The green fire still burns
Wisconsin's Green Fire, November 6, 2024


Northern lights seen from Vilas County, October 2024, Photo by Don Behm
A message from Meleesa Johnson, Executive Director of Wisconsin’s Green Fire:
As a former candidate, I know personally the full range of emotions of winning an election and losing an election. But one does not need to be a candidate to feel that same range of emotions.
Early this morning, with the emotional swings set firmly in place, I felt compelled to read the epilogue of Jeff Wilson’s book, Wrong Tree: Adventures in Wildlife Biology, a book bursting with conservation stories beautifully illustrated by Terry Daulton. If you haven’t read it, the epilogue of Wrong Tree is an encapsulation of the emotional swings and profound impacts when science and expertise were so deeply diminished in Wisconsin under the Walker administration.
While the hurt and pain of that loss comes through with each word, it is also the hopeful—dare I say joyful—origins of Wisconsin’s Green Fire.
During one of the first Wisconsin’s Green Fire organizational meetings, at the Aldo Leopold shack, Jeff describes an almost spiritual experience of “talking” with Aldo:
“Okay, Aldo, if you’re here, we could use some help. Your legacy is in peril.” I sat in silence waiting. No ghost appeared. No table moved…no rattling sounds emanated from the floor or walls…only silence.
From that moment of invoking Aldo Leopold’s help, dozens of scientists, subject matter experts, and passionate conservationists shattered the silence of the shack and launched Wisconsin’s Green Fire. From the depths of dark loss emerged an amazing organization bringing light to science, facts, and the need to be a “voice for conservation.”
Our work continues.
Wisconsin needs our science-based, knowledge-driven approach now more than ever. Our voice is strong and determined because of all of you. Together, the light of our green fire can burn bright.
Thank you for supporting our work and helping be our light,
Executive Director, Wisconsin’s Green Fire

Sunrise on Lake Superior, October 2024, Photo by Erica LeMoine

Double rainbow over Wood County, November 2024, Photo by Carolyn Pralle