Events Calendar
Learn, hike and volunteer with the Conservancy
Want to learn to identify native and invasive plants, manage your own property, or just feel good about helping make a difference for local wildlife and community members? Looking for ways to join like-minded folks to learn more about the world we live in?
Join us for an upcoming Linked to the Land educational event or a Volunteer for the Wild work party to expand your horizons and gain a sense of satisfaction for helping wildlife in your community.
View the 2026 Linked to the Land AND Volunteer for the Wild schedule.
Read more about the options below. Sign-up available online a few months prior to each event.
Events
Trail Trek Challenge is a free year-round hike/walk program on the nature preserves you've helped protect in Wisconsin's Driftless Area. Challenge yourself to hike at least five of the 19 designated trails to discover nature's treasures and learn what makes these places so valuable for everyone who lives, works, and plays here.
COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE AND WE WILL SEND YOU A WATER BOTTLE STICKER to commemorate your accomplishment! Add the kids' names to your Trail Guide, and we will send one for each of the kids, too!
When you sign up, you'll receive a confirmation email with a link to your downloadable Trail Guide & Hike Log with hike descriptions and a place to record your hikes throughout the year. Downloadable trail maps, an interactive map, and driving directions to each hike location are available from the Nature Preserves section of our website.
Registration kicks off at Earth Fair on April 26, 2026 with a guided marsh hike at Myrick part at 11am, and you can register at any time throughout the year.
Thank you to our sponsors, whose support helps us
- Protect trees, prairies, and clean water for plants, animals and YOU!
- Teach the value of nature through outdoor recreation and land restoration projects.
- Clear trails and provide free places for people to hike on over 7,000 acres in 9 counties.
- Inspire community members to unplug and spend more time outdoors.
2026-2025 Sponsors:
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It's invasive garlic mustard season! Come join the Mississippi Valley Conservancy Mustard Taskforce. We need your help to attack the garlic mustard invasion taking over Eagle Eye State Natural Area before it's too late. Tag along and explore this wild site along the Bad Axe river, teeming with fish, birds, and other wildlife, while pulling these invasive weeds.
Garlic mustard is easy to pull and identify, so bring your friends and family to this event!
All ages and skill levels are welcome – dress appropriately for the weather, bring a water bottle and sturdy footwear and clothing to protect from brush. Together, we can make a big difference in a short amount of time! Events may involve full body movement on uneven ground and sometimes steep slopes. Expert instruction, protective gear, tools, and snacks will be provided.
Terrain difficulty rating: ROLLING (includes a shallow river crossing)
Work difficulty rating: LIGHT
Registration confirmation will be sent by email. Additional details are emailed two days prior to the event.
Questions? Email [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 6
SIGN UP
In honor of World Migratory Bird Day, Mississippi Valley Conservancy invites the public to a free, guided migratory birding hike at Sugar Creek Bluff State Natural Area on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 7 am. This springtime walk through the blufflands offers a chance to slow down, listen, and observe as migratory birds return to the Driftless Area. In addition to being blown away by the intensity of the birdsong at Sugar Creek Bluff, participants will enjoy learning about the incredible journeys—and conservation needs—of these traveling birds.
(Photo: A group of bird lovers searches for an ovenbird during the 2025 Migratory Birding Hike at Sugar Creek Bluff. Photo by Sarah Bratnober)
This year’s hike will be led by an experienced team of birders and naturalists, including Krysten Zummo, Gwyn Calvetti, and Connor Kotte, along with Conservancy staff and volunteers. Guides will share insights on bird identification, habitat, and migration while helping participants spot and hear species along the trail. Bring your cameras and binoculars or just enjoy the experience without the extras. Conservancy staff will have extra binoculars available for your use, as well.
We’re also pleased to be joined by our friends from Ferryville Tourism, who will have ideas for exploring the area after the hike. Participants will break into small groups, ensuring an engaging and welcoming experience for birders of all skill levels.
SIGN UP
Advance registration is required for this free event and must be completed by May 6. There are a limited number of spots for this tour in order for participants to have the best possible experience. Questions? Contact Karen Solverson at [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 8.
This free hike is part of Mississippi Valley Conservancy’s 2026 “Linked to the Land” series, which connects people to the nature preserves protected for wildlife habitat, scenic beauty, outdoor learning, and recreation throughout the Driftless Area. The program is made possible through generous community support and sponsorship from WXOW News 19.
Sugar Creek Bluff State Natural Area is a 440-acre bluffland preserve near Ferryville, Wisconsin, rising from the banks of Sugar Creek near the Mississippi River. Its mix of forest, prairie, and meadow provides critical habitat for rare and sensitive bird species. Past hikes have recorded sightings of red-shouldered hawks, ovenbirds, grasshopper sparrows, cerulean warblers, and blue-winged warblers.
Join us at Sugar Creek Bluff on Tuesday, May 12th, from 9 AM to 3 PM to hike the trail, learn about current conservation projects, ask questions, and help staff pull invasive garlic mustard. This Crawford County event is open to everyone! Garlic mustard is easy to pull and identify, so bring your friends and family to this event. Enjoy snacks, drinks, and community while giving back to nature. Come for a few hours or stay the whole day...it is completely up to you.
All ages and skill levels are welcome – dress appropriately for the weather, bring a water bottle and sturdy footwear and clothing to protect from brush. Together, we can make a big difference in a short amount of time! Events may involve full body movement on uneven ground and sometimes steep slopes. Expert instruction, protective gear, tools, and snacks will be provided.
Terrain difficulty rating: ROLLING
Work difficulty rating: LIGHT
Registration confirmation will be sent by email. Additional details are emailed two days prior to the event.
Questions? Email [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 6
Springtime is finally fully here! With the warmer weather, it's time to get out and pick up trash, litter, and clear brush around ancient oaks at the Conservancy's Trempealeau Lakes Nature Preserve. This site hosts excellent fishing, hunting, and hiking across a high quality floodplain forest just outside the town of Trempealeau in the Mississippi River Valley. Join us on Saturday, May 16th! We'll pick up trash and clear invasive plants to make sure this beautiful nature preserve is protected far into the future.
Terrain difficulty rating: FLAT
Work difficulty rating: LIGHT
Registration confirmation will be sent by email. Additional details are emailed two days prior to the event. Questions? Email [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 6.
It's garlic mustard season! Come join the hunt for the worst invasive plant in Wisconsin on Wednesday, May 20th, from 9 AM to noon. We need your help to remove the garlic mustard invasion taking over Sugar Creek Bluff State Natural Area before it's too late. Tag along to help the land management team pull and remove garlic mustard threatening the biodiverse forests above Ferryville!
Join us at Sugar Creek Bluff 3 PM to hike the trail, learn about current conservation projects, ask questions, and help staff pull invasive garlic mustard. This Crawford County event is open to everyone! Garlic mustard is easy to pull and identify, so bring your friends and family to this event. Enjoy snacks, drinks, and community while giving back to nature. Come for a few hours or stay the whole day...it is completely up to you.
All ages and skill levels are welcome – dress appropriately for the weather, bring a water bottle and sturdy footwear and clothing to protect from brush. Together, we can make a big difference in a short amount of time! Events may involve full body movement on uneven ground and sometimes steep slopes. Expert instruction, protective gear, tools, and snacks will be provided.
Terrain difficulty rating: ROLLING
Work difficulty rating: LIGHT
Registration confirmation will be sent by email. Additional details are emailed two days prior to the event.
Questions? Email [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 6
Join Mississippi Valley Conservancy and Driftless Area Land Conservancy for an informational presentation about options for private landowners who are considering permanently protecting their property. The presentation will cover the basics of how both organizations prioritize protecting land in the Richland County area and give an overview of the history of the land trust movement in Wisconsin.
The presentation will focus on an overview about conservation easements, which is a tool both organizations use to permanently protect private land, which limits development and subdivision rights in order to protect the natural land and water resources, productive farmland, or forest land of the property. The presentation will include the steps, costs, and process that private landowners can consider to protect their property, along with time for a Q & A session with representatives from both organizations.
Date: 5/21/2026, 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
No registration required for this free event. Hope to see you there!
Questions? Contact Chris Kirkpatrick at [email protected].
Would you like to better understand how to assess the health of your forest and determine what habitat you have?
In the scenic bluffs of Wandering Rock State Natural Area, join us on a hike on June 11th from 5-7 pm to explore topics including forest health and habitat diversity in southwestern Wisconsin. Participants will learn how habitat typing helps identify natural communities and guides effective forest management decisions.
This hike will be on steep terrain and will be fairly strenuous, and will highlight practical techniques such as timber stand improvement and brush control, with on-site examples showing how these practices enhance forest resilience and wildlife habitat. Along the way, attendees will gain insight into applying these methods on their own properties. The experience also features sweeping views of the Mississippi River and the surrounding valley.
The Conservancy's team of Mitchel Block, Michael Reitz, Payton Lott are excited to walk you through the process of determining the health of a woodlot. They are also offering a separate volunteer work party from 1-5 pm at this same location where even more information will be shared as the team works to improve the property for wildlife. You can sign up for both, or just one of these events.
Registration confirmation will be sent by email. Additional details are emailed two days prior to the event. Questions? Email [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 6.
Let's remove invasive trees and brush together!
Would you like to start managing your forest but are not sure where to begin? If so, join us for a day of timber stand improvement at Wandering Rock State Natural Area, where we'll work to remove undesirable tree and brush species in order to enhance overall forest quality. Following this work party, there will be a presentation on habitat typing and understanding the health of your timber stand from 5-7pm. We hope to see you there!
All ages and skill levels are welcome – dress appropriately for the weather, bring a water bottle and sturdy footwear and clothing to protect from brush. Events may involve full body movement on uneven ground and sometimes steep slopes. Expert instruction, protective gear, tools, and snacks will be provided. Together, we can make a big difference in a short amount of time!
Terrain difficulty rating: STEEP
Work difficulty rating: STRENUOUS
Registration confirmation will be sent by email. Additional details are emailed two days prior to the event. Questions? Email [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 6.
Did you know that Mississippi Valley Conservancy has a nature preserve along the Kickapoo river outside Wilton, Wisconsin? This nature preserve is a rarely visited site that hosts a hemlock grove alongside a fire-dependent sedge meadow. This meadow has so many different wildlife and plant species we are still finding new ones. We need your help on June 20th from 9am - noon to pull invasive wild parsnip to preserve this site and protect the downstream flows of the Kickapoo river. We will provide PPE as well as snacks.
All ages and skill levels are welcome – dress appropriately for the weather, bring a water bottle and sturdy footwear, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt to protect against the parsnip
Events may involve full body movement on uneven ground and sometimes steep slopes. Expert instruction, protective gear, tools, and snacks will be provided. Together, we can make a big difference in a short amount of time!
Work difficulty rating: MODERATE
Terrain difficulty rating: FLAT
Registration confirmation will be sent by email. Additional details are emailed two days prior to the event. Questions? Email [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 6
Join Krysten Zummo, Range Ecologist for the National Audubon Society, on Saturday, June 27th from 9 am - 11 am at Plum Creek Conservation Area to see the birds of the Conservancy's Plum Creek Conservation Area and learn about how cattle can be used as a management tool to create healthy grassland bird habitat!
Every year, grassland birds return to the Driftless Area in search of the perfect open grassland to nest in and raise their young. Over the last 50 years, grassland birds in North America have declined nearly 50%, with most of the decline due to conversion of grasslands to commodity crops, urbanization, and the removal of historical natural impacts (grazing and fire). One of the unsung heroes of creating healthy grassland habitats is rotational managed grazing that creates a mosaic of grassland vegetation for birds to use.
Michael Reitz, the Plum Creek Conservation Area manager and restoration ecologist will guide participants on a tour of a 210-acre field that, only a few years ago, was planted to corn, eroding at an alarming rate, and devoid of habitat. As part of restoration efforts to find overlap between conservation and agriculture, 170 acres were planted to pollinator prairie and 40 acres were planted to pasture that incorporates native prairie plants.
Krysten is a lifelong birder and bird nerd who grew up in New York and has lived in 7 different states across the U.S. to study and manage habitats for birds. She came to La Crosse in 2018 to work with Mississippi Valley Conservancy and joined the National Audubon Society in 2023 where she works with beef and bison graziers through Audubon's Conservation Ranching program. This certification program works alongside graziers to take a birds-eye-view of their grazing operation to improve grassland habitat for all!
Located in Crawford County near Wauzeka, Wisconsin, the Plum Creek Conservation Area's property includes over five and a half miles of frontage along the west bank of the Kickapoo River and over two miles along both banks of Plum Creek, a Class I trout stream. The property has transitioned away from row crops to perennial cover, and renters are grazing cattle on the property. It is located adjacent to the DNR's 1,927-acre Kickapoo Wildlife Area-Wauzeka Unit that includes the 635-acre Kickapoo Wild Woods State Natural Area, and it is known to be along a major migration route for birds.
ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED for this FREE event by June 25th on the events page. Questions? Contact Karen Solverson at [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 8.
This event is part of the Conservancy’s 2026 “Linked to the Land” series of outdoor experiences on the many nature preserves it protects for wildlife habitat, scenic beauty, outdoor learning and recreation in the Driftless Area. The program is supported by the generous donations of our members and the in-kind support of WXOW News19.
Learn more about grazing for birds in this article by Krysten Zummo: https://www.mississippivalleyconservancy.org/wild-reads/grazing-its-birds
(PHOTO: Landowner Jim Munsch has found a balance between raising cattle and still providing habitat for grassland nesting birds and will be on hand to talk about his experience.)
Along the winding Kickapoo River, Mississippi Valley Conservancy wants YOU to help pull invasive wild parsnip at Tunnelville Cliffs State Natural Area. By pulling this invasive weed, not only do you protect Mississippi Valley Conservancy nature preserves, but all downstream properties and wildlife habitat along the Kickapoo River. The Conservancy will provide protective gear, water, and snacks for you to enjoy. All you have to bring is a care for the Driftless Area and a great attitude!
All skill levels are welcome – dress appropriately for the weather, bring a water bottle, sturdy footwear. long pants and a long-sleeved shirt to protect from the parsnip. Events may involve full body movement on uneven ground and sometimes steep slopes. Expert instruction, protective gear, tools, and snacks will be provided. Together, we can make a big difference in a short amount of time!
Terrain difficulty rating: ROLLING
Work difficulty rating: MODERATE
Registration confirmation will be sent by email. Additional details are emailed two days prior to the event. Questions? Email [email protected] or call 608-784-3606 ext. 6.