​​​Spring Co-Chapter Conference - 2026:

March, 7th 

29 Pines

5872 33rd Ave, Eau Claire, WI 54703

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Feeling a touch of "Cabin Fever"? ... Sometimes described as a psychological toll of prolonged isolation. Symptoms include restlessness and irritability, dislike for the monotony, loneliness, and internal conflicts that often accompany a Wisconsin winter...)
Your WWOA Chippewa Valley and West Central chapters offer a cure.

Save the date for our 2026 Spring Conference: 8:30 am - 12:30 pm, Saturday, March 7th at 29 Pines Conference Center.
Registration opens @ 8 am. Vendor area open by 8:30. Program starts at 9 am with breaks for coffee, snacks, door prizes, and vendor visits.
Cost is $35.

Committed presenters include:
-- "Ongoing DIY projects to Optimize your woodlot for wildlife, and resale.":
Rural land is sought-after investment. Values have increased 16-63 percent in the past five years. Value is often uniquely tied to the experience it offers. Food plots, ponds, TSI and wildlife management add value. Land management pros offer some ideas on projects you can tackle over time that will yield results for wildlife and your financial legacy.
Chippewa area private foresters Mike Dahlby and Chris Thies collaborate to share their ideas, guidance and best practices on .how to add a pond, food plot, trails, etc. (https://www.facebook.com/p/Dahlby-Conservation-Services & www.caslforestryservice.com)

-- Trees, Ticks & Tourniquets: How to identify and remove biting arthropods: symptoms to watch for and when to head to the clinic; Learn how to apply a simple device that could save your life when you've fouled up. (20 tourniquets being given away as door prizes!) Dr. Isaac Dzubay, Regions Hospital, St. Paul.

-- "Chainsaw Love: Field Notes on the World’s Most Dynamic Power Tool"  Waupaca author James Card shares the inspiration that fueled his new book. Described as “part homage, part social history, and part field guide,” and “the perfect book for chainsaw users of all stripes—from loggers to conservationists, woodworkers to weekend cabin-dwellers—and anyone curious about this magnificent and under-appreciated machine” https://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/chainsaw-love
Card is the editor for the Waupaca County Post, Stevens Point Gazette, New London Press Star and Clintonville Tribune Gazette. He has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Foreign Policy, and other national publications and is the only journalist in history to have stories about ice fishing and deer hunting on the front page of The New York Times.

Wisconsin newspaper editor James Card recently published the book Chainsaw Love: Field Notes on the World’s Most Dynamic Power Tool through Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
Card is the editor for the Waupaca County Post, Stevens Point Gazette, New London Press Star and Clintonville Tribune Gazette.
Described as “part homage, part social history, and part field guide,” Chainsaw Love is a perfect book for chainsaw users of all stripes—from loggers to conservationists, woodworkers to weekend cabin-dwellers—and anyone curious about this magnificent and under-appreciated machine. The book is available by clicking here.
In Chainsaw Love, author Card celebrates this formidable implement in unflinching style, sharing stories and reflections about the world of chainsaws and the people who use and appreciate them.
Card describes the personal freedom that comes from harvesting your own trees for firewood and introduces readers to lumberjack competitors, hot-saw builders, and the sculpture carvers who take sawing to new heights.
Chainsaw Love asserts the key role chainsaws play in clearing the right-of-way for power lines to keep the electrical grid humming; in forestry and conservation efforts to maintain desirable ecosystems; and in the sciences, where ecologists and astronomers use chainsaws to age trees for scientific research. Card also considers the chainsaw’s place in pop culture, from movies to rock songs to presidential photo ops.  
Card has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Foreign Policy, and other national publications. He is the only journalist in history to have stories about ice fishing and deer hunting on the front page of The New York Times.
Between stints as a magazine editor and a journalist, Card worked as a line-clearance tree faller. He is the author of The Dawn Patrol Diaries, recounting his experiences as South Korea’s only fly-fishing guide. He lives in central Wisconsin and cuts firewood with a chainsaw throughout the year.
https://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/chainsaw-love

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Winter/Spring Chapter Field Day - 2026

TBD - April 4th or April 11th

Tentative plan to meet at the River Falls school forest

Hoping to cover the topic of controlled burns (weather pending, fingers crossed)

More details to come!