By Anita Weier
Northside News
Jan Axelson led the revered environmental group Friends of Cherokee March for 16 years, guiding it from a small organization with 20 members to one with more than 200 members and a larger mailing list. She remains dedicated to the group’s field work but has stepped aside as president.
Axelson, a longtime Northsider, recalled that the organization began as the area was being developed, and some residents feared the loss of an environmental treasure. “The City of Madison was working with a developer. and we wanted a voice,” she said.
The Friends have stressed restoration, education and advocacy. “We have focused on events such as the Northside Farmers Market, where we table and talk to people about the importance of the marsh to our ecosystem,” she said.
“We cosponsor a monthly walk in the North Unit of the marsh with the Friends of Urban Nature.” The walks are led by environmental experts who talk about and point out important features of the marsh such as plants, animals and birds.
The Friends also volunteer in the marsh with workers from the city and county parks departments, as well as representatives of other environmental organizations, to remove invasive plants and collect seeds from native plants for replanting.
“Our group has grown slowly but steadily. It is good to see it being more effective, but that took time and effort,” she recalled.
Axelson came to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin, but switched to Madison Area Technical College, which she thought better prepared students for jobs. She studied electronics technology and since worked as a technical writer.
It was difficult to give up her leadership position with an organization she loves, but she believes the Friends are doing very well under current President Sheila Leary.
Leary, who headed the University of Wisconsin Press before retiring, served on the Friends of Cherokee Marsh Board before becoming president. She stressed the importance of the group’s Cherokee Marsh.org website, where people can learn about the organization’s volunteer activities.
Some members are very active while others simply join and pay dues to support the group.
The Friends raise funds to help bring schoolchildren to the marsh. “We help fund buses from schools and summer programs, and we have been working with Eagle Scout programs,” she said.
She praised Axelson’s longtime dedicated leadership.
Leary’s goals as president include supporting parks land managers who work for the City of Madison, Dane County and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. She also hopes to foster public appreciation of the marsh. “We have raised funds to install three large interpretative signs in the North Unit, a project assisted financially by the Steve Stricker American Family Foundation.”
Additionally, Leary hopes to advance knowledge of the marsh through the group’s activities and on request from parks land managers. “Community science projects gather data about trees and plants. Trees in the Meadow Ridge and Mendota Units of the marsh have been counted and measured under the leadership of board member Ed Snyder. We hope to do more with water monitoring, and we are gathering data about bats, snakes and beavers,” she said.
The Friends work with master naturalists and hope to attract more UW student volunteers. They also help put on the Bird and Nature Festival every April at Warner Park and a Butterfly Action Day in August at Olbrich Gardens.
