Friends of Cherokee Marsh Annual Meeting

press release: Our annual member meeting is scheduled for: Sat, Jan 27, 10 am - noon, Warner Park Community Recreation Center, 1625 Northport Drive.

We'll begin with a business meeting to review 2023, look forward to 2024, and elect directors for 2024-2025. Election information is below in this newsletter. 

Paul Quinlan from Madison Parks and Claire Lamberg from Dane County Parks will update us on news, happenings, and opportunities in parks. 

Our special guest presenter will be Jessica Hua, associate professor, UW- Madison Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology. This past spring, Jessica recruited volunteers to survey frogs and toads at Cherokee Marsh and other locations.

Jessica's talk will focus on When does preserving biodiversity protect communities from disease?

Communities with higher biodiversity are expected to be less vulnerable to diseases compared to communities with lower biodiversity. However, increasing evidence indicates that this is not always the case. To address why, Jessica's talk will focus on:

-how common pollutants (such as road salt and pesticides) and human land use influence whether biodiversity protects or worsens disease and

-how citizen science and outreach using the arts can help us understand human contributions to disease dynamics and improve public learning and perceptions of science.

We hope to see you at the meeting!