by Katie Cervenka | Nov 3, 2025 | 25th Anniversary, Staff Updates
Welcome to Our New Website!
We’re so excited to welcome you to our new online home!
This redesign has been a labor of love, and we’re beyond grateful to Sarah Shumaker at Minocha Design Co. for her incredible work and generous teachings throughout this process. Sarah brought not only her creative brilliance but also a deep understanding of how to build a site that feels true to who we are. We could not have done this without her.
We also want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who graciously reviewed the site during its development. Your thoughtful feedback and honest insights helped shape this space into something we’re truly proud of. It means the world to have a community that shows up with care and intention.
We invite you to explore this new site! Check out what’s new, revisit what you love, and find fresh ways to get involved. Whether you’re here to learn more, connect, or contribute, we hope this space feels welcoming and inspiring.
Thanks for being part of this journey. We are so glad you’re here.
by DALC Staff | Jun 23, 2025 | Staff Updates
This farm boy from southeast Wisconsin grew up surrounded by the gently rolling hills of the Kettle Moraine landscape. That viewshed, along with the ubiquitous rounded fieldstones and smooth, “polished” gravel, is unmistakable evidence of the tremendous power of the glaciers that shaped that land. To me, this was the Wisconsin countryside.
But life moves on. As a young man studying at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, my trusty Honda 305 Scrambler and I ventured west of campus into a new, enthralling landscape of high bluffs, deep coulees, and striking road cuts featuring sharply angular limestone. This biosphere – untouched by glaciers – enchanted me. Now, our home nestled in the Driftless continues to be a decades-long blessing, made even sweeter by my unexpected second career with Driftless Area Land Conservancy.
After almost nine years, it is now time for me to hang up my DALC cap. It’s truly been a privilege to contribute my small part as a team member of folks I’ve always described as smarter and more talented than me. (Somehow, they have kept me around nevertheless!) Through this work, I’ve met hundreds of hard-working conservation-minded folks and have worked directly with many of you. I’m deeply appreciative of your thoughtful and dedicated efforts to protect this special place.
Conservation work, of course, is driven by the need to protect and enhance our environment for generations to come. Some of my most rewarding work has been in connecting with that upcoming generation in all five Iowa County high schools. The energy and enthusiasm of these young folks is an inspiration and a reassurance that we can indeed be successful in building a bright future. I’m grateful that DALC will continue engaging with students; and I’ll be tagging along as a volunteer.
We often state that the Driftless Area is a unique treasure. Need evidence? Just take a walk anywhere in the driftless landscape and open your eyes. Almost for certain, you will find a sight that comforts the soul. With your help, the Driftless Area Land Conservancy will continue building a legacy of environmental stewardship that will help sustain this treasure for generations to come.
Thank you. We are so grateful to have you as a partner in this important work. Carry on!
Written by Chuck Tennessen, Climate & Energy Coordinator
by DALC Staff | May 22, 2025 | Staff Updates
Is there any month that changes our Midwest landscapes as dramatically as May? When I look at photos I took just four weeks ago, the trees were still bare and the understory plants were just tiny sprouts. Today, leaves are rustling in the wind, the grass is knee-high, flowers bloom everywhere, and the whole world is green and lush. It feels almost miraculous. But of course this incredible blossoming, these tremendous changes, are a result of months of sap flowing, roots spreading, buds forming – careful preparation for a sudden explosion of growth.
Hm, what does that remind me of?
When I joined DALC in October 2021, it felt like we were just emerging from a difficult winter – the global upheaval from the pandemic. Although challenges continued, from the ongoing threat of Covid-19 to unprecedented political turmoil, DALC carried on with deliberate yet exciting growth: building our team, creating a new strategic plan, opening Driftless Trail segments, increasing our fundraising capacity – all thanks to the unwavering support of our community.
And now, in 2025, this steady flow of work has exploded into a geyser! We have the chance to purchase Wintergreen, an amazing natural resource and community asset. There are tremendously exciting conservation easements in the pipeline to protect vital landscapes. We’re building amazing new segments of the Driftless Trail and our volunteer program is growing by leaps and bounds. Despite the uncertainty of federal funding, we are successfully securing unprecedented grant opportunities to hugely expand land protection and stewardship in our region. Our team continues to grow (welcome Katie!) and our capacity expands every day to introduce more people to the wonder of the Driftless.
This is truly springtime for DALC: a season of thrilling growth and abundance – and a season of change. It’s bittersweet for me to share that this is my final Notes from the Field. When I moved away from the Driftless and back to my hometown in the St. Croix Valley about a year ago, I was grateful for the opportunity to remain with this amazing organization in a remote position. Now, though, it’s time for me to fully focus my energies in my home region. Katie will be taking over my communication duties, and is already doing an amazing job!
Working at a land trust was my lifelong dream when I joined DALC, and being part of such a passionate, ambitious, vibrant organization has been profound. I’ve grown so much during my time here. Everything I’ve learned about stewardship, communications, fundraising, and, most importantly, saving land, I’m already putting to good use in the St. Croix Valley!
I miss the bluffs and trout streams and oak savannas of the Driftless. I will miss the talent, dedication, and warmth of the wonderful team at DALC. But I will always be a part of this community, supporting the vital work of conservation, cheering on our staff and board, and doing what I can for the land that connects us all. Some part of me will always remain in the Driftless; in some part of me it will always be springtime.
Thanks for everything!
Written by Emilee Martell, Communications Specialist
by DALC Staff | Mar 17, 2025 | Advocacy, Staff Updates
“How are you doing… with all this… you know… everything, government, stuff like that?” This is a question I get a lot these days – my friends and colleagues are checking in with me, and with DALC.
Since he took office just two months ago, President Trump has issued an unprecedented number of executive orders and administrative actions that touch on almost every part of the federal government. And those actions trickle down to all of us, creating real and potentially long-lasting uncertainty and challenges for land trusts
DALC does have federal funding, and it’s been frozen and unfrozen. We have no idea what will happen to the farm bill, which provides a lot of dollars for land protection and conservation practices. DALC collaborates with many agencies and organizations where workforce reductions have been devastating. Individually, we all have friends and colleagues who have lost their jobs in the last two months.
In a word, it’s brutal. So what do we do? Well, there is only so much we have control over.
We’re building financial resilience by diversifying our funding streams. We rely on annual fundraising from individuals (thank you!); foundation grants; federal, state, and local grants and programs; and we have a healthy operating reserve. We’ve used generous bequests to establish sustaining reserve funds for land management, the Driftless Trail, and land protection.
We are advocating for nonprofits and the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program. Nonprofits can and do lobby our legislators (though there are strict limits on how much of that we can do). I’m working to get to know our legislators, make sure they know how chaos in the federal government affects local livelihoods, and make sure they know how important state funds for conservation are in Wisconsin. You can help too – visit knowlesnelson.org and let your representatives know how you’ve benefited from this program!
We are staying educated – the Land Trust Alliance has been a great resource in keeping us up to date on what’s happening in the federal landscape and how it affects us. We talk to our peers at other land trusts to learn how they are handling this new landscape. And we talk to you through personal calls, events, and field trips, to understand how our community is impacted.
Finally, we’re just trying to stay calm and focus on the long game. DALC is in the business of forever. We will make it through this crisis and others to come. We will lean into our communities, and we will adapt and stay flexible. This could be painful, and it’s already stressful. But here’s what else we’ll be doing: watching families enjoy the Driftless Trail, gathering with neighbors at sunset to learn about the night sky, watching hoary puccoon flowers and bird’s foot violets carpet a freshly burned prairie, and getting a hug from a landowner that just completed a conservation easement. I love our work, even during the hard times, and I know you do too!
Written by Jen Filipiak, Executive Director
by DALC Staff | Feb 10, 2025 | Staff Updates
I have always been drawn to the first 15 minutes of a movie. That is when everything starts to unfold — you meet the characters, get a glimpse of the world they’re in, and start to feel the excitement of what’s to come. There is a sense of possibility, surprise, and discovery in those moments.
Starting a new job is a lot like that opening scene in a movie. You choose your new location, redefine who you are, and start building the relationships that will shape your journey ahead.
In my first three months as the Program Manager of the Southern Driftless Grasslands program, I have been inspired by the diverse beauty of Wisconsin’s Southern Driftless landscape, learned more about my own leadership style and values, and worked alongside amazing conservation partners. All this has been possible thanks to the incredible conservation foundation laid by those who came before me. It has been a truly exciting first 15 minutes.
Spring is nature’s page- or scene-break — a chance to edit your own story. An opportunity to identify new places
to explore, remind yourself of your values, and choose to surround yourself with people who you would like to define your future ‘you.’
So, what do you want your next first 15 minutes to look like?
Andy Bingle, Southern Driftless Grasslands Program Manager
Photos courtesy of Andy Bingle – furthest left in both.
