The grass known as big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) is called the “king of the prairie.” It can grow taller than all of us. It has roots that can reach ten feet down. Some folks might think it’s a plain plant, a plain plant on the plains. But, it is host to the larvae of butterflies: the rare byssus skipper, the common wood nymph. The grass is a womb for colorful living origami that dances on the air.

Our volunteer team has made great progress this winter cutting and burning invasive brush. We’ve worked in the wooded areas in the Cherokee Marsh South Unit, the woods adjacent to Westport Meadows Park, and most recently, at Yahara Heights County Park / Cherokee Marsh Natural Resource Area. Volunteers cut brush with loppers and carry the cut branches to brush piles. If we get more snow, we may also burn brush piles. No experience is needed. Tools and training are provided. We

As mature oaks die, younger oaks should take their place. But if the woodland is too dense, young oaks can't get started. Trees in the North Unit of Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park on the Aspen Trail were thinned by a contractor in February 2026 to connect the open oak woodland habitat found north and south of this area. Hannah Quinlan, conservation parks supervisor at Madison Parks, commented, “Invasive shrubs (honeysuckle and buckthorn) and mesic tree species such as aspen

Look in the night sky and you can see forever—our past, our future. In centuries past, people looked up at the stars at this marsh, and in Munich, and in Mombasa, and in Machu Picchu, awed by the same moon, the same light of the Big Dipper, the same velvet blackness that cradles all.