Et cetera : NCCC Oak 3 Serves at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum

Mark Smith and Sean Ducker cleaning seeds to be planted at the UW Arboretum

Oak 3 Team after brush clearing at Grady Tract at the UW Arboretum

By Alexis Pittman and Maureen Murphy

So far, Oak 3 has been serving alongside the staff at the UW-Madison Arboretum in Madison, Wisconsin. Since the team arrival, the staff have been very welcoming and made it an exciting learning experience.

The team learned to identify various types of trees as they cleared brush and logs from several wetlands and prairies. They are working in one of the oldest prairies, Curtis Prairie, clearing brush and preparing for a prescribed burn. Oak 3 has also cleaned seeds and propagated along the Wingra Oak Savanna, an outlying property owned by the Arboretum.

“Learning about restoration ecology while working to advance it has been an immensely rewarding experience,” says Oak 3 member Sean Ducker.

The Arboretum is a 1,200 acres outdoor research and teaching facility of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The Civilian Conservation Corps originally helped restore the land back to prairie in 1934, and AmeriCorps NCCC has continued their work since 2011. The Arboretum is open to the public and has an extensive public education program. The Arboretum is also used for cross-disciplinary research on habitat restoration, storm water management, and climate change.