Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report for this May 28th, 2025. Have your host, James
Jamel, off here, and right now we're being joined by UW Extension's Tony Johnson.
New name to us around here, not a new company. We certainly are organization. We work
at UW every week. Love our friends over there. Appreciate Tony joining us. How you doing, sir?
I'm doing really well. Thanks so much for having me. I'm really looking forward to the
opportunity to be on the program and share a little bit about what we've got coming up
with the Extension Forestry Program. Yeah, you guys have some really cool events going
on. We're going to get into that wrap-up, letting you guys know how you can connect with
the Forestry Department and everything. But, Tony, before we do that and get into some
of those things, I always like to put people on the spot. I mean, ask questions. I'm kidding,
but we love to get to know our guests. And your first time with us here, wanted to
get to know you a little bit. Tell us a little bit about your backstory.
Yeah, sure. So, maybe I'll just kind of go in reverse chronological order. So, again,
I'm an Extension Educator with UW-Madison. I do statewide Forestry outreach. And my
home office is at the Horacan Marsh Visitor Center down in Horacan, Wisconsin. So, I've
been working with Extension for about five years in the Forestry Program and now the Forestry
and Wildlife Program and do a bunch of different private lands outreach. So, I run the Maple
Seer Program for Extension. I've been doing a lot more agricultural work lately, thinking
about ways to incorporate trees in the farming systems, and then a lot of work with private
landowners and woodlandowners around the state of Wisconsin.
Prior to joining UW Extension, about five years ago, I had a couple of different roles
with the federal government doing conservation and ecological restoration. I worked with
the USDA and the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service all over the country
doing different types of conservation projects and really trying to get that on the ground
to experience. Before starting with the federal government, I was doing my studies. I got
an undergraduate year in Wisconsin at UW-Milwaukee and a master's degree in natural resources
from Cornell University and while I was out at Cornell, I really dived into the extension side
of things. So, with the idea of taking the resources and expertise that can be found on campuses
all throughout the country and helping to bring them to the folks around, you know, in our case,
here, all throughout the state of Wisconsin.
So, I've been, like I said, with Extension for about five years and really kind of fell in love
with the idea of what Extension does and helping landowners and addressing problems of the
citizens of the citizens of the state have. And I grew up right here in Wisconsin in Shwagon
County and it got to benefit from a lot of natural resources and outdoor opportunities we have
here and after studying botany as an undergraduate, again, I really just fell in love with the idea of
using that science and education to really make a difference around the state.
And yeah, that's a little bit of a background of, you know, kind of how I got here and so I got
a bit of on-the-ground experience, particularly here in Wisconsin and now I'm really focused on
trying to connect landowners with resources and educational materials to help people achieve
their goals for their land.
Tony, as we're getting to know each other here, I should warn you, as the audience well knows,
you bring up maple syrup and that's all that's going to be on my mind through the whole entire
conversation. I'm just going to be thinking about that. And you also mentioned your roots there a
little bit. You mentioned one of my favorite things to say, Shwagon. I love saying the area of
Shwagon to town, everything, any chance I get to mention Shwagon, I'm going to say it because
it's my favorite town to say. It's the easiest, the most fun and titled name to say of a town.
But more so, wow, man, you have accomplished a lot. We are lucky to have you not only on the show
here, of course, but at UW. That's fantastic. Well done. And all of that said, I really do appreciate
the breakdown of all that, especially with what we're talking about today. And it only makes more sense
to be talking with you about this. UW Extension has some forestry events coming up over the next
couple of months. And I believe it kicks off with the forestry for Bird's webinar, right, Tony?
Yep, yeah, that's right. We've got a pretty busy calendar of events this summer. So I work on a
team of educators that are all throughout the state. We've got five or six folks working on
different aspects of forestry outreach. And we also do a lot of partnering with, like I mentioned
before, some of our campus-based specialists at UW-Madison, but then for this forestry for the
Birds event, we're partnering with some professors at UW-Steven's Point, both in the Wisconsin Center
for Wildlife and the Wisconsin Forestry Center, right there in Steven's Point, to put on the forestry
for the Bird webinars that I'm really excited about. So just to give you a little bit of rundown on
that event before diving into some of the other things we got going on, this forestry for the
Birds event, the idea of it is to make that connection between forest management, so that could be
thinning a timber stand or doing some invasive species removal, or some of these other practices
that are common in forestry plans, and kind of trying to build the connection between
those management actions and the impact on wildlife, specifically birds. So what we've got
coming up this summer in partnership with, I mentioned the Wisconsin Center for Wildlife
and the Wisconsin Forestry Center. Jason Riddell, who's the director of the Wildlife Center,
and then professors, Mike Demcheck, who is with the Wisconsin Forestry Center, have been working
on grants over the last several years, a federal grant to put some of these management practices
on the ground and then do some research around the impact on bird species. So they've been working
for a couple of years doing, working with students and actually doing the on the ground forest
management. So thinning out stands and taking out dead trees and trying to get some of these
management practices on the ground and actually doing the research and training around the impact
on birds. And what we're doing is we're partnering with them to showcase these demonstration sites
and bring landowners in to see some of the impact of management. So we put together a little
series that's going to be running in June. It's going to kick off on June 6th with a webinar.
That's going to be three and open to the public. We're going to record that webinar and then share
it out after the events on our YouTube channel, which I'll talk a little bit more about later.
But basically that's going to be setting the table for these three field days that we've got
coming up in June. So in that webinar, we're going to be talking about some basics of forestry,
some basics of bird habitat and kind of the connections between those two topics. And then we're
going to be talking specifically about the three different demonstration sites that we've got.
So I'm really excited to showcase these demonstration sites. Because like I said,
they've been getting a lot of work on them from these technical experts at UW Steven's point.
So we've got three site tours. They're going to be taking place on Saturdays in June. We've got
one June 14th, June 21st, and June 28th. So that's three consecutive weeks. The first one's going
to be in Clark County. The second one right there is a little Clover River restoration site in
your Clover. And then the third one is going to be in Taylor County. Each of the sites features a
different forest type and different management practices. And then also a kind of different suite
of birds that are going to be attracted to those sites after those management practices. So
we've got the website is open. And if you want to learn more about it, I would encourage you to
check out go.wisc, which is wicc.edu forward slash forestry ison birds. So it's go.wisc.edu
forward slash forestry ison birds. And we've got all the information and registration for that
webinar and the three demonstrations site. The way that we're running it is that we're requiring
registration before the event. So that's going to be due on June 5th. And then you can either register
for one of the field days, two of the field days or three of the field days with a cost break for
each additional tour. So one tour is going to cost $25 and we're counting the registration as a
whole family group. So you pay for your $25 registration. You can bring up to three family members
at no additional cost. And then two tours is going to be $40 and three tours is $50. And the
idea is you can register for one if the fits into your schedule are all three if you're really
interested in the topic area. And then I'd really encourage folks to jump onto that webinar beforehand
and it's going to give you an outline of the different species and it might make sense for landowners
to kind of think about what type of woodlands they have and what field day most closely resembles
that. So yeah, again, really excited about the this partnership field day with UW Stevens Point.
And again, just encourage it to go to that website to follow up on information. Go down with that
EU forward slash forestry dashboards. We'll get that information out there again. Feel free to
always reach out to us if you need a link to something. You can reach out to us and we'll make
sure to get that the correct information to you and encourage you to throw it into your search bar
as well. Usually the link I know for me, I tested it out this morning and it popped right up as the
first thing. So either anyway, you can however you need to make sure to register and be in on this
event. When it comes to the this first webinar that we're talking about here, Tony, there's a
couple of things that really stand out to me. And for a long time, you know, working with UW Extension,
Rachel White here and some other natural resource educators we've been fortunate to get to know and
talk about. We've really been able to I think dive more into some of these topics, prescribe
fire, plant invasive plant control, some of these different topics. One of the things that I found
interesting and I'll tell you right out the gate, Tony, I'm a city boy. A lot of this stuff is very
new to me, but it's all fascinating and interesting. And I know how much our audience appreciates it.
One of the things I've heard from the audience and more people talking about is the different
types of people that would really benefit and enjoy this kind of webinar. There are certainly,
as you mentioned, landowners in that. There's a lot of people out there that I think just are
always interested and curious about the balance of nature and man and how we work with, you know,
business and nature and in some of these, the world that we're in nowadays with a lot of that.
And it feels like you guys get into those topics as well as plenty of other things with this webinar.
Yeah, definitely. I think this is a great opportunity to showcase the impact of management.
I think it's, you know, commonly thought amongst some folks that hands off as the best strategy
for managing some of these wild spaces, including woodlands, but that's not always the case.
This webinar and the series dives really concretely into, you know, thinking about goals.
And if goals, your goals for your land include increasing, you know, certain types of birds,
then there are things that you can do to have an impact on the habitats of those birds.
So I would say, yeah, the workshop, or I'm sorry, the site tours and the webinars are really geared
towards landowners and folks that, you know, have the ability to do these practices on their land,
but it's open to anybody and you can take some of these lessons back to, you know, even the small
or city lot size plot to think about ways that you can impact habitat and how that will impact
the birds or other species that are potentially using the habitat.
The Forestry for Birds webinar is June 6th. It'll be going from three to four, 15.
Be sure to register and we'll then give you the website and the information of how to do that
before we wrap up. We're speaking with Tony Johnson from UW Extension. Tony, I know you guys have
some other summer events coming up as well. Yeah, we do. Like I mentioned, we've got a team
of educators all around the state kind of focused on different topical areas and we've got some really
exciting programs that are coming up this summer. So first up, actually this weekend, we've got a
Women's Chainsaw Safety Workshop, which is a course that's specifically designed to bring
women into an environment that is conducive to, you know, their learning styles and interests
in chainsaw safety and operation. And it's a workshop series that we've been running at different
locations throughout the state. I'm not sure if registration is full on that one. If you go to
our website woodlandinfo.org and just look up our current events, you'll see the link to that
there. But we will be continuing to offer women's chainsaw safety certifications in the future as well.
So we just tend to do those at agricultural research stations and one of this upcoming
is down in Lancaster. A little bit later on this summer, we've got a series called Learn
About Your Land, which is more of a classroom style learning environment where we have a series
of classes on different topics for landowners. In June, we've got a series in Chippewa County.
So three consecutive Tuesday nights in June. We're going to be coming together and covering
specific topics in connection with DNR Forrestors. We also are offering a number of other Learn
About Your Land series throughout this year. So in Grant, Crawford, and McCross counties will be
there in August, Sean O'Dour, and Kiwani counties will be there in October. And that's kind
of our introductory series to help landowners and Wisconsinites get familiar with some of the
forestry concepts and management opportunities that you'll have. Another really exciting
event that we've got coming up this summer is in July. We've been running a series of webinars,
the last several years, to try to connect new landowners with resources, whether that extension,
county, state government, nonprofit organizations, and just trying to bring all of those programs,
people, and resources into one room and then invite new landowners to come and network and
and make the connections that make sense to them. So we, like I said, we've been running a series
of webinars the last several years, and this summer I'm really excited. We're going to be organizing
our first field day that's going to be in that same networking style. We'll have a bunch of
natural resource and agricultural professionals coming out to the Sock County Farm on July 19th.
And we're going to be having a field day that's going to be really focused on landowners
interested in getting started with stewardship and showcasing some of those resources that are
available. So those are a couple of the upcoming classes just in the next couple of months, but we
also have, as I mentioned, a couple other programs including the Maple Syrup program. So really
excited to connect with Wisconsin Maple Syrup producers of all scales, whether it's obvious
or commercial operations and would just encourage folks to check out our Maple website,
maple.extension.wis.edu. And we're going to be continuing to do Maple outreach over the next
year and can be looking for input on what that outreach could look like in the next couple months.
I really encourage folks to just check out some of our Maple programming and the best way to do that
is on the website. I also want to plug the Wisconsin Covert project. So Covert is an old English word
for like a, a, a, a, a, a brush pile where birds could live. And we've got a really, really cool
program in Wisconsin called the Covert's Program. It's, it's put on with extension and partnership
with the Rough Grouse Society and it's a immersive weekend, full weekend program at Camp Natural
Resource Station in Northern Wisconsin. That's really diving into forests and, and bird habitat.
It's a totally free program sponsored by Rough Grouse and Extension and just requires an
application and then some expectations around sharing what you learn with neighbors after the fact.
So if you're interested in all in wildlife and woodland management and you own some land in Wisconsin,
I would encourage you to just Google Covert's project. So CoV ERTS and the application for that is
due on June 15th. So that's another really great opportunity for landowners from Extension.
It's going to be a fun, busy summer for you guys at Extension and we're going to be covering it.
We'll be talking about it and reminding people as we get closer to some of these events on our
morning show and other places. Make sure that you guys get some good attendance. And Tony,
you did too good of a job. You're going to have to come back, man. This has been a lot of fun.
All right. Well, yeah, I would love to. I really, again, appreciate the opportunity to connect with
your audience. I think this forestry for the birds field day, particularly the plover river site is a
really, really special location. It should be an opportunity to see some rare birds. I think it'll
be a great opportunity for landowners to get out and see some management and action and the outcomes of it.
So I, again, appreciate the opportunity to come on and I'm happy to join you anytime.
Tony, if people have follow up questions or they'd like to know more about some what we talked about
today or registering for events, what is the best way to get in touch with you?
Yeah, thank you so much for that. There's a couple of ways. I think the best two options,
if you want to just get in touch with the people within our program is shoot us an email.
We've got two dedicated program emails. One is forestry at extension.wisk.edu. And that's
going to be shared amongst our team. So if you've got a question or want to get connected with
somebody or anything along those lines, feel free to reach out to that forestry at extension.wisk.edu,
email address. And then I also run a maple at extension.wisk.edu email address.
So I'd encourage you feel free to reach out anytime within email. We've also got websites that
we're updating regularly. One is going to be woodlandinfo.org. And in there, you can find links to
all of our upcoming events, all of our different programs, including the maple program,
as well as learn about your land, chain saw classes, cover. Everything is going to be on
woodlandinfo.org. So that's a great way to stay connected and see what we're up to. And then
two final plugs. One, I would say I'd really encourage you to sign up. If you go to woodlandinfo.org,
you can sign up for our email list. We send out an email about once a month. And it's going to have
forestry information, advice, timely tips, and recommendations, and then also links to our
upcoming programs. And then we also have Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, we're on all those social
media channels. If you just search wisk.exe forestry. We've got channels with that same name on
Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and that's a great place to follow us and just stay
up to speed with what we're up to. Kenna, thank you enough for the time, Tony. Thanks so much for
hanging out with us. You have a great day and good luck with the events.
All right. Thank you so much. Take care and stay in touch.
We'll do. And thank you, everybody, for joining us here at WFHR's Rapids Report.
