When volunteers return to the same prairie through many seasons, they can notice what a single workday cannot. Diane Perschbacher and Rory Williams have spent years caring for Oshkosh-Larsen Trail Prairies in Winnebago County. On Oct. 8, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources named them its 2026 State Natural Areas Volunteers of the Year, recognizing their stewardship of the site.
The pair began volunteering in 2018 and became volunteer stewards after their first year, the DNR said. Since then, nearly 1,500 volunteer hours have gone to the prairie. Their work includes removing invasive plants, monitoring rare plants, collecting seed, and surveying bumblebees and butterflies.
The site is unusual in shape. The DNR describes three low prairie remnants spread along a four-mile segment of a former railroad right-of-way. The 13-acre natural area follows the Wiowash State Trail in Winnebago County and is owned by the county. It received State Natural Area designation in 1980.
The DNR calls the wet-mesic remnants noteworthy for their position at the northeastern edge of Wisconsin's prairie-oak savanna region. That detail describes the landscape the stewards care for; it is not a claim that volunteers created the habitat.
A trail and agricultural fields border the narrow corridor, leaving it vulnerable to invasive-plant pressure, the DNR said. Perschbacher and Williams have worked on more than 18 kinds of invasive plants and made progress in reducing many of them. The DNR's release does not provide before-and-after counts for plant cover or rare-species numbers.
Stewardship at the prairie also involves paying attention to what is already growing there. The DNR says the pair monitor rare plants, gather seed, and survey for bumblebees and butterflies. They have also compiled calendars showing when native plants bloom and when their seeds are ready to collect. The calendars are meant to help improve site management by organizing observations across the growing season.
The site’s plant list helps explain what that care is meant to protect. The DNR names native prairie grasses including little bluestem, Indian grass, prairie drop-seed and prairie cord grass. It also lists flowering plants such as shooting star, blazing star, compass plant and gentians. These are descriptions of species present at the natural area, not a claim that every one was recorded in a particular survey by the pair.
Williams told the DNR that the volunteers enjoy seeing rare species reappear each year. He connected that observation with the practical work of removing invasives, which can make room for native species. The DNR’s announcement describes their effort at one site; it does not present a population study or quantify changes in rare-plant numbers.
Wisconsin’s State Natural Areas include protected prairies, forests, wetlands and other habitats. The DNR says the statewide system supports 90% of the state’s rare plant species and 75% of its rare wildlife species. Those are statewide figures, not a measured outcome at Oshkosh-Larsen. The 13-acre prairie is one locally owned part of that network, where stewardship depends on steady attention to a narrow stretch of native landscape.
The DNR’s broader volunteer program offers a way for others to join. Its listings include workdays at natural areas across Wisconsin, while the program says people can begin with a single day and later become workday leaders or site stewards. Typical assignments include cutting brush, controlling invasive plants, collecting seeds, monitoring rare species and preparing fire breaks. No experience is necessary to begin, and the agency says training and equipment are supplied on site. The page directs prospective volunteers to upcoming workdays and regional contacts. That path—from one day of help to years of stewardship—mirrors the route Perschbacher and Williams took at Oshkosh-Larsen.
Perschbacher described volunteering as a way to enjoy nature while supporting it. At Oshkosh-Larsen, that work has meant repeated visits, careful observations and practical records that can help guide the next season. The award announced this month recognizes two volunteers, but the hours and calendars they have built belong to a broader kind of community effort: learning a place well enough to care for it over time.
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