April Showers Bring May Flowers!

The month of April gave us quite the rollercoaster ride of weather.  The precipitation made the trails very wet and mucky in spots, but like they say “April showers, bring May flowers” and there are definitely a lot of flowers starting to bloom at the preserve.  We will be discussing the blooming flowers on our upcoming Nature Talks Video on Bubolz’s YouTube page.  Check out our page to see all of our Nature Talks videos .  Make sure to subscribe so you see all of our upcoming videos.

Spring is the time for baby wildlife, and while you may be tempted to “help” babies that seem abandoned, it is best to leave them in the wild.  In most cases, the mother is keeping an eye on her babies from nearby.  If you know for sure that a baby is abandoned or it is injured, please contact a licensed rehabilitator from the list posted on the Wisconsin DNR’s website  https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/directory.html#locate.  Bubolz is not licensed and does not have the facilities to accept any wildlife.

Bubolz trails are open to the public(except wilderness) from Dawn to Dusk daily.  There are open restrooms located in the detached building to the right of the Lodge. You can download and print a trail map here!  Please remember that Bubolz is a leave no trace preserve!  Please leave nothing behind and please don’t take anything form the preserve.  We also ask that you leave all pets and bikes at home.  Maintaining the trails takes time and money,  if you would like to make a donation to help us keep maintaining the 8.5 miles of trails at Bubolz please click the button below.  It is because of generous donors that we are able to provide open trails and  recreational activities year round for our community.

Content

1. Upcoming Events
2. Bubolz at the Ballpark
3. Bubolz Earth Day Challenge
4. Help Us Celebrate Our 50th Anniversary
5. Meet Wendy Our Director of Environmental Education
6. Text to Know
7. Make a Difference
8. Thanks to Our Partners

Bubolz at the Ballpark

Join Bubolz at the Ballpark on June 30th at 6:35pm. We have been selected as the Non-Profit of the Night at Capital Park home of the Green Bay Booyah.

The Booyah have selected a Non-Profit to be represented at each of their home games this year as a way to give back to their local community! We are honored to be one of the selected non-profits.  We will have a booth set up with some great information about Bubolz and our staff will also be selling 50/50 Raffle tickets that night.

Tickets are $15 each and include a Box Seat & Booyah Hat. $5 from each ticket benefits Bubolz Nature Preserve.

Bubolz Earth Day Challenge

Throughout the month of April several families joined in and participated in our Bubolz Earth Day Challenge.  In week 1 participants young & old went out and picked up garbage in their local communities.  They shared their great work on social media and used our hashtag #BubolzEarthDayChallenge.  In week 2 families unplugged and spent quality time outdoors.  One family even put all of their electronics in a box and had their stuffed animals watching out for them.  In week 3 families got dirty and planted trees, flowers and other plants.  They were encouraged to find something that was native to Wisconsin.  The final challenge was to come for an Earth Day/Week hike at Bubolz!  We had 12 families complete all 4 of the challenges.  Thanks to everyone who participated in the Bubolz Earth Day Challenge.  We loved seeing all of the pictures of everyone outside and enjoying nature.  You are all Planet Heroes and took great steps to help make our Earth a better place.  The weekly and Grand Prize winners are listed below.

Grand Prize Winners

Cass Paul, Lindsey Torbeck & Molly Fischer

Weekly T-Shirt Winners

Rebekah Borchardt, Lisa Pavich, Lindsay Delmont & Shaye Woolard

Help us Celebrate 50 Years of Inspiring a Love of Nature!

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, and we would love to see one of yours.  There is 50 years of history at Bubolz and we would love to hear about your favorite moment here at the preserve.  Click the button below to send us a photo of a memory you will never forget.

Bubolz has grown tremendously over the last 50 years, especially in the last 3 years since we built our new Environmental Learning Campus, The Lodge.  Before Covid started we were set to hit a record of over 14,000 students coming to the preserve on field trips.  We also have over 80,000 people who visit the preserve annually to hike and attend programs and events.

Whether your favorite moment was a program, event, your wedding or even time spent volunteering we would love to hear about it.  Please take a moment to send us a picture and tell us what made that moment special to you.  As we get ready to celebrate our 50th Anniversary later this year, we would love to see some images of the past as we look forward to the great things happening in the future.

Meet Wendy

Hello!  My name is Wendy Jones and I am so happy to be home in Wisconsin and serving as the Director of Environmental Education for Bubolz Nature Preserve.  I grew up in Wisconsin and went to Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa.  I worked as the Head Naturalist at Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve in Niles, Michigan, for 29 years,  teaching natural history programs to school groups, summer camps, and the general public.  My father grew up in Appleton; he and my mother met at Lawrence University.  My family also has homes in Reedsburg and Lac du Flambeau.  I enjoy birding, hiking (especially in the Smoky Mountains), antiquing, history, reading, and baking.  I am excited to be a part of Bubolz, sharing my passion and knowledge of nature with the community, as well as educating about sustainability and living more lightly on the Earth.

Thank you for Subscribing to our Newsletter

As schools start returning on field trips it is our goal to connect every kid in our community to nature.   Nature does not discriminate and neither do we at Bubolz, which is why we raise funds so that field trip costs are affordable for all students.  If you would like to help make sure every child has the opportunity to come and learn in our 700 acres of living classroom please consider making a donation by clicking the button below.  With your help we can connect more students in our community to nature and foster a love for the environment that will last a life time!

Thank you to our Partners