The Wolf River Chapter of the Wild Ones has found an energetic advocate in Bob Dumke, the group’s president of less than a year. Wild Ones promotes environmental education and landscaping to preserve, restore and establish native plant communities.
Dumke said a visit a year ago to an expo garden in Madison changed the way he looks at land, gardens and the habitat.
“While there, I picked up a book about attracting native pollinators,” Dumke said.
He learned pollinators are necessary to produce the food we consume.
“The habitat that used to be there is no longer there,” Dumke said.
He learned that pollinators are disappearing as their habitat of native plants is being eradicated. Every year 2 million acres are lost to development and agriculture.
Native plants also attract the insects that birds feed to their young.
Dumke cited, in particular, the plight of the monarch butterfly in the Midwest. The butterflies feed on milkweed, which has been taken out of the fields in the central flyway of the country, weakening their ability to reproduce as they migrate.
“It’s a long educational process,” Dumke said. “We need to do something.”
To educate the public, the Wild Ones plan field trips, rescue plants from construction sites and hold plant sales. They will hand out seeds to children at the Shawano Farmers Market on Saturdays.
Dumke last year turned his attention to “doing something” in his neighborhood when the retired 9½-acre Wescott town dump caught his attention on a walk with his wife, Nancy. They live just a quarter mile from the dump. Dumke approached the town of Wescott and asked if he could plant native flowers there.
“I knew I needed help, so I joined Wild Ones,” said Dumke, who knew about the group from a friend.
The town of Wescott donated three dump trucks of compost. Dumke purchased seeds and got others through donations.
He has planted flowers in 24 different areas, so far.
The Wild Ones encourage people to plant to help the ecosystem. Native plants are more hardy, require less maintenance and, with planning, can be just as colorful as any other garden, Dumke said. Even a small area can make a difference.
“We’ve got to change this,” Dumke said. “We have to start thinking about it differently when people are landscaping. Everyone has an opportunity to do something.”
The Wild Ones meet at 1 p.m. on a Saturday every other month at a member’s home.
Other officers are Darlane Kroening, vice president, Sue Templeman, secretary, Tom Sturm, treasurer, and Jon Schedler, plant rescue chairman.
For more information or to help with planting, call Dumke at 715-524-2854.
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