Join us at 6:30 PM Our program for this month will be Speaker Mark Martin, care taker of Madison’ Audubon’s Goose Pond Sanctuary.
The focus will be on the management of the 730 acres of prairie and wetland habitat Goose Pond Sanctuary and the wildlife found there. Two hundred and seventy-one species are on the Goose Pond bird list. Citizen science and research projects include the Breeding Bird Atlas; Christmas Bird Counts; eBird; American Kestrel nest box program; Rough-legged Hawk research; monarch butterfly tagging; Motus bird tracking; the Goose Pond Cam; and frog and toad, moth, and odonata surveys.
Mark graduated from UW-Stevens Point in 1971 with a degree in wildlife management.
He worked with the State Natural Areas (SNA) program from 1982 through 2011. One SNA that he helped establish was the 1,987 Chub and Mud Lake Riverine Marsh, south of Reeseville in Dodge County.
In 1979, Mark and Sue became the resident managers of Goose Pond Sanctuary (GPS).
From 1979 to 2022, Goose Pond grew from 100 to 730 acres under their expertise. Mark took the Madison Audubon lead on acquiring 274 acres at Rose Lake SNA (donated to Jefferson County Parks) and the 1,450-acre Zeloski Marsh (donated to DNR as part of the Lake Mills Wildlife Area).
Mark and Sue enjoy their cabin and property called “Wildland” near Rio restore prairie, savanna, and wetland habitats.
