by Katie Cervenka | Feb 15, 2026 | Conservation, Land Management, Staff Updates
February Notes from the Field: Written by Stephanie Judge, Conservation Director
While I know February can be a tough month for many, I love the winter, and I love it most when we have snow! Of course I appreciate snow for many of the traditional reasons – it’s fun for kids to play outside, it’s easier to enjoy winter sports, and it brightens what are otherwise some of our darkest days of the year. But, I also love snow (and cold) because it helps us accomplish important land restoration work!
As climate change brings warmer, less predictable winters, we’re increasingly challenged to conduct timber harvests on frozen ground or to burn piles of invasive shrubs. Happily, the winter of 2025/2026 has provided excellent conditions for many of these important activities.
Winter is also a time for site reconnaissance and planning. Frozen ground helps us walk across wetlands without sinking knee deep in muck, scout distances across sites when no leaves block our views, and get out to see land without bugs seeing us.
At Wild Oaks Preserve in Dane County, which will open to the public later this year, DALC and our site partners, the BadgerLand Foundation, removed over 500 black walnut trees where we’re restoring savanna and prairies. Income from the harvest will help fund ongoing work at the site, including a pending hydrological restoration that will re-meander a stream and fill ditches in a previously drained wetland.
Black Walnut harvest at Wild Oaks Preserve.
Photo by Stephanie Judge.
At Erickson Conservation Area in Argyle, where an old plantation of swamp white oaks and tamarack trees was planted back in the ‘90s, we thinned 7 acres into what will eventually become a more naturalized swamp white oak savanna.
Erickson Conservation Area BEFORE thinning.
Photo by Stephanie Judge.
Erickson Conservation Area AFTER thinning.
Photo by Stephanie Judge.
And, elsewhere at Erickson, we gathered with volunteers to burn brush piles collected in past years. On this day – the last of January’s intense cold – we enjoyed the sunny 15 degree conditions along with chili heated to boiling in a cast iron pot on the coals.
DALC staff & volunteers warm up by a fire with chili.
Photo by Stephanie Judge.
Thank you to my colleague Shannon for that wonderful treat, and trick, that she learned while stewarding York Prairie State Natural Area near her New Glarus home!
Whether you’re “a winter person” or not, we know this season has been difficult for all of us as individuals, for our communities and for our country. We also know that “hope springs eternal,” and by this late date in February, the days are getting longer, the natural world is waking up, and we can all feel a little more energy to keep going and keep working toward brighter days and a better future. Thank you for all you do to support your neighbors and communities, including this Driftless community. We SO appreciate you!
Written by Stephanie Judge
DALC Conservation Director
by Katie Cervenka | Feb 5, 2026 | Conservation, Land Management, Staff Updates
We are excited to welcome Kevin Mason to the Driftless Area Land Conservancy team as our new Preserves Manager!
Kevins first came to Wisconsin to attend Lawrence University, and aside from a brief chapter in the Pacific Northwest, the state has been home ever since. Over the years, he has built a career centered on restoring landscapes and helping people connect to them in meaningful ways. Most recently, Kevin spent nearly eight years working with Quercus Land Stewardship Services, where he partnered with private landowners, municipalities, and public agencies to design and carry out ecological restoration projects across southern Wisconsin.
At DALC, Kevin oversees the management and monitoring of our nature preserves and Driftless Trail segments. His work helps guide these lands towards long term ecological health through practices such as prescribed fire, grazing, and other restoration tools. Just as important, Kevin works closely with partners and staff to ensure stewardship efforts are collaborative, thoughtful, and grounding in care for both the land and the people who experience it.
Kevin is especially drawn to stewarding publicly accessible lands and to the many ways people form connections with natural places. He believes those relationships strengthen individual and community wellbeing, and a perspective that aligns closely with DALC’s mission.
Outside of work, Kevin enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, camping, paddling, skiing, and biking, often alongside his family. He is also a musician and songwriter who finds inspiration in the natural world, and on clear nights, he can sometimes be found in his backyard gazing at distant galaxies through a telescope.
“I love that the Driftless Area can surprise even lifelong Midwesterners. It is an utterly unique ecological and cultural landscape with many nooks and crannies and hidden surprises. I love watching a half frozen stream gurgle through a valley in the winter, or a bluff prairie bursting with color in July.”
We are grateful to welcome Kevin to DALC, and look forward to the care, curiosity, and leadership he will bring to our preserves and trails across the Driftless Area!
by Katie Cervenka | Sep 3, 2025 | Land Management, Land Protection, Legacy Society
Presented by Richard (Dick) Cates, August 12th, 2025
On August 12th, 2025, Driftless Area Land Conservancy welcomed all to the Legacy Society Picnic. During this gathering, Gathering Waters had the honor to present the Land Legacy Award to Richard (Dick) Cates and his family for their outstanding commitment to conservation. After the Cates family warmly thanked the Gathering Waters and DALC teams for bestowing such a meaningful recognition for their work, Dick spoke on behalf of the family and offered the following:
“The history of every nation is written in the way in which it cares for its farms, farmers, soil and water, flora and fauna— collectively, the land. So it is my commitment, as a farmer and teacher, to communicate the conviction that the fate of how we care for our land is everybody’s future, everyone’s vital concern.
Perhaps the greatest existential crisis human civilization faces is the destruction of the natural conditions necessary for our own survival. I believe that the most significant work any of us can do at this time in the history of human beings on Earth is to live in reciprocity for her gifts in a way that cares deeply for all she has bestowed.
This is respectful, honorable work. It is work we should all be engaged in—not just those of us who produce food, but all of us who leave any sort of footprint of our time here, supported by the gifts of the Earth.
I have followed my heart through life. A land ethic has guided my journey on this place. The wisdom of my dearest friend, Kim, guided our business in a life-giving direction, and with imagination, we worked together to put together the pieces of a life-sustaining puzzle.
For our family, conservation has indeed not been that feared set of constraints, but a very positive part of our lives, which has involved skill and learning to understand what the land can sustain. I look at the land we tend as a portrait and a statement of self, and to try to understand how we and the land, living together as partners, can do well. That’s an uplifting way to farm and to live. So many of us on the land long for this. It’s a process of finding our way.
Here Kim and I are so many years later, with love in our hearts for our grown children, our grandchildren, and this magical land. We are still here precisely because of Eric and Kiley’s commitment to this land, “a commitment to conservation” as they have taken as their farm tag line.
We feel gratitude for our family, our community, and for the gifts of this place. We feel hope that the next generation of our family on this land and our community will thrive.
One must have faith that as seasons change, the Earth’s gifts will always be there for us if we care for them. The greatest gift we can bestow is to be thankful, to show gratitude, and to accept them with respect, a promise of care, and great humility.
To the next generation of farmers, and to all, we need to— we must— leave a proud legacy. This is what I hope for.
What kind of ancestors do we want to be?
A creek runs through this Driftless land, and it is cold and clear…and the brookies are back.
by Katie Cervenka | Jul 25, 2025 | Conservation, Land Management, Land Protection
Editor’s Note
Since this story was first published, we have said goodbye to Jim Sime, who passed away on January 22, 2026, just days after his 94th birthday. Jim was a visionary conservationist, devoted steward, and generous teacher who believed deeply in protecting and sharing the Driftless Area.
Big Rock stands as one of Jim’s most cherished landscapes and a reflection of his belief that land once considered marginal could hold extraordinary ecological value. We are deeply grateful to Jim and Rose for their foresight, commitment, and generosity, and we are honored to steward Big Rock and carry forward the legacy they created.
The whole Driftless is a remarkable region, but there are especially remarkable places throughout it – and luckily, there are remarkable people who care for them. We’re thrilled to share the story of Big Rock, a remarkable place, and Jim and Rose Sime, the remarkable people who made it possible to forever protect, steward, and share this land.
The Simes’ connection to the Driftless goes back a long way, especially for Jim, who grew up around Boscobel. “We roamed all around the hills out there,” he recalls. “They all belonged to everybody.” Jim and his friends would go exploring on neighbors’ land, gathering nuts and mushrooms and playing in wild-growing pines they called their own “Up North.” His grandfather took him to the rich mesic woods of the Kickapoo River bottoms and taught him to identify plants, leading to Jim’s lifelong passion for botany.
Jim & Rose Sime. Photo by Stephanie Judge.
Rose was born in Wisconsin but grew up in California. However, after coming back for grad school in Madison, she decided to stay in the Badger State for good. “It felt homey. I felt like I belonged here.”
Both teachers, Jim and Rose met in Madison at the 1976 educators’ strike. “It’s been a good 49 years,” Rose says with a smile.
Well before meeting Rose, though, Jim had achieved another milestone: becoming a landowner. After his childhood outdoors, Jim was eager to buy land of his own in the Driftless, but it was difficult to find a farmer who was willing to sell him a parcel. Finally, in 1965, Jim found 80 acres of wooded land for sale. It was too marginal for farming, so no one was sure why he wanted it. After buying the land, Jim recalls being at a nearby bar when a local came up and asked him if he’d really paid $55 an acre for the property. Jim confirmed that he had. The man responded, “It ain’t worth 10.”
But to Jim, land was priceless. His vision was to protect the properties he bought as nature preserves for others to enjoy the same way he did, and Rose joined him in that endeavor. Together, they eventually owned five different parcels of at least 80 acres each.
“I used to tease him that he wanted to own half of Grant County,” Rose laughs.
They purchased Big Rock in 1994. According to Jim, the site’s native plants were incredible. Using a measurement called the Floristic Quality Index, developed by the Morton Arboretum in Illinois, parcels can be assessed for the uniqueness and diversity of their existing native plants and given a number that captures the ecological quality. “Anything with a value over 50 should be preserved immediately,” Jim explains. “Big Rock had a preliminary index of 68.8.”
A big rock at Big Rock. Photo by Stephanie Judge.
The phenomenal plant life at Big Rock is there in part because of the amazing variety of habitat on the 140-acre property. It’s primarily wooded, including a large pine relict – a rare ecosystem left over from the Ice Age, featuring species usually found much further north. The pine relict was sheltered from historic fire regimes by abundant large boulders, which also lend their name to the Big Rock Branch of the Blue River, winding through the property for about ¾ of a mile. In addition to the rich woodlands and trout stream, this parcel includes 38 acres of grassland that are enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, further boosting the diversity of plants, insects, and other wildlife.
“We always loved going out with people because it was exciting to see how excited they got,” Jim shares. “We took a world-renowned lichenologist out there once. He was like a kid in a candy store!”
The quality of the native species at Big Rock is also thanks to 30 years of dedicated stewardship by Jim, Rose, and their family and friends. At all their properties, they have worked diligently to combat invasive species and restore historic habitat. Everyone who’s helped out has enjoyed it, with a few exceptions – Rose remembers their young son complaining about having to drag brush while Dad had the “fun” job of running the chainsaw.
Many volunteers joined Jim and Rose at Big Rock in the spring to pull garlic mustard, a persistent invader of woodlands. It’s not an easy task, but it has a special reward: freeing spring ephemeral wildflowers to grow and bloom.
“That was the fun part about working on garlic mustard,” Rose says. “The spring ephemerals are just incredible. [The volunteers] knew they were going to get to see all kinds of beautiful things.”
Although picking a top native species is almost impossible, Jim and Rose agree that hepatica (shown on the cover of this issue) is a favorite of theirs. These early spring flowers have distinctive lobed leaves that survive the winter, and can bloom in a variety of colors, from white to pink to blue. “We used to go around and see who could find the prettiest ones,” Jim says.
Following the tradition of sharing the land that Jim grew up with, visitors have long been welcome to the Simes’ properties. Rose describes how when Covid began and social distancing was implemented, she and Jim sought refuge at their wilderness retreats – “but there was always someone already there!”
With so much love for their own land and a strong ethic of connecting people to the outdoors, it’s no surprise that Jim and Rose are longtime volunteers and members of regional conservation groups like The Nature Conservancy, The Prairie Enthusiasts, Mississippi Valley Conservancy, and of course, DALC. In 2023, they asked if we might be interested in acquiring Big Rock.
“At Big Rock, we had 30 years of absorbing the wildness,” Jim says. “It was always the plan to protect [the land] from development, to hand it off to someone who could care for it. And we want to make sure other people can continue enjoying it.”
Taking on a new nature preserve was a big decision. But thanks to the support of our incredible community, DALC’s capacity has grown substantially in recent years, and we felt confident we could accept this responsibility. In addition, Jim and Rose made a bargain sale, which enabled us to buy the land using matching funds from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program. And even more – Jim and Rose also provided a substantial donation to launch DALC’s land management fund, ensuring that we’ll be able to steward Big Rock and all our nature preserves for generations to come!
“We just feel really blessed we’ve had this land and can share it with people,” Rose says.
Jim and Rose’s generosity and lifelong dedication to conservation is an inspiring example of the positive impact we can have on the land and on each other. After a quarter-century as a land trust, DALC continues to be honored by the trust and support of our community. We can’t wait for another 25 years of stories like this!
Written by Emilee Martell
DALC Communications Associate
Big Rock Overlook. Photo by Zach Pacana.
by DALC Staff | Jan 3, 2025 | Conservation, Land Management, Land Protection
January is a month for introspection and planning. If you are a gardener like me, you spend the depths of winter perusing seed catalogs dreaming of the smell of green and growing things to come. At the Driftless Area Land Conservancy, we also spend time in January planning our work in the year to come.
Including the recently announced Wintergreen project, we are actively working with 18 landowners to protect approximately 2500 acres. In addition, we are reviewing new inquiries from over 40 landowners interested in permanently protecting over 4700 acres in the Driftless Area.
Just as you consider many factors such as sunlight, soil type, productivity, and space to narrow down which varieties to grow in your garden, we consider many factors when determining which conservation opportunities to pursue each year. Some considerations that impact our planning include the size of the property, relationship to other protected lands, presence of threatened habitats and endangered species, and other unique features.
Size of the Property
Large properties can support more diversity and are at higher risk of being subdivided than smaller properties. But this doesn’t mean that small properties are ineligible for a conservation easement, especially if that smaller property has other features making it unique.
Relationship to Other Protected Lands
Connectivity makes plant and animal communities more resilient to change. For this reason, we prioritize projects that are adjacent to lands that are already protected or that could create corridors connecting protected lands to one another.
Presence of Threatened Habitats and Endangered Species
Prairies and oak savannas are some of the rarest community types in the world, and the Driftless Area is a patchwork containing many small prairie and oak savanna remnants. Protecting these remnants is of high importance in order to protect the remaining natural diversity of plants and animals. Furthermore, documented evidence of threatened, endangered, or special concern species adds impact to a conservation project.
Other Unique Features
Trout streams, wetlands, caves and rock outcroppings, and prime agricultural soils are just a few of the additional unique features we consider when prioritizing conservation projects.
Careful planning in the winter can lead to a beautiful flowering of conservation projects throughout the year, ensuring we spend our limited garden of time on those areas that will make the biggest impact on our mission: maintaining and enhancing the health, diversity and beauty of Southwest Wisconsin’s natural and agricultural landscape through permanent land protection and restoration.
Written by Shannon Roznoski, Conservation Coordinator
