Wetland Coffee Break
The Wetland Coffee Break series helps keep our community of wetland lovers connected and learning about wetlands throughout the year, from anywhere! Bring your coffee and learn about wetlands, the plants and animals that call them home, and the many natural benefits they provide to our communities. Sessions are held on Zoom and feature time for audience Q&A.
See below for a list of upcoming presentations and to register. Once you register, you’ll receive an automatic email including the URL link and password you’ll need to access the meeting. We record and post each presentation so you can watch any that you missed live. You’ll find links to these recordings below, and you can also find them on our Facebook page.
We are grateful to all of the presenters for sharing their knowledge and expertise and to everyone interested in learning more about wetlands! If you are interested in giving a Wetland Coffee Break presentation, or if you have a wetland topic you’d like to see covered, please contact Katie.Beilfuss@wisconsinwetlands.org.
We are now able to provide attendance verification to Wetland Coffee Break audience members who attend the live sessions and request this service. We created this mechanism in response to requests from members of the Wetland Coffee Break audience who would like to apply their Wetland Coffee Break learning to their continuing education or certification requirements. Learn more about how to receive attendance verification here.
Register for a Wetland Coffee Break
Purple loosestrife biocontrol model in Wisconsin
Friday, December 13, 2024
10:30 am CT
Description
Aerial herbicide application on invasive wetland plants: Planning, process and lessons learned
Jason Fleener, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Friday, December 20, 2024
10:30 am CT
Description
Wisconsin DNR has contracted aerial herbicide application services for several years to combat invasive phragmites, cattail, and other wetland invasive plant species. Jason Fleener, wetland habitat specialist with WDNR, will outline the various steps to plan out and implement a successful spraying project, discuss how to choose the best method for application (helicopter or drone), and how to choose the right chemicals for a project. He will also share the results of treatments and lessons learned.
Jason Fleener is the statewide Wetland Habitat Specialist in Wisconsin DNR’s Bureau of Wildlife Management. He has 13 years of experience in this program overseeing wetland habitat program delivery on DNR managed lands, including hydrologic restorations, wetland infrastructure management, habitat prioritization, wild rice conservation, and wetland grant program support.
Wetland portrayal in modern films
Dr. Jeffrey Matthews, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Friday, January 17, 2025*
10:30 am CT
* the day Oscar nominations are announced!
Description
After viewing 163 films that included swamps, bogs, and other types of wetlands, we analyzed how filmmakers have used wetlands as storytelling devices, potentially shaping viewers’ perceptions. Wetlands are predominantly portrayed negatively in film, often as trials and tribulations for the protagonists. Hear from Jeff Matthews, University of Illinois, about how such portrayals could influence wetland conservation by perpetuating negative attitudes about these important ecosystems.
Jeff Matthews is an Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Matthews conducts field experiments and observational studies on plant communities in both natural and restored ecosystems to identify the factors driving changes in ecological communities.
The fur trade and the north woods environment
Hayden L. Nelson, University of Kansas
Friday, March 14, 2025
10:30 am CT
Description
Histories of the fur trade typically focus on the economic rise and fall of the European fur market, intercultural connections forged between Indigenous people and Euro-Americans, or the wars between Native Nations due to economic participation and alliances. However, an important yet understudied aspect underlying all of those is the fur trade environment. Between 1630 and 1830, fur hunters exterminated more than 95 percent of the region’s beaver population. In this talk, Hayden Nelson will share how the historical overhunting of beavers substantially altered the forested wetlands around Lake Superior. He’ll also discuss the interconnected ways in which other animals responded to the decline of beaver.
Hayden L. Nelson is a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Kansas, where he specializes in environmental and Indigenous history in the North American West. His dissertation, “The North Woods: An Environmental History from the Pleistocene to the Pyrocene,” investigates how both human and non-human actors interacted with and transformed the transnational forested region of the western Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi watersheds from the end of the Wisconsin glaciation to the beginnings of industrial logging. His work has been supported by the American Society for Environmental History, the Newberry Library, the United States Forest Service, and more.
Watch previous presentations
Click “Older Entries” below to see more past presentations, or view our Google Sheet index of past presentations here.
Wetland Coffee Break: Let’s talk turtles!
Ever wonder what kind of turtle you just found crossing the road, or how to tell one kind of turtle from another, or where to look to find them?
Wetland Coffee Break: What’s the buzz? Drone uses in wetlands
Drones can do a lot more than take pretty pictures. We can now utilize drones for high-resolution imagery, artificial intelligence, spraying invasive species, or seeding native species.
Wetland Coffee Break: Floristic quality benchmarks for rare and unique wetland plant communities
Ryan O’Connor (WDNR) shares what makes rare wetland plant communities like white pine-red maple swamps and interdunal wetlands unique, what threats they are facing, and more.
Wetland Coffee Break: Wild rice with fish: A winning recipe for restoration
Green Bay wetlands serve as important fish habitat and successful wild rice restoration may be an indicator of diverse, healthy wetland ecosystems that provide valuable benefits to fish, wildlife, and people.
Wetland Coffee Break: Dilution is NOT the solution to pollution
Learn about research being done on unexpected negative (and positive) ways that “low” levels of pollutants (road salt, antibiotics, and pesticides) can affect amphibians and other wildlife.
Wetland Coffee Break: Transformational Thinking in Conservation and “Outdoors Access 4 All!”
Access Ability Wisconsin works to make nature accessible to everyone by providing opportunities for individuals with mobility challenges (whether acquired at birth or later in life) to access nature and outdoor recreational experiences with minimal environmental impact while promoting access, inclusion, equity, and healthy living.