Learn About Your Land

We cover topics of interest to local landowners, such as:

Most Learn About Your Land classes are held in person, and some also have an online option via Zoom. Whether you are a new landowner, looking to become more engaged in your family’s woodland, or want to brush up on your knowledge, Learn About Your Land is a great opportunity to get your questions answered. You’ll also get to meet your county’s DNR forester, who can walk with you through your property and give you tailored advice on forest management.

We rotate through Wisconsin’s counties from year to year, so most counties have Learn About Your Land classes every 5-6 years. Classes typically happen in fall and winter in the evenings so that everyone can attend. For folks who live in a city but own land elsewhere in the state, we also hold some classes in larger urban areas.

Since 2008, nearly 7,000 households across Wisconsin, representing a total of 161,000 acres, have attended Learn About Your Land. We invite you to join us at an upcoming class!

The workshops were extremely informative and enjoyable. I believe we will use much of the material and information that was shared.

—Learn About Your Land participant

Getting Things Done in Your Woods

For landowners who have already participated in Learn About Your Land classes, as well as those who are eager to get things done in their woods, we offer annual classes via Zoom focused on tangible actions you can take as a next step.

The most recent Getting Things Done in Your Woods classes were in January 2025. They covered wildlife monitoring techniques, woods roads and trails, using herbicide to control invasive plants, and how to choose which trees to harvest and which to leave.

Thank you for providing such an excellent presentation yesterday! I use trail cameras extensively to monitor wildlife, and adding the tracking and cover plots will be an exciting addition. My primary interest is small carnivores, but I love the herps, too, and picked up some good ideas for identifying and finding.

—Getting Things Done class participant

New Landowner Outreach

Along with collaborators from Extension’s Agriculture Institute and UW-Madison’s Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, we are engaged in outreach specifically aimed at new landowners in Wisconsin.

We developed a website for getting started with land stewardship, which includes resources on water, wildlife, woods, farming, grasslands, gardens & pollinators, people, building & roads, and legal aspects of land stewardship. We also held several webinars where new landowners jump-started their stewardship journey by connecting with natural resource professionals from a wide range of organizations.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the range of options, programs, goals, etc but the webinars seemed like a really great introduction. 
 
My two main takeaways are 
1- Start anywhere, and people will be happy to help pass you along to the right resources.
2- Make connections with the different organizations and with our peers, conservation works really well as a community effort even if we all are working our own lands. 
 
Having examples of what goals could look like was really helpful in beginning to answer our own questions. I was also inspired to hear from others who were attending the seminar again, or had begun their conservation efforts but were still welcome to return and make more connections. I look forward to sitting in again in the future!

—Getting Started With Stewardship webinar attendee

Upcoming Events

On July 19, 2025, we will hold a field day for new landowners to connect with each other and with conservation professionals. Mark your calendar now! (Registration coming soon)

We will hold more in-person Learn About Your Land classes in fall 2025. We plan to hold the next round of online Getting Things Done in Your Woods classes in early 2026.

If you have questions about Learn About Your Land or want to be the first to know about future classes, contact:

If you have questions about our new landowner outreach efforts, including the land stewardship website and events for new landowners, contact:

Learn About Your Land and Next Steps classes are funded in part by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Our new landowner engagement efforts are also funded in part by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.

Page last updated June 2025.