About The Friends

Friend's Mission

“The Friends of the Cedarburg Bog support stewardship, understanding, and appreciation of the Bog through land management, preservation, research and education.”

The Friends of the Cedarburg Bog is a nonprofit 501(C)(3) organization that supports preservation, stewardship, appreciation, and scientific study of the Cedarburg Bog in cooperation with the Department of natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Field Station. The Cedarburg Bog is one of the largest and most biologically interesting wetlands in Southern Wisconsin. The Bog Friends seek to make the public more aware of the Bog’s uniqueness by creating opportunities for people to visit. It organizes projects and volunteer workdays for invasive species control; it improves facilities for educational and scientific programs, and supports long term monitoring and research.

Our Committees

Executive

The Executive Committee administers the Friend’s day-to-day business under the guidance of the Board of Directors.

Stewardship

The Stewardship Committee helps maintain the University and DNR lands in the Cedarburg Bog. The Committee plans projects and organizes volunteer workdays for invasive species control, to improve facilities for educational and scientific programs and to support long-term monitoring and research.

Events & Education

The Events and Education Committee offers indoor and outdoor educational and entertaining programs for school groups, youths, adults and the public at large.

Communication & Membership

The Communication Committee works to promote the work of the FOCB through its website, traditional and social media, print and electronic mail. It also publishes a quarterly newsletter with articles on natural history, local issues and upcoming events. It also seeks to increase membership in the FOCB.

Fundraising & Grants

The Fundraising and Grants Committee raises funds to support projects approved by the Board of Directors. The Committee applies for grants from governments and private foundations and solicits support from corporate and individual donors.

Board of Directors

We are a group of people who care about the Cedarburg Bog. We are supported by our members, donors, and volunteers.

Meet Our

Officers
President: Jim Reinartz

Jim has joined the board after retiring from nearly 40 years working as Manager, and then Director, of the UW Milwaukee Field Station. Jim received his PhD in Botany and Plant Ecology from Duke University in 1981. He taught courses on the vegetation of Wisconsin, physiology and identification of plants in winter, invasive plant control, vegetation sampling methods, and various other topics. Jim’s primary areas of research were wetland ecology, rare plant ecology and genetics, the control and ecology of invasive plants and natural area management. He is deeply involved in the preservation and management of natural areas and has written management and stewardship plans for many natural areas in southeastern Wisconsin. He was one of the founders of the Ozaukee Washington County Land Trust and served on the board of the Wisconsin chapter of the Nature Conservancy and other organizations. Jim has explored every part of the Cedarburg Bog and shares his deep passion for the wetland, and has now taken on the role of President for the FOCB.

Treasurer: Andy Holman

Andy Holman is a semi-retired CPA who has worked with nonprofits throughout Southeast Wisconsin for over 40 years while also enjoying biodiversity wherever he can find it. He has traveled to all seven continents during his quest for immersing in biodiverse environments.. However, he has always been rooted in Milwaukee. His photos have been exhibited at the Milwaukee Public Library, Betty Brinn Children’s Museum and the Racine Art Museum and they have been published in Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Andy also is an instructor with the Helen Bader Institute of Non-Profit Management at UW-Milwaukee focusing on nonprofit financial management.

Secretary: Pam Uihlein

Pam is currently employed as an Environmental Educator at Riveredge Nature Center. There her duties include developing and implementing programming for their Home School EdVentures Program, serving as a Recreational Tree Climbing Facilitator and summer camp counselor. Pam comes to us with a wealth of experience as an environmental educator. She earned a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from the Colorado College. Prior to her work at Riveredge Nature Center, she served as an Instructor for the Wild Rockies Field Institute, and was the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Great Bear Foundation in Missoula, MT as well as Seasonal Special Educator at the Mohonk Preserve, Gardiner, NY. She is well versed and experienced in teaching. Conservation and ecology of black, brown, and polar bears is of special interest to her.

Directors
Communications Chair: Danielle Bell

Danielle’s passion for the outdoors started as a small child exploring the natural world with my parents. This love and excitement grew with her through college where a field trip to the Cedarburg Bog was her first exposure to our state natural areas and the intact plant communities of Wisconsin. Since graduating, she has spent the past decade working in the green industry and in 2019 started her own company with the focus of reintroducing native plants into the landscape fabric of our cities and suburbs. She enjoys watching these plants heal the land while providing habitats for our native fauna. There is always something new to discover in nature with every step if you take the time to slow down and be present in the moment. Danielle enjoy being able to share her passions with others and expose them to our natural areas in hopes that they will fall in love with them as much as she has.

Events & Education Chair: Brian Morrison

Brian Morrison values community and has a diverse background in outreach and event coordinating. Currently President of the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Council and part time Community Outreach Coordinator, his connections to the arts help give him a unique skill set and creative perspective. Combined with his love for nature and all things wild, he created the educational nature walk series in Grant Park, called “Suburban Soles.” After 5 years of leadership, Brian handed the program over to the Friends of Grant Park, who still present the series each summer. Brian has been responsible for growing popularity and developing the “Music at the Market” music series at the South Milwaukee Downtown Market, helping to ignite a community garden initiative called “Growing South Milwaukee,” and assisted in bringing new life to his home town business district, while working for the Chamber of Commerce as Membership & Events Coordinator.

In 2022, Brian Graduated from the M.A.T.C/Concordia University transfer program, with a Bachelor’s degree in Horticulture and a minor in biology. He earned his Master Naturalist certification from Retzer Nature Center and assumed the role of Horticulture Club President while at MATC. After working for Milwaukee County Parks for almost 5 years, he took a job With Ozaukee County Parks, as Park Caretaker at Virmond Park, where he now lives and works.

Brian enjoys camping, backpacking and exploring nature through photography. He studies permaculture and applies learned techniques to his home landscape. Through his new found love of bee-keeper, he hopes to master the art of brewing honey mead. In the winter months, Brian enjoys oil painting, writing music and reading anything plant related. He is the band leader for the group “Blues Addiction,” where he plays bass, books the music for the Thiensville farmers market and helps to organize and book the entertainment for the Best “Dam” Blues Festival in Thiensville. He plans to eventually earn a Masters degree in Natural Resource Management through UW-SP and enjoys attending nature based workshops every chance he can get. The quickest way to his heart is a clever name for a well organized community event. Plant puns are tree-mendously appealing, stolen or not.

Scott Leedom

Walter “Scott” Leedom is a former biologist, turned civil & environmental engineer and more recently an attorney (now retired). For many years, Scott served as an officer and director for the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust as well as a director and first chairman of the Mequon Nature Preserve. Mr. Leedom was most recently a director of Riveredge Nature Center and served as chairman of its Governance Committee. He is passionate about the natural world. Scott has never had a bad day when walking in the woods or hiking in some other natural area.

Stewardship Chair: Cory Gritzmacher

Cory recognized his passion for the Green Industry over 20 years. He has been an ISA Certified Arborist for over 15 years and is a past president of the Wisconsin Arborist Association. Currently, Cory is the Director of Restoration and Operations at Mequon Nature Preserve. In addition to land management duties, Cory facilitates the maple tree tapping program, and Restoration Rangers, an intergenerational volunteer training group that executes land restoration projects. Cory provides K-12, college students, Scouts and community volunteers with field experiences that focus on forests, wetlands, prairies, wildlife, and sustainability. More recently, he has become the handler for Tilia, the State’s first on-staff conservation dog. Together, they are on a mission to eradicate wild parsnip, an invasive plant species that can cause third degree burns when coming in contact with the skin, as well as to locate salamanders, an indicator species difficult for humans to find, but simple for a dog to scent. Cory is adept at utilizing equipment necessary to complete successful land restoration projects including a tracked skid loader, utility tractor and UTV to aid in large volume plantings. In fall 2017, MATC hired Cory part time as a Horticultural Instructor to teach all types of curriculum relating to career paths for arborists, garden center management, grounds management, horticulturists, landscape construction management and landscape design.

Advisors
Senior Manager of the UWM Saukville Field Station: Paul Engevold

Paul is the acting Director of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Saukville Field Station for 2023 and 2024. His responsibilities at the Field Station include administering the research and educational activities of the Field Station, managing the natural areas owned by UWM, supporting other researchers and educators using the Field Station, and supporting educational outreach activities. On the main campus of UWM in Milwaukee, Paul manages the Biological Sciences Greenhouse, including supporting the botanical needs of the Department’s instructional courses and overseeing the research activities in the greenhouse. Paul also holds an Adjunct Full Professor appointment at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.

Peter Duerkop, Department of Natural Resources

In 2025, Peter became the DNR representative on the Bog team. He works for the Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, where his territory spans the southeastern counties of the state. The Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation is tasked with preserving Wisconsin’s special places and non-game species, and managing Wisconsin’s State Natural Areas. In addition to providing expertise to other DNR programs involved in decisions and actions impacting natural communities and native species, he is also the assigned property manager for several State Natural Areas in southeastern Wisconsin, in addition to the Cedarburg Bog.

About The Bog

Natural History of the Bog

The Cedarburg Bog is one of the largest and most outstanding wetlands remaining in southeastern Wisconsin.

With about 2,000 acres, the Cedarburg Bog State Natural Area is a conifer swamp, the largest example of the least abundant type of wetland in the Milwaukee River basin. It offers an ideal location for educating literally thousands of area residents, students and visitors about the vital role that wetlands play in preserving water quality and species diversity in the Milwaukee River Watershed. It contains the largest expanses of cedar-tamarack swamp forest, in addition to marshes, shrub carr, swamp hardwoods and both deep and shallow bog lakes. Its most unusual feature is the presence of a “String” or “Patterned” bog, which consists of stunted cedars and tamaracks alternating with flatter, water areas dominated by sedges. String bogs are typically found further north, and the Cedarburg Bog may be the southernmost string bog in all of North America.

Plants & Animals

The Cedarburg Bog system is made up of about 2,200 acres that include seven or eight plant communities like conifer and hardwood swamps, sedge meadow, marsh, several lakes, fen, and upland forests.

In addition, amphibians and reptiles such as the Blue spotted Salamander, eastern milk snake and snapping turtle can be found. Common mammals include the opossum, masked shrew, little and big brown bat, coyote and white tail deer. Birds that make their home in the Bog include northern cardinal, red-tailed hawk, wild turkey, common yellowthroat warbler and wood duck, among others that use it as a stopover during migration. There is public access at the north and south ends of the bog. The UWM Field Station trails are only open to the public for group use arranged in advance or at public events. Please do not harass or harm the birds, plants mammals or amphibians you encounter.

Animal Lists

Like all species lists, these lists are a work-in-progress. If you see a bird, amphibian, plant or mammal that is not on the list, please report it to Friends of the Cedarburg Bog, c/o UWM Field Station, fieldstn@uwm.edu.

Birds
Mammals
Frogs
Plants
Amphibians & Reptiles
Butterflies and Dragonflies

Visit the Bog