SAVE THE DATE! The Friends of Putnam Park nonprofit will offer prize money to winning photographers who submit their most picturesque photos to the 2026 Nature Photo Contest. Winners will be revealed at the Friends of Putnam Park annual meeting on July 18 at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library (400 Eau Claire St., Eau Claire); a calendar will be made for 2026-2027 year with selected photographs.

Within seconds of downtown Eau Claire, nestled within a residential neighborhood and adjacent to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, is one of Eau Claire’s best-kept secrets — Putnam Park.

Well, one of Eau Claire's former best-kept secrets. 

“We decided that now the time was right to have a photo contest and create a calendar to build awareness of Putnam Park and Putnam Drive,” Dave Lonzarich, treasurer of the Friends of Putnam Park and contest coordinator, said.

The Friends of Putnam Park, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2019, will offer prize money to those winning photographers who submit their most picturesque photos to the 2026 Nature Photo Contest. Submission deadline for the contest is June 30. (Submission guidelines can be found here.)

Winners of the photo contest will be revealed at the Friends of Putnam Park's annual meeting, slated from 10am-noon on Saturday, July 18 at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library's Riverview Room.

Surely, Chippewa Valley photographers will have plenty to shoot throughout the 230-acre natural area. Donated to the City of Eau Claire in 1909 by lumberman Hency C. Putnam – and later donated to UW-Eau Claire in 1957 – the mostly-forested acreage features marshland at the eastern end and prairies at the western end.

About half of Putnam Park is designated as a Wisconsin State Natural Area, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources writes.

Putnam Drive, a dirt road, serves as a path to wildlife: a fox family with at least four kits has taken up residence there; deer, woodchucks, raccoons, possums and more; birds including a pair of American Eagles with their nest of babies, bluebirds, cardinals and more; plus a colorful array of wildflowers, identified and donated by local retired attorney Jane Lokken, in memory of her mother.

Students at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire take advantage of the expansive nearby park through coursework as well, including biology students, pictured above. (Photo via UW-Eau Claire)

Winners of the photo contest will be revealed at the Friends of Putnam Park’s annual meeting, slated from 10am-noon on Saturday, July 18 at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library’s Riverview Room (400 Eau Claire St., Eau Claire).

Work on the Friends of Putnam Park 2027 calendar will begin once the winning photos have been selected. Design and production will occur during August and September – just in time to be sold during the holiday season October through December. (Pricing not yet determined.)

For more information on the 2026 Nature Photo Contest put on by the Friends of Putnam Park, visit www.friendsofputnampark.org or the nonprofit's Facebook page.  A self-guided historic tour brochure and video featuring nine narrated stops throughout Putnam Park can be found online at www.friendsofputnampark.org/history.