WSAW Channel 7 Wausau – March 14, 2022
By Hannah Borchert
UW-Stevens Point students partnered with the DNR to help boost the population of the state threatened prairie chicken species. The president of the Wildlife society leading the ‘Adopt a Wildlife Area’ project said they began the project in 2017 and just committed to another three years.
Since they began volunteering there has been an increase in prairie chickens on the Buena Visa Wildlife Area in Wisconsin Rapids. It’s about 12,500 acres.
“You know, we are just people. We only have our hands and our feet and we try to do a lot of the work that tractors can’t do,” said Brilyn Brecka, President of the Wildlife Society and Adopt a Wildlife Area co-leader at UWSP.
They remove invasive woody species like willow and cherry.
“Cutting down some brush and treating it with herbicide in order to promote grassland growth for the greater prairie chicken,” said Brecka.
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