April 4, 2024, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM (US Central)
These bi-annual meet-ups, hosted by Wisconsin Women in Conservation, feature women conservation professionals sharing their career experience and advice for working with women land owners and managers. All conservation facilitators - whether professional or volunteer - are warmly invited!
Our first presenter will be Sue Swanson, Wisconsin's first woman Director of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey and State Geologist. WGNHS is part of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension and has been operating since 1897. The Survey has done extensive research on Wisconsin’s geology, water, and mineral resources and has made this information accessible to inform the decision-making of citizens, government, industry, and business.
“Young people may need to see somebody in a particular role in order to envision themselves in a particular role. And so if I can assist with that, as a woman geologist in this position, then that makes me very happy,” Swanson says. She will share her career path and experiences in the conservation field with the group.
Swanson is a hydrogeologist - specializing in the relationship between water resources and geology. Listen in to her Badger Talk on mapping Wisconsin's springs.
Our second presenter is a frequent collaborator with Wisconsin Women in Conservation - having run rainfall simulators and slake tests at multiple WiWiC farm field tours and learning circles. Kristin Foehringer is serving in the new position of State Working Lands Climate Smart Specialist on the State Soils Team of the Wisconsin Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), but previously she was an NRCS Soil Scientist out of the Altoona Area Office. She had prior roles with the Agricultural Research Service and Buffalo County Land Conservation Dept.
Foehringer is a Wisconsin native—originally from Elkhart Lake and a Slinger High School graduate. Being from that area and the daughter of a mechanic and avid outdoorsman, she spent a lot of her youth at the local racetracks (Road America and Slinger Speedway) and hiking and hunting in the Kettle Moraine State Forest. She and her brother lived for weekends and holidays at the cabin their Grandpa built on Mead Lake in Clark County. She will talk about how her passions and experiences led her to a career with NRCS.
Bring friends, curiosity, and questions! We look forward to hanging out with you! If you can't make it to this Thursday's meet-up, sign up anyway, and we'll get you the recording. https://www.wiwic.org/event-