CANCELED: Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival
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press release: Volunteers from Wood and Portage counties team up in April to focus on sharing Wisconsin's expertise related to birds, insects, organic farming, especially a bird unique to the region - the Greater Prairie Chicken during the 2020 Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival (WPCF). Two April dates offer a variety of activities for curious nature lovers and
families. A pre-event kick-off is slated for Thursday, April 9, with a free movie, "Dreaming of a Vetter World" to be shown at McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids. Airing at 1:30 p.m. and repeating at 7:00 p.m. on the 9, the movie follows the Vetter farm family of Nebraska and their early, and continued efforts, to convert their farm to organic practices, as well as encourage their regional farmers to do the same. The main day of events is anchored at Eron's Event Barn at 3471 County Road C, Stevens Point, on Saturday, April 18. Schedule an early morning viewing opportunity to see "the dance at dawn" of the featured bird, or book a birding tour. From 10:00 to 11:00a.m., keynote speaker, UW-Madison entomologist Patrick (P.J.) Liesch stresses the importance of insects in our lives; from 11:00 a.m. to Noon enjoy a presentation by Mary "Casey" Martin focusing on “Hamerstrom Stories" about the internationally-known field biologists/authors, the late Drs. Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom. From Noon to 2:00 p.m. take a Grazing Workshop/Pasture Walk, and/or a Backyard Prairie Workshop. Throughout the day at the event barn: gather for habitat and nature information offered by a variety of organizations; help select winners of the youth poster contest; enjoy hayrides, story times, face painting, flower pot painting, a Kid's Scavenger Hunt, and a Silent Auction. For lunch options, Chat-R-Box Cafe Food Truck will be on site.
The Saturday, April 18, schedule emphasizes family and youth activities and special birding experiences for visitors and residents. Anyone interested in the environment and the natural world can learn something new at this one-day festival. Clean Green Action helps to coordinate and promote the event, and volunteers from numerous communities and organizations meet throughout the year to make the Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival possible. Speakers and activities are generously underwritten by the Hamerstrom Fund for Writing, and the Dane County Conservation League, and generous individual donors.
For complete information, visit Facebook: Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival; or see the website: CleanGreenAction.org. Email: wisconsinprairiechickenfest@
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. About the KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Patrick (PJ) Liesch is a statewide entomology specialist focusing on diagnostics and outreach. PJ is the director of the University of Wisconsin Insect Diagnostic Lab and provides arthropod identification services for Extension colleagues, the general public, agricultural producers, private industry, governmental agencies, and other groups in Wisconsin. PJ also provides entomology-related outreach for groups including the Wisconsin Master Gardener program, the First Detector
Network, Wisconsin Public Radio, and others. KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Insects play critical roles in the world around us and can be found in nearly every habitat. Unfortunately, insects are also facing declines caused by a range of factors including changes in the landscape. In this talk, we'll discuss the importance of insects, insect
declines, and ways to help insects in the landscape around us.
11:00 - Noon "Hamerstrom Stories" presented by Mary "Casey" Martin. Drs. Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom were internationally-known field biologists who lived most of their 50-year marriage in a 19th century farmhouse in Plainfield, Wisconsin, and its where they conducted most of their research projects related to kestrels, hawks, eagles, and they helped to save the Greater-prairie chicken from extirpation in Wisconsin. Fred and Fran authored more than fifty scientific papers, and Fran (pronounced FRON) went on to author 12 books; some in foreign languages. Their daughter, Elva Hamerstrom-Paulson, compiled a collection of stories from family and friends titled, "Hamerstrom Stories" and Martin will read excerpts from the collection, as well as answer questions related to the couple of birding fame.
Writer/author, Mary "Casey" Martin was also a literary agent to the late Dr. Frances Hamerstrom, who died in 1996. Martin assisted in securing publication options for some of Hamerstrom's titles including the autobiography "My Double Life-Memoir of a Naturalist" and “Wildlife Cookbook", as well as accompanying the author on various speaking
engagements (Door County Auditorium, Upper Midwest Booksellers Assoc., Audubon Society, Wisconsin Public Radio, etc.). Time permitting, the audience will be encouraged to share their reminiscence of the Hamerstroms.
ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS/SPECIALISTS for 2020 Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival
Lesa Kardash is a Wildlife Biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources out of Wisconsin Rapids. For the past 15 years, she has spent much of her time managing for grassland habitat on the Buena Vista and Paul J. Olson Wildlife Areas in central Wisconsin. Lesa obtained her B.S. and M.S. in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives with her husband and four children in the Town of Grant close to the Buena Vista grasslands. She enjoys numerous outdoor pursuits with her family including: camping, hiking, gardening, food preservation, hunting, raising chickens and ducks, and harvesting wild edibles.
Bill Kolodziej is a rancher/grazing specialist and was raised on a dairy farm in Portage County.
The farm switched to Simmental beef cattle in 1983. Bill has a bachelor’s degree in soil science from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. After college, for a few years, he worked as a soil scientist in Idaho, but was drawn back to farming and Wisconsin. He was truly happy working with grazing cattle, and learned about rotationally grazed cattle could be free of antibiotics, implants, and insecticides resulting in healthy cows, soils, wildlife and environment.
Using rotational techniques, Bill is able to eradicate Canada Thistle, Spotted Knapweed, and woody plants on his Sandstone Ranch.
Paul Skawinski works for the UW-Extension Lakes Program as a Lake Monitoring Specialist and teaches Aquatic Botany at UWSP. As an avid native plant gardening enthusiast, Paul is also President of the Central Wisconsin Chapter of Wild Ones and a Committee Chair for the Wisconsin Monarch Collaborative. Paul has converted about 2,600 square feet of his lawn into several demonstration native plant gardens and has helped several area schools establish small butterfly gardens with native plants.
NOTE: Nature Books will be available that day for purchase, based upon availability of select titles, and proceeds will fund The Hamerstrom
Fund for Writing at INCOURAGE FOUNDATION of South Wood County.
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