The Northern Lights over Cherokee Marsh are beautiful. I walk the paths, stumbling in the dark, looking up; always looking up to see that indescribable cosmic majesty.

A seasonal reminder about opportunities for winter fun in and around Cherokee Marsh: hiking, cross-country skiing, ice fishing, skating, birdwatching, and more.

The Friends of Cherokee Marsh invite all Friends members and the general public to our annual membership meeting on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center. Doors open at 9 a.m, and the program will begin at 9:30 a.m. The morning will include updates from representatives of Madison Parks and Dane County Parks, the Friends’ year in review, and election of Friends board members, followed by our featured presentation on water quality issues.

A virtual meeting to update residents about the Warner Park and Cherokee Marsh Watershed Study was held in September. Madison’s Engineering Division is working to identify causes of flooding and recommend projects to reduce flooding in areas of high risk around the city.

The annual membership meeting on January 24 of the Friends of Cherokee Marsh includes election of board members. If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact board president Sheila Leary at info@cherokeemarsh.org. Board members serve for terms of two years and can be re-elected to additional terms.

I’m not the first to be thankful for a November walk amidst the drooping oaks, the rain-wet sedges, the bog birch. Far from it. There are the turkeys, for one; the deer bounding off the main trails, their telltale white tails flying up before becoming lost in autumnal camouflage; the sandhill cranes gliding overhead and caterwauling in the glades.

There are active beavers at the two ponds along Wheeler Road in the South Unit of Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park.The City of Madison is working with an environmental contractor to protect the drainage culverts in the ponds without harming the beavers.Parks conservation staff will also consider how best to protect valuable trees.

Members of Scout troops 127 & 7127 spent part of a beautiful, dry day in October 2025 placing storm drain markers in Madison Northside neighborhoods that read "No Dumping • Drains to Lake"

Paul Quinlan, conservation resources supervisor at Madison Parks, has (with his colleagues and input from the Friends) completed a comprehensive Habitat Management Plan for the North Unit of Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park.

As I walk in the fog across Cherokee Marsh, I can’t help thinking about time and changing seasons and the mysteriousness of life and, ultimately, death.

Charitable giving is a two-way street. If we ask for your donations and membership, we should also tell you how we have spent donated funds and some of our plans for the future.

Over the two evenings of the August bat walks, the Echometer sensors gave plenty of indications of the presence of bats, even if we can't absolutely rely on the exact IDs. The sensors suggested the possible presence of six of Wisconsin's eight species: Little Brown, Big Brown, Hoary, Silver-haired, Tricolored, and Eastern Red.

Scout Cynthia has been working steadily since February on her Eagle Scout project, with sponsorship and guidance from the Friends of Cherokee Marsh. She has now completed her project of planting a native plant pollinator garden, with the help of many Scout volunteers.

We had more than 40 enthusiastic volunteers this year to survey 24 Dane County sites for aquatic invasive species.

There’s a fire here, too. One of life. One that continues regardless of temperature or the level of particulate matter wafting through the air.

If you’ve paddled or viewed the shoreline of the upper Yahara at Cherokee Marsh this summer, you have noticed large numbers of aquatic plants growing on, above, and under the water’s surface.

Wildflower, Butterfly, Bat, & Bird Walks  We're pleased to offer some new events!

I was very sad to learn of Russ’s passing in June after a long battle with cancer. Russ was a champion of the natural world, with a special love for purple martins, oak savannas, and winter adventuring by snowshoe.

The Upper Sugar River Watershed Association (USRWA) is sponsoring a project to map and manage the non-native phragmites population in Cherokee Marsh. The participating partners in the project are the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association, Dane County Department of Land and Water Resources, City of Madison, Friends of Cherokee Marsh, Wisconsin DNR, and some private landowners along the Upper Yahara River.

She was an acorn once. She’s an oak now. An oak, and maybe a branch, too, of a mighty oak: our family.