Rolling up our sleeves

A message from WGF Executive Director Meleesa Johnson

Dairy cows at a Marathon County farm, June 2024, photo by Carolyn Pralle

As a kid, I spent my summers at my grandparents’ farm in rural Clark County. They were National Farmers Organization members. One memory, seared into my 5-year-old brain, was that of my grandparents dumping milk in the parking lot at the cheese factory. The issue: parity. My grandparents wanted to be paid for the price of their product.

But after the milk was dumped, and a few cigarettes were smoked while discussing the potential for dark, tough times ahead, my grandma said:

“Let’s get back to the farm. Hay is ready for baling and those clouds look like rain. We got work to do.”

Well, we’ve smoked a few proverbial cigarettes and had many conversations since the election. But in the words of the hardest working woman I ever knew, my grandmother Dorothy Johnson, “We got work to do.”

And work we have been doing! Since November 6th, Wisconsin’s Green Fire has been busy doing the work of our mission. That work hasn’t skipped a beat.

Here is just a snapshot of that work from the last 14 days.

• Wake boats and lakes: We grew our wake boat coalition, focused on statewide standards for eco-friendly operations, bringing the coalition to a total of 39 organizations. We’ve had dialogue with current and incoming legislators about the importance of the wake boat policy proposal.
• Climate change: We showcased our solutions-oriented expertise by conducting workshops on “nature-based solutions to climate change” at the Climate Fast Forward 2024 Conference. Attendees walked away with tangible solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change.
• Wildlife: Represented WGF at the Sandhill Crane Legislative Study Committee, repeatedly insisting that an updated sandhill crane management plan is essential to any decision making related to a hunt. The last plan, from 2009, lacks current evaluation of changes to crane behavior, including summer ranges for non-territorial birds and migration patterns due to the changing climate.
• Forests: Incorporated peer review recommendations to an upcoming Opportunities Now paper on our changing forests and forest industry.
• Public lands: Continued to build consensus, within the broader conservation organization community, around both the reauthorization of Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program/funding and developing long-term solutions to fund wildlife, fisheries and conservation programs.
• Sustainable agriculture: Explored new partnerships that will help ensure success of the Farm Sustainability Reward Project, including learning about the watershed and farm conservation work of the Ho-Chunk Nation and Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.

There may be clouds gathering, but we have work to do. Let’s roll up our sleeves and make hay!

Early-career conservation professionals gather at a Land+Water training at Marathon County farm attended by WGF staff, June 2024, photo by Carolyn Pralle