Staff at Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center leading a group on a kayak and canoe tour around Blackhawk Island. This photo, taken by Rachael Lewandowski-Sarette, is one of the Natural Resources Institute 2025 photo contest winners.
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As Assistant Dean and Director of the Natural Resources Institute, I am proud to share the stories featured in this newsletter – stories that reflect our deep commitment to Wisconsin’s people, places, partnerships, and future. Together, we are tackling urgent challenges like emerging water contaminants, helping young people build critical science skills and career readiness, and investing in the long-term monitoring and data collection needed to understand and care for our natural world. We also recognize that this work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Many of our programs have been made possible in part through the support of our long-standing federal and state partnerships and competitive grant funding – some of which has become more uncertain. As we look to the future, we remain steadfast in our mission and are actively exploring new models and opportunities to ensure the longevity of the programs our communities rely on. We invite you to continue to grow and adapt with us, whether by directly engaging in one of our enriching programs, collaborating on delivering an important program, or sharing your ideas around our future. Together, we remain grounded in the values that drive us: science in service of communities, providing meaningful connections to the natural world, and opening pathways for the next generation of conservation leaders.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
Warmly,
Tricia Gorby
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Helping communities stay safe and informed in the face of PFAS |
In her role as the Extension Emerging Contaminants Outreach Specialist, Anya Jeninga works with partners to increase access to information. She helps communities stay informed on emerging contaminants and understand what can be done about them. As a part of this work, she recently released a story map on PFAS in Wisconsin to help inform Wisconsinites about the chemicals and how they can take action. Read on
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First-of-it’s-kind environmental monitoring project provides career readiness, science literacy skills to Wisconsin high school students |
A few months ago, a group of students from High Marq Environmental Charter School in Montello arrived at Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center, ready to join the fight against aquatic invasive species. They spent all day collecting samples from the Wisconsin River from which they then extracted environmental DNA or eDNA from to amplify and visualize. Read on
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Critical new discoveries: How long-term research data facilitate a better understanding of the natural world and waterways |
Long-term research data collected by the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) facilitate critical new discoveries and a better understanding of the natural world and waterways. The ability to access research data across an extended timespan greatly increases our understanding of ecosystems and the changes our natural and built worlds have experienced over time. Read on
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New curriculum to boost farmers’ capacities to engage peers about conservation |
A new curriculum called Skills for Building Farmer Networks for Conservation has been launched to help address some of the challenges associated with cultivating farmer networks and leadership for conservation. It is designed to build farmers’ confidence and capacities in key skills they will need to be successful in engaging their peers about conservation practices, regardless of the level of commitment they’re willing to make – from just a neighborly conversation to a formal leadership position within a group. Read on
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The Division of Extension Natural Resources Institute works at the crossroads of communities, natural resources and agriculture. |
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Feedback or questions: nri@extension.wisc.edu
© 2022 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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