Arboretum, FCNA welcome spring with activities, events

The UW–Madison Arboretum and the Friends of Campus Natural Areas, among other groups, have a number of activities guaranteed to get you off the hammock.

The Arboretum welcomes volunteers for regular ecological restoration work days. Activities include removing invasive species, planting and monitoring areas under restoration. Tools, equipment, instruction and refreshments are provided for projects in the Wingra Oak Savanna, the marsh and Curtis Prairie. Young people age 12-17 are welcome to help when accompanied by an adult, by advance arrangement.

For more information, call 265-5214 or e-mail mlfarrior@wisc.edu. Work days begin at 9 a.m. and end at noon. For more information, visit the volunteer activities Web site.

The Arboretum will present a “Woods in Bloom” walk at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 14. Meet at the Visitor Center, and while you’re there, see how painters Rachel Davis, Jenny Roberts and Lynne Railsback render images of plants and trees in the exhibition “Botanical Interpretations,” on display through Wednesday, June 29. For information call the Arboretum Visitor Center, 263-7888.

On Sunday, May 15, walkers can visit the Arboretum’s Grady Tract and see as many as 40 species of plants as they tour this prairie restoration. Meet at 1 p.m. in the Grady Tract parking lot. For more information, call the Visitor Center.

At Picnic Point, you can learn about wildflowers, Native American mounds and the history of the Eagle Heights Woods from Campus Natural Areas naturalist/historian Tom Brock. He will lead an expedition, leaving at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 15, from the Shady Lane entrance in Shorewood Hills. For more information, call Brock at 238-5050 or e-mail him at tdbrock@ wisc.edu.

Volunteers will rout invasive garlic mustard and raise money to keep it and other plant pests from coming back on Saturday, May 21. Supporters will pledge money for each bag of garlic mustard collected. You can arrive as early as 8 a.m. at the Picnic Point entrance. For information, contact Cathie Bruner, 265-9275, cbruner@fpm.wisc.edu. That evening, the Arboretum will offer a walk at 6:30 p.m. to hear evening birdsongs. Meet at the Visitor Center.

You can explore the Arboretum’s oak (both black and white) woods on Sunday, May 22. Many of trees date back 150 years, when European settlers put an end to the fires that had maintained the savannas. Meet at 1 p.m. in the West Curtis Prairie parking lot.