Holy Wisdom Monastery is pleased to participate in Take a Stake in the Lakes Days, an event of the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission, in partnership with Clean Lakes Alliance. We are hosting a group of employees from Lands’ End on June 1, 2012 in our 100 acres of restored prairie so that we can continue to do our part to reduce run-off into the Lake Mendota watershed.
One of the things that the Lands’ End group will be helping with is removing invasive species (such as garlic mustard and honeysuckle) from our naturally restored prairie. Restoring land, that used to be home to corn or soybean crops, to natural prairie helps to reduce the amount of nitrate levels in the soil, and thus in the rainwater run-off from this land.
June 2012 marks the 25th year of Take a Stake in the Lakes volunteer actions to protect and improve our lakes, rivers and streams. Created by the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission, the annual Take a Stake in the Lakes Days event has grown from two days of shoreline clean-ups to a two-week series of countywide special events for learning about and acting to protect and improve Dane County lakes and streams.
We are so pleased to participate in this event. It’s important to celebrate the thousands of volunteers that work each year with various organizations (including our friends at the Yahara Lakes Association and Friends of Pheasant Branch) in the Madison area to improve the water quality of our lakes.
One of the core values of the sisters here at Holy Wisdom Monastery is “Care for the Earth.” We invite you to explore the various environmental initiatives we have here at the monastery, including some history about our environmental ethic, the nature trails on our property, and our platinum LEED-certified ‘green’ building.
If you want to get involved, please consider attending our annual Prairie Rhapsody benefit concert to support our environmental initiatives.