The Restoration Field Day is a gathering for ecological practitioners, vendors, property owners, naturalists, and students of all ages. This full-day workshop will make ecological management accessible to everyone. Participants will explore a variety of land management tools, techniques, and services through field demonstrations, lecture-style presentations, hands-on learning experiences, and vendor booths led by experts in restoration ecology.

We have a strong line-up of speakers with an oak ecosystem restoration theme. This event is held entirely outside and there are some incentives. If you are part of a non-profit organization or municipality we are offering you reduced registration for this event (contact msmith@riveredge.us for details), as well as a free on-site consultation for ecological restoration, forestry, tree care, et cetera to be redeemed before July 2022.

Riveredge Members: $50 | Non-Members: $60 | Student Price: $30

Click Here to Register

Schedule of Events (Speaker Bios Below)

8am – 9am
Registration & Welcome

9am – 9:45am (concurrent sessions)
Forest Disease and How it Affects Your Oak Ecosystem Restoration Success: Kyoko Scanlon (WDNR)
Orchid Research Tour: Mellissa Curran (Stantec)

10am – 10:45am
Heritage Oak Evaluation, Competition Release, and Followup Management: Jim Uhrinak (MKE Audubon/Green Tree) & Matt Smith (Riveredge)

11am – 11:45am (concurrent sessions)
How to get Started with Shiitake Logs: Joe Mantoan & Todd Kramer (Riveredge)
Dragonfly and Damselfly ID: Kate Redmond (The Bug Lady)

12 noon – 12:45pm
LUNCH with demonstration by Midwest Stihl

1pm – 1:45pm (concurrent sessions)
Sawmill Operation, Reading Logs and Generating the Lumber you Need: Jim Uhrinak (MKE Audubon/Green Tree) & Mike Ripple (Ripple on the Line)
Bumble Bee Identification and Management Considerations: Jade Kochanski (UW Madison)

2pm – 2:45pm
Spring, Fall, and Growing Season Prescribed Fire for Woody Plant Control, Mitigating Chemical Use and Wildlife Benefit: Nathan Holloubeck (WDNR)

3pm – 3:45pm
Quantifying Deer Populations Quickly with Heat Camera Drones: applications for landscape use studies, wildlife management, and recreation: Jason Komp (Ishnala Enterprises LLC)

Restoration Field Day Speaker Bios

Jason Komp of Ishnala Enterprises LLC | Quantifying Deer Populations Quickly with Heat Camera Drones: applications for landscape use studies, wildlife management, and recreation.

“The Bug Lady” Kate Redmond | Dragon Fly and Butterfly Identification: Follow Kate Redmond, entomology expert and writer, on a leisurely walk through riveredge prairies, pond edges, sedge meadows to find species of dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies, moths and other gems of nature.

Jim Uhrinak, Ecologist, Board Member of Milwaukee Audubon and Owner of Green Tree Consulting with Matt Smith Research and Conservation Director for Riveredge | Heritage Oak Evaluation, Competition Release, and Followup Management: Tour a recently released oak forest to hear about Riveredge’s new heritage oak evaluation tool, learn critical involved with canopy release decisions and successional management.

Kyoko Scanlon, Pathologist for the Wisconsin DNR | Forest Disease and How it Affects Your Oak Ecosystem Restoration Success: Discover the forest diseases that will make or break your oak restoration project with State Pathologist Kyoko Scanlon.

Joe Mantoan, Conservation Manager of Riveredge and Owner of Sauve Terre Farms | How to get Started with Shiitake Logs: Riveredge has been raising organic mushrooms on hardwood logs that are a byproduct of our heritage oak release efforts. Learn how to select logs, inoculate, wax, and shock logs for production. (Mushrooms are sold in the Riveredge store).

Jim Uhrinak of Green Tree and Mike Ripple of Ripple on the Line | Sawmill Operation, Reading Logs and Generating the Lumber you Need: Every winter our ecological restoration practices yield a harvest-able surplus of hardwood and softwood logs. Watch a mobile sawmill process logs and learn how we chose the length, cutting plan, and end product for each species. Slab wood and timbers are available for purchase.

Melissa Curran, Stantec | Native orchid population tour and ecology: Join Melissa Curran on a tour of Riveredge orchids and their habitat. Hear about what Stantec and Riveredge do for native terrestrial orchids in Southeastern WI. This tour will begin at the Orchid Shadehouse to showcase seedling orchids that have been propagated, and end on our swamp boardwalk, home of the lesser purple fringed orchid.

Nathan Holloubeck, Wildlife Ecologist for the Wisconsin DNR | Spring, fall, and growing season prescribed fire for woody plant control, mitigating chemical use and wildlife benefit.

Jade Kochanski UW-Madison PHD Student | Native orchid population tour and ecology: Walk with Jade through prairie habitats to verify species of bumble bees on the Riveredge Property, including the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee. Jade will share her current research on the utilization of conservation dogs to verify presence of bumble bees and nest sites and management implications.