Join Us! Friends of Pheasant Branch

Over a Decade of Accomplishments

The following list of accomplishments, extracted from Friends of Pheasant Branch newsletters and mailings, highlight our organization's continuing work on habitat restoration, policy advocacy, community fundraising, and public education. They document years of successful grassroots activism and civic involvement.

In 2006,

Created an Acorn endowment fund, which is being managed by the Madison Community Foundation, in order to attract more funding for future activities.
Reduced Highland Way debt from $180,000 to $120,000 and donated the Highland Way parcel to the City of Middleton as a conservation easement.
Selected a memorial boulder that will recognize the John C. Bock Foundation's contribution to the purchase of the Highland Way parcel, which will be formally dedicated as the John C. Bock Urban Forest when our debt is paid off.
Used funds from a Wisconsin DNR River Protection Planning Grant, Monsanto, REI and the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board for various educational purposes, including our Kids for the Earth program
Kids for the Earth sponsored a 12-hour class for Middleton teachers and naturalists, conducted a teacher bus tour of conservancy lands, and distributed teacher-assembled field trip kits through the school district's delivery service. Our program coordinator, Friends' volunteers and trained naturalists accompanied several classes, involving 210 students, on field trips to the conservancy to sow prairie seeds, collect invasive garlic mustard plants, explore insect and bird habitats and participate in many other outdoor activities. They also sponsored five summer programs for children and their parents.
At the end of July, we held a dedication ceremony to celebrate the long-awaited installation of four kiosks that had been built and installed by Dane County Parks Department and the City of Middleton. The Friends coordinated the kiosk project and were responsible for preparing the historical, cultural, geological and ecological information on the Kiosks' eight interpretive signs.

In 2005,

Middleton's new Hilton Gardens Inn adopted us as their community organization, gave us $1,000 for an interpretive kiosk sign in the Pheasant Branch Conservancy and offered us free use of their meeting room facilities.
Eighty members attended our annual dinner meeting and helped us celebrate our tenth anniversary at Middleton Hilton Gardens Inn.
We published and distributed nearly 1,000 copies of a booklet entitled Geological, Cultural History and Ecology of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy and Watershed. View or print a PDF copy of the brochure. (Download may be slow -- file is large.)
We spent the entire year raising $3 million to purchase 19.7 acres of land on Highland Way, adjacent to the conservancy, from the Middleton-Cross Plains School District. We received hundreds of donations from local individuals and organizations, as well as very generous grants from private foundations, the City of Middleton, Dane County Conservation Fund and the Wisconsin Stewardship Fund. Within $200,000 of our goal, we borrowed money so that could exercise our option to purchase by the December deadline. The City of Middleton will manage the parcel as a conservation easement.
We received a $50,000 grant from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to hire a restoration firm to do heavy-duty work in the conservancy.
The Middleton Fire Department agreed to help us conduct prescribed burn in the conservancy so as to control invasive species.
We conducted several field trips in the conservancy, many of them for our Kids for the Earth program.
Our volunteers, including dozens of Middleton High School ecology students, helped on more than a dozen occasions with restoration work on city and county property in the conservancy.
Our membership grew to more than 500 individuals, families and businesses.

In 2004,

We received a second $10,000 grant from the Pleasant Company's Fund for Children for the Kids for the Earth program, conducted eight summer sessions for young children and their parents, published an educators' resource guide, conducted staff development sessions and hosted 40 Cub Scouts for a field trip in the Conservancy.
We received a third DNR River Protection Grant for $10,000, much of which was used to support our Kids for the Earth program.
We established the Bill Robinson Memorial Fund to honor the memory of one of our founders.
We initiated work on a conservation agreement to preserve a parcel of land on Highland Way adjacent to the Conservancy.
Our board of directors participated in River Alliance of Wisconsin strategic planning workshop.
We contributed more than 7,000 volunteer hours for restoration and construction since 1997, with a large park coming from high school ecology students.
We received a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's North American Wetlands Conservation program to hire workers to restore and enhance habitat in the Conservancy.
We supported Dane County's and City of Madison's ban on phosphorus in lawn fertilizers.
We advocated for appropriate siting of a new municipal well and requested an impact study of the initial site selected by city, which identified potentially significant impacts to the Conservancy's springs.
We received DNR Urban Forest Grant to facilitate conservancy of the Highland Way parcel.

In 2003,

We received a grant from Pleasant Company's Fund for Children for our Kids for the Earth program and hired an education coordinator who worked with teachers to produced a video for KFTE and assisted teachers in developing a curriculum guide for learning about Pheasant Branch Conservancy resources. She also arranged a watershed bus tour for teachers and a six-session summer program for young children in their parents. The program also hosted 100 Girl Scouts at the Conservancy field trip program.
We conducted a spring clean up of Pheasant Branch Road.
We joined Friends of Middleton Public Library and Friends of Kettle Ponds to sponsor an 8-week Developing a Sense of Place course.
We had accumulated more than 6,000 volunteer hours for restoration and construction since 1997.
We established the Friends of Pheasant Branch e-mail list, produced Friends of Pheasant Branch volunteer t-shirts and sponsored a highly successful Friends and Neighbors Celebration .
We received $10,000 grant from the John C. Bock Foundation for prairie restoration work and established the Dorothy Shannon Memorial Prairie Fund.

In 2002,

Our volunteers began restoration of a wetland at the north end of the Conservancy.
We conducted a tour for state water experts as part of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters' Waters of Wisconsin initiative.
We assisted the City of Middleton with acquisition of 15.3 acres of Conservancy land (Esser and Sieger properties) by facilitating preparation of grant applications for Dane County Conservation Fund ($85,000) and state Stewardship - Urban Streams program ($170,000), arranged for pro bono legal assistance and serving as intermediary.
We hosted three summer field trips for the public in the Conservancy.

In 2001,

We received the Capital Area Citizen's Orchid Award for Public Service.
Our volunteers constructed an observation deck at the largest springs within the Conservancy.
In order to study the impacts of deer on Conservancy vegetation, we installed two deer exclosures that were monitored by high school ecology students.
We received second $10,000 DNR River Protection Grant to support our office and staff. When our staff person resigned to start a business, our Board of Directors decided to move back to an all-volunteer organization model.

In 2000,

We established the Glen Pulver Memorial Fund for a wildlife viewing platform on the east side of the Conservancy.
We conducted a watershed field trip involving more than 75 participants.
We published the results of an inventory of animal life in Pheasant Branch Conservancy, which had been conducted by a U.W. student.
We distributed a brochure describing the recently prepared master plan with the FOPB newsletter.
We received a $10,000 Wisconsin DNR River Protection grant that enabled us to open an office and hire our first paid staff person.
We launched the Friends of Pheasant Branch web site.
Our vice-president served on the city's technical advisory committee for the review of the Morrey Airport plans.
We joined forces with the City of Middleton to promote compliance with and enforcement of erosion control ordinances.

In 1999,

Our Watershed Taskforce received national recognition for its consensus-building efforts to protect environmental resources.
We hosted a fifth anniversary party to celebrate our accomplishments.
We encouraged the City of Middleton to form a permanent Conservancy Lands Commission.
We prepared a grant application to fund a wildlife inventory in Pheasant Branch Conservancy.
We offered a $100 reward for arrest and conviction of vandals of Conservancy property.
Watershed Taskforce representatives from the Friends, City and The Bruce Company received an award from the Yahara Lakes Club for our efforts to protect Lake Mendota's water supply.
We lead a bus tour as part of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters conference on Aldo Leopold and "Conservation for a New Century."

In 1998,

We sponsored another series of public lectures and field trips
We received another grant from the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Fund to convene a North Fork Pheasant Branch Watershed Taskforce composed of more than fifty scientists, developers, farmers, and interested citizen who met every six weeks. With help from Wisconsin DNR facilitators, these taskforce members developed amicable solutions for protecting the floodplain along Airport Road from proposed development.
As a result of the Taskforce recommendation, the City of Middleton made arrangements to purchase the Morey Airport and other private properties so that much of the flood plan would remain as open space and retain its infiltration capabilities.
We worked with City and County on a master plan for the Conservancy and north shore of Lake Mendota
We continued to host public meeting that often attracted overflow crowds and to conduct restoration work parties involving high school students and adults.
We established the Bill Threinen Memorial Fund to honor a conservationist who had helped the City of Middleton to acquire the Pheasant Branch Conservancy in the 1970s.
We worked with the City of Middleton to prepare a grant application for the DNR's Urban Forestry Grants program. The grant assisted in the preparation of a master plan for Pheasant Branch Conservancy.
The Pheasant Branch Watershed Task Force published it's report Coming Together for the Future.
We established the Friends of Pheasant Branch Memorial Fund.
Our talented volunteers constructed a viewing platform on the Dane County hill overlooking the Conservancy and Lake Mendota.

In 1997,

With the sewer issues resolved, we received a grant from the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat fund to convene a Pheasant Branch Watershed Task Force to protect water and soil resources in the 23-square mile watershed and to sponsor a watershed bus tour for public officials, developers and interested citizen in order to highlight some of our concerns.
We created a restoration committee and our volunteers, including several high school from Mike Duren's and Debbie Weitzel's ecology classes at Middleton Cross Plains Area School District donated more that 1,000 hours of restoration work in the Pheasant Branch Conservancy.
We organized a series of public information meetings during the fall and winter months and several field trips in the conservancy during warmer weather.
Middleton's mayor appointed an ad hoc Conservancy Lands Committee to oversee the City's conservancy lands.
The Wisconsin DNR approved our Lake Protection grant request for $170,000 for the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct a three-year study of surface and groundwater patterns in the Pheasant Branch Watershed.

In 1996,

We lost our fight to prevent the construction of one sewer in a court case but managed to adjust the sewer route so as to keep it out of the Conservancy wetlands as much as possible.
We held our first annual benefit dinner in October.
We received tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service in November.
At the end of the year we celebrated a "victory" for Pheasant Branch Conservancy when the Middleton City Council voted 6-2 to stop plans for building a second sewer in the Conservancy.

In 1995,

The Friends of Pheasant Branch organized to encourage community opposition to construction of two proposed sewers in the Pheasant Branch Conservancy. Our efforts resulted in over 1,800 postcards and petitions protesting the proposed sewers and the largest citizen turn out to that date (more than 200 individuals) at a city plan commission hearing
We received not-for-profit corporate status from the State of Wisconsin in November