Many hands make light work. And for volunteers collecting and processing native seeds, it can be fun work, too!
On any given fall day, you can likely find volunteers collecting native seeds from a local prairie. For years, many organizations, including Clean Lakes Alliance, have offered this volunteer opportunity and encouraged people to join us in the prairie.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude for your support in ensuring that this year’s Clean Lakes Community Coffee was a resounding success! This cherished event, held every other year, serves as a platform to foster unity within our community, provide educational opportunities, and enhance awareness about the significance of our lakes. Your participation has truly made a difference in highlighting the importance of preserving and protecting this vital natural resource for current and future generations.
On a cold, bright day in February 2016, an iconic piece of Madison’s history came home in memorable style. As the wind freshened, the towering sails of the Mary B iceboat filled and the 39-foot craft took flight—skimming across the ice with the same grace and agility that drew crowds of cheering onlookers to Madison’s lakes more than 60 years ago. That short-but-triumphant cruise was the first of what an enthusiastic group of fans hope will be many such adventures for the venerable Mary B.
“I’ve always been a sailor, never a writer,” says Sanford, an agile-looking man with a grizzled beard and sea-grey eyes behind wire rim glasses. “When I started the project, the last thing I had written was in grad school back in 1974.” Yet he dove in, driven by knowledge that Lake Mendota was too often a mystery to the people who lived along its shores. “I’d pick up friends from the Memorial Union for a boat ride, and we would start cruising down the shoreline. Without fail, somebody who’d spent their whole life in Madison would say, ‘Where the hell are we? I don’t know what this place is.’ Whenever that happened,” Sanford recalls, “it always made me think that somebody— somebody else, that is—should produce a lake guide.”
