A New Year in the Driftless

Recently, the DALC team found ourselves in a conversation during a staff meeting: Do we believe in New Year’s resolutions? Did anyone make one? Has anyone actually kept one?

The answers were honest and a little funny. Some of us love lists, writing things down, mapping out goals, checking boxes as the year unfolds. Others admitted that the moment they tell themselves they have to do something, they immediately want to do it less. A few people discussed choosing a word for the year, creating a bingo card of hopes, or setting intentions rather than making strict resolutions.

What we all agreed on was this. We don’t really make resolutions, but we do believe in reflection, setting our sights forward, and growth.

That conversation stuck with me.

Because it is January. I am still the same Katie. I work the same job. I drink the same coffee when I come into the DALC office. I love the same things. By all outward measures, nothing has changed.

But this time of year still invites me to pause, to name what I hope for, and to set intentions for how I want to move through the months ahead. And alongside those goals, I find myself turning to the land we protect.

Here in the Driftless Area, we are all reminded that change does not arrive all at once. It happens slowly and quietly, season by season. Even what looks like an ending, last year’s grasses burned to ash, becomes the beginning of something new as nutrients return to the soil and make room for fresh growth.

At DALC, we may not all write down New Year’s resolutions, but we do share a commitment that guides everything we do. A commitment to conservation, to permanently protect the land, water, and wildlife that make this place so special. A commitment to care, to steward these special places so they remain healthy, diverse, and resilient for generations to come. And a commitment to connection, to bring people into a relationship with the Driftless and with one another.

Like the land itself, our work is not about quick fixes or flashy promises. It is about tending something meaningful over time, sometimes beginning in the ashes of what came before. As we move together this year, we will keep doing what we have always done. Protecting places, restoring habitats, and building a community rooted in Southwest Wisconsin. No resolutions required.