About 35 people braved one of the coldest days in one of the coldest recent winters to attend the annual meeting of the Friends of Cherokee Marsh on Jan. 24 at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center.

It’s not yet time, on Valentine’s Day, for the marsh’s muskrats. They pair up around April. Males compete for real estate and mates. Monogamous muskrat couples establish territories that can be around 100 feet in diameter. They rarely leave their grounds. Lower-rung muskrats have to toddle off and find their own less desirable territories. Muskrat love is not always easy.

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.