22nd FWS Retiree Reunion Madison, WI – May 2025

2025 Attendees of the Madison, WI, FWS Retirees Reunion

About 50 retirees and spouses/partners attended the Madison reunion, May 12-16, 2025. Here is a link to the reunion program The first event was the traditional Greenwalt Walk for Wildlife at the University of Wisconsin’s Lakeshore Nature Preserve, especially poignant this year as Lynn Greenwalt had passed away shortly before the reunion. About 17 attendees participated on this walk, observing warblers and waterfowl, getting a scenic view of the state capitol from across Lake Mendota, and finishing with the magnificent sight of a bald eagle soaring overhead.

The opening reception was held at the Hyatt Place hotel and involved participants visiting and enjoying appetizers and drinks in a casual setting. It’s always fun to meet new friends (similar careers!) and see other colleagues after many years! On Tuesday, events were held at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, a short walk from the hotel. Retirees Association Board Chair Cindy Uptegraft Barry opened the event with welcoming remarks then the attendees all introduced themselves. Host Region 3 Regional Director Will Meeks greeted the group via video feed and gave an overview of the state of the Region and the many projects and programs they are carrying out. He had an upbeat message for participants.  Acting FWS Director Paul Souza then addressed the group by video from California and again presented a realistic, but encouraging picture of the direction of the Service, despite the current staffing shortages. The morning ended with former Director Dale Hall providing a moving tribute to Lynn Greenwalt and others sharing their memories of Lynn.

The FWS History Committee met during the lunch hour with Service employee members participating via video with retiree members present in the room. Tuesday afternoon the FWS law enforcement retirees split off for a separate meeting at the hotel while the main FWS retirees group heard from Retirees Association Board members in attendance. Cindy, Paul Tritiak, Helen Clough, and Lew Gorman provided short updates on association activities including the new website, outreach activities, grants, and plans for the next reunion – September 21-25, 2026 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Next, Desiree Sorensen Groves, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, highlighted the 50^th anniversary of the Refuge Association and acknowledged the importance of retirees, who were their foundation. She then provided a candid assessment on the status of the Refuge System from her perspective and the numerous challenges it is facing in the current political climate. She also outlined some of the many activities of the Refuge Association, including advocacy, supporting friends groups, expanding urban outreach, and combating threats to refuges.

Another 50-year anniversary observance followed with Bill Wilen speaking on the history of the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI). Bill’s presentation provided a great background on how the NWI started in developing a wetland classification system to map wetland areas by location and type. and monitoring trends by periodically updating their Wetlands Status and Trends reports. The maps the NWI produced have been invaluable to decision-makers within the FWS and to all of our partners and stakeholders. Bill explained how much has been accomplished in the last 50 years, from creating hand-drawn maps from aerial photos to digitally automating maps from satellite imagery. Staff from the local NWI office joined the retirees for his presentation.

The afternoon’s agenda closed with a presentation from our sponsor, Ducks Unlimited (DU). Brian Glenzinski, Manager of Conservation Programs for DU’s Great Lakes Initiative, gave a brief overview of their work restoring, enhancing, and protecting large marshes and shallow lakes throughout the Great Lakes watershed, which provide critical feeding and resting areas for waterfowl during spring and fall migration, as well as for waterfowl that breed within the region. Once again, we sincerely thank Ducks Unlimited for their generous sponsorship of and participation in our reunion.

Tuesday evening’s program reconvened at Monona Terrace with the live video announcement of the 2024 and 2025 FWS History Awards by FWS History Committee Chair, Steve Chase. History Committee member Paul Tritaik assisted by presenting the plaques in person to 2024 recipient Jerry Smith and 2025 recipient Libby Herland. Jerry was recognized for his outstanding leadership in coordinating the collection of oral histories from retired special agents. Libby was recognized for exceptionally shepherding the Oral History Subcommittee in the wake of John Cornely’s passing and substantially reducing the backlog of oral history transcriptions.

The evening concluded with a keynote speech by Dr. Stanley “Stan” Temple, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Senior Fellow of the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Stan gave us an excellent presentation on the history and legacy of Aldo Leopold, widely considered the father of wildlife ecology and conservation. Stan provided a compelling prologue to visiting the Leopold Center the next day. Stan’s appearance was especially meaningful as he graciously agreed to fill in on short notice when Doug Brinkley unfortunately could not attend due to a family emergency.

On Wednesday, we traveled by bus to the International Crane Foundation (ICF) in Baraboo, where we were greeted by staff and given a tour of the facility to view each of the 15 crane species that occur worldwide. One of the highlights was seeing the captive whooping cranes in their marsh enclosure and learning about ICF’s role in captive propagation and recovery efforts. We ate lunch in their library and had a presentation by one of the staff biologists.

After lunch we traveled to the nearby Leopold Center with a tour of the Shack and Farm of Sand County Almanac fame. There we stood on the same ground that inspired Aldo Leopold’s groundbreaking Land Ethic and poetic observances of nature’s rituals.

Thursday morning, we again boarded the bus for a 2-hour drive to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. We arrived at the visitor center and were greeted by refuge staff and a host of wonderful refuge volunteers. After a brief welcome and introduction, we were divided into two groups – one getting back on the bus to view some of the habitat challenges and restoration projects underway while the other group started with a presentation at the visitor center. We then switched with both groups reuniting for lunch at the visitor center joined by refuge staff. Afterwards, we were free to enjoy the visitor center and nearby trails on our own or with refuge volunteer guides. We were fortunate to see wild whooping cranes and trumpeter swans in the adjacent marsh, along with sandhill cranes and many other birds. There was a forecast of severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes, so we cut our visit short. As we arrived at the hotel in Madison, the sky opened up and pebble- sized hail pelted us for a few minutes.

That evening, the banquet was hosted at the Monona Terrace in a hall overlooking beautiful Lake Monona. We enjoyed a delicious buffet of local fare and, of course, a cash bar. During dinner we held a small silent auction, followed by a live auction of the Kent Olson artwork after dinner. Beatrice “Bea” Cornely generously donated three pieces of artwork by Kent Olson that he gifted to her late husband, John Cornely. In honor of John’s wishes, Bea donated the art to raise money for the Retirees Association.

A total of $1,125 was raised as a result of the auction! The three successful bidders all described their significant relationship to the subject of their winning artwork, and that they were very happy to have in their possession a piece of history by a renowned FWS artist. We are also very grateful that Jim Dubovsky kept these in his home until auction in Madison

One other memorable event that evening was the presentation of Vietnam War veteran commemorative pins to veterans Jerry Smith and Dick Gritman by Daughters of the American Revolution member Sharon Hagenbuck to honor their service. Sharon similarly recognized Vietnam War veterans Dale Hall and Lew Gorman earlier in the week.

While the attendance in Madison was smaller than other recent reunions, we received overwhelmingly positive feedback on the venue, accommodations, speakers, socials, field trips and banquet. All in all, it was another rousing success! We pledged to bring along more retirees to the next reunion in Anchorage, Alaska. With Helen Clough and Robin West co-chairing the event, with hopefully many of the Alaska retirees, it’s sure to be another excellent adventure! We hope you can join us to have even more fun in Anchorage, September 21-25, 2026!