I've always loved to be outdoors. Growing up on a farm in Yucatan Valley, near Houston, Minnesota, it was impossible to avoid being outdoors nearly every day. My sisters were in college before I was old enough to enjoy having someone to play with, so nature was my playground and companion. We raised almost all of our food on the farm, including milk, butter, beef, pork, chickens, and many different kinds of vegetables. My jobs as a young child included herding the 'house cow' into the barn for daily milking, shutting the chicken coop door at night to keep out predators, and helping with gardening and canning vegetables.
My love of the outdoors inspired my profession as a wildlife biologist. I started Trillium Consulting shortly after I retired from my full-time job as a regional biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I continue to promote the conservation of natural resources and I especially enjoy working with private landowners. In the Driftless Area, there is a trend for small farmsteads to be purchased by retirees from urban areas. Young families move to the Driftless Area to farm or to improve their quality of life. These new landowners are interested in learning more about their land. They are looking for suggestions about how they should be caring for the land to sustain its ecological integrity.
In this blog, I'll be sharing some thoughts, ideas, and how-to tips for the conservation of natural resources that I've gleaned from many different experiences and from working with my clients. I hope they will be useful to you!
Melinda Knutson, Ph.D.
Wildlife Ecologist