Meet at the Gun Club. Bring a dish to pass and your own dishes and utensils.

A bird walk in the marsh will follow the picnic. The public is welcome to attend the pot luck and the bird walk.

The Coulee Region Audubon Society May program will be presented by Ken and Terry Visger on Wednesday, May 21 at 7:00 pm at the Ho Chunk building.

Terry will act out a story about a clammers wife in the early 1900's. She is a professional storyteller, founder of the Bluff Country Storytelling Guild, and actively involved the the La Crosse Storytelling Festival held each fall. Her story will depict the multi-million dollar clamming industry on the Upper Mississippi.

Ken is a self-described "old river rat with a passion for preserving what we have left of our great Upper Mississippi River resources." He will talk about the threat to our native mussels and the life cycle of mussels He is active in both the Friends of the Upper Mississippi Fishery Services and Mississippi River Wild, a refuge friends group.

Kim Grveles of the WI DNR will be conducting Kirtland's Warbler survey training at 6:00 for those who signed up to help with that project.

The Coulee Region Audubon Society will meet Wednesday, April 16 at 7:00 PM at the Ho Chunk Nation building, lower level, 725 Main Street, La Crosse.

The program is free and open to the public. The program will feature Kim Grveles, Assistant Zoologist/Ornithologist, Bureau of Endangered Resources, Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources . Her topic is "Kirtland's Warbler Says 'Yes'to Wisconsin". (The program is rescheduled from February.)

The federally-endangered Kirtland's Warbler was found nesting on Plum Creek Timber Company land in central Wisconsin in 2007. This was the first ever documented breeding of the species in Wisconsin, and the first nesting outside of the State of Michigan since the 1940's. The species population has increased in recent years to the point where the available habitat in Michigan is mostly saturated, resulting in the pioneering of new habitats such as Wisconsin. In 2007, the annual Kirtland's Warbler census documented an estimated 1,697 singing males in Michigan alone, a significant increase over the 1,478 counted in 2006. This is the highest total ever recorded for the census, which was started in Michigan in 1951 and has been conducted annually since 1971. Given the events of 2007, it seems possible that Kirtland's Warblers could be found at additional locations in Wisconsin. In an attempt to better define the breeding status of this species in Wisconsin, the Department of Natural Resources is working in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a widespread and organized census effort beginning in 2008.

The 2007 Wisconsin nesting activities, bird life history, conservation and management issues and other related Kirtland's Warbler topics will be presented. An opportunity to sign up as a volunteer for the Kirtland's Warbler 2008 survey will also be offered.

Kim has a masters degree in conservation biology from Central Michigan University. She has conducted and coordinated bird surveys for Michigan State Parks, Michigan Natural Features Inventory, The Nature Conservancy, and other organizations. An internship with the International Crane Foundation brought her to Wisconsin in 1998. Kim went on to serve as a Conservation Educator with Adams County and then as an all-bird planner for the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative before her current position in the Bureau of Endangered Resources. In addition to her leadership role on the Wisconsin Kirtland's Warbler Conservation Strategy, Kim coordinates a migratory bird stopover habitat protection project and tracks rare and endangered birds for the Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory Program.

The Coulee Region Audubon Society will meet Wednesday, March 19 at 7:00 PM at the Ho Chunk Nation building, lower level, 725 Main Street, La Crosse.

The Coulee Region Audubon Society will meet Wednesday, March 19 at 7:00 PM at the Ho Chunk Nation building, lower level, 725 Main Street, La Crosse.

Speaker, Joyce Powers, a consultant on ecosystem restoration, will discuss The What, Why and How of Rain Gardens. Joyce is an ecologist with a vast amount of experience in restoring native ecosystems in Wisconsin. With undergraduate degrees in biology and English, she has a masters degree from the University of Chicago in zoology and a masters in Natural Science Communications from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Starting with native prairie plants, she founded Prairie Ridge Nursery in 1974, branching out to include wetlands, savannas and woodlands where she worked on restoration of native ecosystems.

In her talk and slide presentation, Joyce will discuss the concept of rain gardens, what they are, why they are needed, and how they work. Included will be examples and pictures of native plants that thrive in rain gardens. Finally she will describe how to establish a rain garden. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Meeting time: 7 pm at the HoChunk Three Rivers House at 8th & Main.

We have had to make a last minute speaker substitution for the Audubon meeting tomorrow night. Kim Grveles, our scheduled speaker was injured in a fall and is not able to travel.

Kurt Brownell, a natural resource specialist for the US Corps of Engineers and a member of our board, has graciously offered to give a talk entitled "Bugs and Plants The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" that focuses on invasive species of the Mississippi floodplain, how the Army Corps of Engineers uses insects (biocontrols) and other methods to battle these invasive species, and insects that spread disease and cause damage to the floodplain forest.

It should be an interesting presentation and I hope to see you there!!