by Angie Buelow | Oct 6, 2025 | Conservation, Conservation Easements, Land Protection, Uncategorized
The meadowlark lifts from the grass as we tread across its territory on our walk toward the ominous sign proclaiming “5 Acre Lots for Sale.” Perched on
high open ground with distant views of Blue Mound and just a short commute from Madison, this site must have seemed perfect for residential development, just as it was a perfect spot for this bird to nest.
Grassland birds like meadowlarks, bobolinks, dickcissels, Henslow’s sparrows, and upland sandpipers have declined more steeply than any guild of birds in North America – down 43% – since 1970 according to the U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative. Even before then, these once-abundant birds and countless species of insects and other animals had already lost hundreds of millions of acres of habitat as the once vast prairies were plowed under for row-crop agriculture, grazed to dust, and otherwise left to grow to trees where fires had once regularly cleansed the land and kept it open.
Since the 1970s, further pressures drove yet steeper declines: Growing cities and their suburbs expanded outward; increasing ownership of rural second homes began to endlessly fragment the countryside; an onslaught of invasive plant species crept in to clog everywhere not burned, grazed, plowed, sprayed or mowed; the push for biofuels drove conversion of valuable grassland habitats to corn; and the rise of confinement agriculture with the corresponding loss of grazing animals on pastures, removed a critical last vestige of habitat as those animals were now fed in lots rather than left to wander and feed among the grasses, flowers, birds, and bees.
In fact, the decline of Wisconsin’s iconic traditional dairy industry has paralleled the decline in grassland birds. Where every farm once had mosaics of pastures that provided forage for cattle and surrogate habitat for birds, many thousands of family farms have been lost, and most areas now host the never-ending cycle of corn-bean rotations instead of diverse hay fields and pastures.
Fortunately, southwest Wisconsin, which used to be awash in prairie and oak savanna, still has some grasslands, many acres of which reside in what are known as grassland Bird Conservation Areas or BCAs.
Bird Conservation Areas (BCA) are identified regions of about 10,000 acres designed to support grassland birds. The goal is to have a predominantly treeless landscape with a central core area of 2,000-acres made up of connected, permanent grassland. Surrounding this core, a mix of farmland and smaller grassland patches can be found, helping create a healthy habitat for wildlife. The current designated BCAs are far from reaching the aspirational goal, but continued efforts have used the BCA model as a guiding north star.
Here in the core of the Perry-Primrose BCA, one of the four BCAs in southwest Wisconsin, where this meadowlark had nested under the “Lots for Sale” sign, at least eight bird species listed as threatened or of “special concern” can regularly be heard and seen.
Grassland BCAs provide a science-based model for protecting grassland birds, pollinators and other conservation targets within an agricultural landscape. If successfully implemented, the model can ensure enough large blocks of grassland to support area-sensitive species, like grassland birds, which don’t fare well when a landscape is too subdivided. Small parcels cause problems for area-sensitive species because they usually have brushy fence lines where edge predators like raccoons, possums, skunks and coyotes prowl. The closer a grassland bird nests to an edge, the less likely its young are to successfully survive and fledge.
Back in 2009, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) introduced the BCA concept within a feasibility study and master plan for the Southwest Wisconsin Grassland & Stream Conservation Area (SWGSCA), with a vision of working with diverse partners to conserve and enhance functioning grassland, savanna and stream ecosystems, set within a rural landscape of working farms.
Shortly thereafter, DNR purchased two core tracts: 360 acres of grassland at the Barreltown BCA just north of Mineral Point, and 335 acres of grassland at the Perry-Primrose BCA southwest of Madison. Hopes were high to continue building out these and two other BCAs with additional protected lands, but by this time, Wisconsin’s elected leaders, led by former Governor Scott Walker, began cutting state land conservation funding year over year. Where in 2009, DNR had $32.5 million per year to purchase public lands, in 2025, the DNR has only $6 million available for land acquisition statewide.
Despite all of these challenges, and perhaps to some degree because of them, a special group of public and private organizations came together to carry on the vision of securing Southwest Wisconsin as a place with healthy grasslands, successful farms, clear streams, diverse wildlife, and people who value and enjoy this landscape. Together, the Southern Driftless Grasslands (SDG) partners (driftlessgrasslands.org) work to advance this vision of landscape-scale conservation that can secure species by mitigating the effects of habitat fragmentation.
Driftless Area Land Conservancy (DALC) acts as the fiscal agent for SDG, and we’re proud to work alongside conservation partners including Pheasants Forever, The Prairie Enthusiasts, The Nature Conservancy, American Bird Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Iowa County, Dane County, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the DNR, and others. Together, we strive to advance our mutual goals and those of our neighbors across this land, including that meadowlark.
Back in 2023, when DALC and SDG staff saw that “For Sale” sign, we realized the threat of housing in the core of the BCA was upon us, and we had to act if given the chance. Thanks to a willing seller and funding from Dane County’s Conservation Fund, the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, and the Bobolink Foundation, DALC purchased 83 acres in the core of the Perry-Primrose BCA earlier this year. Our acquisition – the first conservation purchase in a BCA since 2013 – included all of those 5-acre lots, each on a prairie remnant!
Those remnants, perched high on rocky soils so poor that they escaped the plow, need substantial work to beat back the invading brush and grassland
menaces, such as crown vetch, parsnip, and sweet clover. Still, the precious nature is holding on, with pasque flowers blooming on the site this past spring, and coreopsis, leadplant, and flowering spurge gracing the summer breezes.
Beyond working with SDG partners to restore the remnants and eventually seed down the remaining cropland to grass or prairie, we’re also pressing ahead to secure other sites for the birds by using a combination of land protection and restoration tools. We invite our neighbors to reach out so we can discuss opportunities for conservation easements, fee-title sales, and opportunities for cost-shared transitions of crop ground to grass for bird-friendly grazing. We also urge landowners to remove excess “edges” by clearing fence lines between fields. When doing so, leave any oak trees, but remove the brush and undesirable trees that have grown up in recent decades. And of course, whenever possible, avoid haying grasslands during the primary nesting season, from mid-May through at least the end of July, but ideally as late as August 15.
Finally, we also ask our entire community to raise your voices in support of renewing and reestablishing the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program (KNSP), which was left unfunded in Wisconsin’s biennial 2026 and 2027 budgets. Without a KNSP grant, we couldn’t have bought this land, and we won’t be able to buy additional tracts to build out the BCAs, not just for the birds, but for future generations who deserve to experience a meadowlark’s song.
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 DALC Staff | Apr 10, 2025 | Conservation Easements, Land Protection, Legacy Society
Ellyn Satter was DALC’s first-ever Legacy Society member, kicking off a special group of supporters who include DALC in their will or estate plans. We are deeply honored by every individual who chooses to entrust DALC with their legacy. Your trust is not just a responsibility but a privilege we cherish wholeheartedly. Every story, every dream, and every legacy that passes through our hands is treated with the utmost care and respect. For Ellyn, the decision to join the Legacy Society arose from a lifetime of love for the land.
Ellyn grew up on a farm in South Dakota and credits her family’s care of the land as the beginning of her strong land ethic. “I always loved being outside. Walking in the pasture, riding my bike, helping with farming, driving tractors was fun; pulling cockleburrs was not so fun.”
“My dad was a holistic farmer before holistic farmers were fashionable,” Ellyn says. “Before we had pesticides and fertilizers, farmers rotated their crops regularly and grew grain for the livestock. It was an extremely diverse setup. My mom raised about 100 chickens and had an egg business. She would take the eggs to town on Saturday nights and trade them for groceries. They were before their time.”
But as Ellyn shares, her parents’ story was one of loss of community. With the introduction of the combine and haybaler, harvesting methods changed from collaborative events to working alone. “Threshing and haystacking were always community affairs, with Mom making big dinners for a dozen or more workers. Dad stopped enjoying farming when he could no longer get together with his neighbors and brothers and friends to do the work. Mom lost community as well. The church closed and the Ladies Aid stopped meeting. But the biggest loss was when her party telephone line was replaced with a private line. We had about 28 people on the party line and everybody would ‘rubber’ or listen in. It was a way to find out everybody’s news.
If there were a community emergency or news, the operator would put out a general call that everyone knew they needed to pick up. Mom really missed the party line. She was a pretty shy person and never replaced the party line as a way to stay connected with others.”
Life would take Ellyn to Madison, WI, for an internship and graduate school, and was the place she started her family. There, Ellyn began building her own community – with the people around her, and with the natural world.
“When the kids were little, we used to go camping all the time. It was the glory days in the state parks. Back in the day, there were lots of programs and rangers. We could go on bird walks, geology walks, tree walks, and flower walks. There were lots of public programs with various topics in the evenings. I started enjoying being able to put names to what I was seeing,” Ellyn shares. “I really credit the state parks for giving me a direction for learning and growing with respect to the natural world. From there on I was able to find other opportunities to feed my interest.”
In the late 1970’s, Ellyn and her husband purchased their farm north of Barneveld. “It was exciting to get out on the land and learn what was there. We put the woods into Managed Forest Law and didn’t have cows, and it was wonderful to see what wildflowers came back. I got interested in native gardening in town, and now have a couple of pocket prairies as well as some understory gardens.”
Now at 83, Ellyn still visits natural areas as often as possible. It’s her favorite form of recreation. “There’s nothing like getting out in nature and seeing the wildflowers—it’s like seeing an old friend. I feel energized and rejuvenated by nature. When you can recognize plants and plant communities, you enjoy them so much more. You learn enough to speak a language, to at least ask the questions to learn even more.”
We are so grateful for Ellyn’s love of the Driftless Area and her trust in DALC to do our part by helping to care for it. This impactful commitment ensures that DALC can continue protecting land, restoring habitat, and connecting people with the Driftless long into the future.
