Reprinted with permission.
News, Front page
March 27, 2011
UW-Stout environmental chapter launched
Contributed photo UW-Stout Natural Areas Club members Jake Pulfer, left, and Steve Zweber
examined an area earlier this month near Carbondale, Ill., which they visited to learn more about
ecosystems in the Cache River basin. The club is the first undergraduate chapter of the Natural Areas
Association.
By Pamela Powers Menomonie News Bureau Leader-Telegram
MENOMONIE - From controlled burns of prairies to restoring waterfronts, a group of UW-Stout
students is trying to make a difference regarding the environment via a new university club.
The Natural Areas Club, the first undergraduate chapter of the Natural Areas Association, aims to
restore natural areas and remove invasive species. The chapter began on campus at the start of this
school year, said club President Jake Pulfer, a senior environmental science major.
Club members have taken a hands-on approach to helping the environment. They have worked with
the Chippewa Savannas Chapter of Prairie Enthusiasts to help remove invasive species such as sumac
and red cedar trees from a prairie site. They planted a prairie in Eau Claire by the North Crossing. And
they have helped with a prairie seed collection near the Mississippi River.
Those efforts and others are intended to preserve vanishing prairies, Pulfer said.
"There is definitely growing interest in this," Pulfer said of the club's efforts. "Prairies are vanishing.
Most of them are getting tilled up."
Reprinted with permission.
Bill Hogseth, president of the local chapter of Prairie Enthusiasts, said the UW-Stout club provides
educational opportunities for students in biology and ecology.
"It connects the students to the unique ecology of the Chippewa Valley," Hogseth said. "It gets them
outside and to experience a hands-on restoration."
The 15 Natural Areas Club members spent spring break earlier this month in Carbondale, Ill., where
they advised students at Southern Illinois University about forming a Natural Areas Club chapter.
The UW-Stout club had hoped to conduct controlled burns and restoration work on that trip but were
unable to do so because of Illinois Department of Natural Resources officials' concerns. Students
instead viewed ecosystems along the Cache River basin, Pulfer said.
Steve Zweber, a UW-Stout senior majoring in environmental science and club member, made the trip
to Illinois.
"I like the mission developed for the club for land management and that we are volunteering to help
other organizations like the Prairie Enthusiasts," Zweber said.
The club plans restoration work closer to home. Members soon hope to restore the outdoor classroom
on the UW-Stout campus.
The roughly one-quarter-acre site behind the baseball field is a combination of wetland, forest and
prairie ecosystems. Invasive species would need to be removed to restore the area.
Powers can be reached at 715-556-9018 or pamela.powers@ecpc.com.