Queen Bee Session 11: Heidi Hankley

The Queen Bee Sessions are monthly-ish conversations with Wisconsin Women in Conservation (WiWiC), a collaboration between four Wisconsin agricultural organizations who are seeking to connect more women landowners and farmers with conservation resources and funding. The podcast is hosted by WiWiC Communications Specialist Kriss Marion. In July, Kriss chatted with Heidi Hankley, a prairie property owner in rural Green County. Heidi won the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources “State Natural Areas Volunteer Stewards of the Year Award in 2022 for a decade of efforts to preserve and enhance the York Prairie State Natural Areas, a 145-acre public prairie down the road from her. In this Session, we talk about State Natural Areas that protect “little gems,” the best times for collecting native seed from prairies and roadsides, balancing volunteerism with family, combining art and land stewardship and how it all started with salamanders and cousins. Listen in!