Science & Environment| Science & Environment

Retired conservation biologists at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The Martins continue to volunteer their services to citizen scientists as part of the longest-running North American auditory frog/toad survey.

They have been resident managers of the property since 1979. Goose Pond SanctuaryMadison Audubons 730 acre nature preserve in Arlington in Columbia County is where they have led dozens of habitat restoration projects and public education.

Gathering Waters, a coalition of more than 40 Wisconsin landtrusts, awarded the couple a lifetime achievement prize last year. It recognized their decades-long passions as well as their unwavering dedication.

The group declared that the Martins conservation legacy will endure for generations.

Sue, now 74, is an independent naturalist who has degrees in business marketing and business. She joined the DNR in 1981 as education coordinator at Poynette’s MacKenzie Environmental Education Center. Later she became a conservationist and designed endangered species license plates and Great Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail. This self-guided driving tour includes five regional guidesbooks.

She said that having a degree as a marketing professional was a great advantage. I was able jump on these projects that no scientist would ever spend even a second of their time on.

Mark, 72, was born in Marshall. He studied wildlife management at UW Stevens Point, before he started working for the DNR in 1971.

Both were raised in families who loved the outdoors, Mark hunting and trapping and Sue birdwatching.

Sue stated that it was fun to get out and explore nature on our own terms and learn how to feel at home in it. This is what we loved.

Mark Martin:Goose Pond is a prairie wetlands located in the middle of 150,000 acres mesic prairie. Madison Audubon now has it. We are creating habitat for wildlife, including shorebirds, waterfowl and grassland birds, as well as restoring mesic Prairie. It is a place where the public can enjoy nature.

We have 270 species of birds that have been seen here from a bird perspective, which is quite a number.

It was bought to stop the hunting of ducks in the autumn and so that people could come from Madison to bird-watch in the fall and spring. They didn’t even think about planting prairie to support grassland birds.

Audubon didn’t have much money between 69 and 68. They bought the house and farm over there for $30,000. We now have 730 acres of land and our main focus is mesic prairie. It used to be 800,000 acres. In 15 places, there are less than 100 acres of native land. There are almost 500 acres that have been restored. People can visit the site to see what a treeless prairie is like.

It was mentioned that it was part of Empire Prairie. What is that?

Mark Martin:The topography was very rolling. There were few wetlands. There were no significant elevation changes. The Native Americans started to set fires. They moved the entire area. This is basically all the prairie that’s left.

In 1830, Dane County had two woods. Two. Maple Bluff, on the east side Lake Mendota. The fires were put out by the west winds and the wetlands. Then, there was Goose Lake between Marshall & Deerfield. There are the drumlin fields, high drumlins that have wetland between them.

Sue Foote Martin:The fires died down as soon as the settlers arrived. They put out the fires and kept them out. We now have woods everywhere. It has transformed the landscape.

How did you come to Goose Pond?

Mark Martin:Madison Audubon planted 8 acres of prairie while I was at DNR. We started pre-planning research. So we offered to help, and get the seeds from the Arboretum of Madison. This is how we became familiar with Goose Pond.

Sue Foote Martin:We met at an event to organize the first sandhill-crane count in the state. It must have been 1977. He was with the DNR and he was with Audubon. We sat together at the table and discovered that our interests were the same. Mark asked me to go with him snowshoeing on the weekend. He took me past Goose Pond. He said, “You can see the little house at Prairie Lane’s end.” There is a house there that I’m going to live in one day.

He applied for the job of resident manager in 1979 and was granted it. After we got married, we moved in and have remained here ever since.

What threats are wildlife facing today?

Sue Foote Martin:I’d say climate change, since the land is protected.

Mark Martin:Droughts can make birds miserable. They don’t do well in cold, wet springs like the one used by the pheasant populations.

Sue Foote Martin:It is also the encroachment upon populations. If you come up here on (Highway 51), you will reach DeForest. There is no solid ground between Madison, DeForest and Madison. It will go all the ways through here, and it will go all of the way up to Poynette, then eventually to Portage.

What are your plans for the Future?

Sue Foote Martin:Goose Pond is our heritage. This is what I mean. This is what we’ve done for 43 years. This is what we’ll continue to do. Keep going. It matters more the more you do it.