Paul Quinlan, conservation resources supervisor at Madison Parks, has (with his colleagues and input from the Friends) completed a comprehensive five-year Habitat Management Plan for the South Unit of Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park. The document updates an earlier management plan from 2018.

On behalf of the Friends of Cherokee Marsh, we wish to voice concerns over multiple developments in the upper Yahara River watershed and, specifically, the proposed QTS data center.

By Jonathan Shipley I’m writing these lines when it’s -8º outside. I just walked the marsh in the pre-dawn light. It was cold. Quite cold. Bundled up, though, I could make my way on the desolate trails: beneath the empty trees; alongside the frozen ponds; up the hillocks of prairies; down the frozen tumps; through the crystalline landscape towards the car; and back home. And, as I write this (warm now in a sweater, cozy now on the sofa), I think of how cold things can be and

Birding from dawn to dusk, the team spotted 35 species. Highlights included a Rough-legged Hawk at Cherokee Marsh North Unit at dawn, a flock of 10 Bluebirds at Hickory Island, a Harrier and a Northern Shrike far out in the Marsh, and a Kingfisher and Great Blue Heron at School Road Landing at sunset. This year's participants included Jan Axelson, Tim Baker, Marcus Mueller, Barb Noeldner, Paul Noeldner, Brian Schneider, Courtney Woods, and Jim Mand.