SIX LOCAL BOG-LOVERS FOLLOW THEIR PASSION. The Chippewa Valley Botanical Society took a field trip to a bog near Howe Lake in Chippewa County on July 19.

The Chippewa Valley is a pretty nature-oriented place. Tons of trails, parks, farms, waterways, conservationists, natural food, you could go on forever. But, often, the underlying scientific aspects of our wonderful natural backyard are lost in the shuffle. Sarah Braun, a citizen science naturalist at Beaver Creek, and professor Joe Rohrer, a UWEC botanist, have started the Chippewa Valley Botanical Society chapter, a part of the Botanical Club of Wisconsin that, along with the Citizen Science program, help bridge this gap.

Sarah represents a fascinating existing program in Wisconsin called Citizen Science. She works with training people for WAV (a stream monitoring program), Citizen’s Monitoring of Invasive Species, and a myriad of other programs. As an undergraduate at Stevens Point, Braun was a member of the local chapter of the city’s botanical club. Currently involved with Citizen Science, a program that teaches community members to take a scientific approach to issues around them, Sarah connected with Rohrer, who possesses a startling knowledge of local plants and ecology, and they began the local chapter of the Botanical Club.

The state club was founded in 1968 and aims to serve the interests of amateurs and professionals, toward the common goal of learning more about the state’s diverse vegetation. Many of the clubs are in southern Wisconsin, Rohrer said, so they brought one here with the hope of “getting this community involved just to spread this wealth of knowledge.”

The club follows a model focusing on restoration, presentations by teachers/professors/researchers, and field trips. One of the most successful programs held by the group was the “Bio-Blitz,” the last of which was in June in the remote north fork area of the Eau Claire County Forest. Other excursions have included a canoe trip to a bog on Howe Lake in Chippewa County to study carnivorous plants, orchids, and bog ecology.

Member Kathy Stahland started participating with the group when it debuted around October, and has attended almost every discussion and field trip since.

    “Every meeting has been a great flow of information about what’s going on right here around us. I thought I knew a lot about this area, but it’s opening a whole new world around me. Even the people there to learn are amazingly knowledgeable themselves. There is so much out there to learn and it’s all free.”

The Eau Claire area chapter currently has about a dozen participants, but the founders would like to see that change.

“We need a bigger group to be more active,” said Rohrer. “We’re don’t intend the meeting to be overly academic, but to attract the home gardener or naturalist. Just people that are into plants.”

For those who want to go a step further, the Citizen Science program at Beaver Creek Reserve offers hands-on research and environmental stewardship. The only one in Wisconsin, the program at Beaver Creek includes stream monitoring, invasive plant species, and other testing so locals can take an active role in the environment of the area. The use of citizen-science networks often allows scientists to accomplish research objectives more easily, and less expensively, than would otherwise be possible.

“It’s not like a gardening club where you just learn what you can plant in your garden,” said Stahland. “This is what is actually going on from an ecological standpoint. It’s actually getting in there and doing something”

  Those interested in Citizen Science can call Beaver Creek at 877-2212 or e-mail bcr@beavercreekreserve.org. Meetings for the Botanical Club are currently held at Beaver Creek Reserve. To find out more, e-mail Joe at jrohrer@uwec.edu.