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2008 TPE Picnic and Membership Meeting

The Empire-Sauk Chapter is hosting this year’s TPE annual pot-luck picnic and meeting of the membership on Sunday, July 13. The event is being held at Schurch-Thomson Prairie, a unit of TPE’s 500-acre Mounds View Grassland complex. See the schedule of events below. In addition to food and friends, there will be opportunities for guided hikes, (Saturday and Sunday) before and after the picnic, at multiple attractions in the region (see below). The nationally known Cave of Mounds is nearby, as well as the Military Ridge Bike Trail.

Mounds View Grassland, located within the Military Ridge Prairie heritage Area, supports a diverse and robust grassland bird community (bring binoculars), a diversity of prairie and savanna butterflies (bring close focusing binoculars), remnant upland prairie (bring a camera), degraded but improving sedge meadows, extensive springs and seeps, and two cold-water streams with trout (bring fishing gear). Over 250 native plant species have been found at the preserve so far. Rare and uncommon species of note include regal fritillary butterfly, red-tailed leafhopper, pickerel frog, Henslow’s sparrow, grasshopper sparrow, Bell’s vireo, red-headed woodpecker, prairie bushclover (Federally endangered), Hill’s thistle, prairie turnip (1,000s), marble-seed, and tuberous Indian-plantain. Even with all this diversity, the preserve is still very much a work in progress. Significant renovation and restoration has been started, but much more is planned to bring back the land’s former glory of prairie, oak savanna, and prairie streams and wetlands on a landscape scale.

The Empire–Sauk Chapter will be providing brats, hamburgers, and soft drinks. We will have a porta-potty on hand, and a canopy or two set up for shade in the open air. The newly renovated barn will also be available, in case of rain. There is well water on site.


  • What to Bring: Dish to pass, eating utensils, lawn chairs, and shoes, hats, and repellent for hiking.


  • Overnight options: There are hotels in Mt. Horeb and Barneveld. Camping is available at Blue Mounds State Park and Brigham County Park (6 miles away). People are also welcome to put up tents at Schurch-Thomson Prairie preserve in the shade of walnuts and bur oaks in the mowed lawn areas (first come, first serve). The coyotes may even provide an evening serenade. Badger watching is also a possible evening activity. Contact Rich Henderson (608-845-7065, email address) about camping on site.


  • Schedule:


    •   Saturday Guided tours (see details in TPE field trip flier and on web site)
        9:00 – Noon - Butterflies, birds, and flowers at Schurch-Thomson Prairie
        2:00 – 3:45 PM - Pleasant Valley Conservancy
        4:00 – 5:30 PM - Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie
        4:00 – 5:00 PM - Goplin Seed Orchard
        3:00 – 6:00 PM - Pleasure Valley Conservancy
      Sunday
        9:30 – 11:30 AM - Guided tours (see details in TPE field trip flier and on web site)
          Schurch-Thomson and Underwood Prairies (on site)
          TNC Thomson Memorial Prairie (3 miles away)
        10:00 AM - TPE board meeting.
        12:00 Noon - Pot-luck picnic.
        1:00 PM - Meeting of the membership.
        2:00 – 4:00 PM - Guided tours (departing from picnic area).
          Schurch-Thomson and Underwood Prairies (on site)
          Shea Prairie (2 miles)
          Goplin Seed Orchard (3.5 miles)

  • Directions to Picnic & Meeting: From the intersection of US 18/151 and County F, on the south side of Blue Mounds, WI, on the western edge of Dane County, take F south for 4.5 miles (be sure to stay on F, it makes a sharp right turn at 1 mile south of 18/151). At 4.5 miles on F, look for Reilly Road on the right side. Take Reilly Rd to the preserve (Reilly is a dead-end road).