March 2020
Upcoming Camp Counselor Training
If you are 14-18 years old and want to help provide an amazing camp experience, we’re looking for you! To make our fantastic summer camps possible, we need camp counselors who want to expand their leadership skills, build their resume, and spend time in the beautiful outdoors while providing a great experience for the campers.
Any interested counselors must attend a Camp Counselor Training weekend. Our first session is March 28-29 and registration is OPEN ! Other sessions are April 25-26 and May 2-3. Training is applicable for both beginning counselors as well as experienced counselors, adult volunteers, and 4-H or Extension Staff. Registered counselors will get the opportunity to sign up for a session to lead their own presentation, game, activity, or song! Please email ariel.christian@wisc.edu with questions. 
Upham Woods Vintage Gear Drawing Winner!
Congratulations to Jensen Buehler for winning the Vintage Gear Drawing! For the last month, many people that have visited Upham in the past submitted their favorite Upham stories and memories for the possibility of winning cool Upham gear including a hat, t-shirt, stickers, and write band. On Saturday, February 22, Coordinator Ariel drew a very special story written by Jensen Buehler:

“It was the fall of 2000; I was packing up my backpack for my adventure to Upham Woods with my 6th grade class from Badger Ridge Middle School. It was only a few months into the school year, and I had to stay in a cabin in the woods with classmates and teachers. My given reaction resembled hesitation, which eventually ended once I was on the bus enjoying the fact that I wasn’t sitting at a desk in the classroom. Upon arrival, I stepped out of the bus and could smell pine and river water mingling in the air. It seemed so quiet up there, even with the chattering of students. All I knew was that I could hear the sound of me breathing and the crunching of pine needles below my feet. I remember thinking to myself, “What is this place? Where am I?” That is when it dawned on me; there were so many similarities between this place and my grandparents’ cottage. I felt like I had been taken back to their home on Pine Lake. I felt grounded, at peace, and ready to learn, which was significant because to date I had struggled in a strict classroom academic setting. Once I arrived at Upham Woods for our program, it would have been an understatement to say I was curious and eager. For three days our group was paired with accredited teaching staff to explore different aspects of the local area. I vividly remember the experiences I had there, especially my interactions with the natural world. Interactions included canoeing on the Wisconsin River, hiking and crawling through caves, and learning about land stewardship. My experiences at Upham Woods were instrumental in my overall identity development. Upham Woods helped shape me into a person who would grow up to become an advocate for educating youth to become stewards of the environment."
Science Strikes Back! Community Science Fair Celebrates Weird and Wacky Science for All Ages
Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center, alongside Escuela Verde, hosted the fourth annual Science Strikes Back, a Milwaukee based, all ages community science fair. Science Strikes Back was held at Escuela Verde on West Pierce Street on February 5 th , 2020 and attracted close to 200 youth and adults who represented project submissions, judges, and curious community members.

This science fair distinguishes itself from others with its unique rubric and allowing project submissions from anyone and everyone at any age or stage of their scientific career. Science Strikes Back aims to empower community members to critically analyze and explore local environmental issues and provide a space for group problem solving and consideration. This year’s theme was “Conservation in the Urban Environment” which received projects from testing environmentally friendly cleaning products to the impact lichen has on air quality. Upham Woods’ participation is subsidized by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Local Environmental Education grant number NE 00E02399.

Extension personnel played an integral role in the planning and execution of the event with the Upham Woods team meeting weekly with Escuela Verde staff to plan the fair. To support project enrollment and Milwaukee-wide participation, Upham Woods supported the Research Accelerators which met with 488 students throughout the fall and early winter to promote Science Strikes Back and support student developed research projects.

This year boasts 36 project entries ranging from “Are Loud Toots Stinkier?” in the Weird Science category to “How the Force,” a project that applied the Force from Star Wars to Earth-based physics in the Math: Driven by Data category. Both of those were category winners earning themselves a uniquely designed award plaque, entrance in the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Youth Summit, a reserved spot for the Wisconsin Youth Water Stories Summit and a scholarship to an Upham Woods Open Enrollment summer camp for themselves and a friend. The grand prize which was taken by “Dish Soap vs Oil” included a bicycle donated by the neighboring bike company, Fyxation. Winners ranged in age from 7 years old to an adult who designed an interactive video-based Time Machine.

The unique rubric celebrates collaboration, the scientific process and the relevance and meaning the project has for the local community. Science Strikes Back looks for and encourages unique, creative projects based on passion which invites projects based on fall leaf rubbings to what is the best and most sustainable way to clean shop tools. Our community judges graded each project based off the rubric and the open-ended feedback they provided was sent back to the project entrants to improve their science celebrating the circular nature of the scientific process. One judge commented, “ Choosing to research something you love to make math and science accessible is what this science fair is all about.” Judges came from a variety of local organizations to model career paths for youth participants. A few of the organizations included: Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Reflo Sustainable Water Solutions, Midwest Renewable Energy Association, Wehr Nature Center, Wisconsin Green Schools Network and local universities including Alverno College and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Upham Woods is excited to continue to co-host Science Strikes Back for 2021 and work with the community to innovate community-based science for Milwaukee.

You can learn more about Science Strikes Back at www.sciencestrikesback.com
DNR Boater Safety Recap
Upham Woods held its first ever DNR Boater Safety Class! The class itself was spread over four nights from February 18-21. Students learned how to safely operate a boat, what to do in an emergency, how to stop the spread of aquatic invasive species, and Wisconsin boating laws. Anyone born on or after January 1, 1989 is required to complete a boating safety course to legally operate a motorized boat or personal watercraft (PWC) on Wisconsin waters. DNR Conservation Wardens recommend all boat operators complete a safety course. If you have not taken a Boater Safety Class yet, Upham Woods will be hosting another class from March 23 – 26 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm each night. Cost will be $10. This is a great way to get ready to hit the water this summer! To register visit: https://gowild.wi.gov/customers/safetyedclass
The Research Landscape at Upham Woods
We value research at Upham Woods - research of all kinds! Over the years we have hosted researchers from all fields, from botany to remote sensing, environmental education to field technology. We value information gathered by these researchers for several reasons: 1) it helps us to be informed when making conservation decisions on our landscape, 2) it helps us improve our education programming that we do, and 3) we get to contribute to and share the wealth of knowledge in Wisconsin! At Upham Woods, we are always looking for new people to do research here, so they can gather data and tell us stories about our land. Over the last several decades, researchers have published almost 50 scientific journal articles that have cumulatively been cited over 6,600 times - that’s a lot of high-quality information about our landscape being shared with the scientific community. Most of the research done at Upham Woods uses remote sensing technology to answer questions about forest ecosystems, ranging from the chemical makeup of roots and leaves to nutrient cycling in the forest canopy. This research was started by NASA in the 1980’s and continues today with faculty members from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This image was generated with remote sensing and was featured in a study by Wessman and others in 1988. We are excited to share this wealth of knowledge at Upham Woods - please check out our research page on our website to learn more. 
February is Black History Month
There are many incredible Black educators, naturalists and scientists we could celebrate this month. We have chosen to highlight Extension’s own and someone who was a pioneer and a first of his kind. John William Mitchell was an African American extension agent in North Carolina. His career with extension began in 1922 after he served as a high school principal. John William Mitchell worked with African American farmers to band together and organize with the Eastern Columbus Credit Union to buy supplies in bulk to save money. He further supported farmers through his expertise in progressive farming techniques. His talent and excellence were recognized when he was appointed as the director of African American extension services for the South in the late 1940s with U.S. Department of Agriculture. John William Mitchell is celebrated today in the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Agriculture Hall of Fame.

While February has ended, we encourage all of you to continue to elevate the stories of people of color and to share their excellence with us all. It is through broadening our horizons and perspectives that we can do our small part to expand access and increase representation of people of color in science, education and culture. 
Thank You to Our February 2020 Groups!
  • Lincoln Middle School
  • DNR Planning Committee
  • World Flag AFS
  • Oregon Middle School
  • 4H International
  • Hoofers
  • Boy Scout Troop 77
Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center
N194 County Rd N
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
(608) 254-6461
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The University of Wisconsin–Madison does not discriminate in its employment practices and programs and activities on a variety of bases including but not limited to: age, color, disability, national origin, race, or sex. For information on all covered bases, the names of the Title IX and Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinators, and the processes for how to file a complaint alleging discrimination, please contact the  Office of Compliance , 361 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive, Madison WI 53706, Voice 608-265-6018, (relay calls accepted); Email:  uwcomplianceoffice@wisc.edu .