Goose Pond Invitation!

Goose Pond Sanctuary invites you to come ..

  • To see, hike, enjoy beautifully restored native prairies on over 600 acres in four sites of rolling terrain with hiking trails.
  • To help collect seeds to restore an additional 60-acre plot with other volunteer seed collectors this fall, Saturdays, Sept. 12-Oct. 31–9:30 a.m. - noon.
  • We meet at 9:30 at the Goose Pond managers’ residence, W7503 Kampen Rd., Arlington
Give and take -- Enjoy the blooming plants while you gather seeds from earlier blossoms at GOOSE POND SANCTUARY

Help create the next 60 acre prairie restorations by participating in these fun activities:

  1. Collect seeds for the 60 acre prairie – each species’ seed must be captured before it falls to the ground. Leaders at scheduled sessions provide tools and training to help collect each species at its peak of ripeness.
  2. Help prepare the seeds for planting -- lots of hands are needed to help with drying, threshing, cleaning, and bagging.
  3. Your volunteer time is worth a lot to the future sanctuary lands. The new prairie plants will attract insects that in turn attract native bird species that can’t live in urban areas or cropland.
  4. Take pleasure in a hike in the Goose Pond prairies, there are colorful blooms through September into October and the trails are open all hours. You can see the results of previous plantings in the new mowed hiking trails on a 2-year old prairie on Kampen road next to the manager's residence, and on Hopkins Road and Prairie Lane. See the home page Sanctuaries link for more information and maps.

GOOSE POND SANCTUARY - Lands restored and protected for wildlife preservation

Why we need more hands

We’ve acquired 60 ACRES to be planted and it is being readied for restoration. You can imagine the entire landscape north of The Pond as an ever-changing, colorful, beautiful protected homeland for flora and fauna.

We are experienced in prairie restoration -- We’ve been doing it for nearly 40 years. We are already producing acres of native prairie plants that provide the seeds to be collected for new restorations.

Our seeds are the legacy of the native plants that evolved in this area. We began with seeds collected from local prairie remnants and seeds from the University of Wisconsin arboretum, which had started with local collections.

We’ve got the equipment to separate the seed from the chaff -- the old-fashioned hammer mill, thresher, fanning mill and the equipment for bagging and storing.

We’ve got the protected space to store the collected seed

But all this needs the hands and heads of volunteers to make it work!

Come and lend us your hands. 9:30 a.m to noon every Saturday from Sept 12 to Oct. 31, or at other times if you make arrangements with the managers. Phone 635-4160.

Goose Pond Sanctuary is owned and operated by the Madison Audubon Society, a chapter of the National Audubon Society that serves Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Iowa, Sauk, Richland and Jefferson counties. Its office is at 222 S. Hamilton St., Madison, WI 53703. Sanctuary Resident Managers are Mark and Sue Martin.