The legacies of injustice and racism have affected our work in conservation in ways many of us may never have realized, in part because we may never have seen the people and opportunities that have simply been missing.

Wisconsin’s Green Fire’s founders recognized environmental justice as an essential tenet. Our founding principles assert our belief in the rights of all groups of people to a clean and healthy environment and to outdoor recreation. Our early years have been full of our best intentions, but now we must examine how we can truly align our efforts for the critical aspiration of inclusion and justice. How can we do better?  

Earth Day—  the day each year where I get to share my love for the environment with everyone I know. Many people (including myself) don’t always have the environment at the forefront of their minds as they walk through life. Earth Day is the day where everyone takes a moment to appreciate nature and do …

Early in July, sometime in the mid-90s, I found myself driving North for a late start to the field season. We headed out early the next morning, visiting two forests before calling it a day. The drill was familiar— flag corners of the quadrats, then count the tree seedlings and saplings, recording substrate and any …

One of our newest members, Russ Feingold, shares his enthusiasm for Wisconsin’s Green Fire and his own work in conservation.  Wisconsin native and former U.S. Senator Feingold serves as an ambassador for the global Campaign for Nature, but his Midwest roots run deep as shown in this testimonial.

She is my teacher, provider, doctor, and so much more. She is Mother Earth. Growing up on the reservation of Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico, I was taught the importance of taking only what I need from the Earth and to share her gifts with my people. Most importantly, I was always taught how to …

In my 12 years as a communicator with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, I had ambivalent feelings about Earth Day – just as I did during my 24 years as a newspaper reporter.

For most of those years, it was difficult to get environmental stories on the front page. They were hard to ferret out, …

I forgot it was Earth Day. When I woke up, the 50th anniversary of Senator Nelson’s momentous event was lost in the frazzled lightning storm pulsing within my skull. Please forgive me.

The spring peepers sung with purpose and vigor this morning, heralding the advent of April 22nd – but I was deaf to the date. …

In the early 1970’s, a small group of mostly retired individuals in Schenectady County, NY were moved by the nation’s call to action on behalf of conservation, the first Earth Day. Over the next decade, they created an organization that served as a clearinghouse of natural resources science for the county and state. Keep in …