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Outdoors: Giving thanks for Goose Pond's visionaries

Tim Eisele
Special to the Capital Times  —  11/21/2007 8:13 am

This week is a good time to give thanks for special gifts, and a perfect time to give thanks to the Madison Audubon Society -- not only for its efforts to improve natural resources in the state, but for its foresight in purchasing Goose Pond near Arlington.

Goose Pond is a wildlife sanctuary located 15 miles north of Madison. Birders from southern Wisconsin migrate to the pond each spring and fall to watch migrating birds.

The Society started out as the Madison Bird Club in 1935 and in 1949 became affiliated with the National Audubon Society. The Madison Audubon Society now is the largest National Audubon Society affiliate in the state, with 2,500 members.

Previously, the MAS made contributions to The Nature Conservancy, UW-Madison Arboretum, and Wisconsin Conservation Department. But back in 1967, it wanted a major project of its own and purchased the original 62 acres for Goose Pond.

According to records of the board meetings, provided by MAS historian Dorothy Haines, in 1965 members Mrs. C.S. Parker and Mrs. Arvid Anderson drew up a list of projects, which eventually was narrowed down to the purchase of Goose Pond.

The board voted in 1967 to purchase Goose Pond and adjacent land for $30,000. The organization came up with $550 and a fund-raising drive collected $9,000. Later it received a grant of $14,000 from a bequest from the late Harry Steenbock and the property was finally paid off in 1969.

The land had been used as a pig farm, and the first MAS naturalist, Evelyn Werner, and the Goose Pond Committee sought advice from ecologists such as Joe Hickey and Hugh Iltis about how to improve the land and pond.

Haines, an avid volunteer with MAS, joined the Society in 1972 and edited the MAS newsletter in the early 1980s.

Her familiarity with Goose Pond came when she participated in MAS field trips, and when she volunteered to staff the viewing area on weekends. Haines, along with Wild Birds Unlimited, donated a spotting scope that is now permanently available along Prairie Road for people to watch the birds.

"Goose Pond is a sanctuary for birds and the restored prairies are helping to bring back grassland birds whose habitat has disappeared due to agricultural activities that destroy their nests," Haines said. "We are trying to restore this back to the condition when European settlers came.

"But, we can't teach future generations to care for the land and preserve it if they don't get out into it. We want to make it more convenient to help people get out into the adjacent prairie and see and understand it."

On Oct. 28, MAS hosted Audubon Wildlife Adventure Day, an expansion of their annual "scope day," where people could watch birds and see live exhibits to learn about natural communities. Haines hopes to eventually have more hiking trails available.

Haines notes that when the original 62 acres was purchased, "the board of directors sure were visionary, because they had no financial backing and risked their own money," she said.

Gene Roark of Madison has been active in many of Madison and Wisconsin's conservation organizations. From 1960 to 1975 he worked for the Wisconsin Conservation Department/Department of Natural Resources, and he co-founded the Wisconsin Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

Roark, whose father was a friend and hunting partner of the late Aldo Leopold, joined MAS back when he was in high school in Madison. He was a bird watcher and remembers that the main attraction was birding trips.

Roark served on the board and was editor of the first issues of the MAS newsletter.

"I remember we had a board meeting at the home of Walter Engelke, principal of the old Nakoma School, and we voted to make the first purchase," Roark said. "There was a lot of anxiety because we did not have the money in the bank.

"I've always been a saver and my efforts have always been to protect and preserve land. Being both a hunter and a bird watcher I am often reminded of how natural lands are being lost when going out to watch birds, and Goose Pond is always one of the best places around Madison to watch birds.

"It's hard to put a value on Goose Pond and the land, but it has given thousands of people through the years the opportunity to see shorebirds and waterfowl, particularly up close, without driving long distances. It is a major stopping place on the migration and provides nesting habitat. Having the land has also given the Society the chance to do a lot of prairie restoration on what was once one of the richest and largest prairies in southern Wisconsin."

Mark and Sue Martin, the resident naturalists, have played a major role in that, he said, but members also volunteer every Saturday to gather seed and plant.

"The refuge, educational opportunities and prairie restoration are huge pluses for wildlife and the community, and looking back I am glad that I voted approval of the original purchase," Roark said. "There was some nervousness in the obligation that we were assuming. I think people involved in the project were people of vision."

To get to Goose Pond, drive north from Madison on Highway 51 to Leeds. Then head west on Highway K for 2 miles to Goose Pond Road, and then go north for a half-mile.

Tim Eisele
Special to the Capital Times  —  11/21/2007 8:13 am