rare species of plants and animals. He helps guide the State Natural Areas Program, which protects some of the best remaining ecological communities in the state (some of which are also Wetland Gems®!).