The Nature Conservancy’s East Troy Office Expands

Staff Will Help Advance Conservation of the Mukwonago River and Additional Freshwater Sites

MADISON, Wis — July 9, 2008 — The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin announced today that it has fully staffed its Mukwonago River watershed project office in East Troy. The Conservancy now employs three staff members who work exclusively on advancing conservation in or around the Mukwonago River. They are: Patricia Morton, Mukwonago River watershed project director, Jerry Ziegler, Mukwonago land steward, and Sally McMillan, who serves as the Conservancy’s project assistant/office manager. Scott Thompson, the Conservancy’s director of freshwater conservation, also works out of the East Troy office.

Morton, an experienced conservation program manager, educator and wildlife specialist, was hired last fall. She works with staff members, volunteers, landowners and partner organizations to conserve wildlife habitat and water quality in the watershed. She also oversees the management of four Conservancy preserves: Lulu Lake Preserve, Crooked Creek Preserve, Pickerel Lake Fen and the Newell and Ann Meyer Nature Preserve, which is expected to be open to the public later this year. Her career includes 13 years as an outreach program leader focusing on wildlife diversity for Texas Parks & Wildlife. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Morton also worked as a research associate for Texas A&M University and as education director for Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas. She currently serves on the Wisconsin Council on Invasive Species and is the education coordinator for the North American Symposium on Bat Research.

The new Mukwonago Land Steward, Jerry Ziegler, has been a dedicated Conservancy volunteer since 1982, working closely with stewardship staff to restore land at Conservancy preserves in the watershed. Ziegler’s position is a new one, made possible through a gift from the late Newell and Ann Meyer. In this job, Ziegler is helping lead and manage the Conservancy’s preserves and reaching out to area land owners interested in conservation. Prior to joining the Conservancy, Ziegler was a writer and editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for 13 years.

Prior to joining the Conservancy, McMillan was the clerk for the Town of Eagle.

As director of freshwater conservation, Thompson has helped develop, plan and implement the Conservancy’s efforts to identify and conserve Wisconsin’s most ecologically significant freshwater sites including the Mukwonago River watershed, Door Peninsula and the Green Bay Watershed. Thompson also led a multi-state team for the Conservancy’s Great Lakes Program that assessed conservation opportunities and priorities within the Lake Michigan Basin. He previously directed the Conservancy’s work in Eastern Wisconsin and he also served as the Conservancy’s project director in the Mukwonago River watershed.

The Mukwonago River is the most biologically diverse small river system in Wisconsin. It is also one of the cleanest streams in southeastern Wisconsin and provides important habitat for rare fish and mussels. The surrounding landscape—a mosaic of forest, wetlands, savanna, rivers and lakes—is home to a wide array of native plants and wildlife, including sandhill cranes, tree frogs, mink, red fox, butterflies and dragonflies.

The Conservancy owns about 1,400 acres in the Mukwonago River watershed including 374 acres donated late last year by the late Newell and Ann Meyer. The Conservancy has helped conserve an additional 300 acres in the watershed.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. In Wisconsin, the Conservancy has helped conserve more than 140,000 acres since 1960. The Conservancy has more than 21,000 members in Wisconsin and offices in Madison, Baraboo, East Troy, Minocqua and Sturgeon Bay. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at nature.org/wisconsin.