Each year at the Crawford County Fair, the Crawford County Land Conservation Committee (LCC) recognizes individuals who go above and beyond to protect soil and water. This year, five awards were conferred.
Those awards were the Conservation Legacy, Conservation Farm Family of the Year, Water Quality, Conservation Forestry, and Conservation Educator awards.
Dudgeon Family Angus
To be honored as the Farm Family of the Year requires having a successful operation, while putting forth extra effort into conserving land and water.
“This year’s winner does just that,” Crawford County Conservation Director Dave Troester told those present at the awards ceremony. “The 2025 Farm Family of the Year is Dudgeon Family Angus.”
Dudgeon Family Angus consists of Silas and Rebekah Dudgeon, their children Breanna, 20, Hannah, 18, Sarah, 13, Micah, 8, Kathryn 5, and Alexander, 3, and Silas’ father, Dr. Richard Dudgeon, DVM.
Silas and Rebekah purchased the family farm from Dr. Dudgeon in 2018, and were able to acquire the neighboring farm in 2022. Now, their blend of ridgetop fields and wooded valleys in the Town of Seneca totals around 331 acres.
“Silas recognizes the Great River Graziers’ pasture walks for jump starting their passion to care for the land in a sustainable way,” Troester explained. “The Dudgeons see Donnie Boland as a wonderful farming role model. Silas’ father would always say, “pick a famer that is successful and do what he does.”
According to Troester, Boland is the one who suggested that Silas take the Southwest Tech Farm course one winter. The course covered topics such as business planning, ag technology, recordkeeping, and conservation methods. Silas found this to be very beneficial to his family’s operation.
“Silas also wanted to thank the NRCS for assisting him with EQIP grazing plans, and for their Forest Management Plan,” Troester explained. “NRCS funding and technical assistance has helped get more conservation projects into their operation, and they are hoping to add in some grade stabilization structures to slow down the runoff and try to keep their topsoil in place.”
Troester said that when he asked Dudgeon about his conservation beliefs, he responded as follows:
“Conservation means implementing practices that improve the land so the next generation can continue, and be better off than the current one,” Dudgeon said. “I’m proud of how we have preserved soil through practices such as grassed waterways, no-till planting, and by converting steep fields into grazing lands. It takes years to replenish topsoil that can be washed away in a few hours.”
Fritsche honored
The LCC occasionally decides to present a Conservation Legacy Award to a group or individual that has left a long-lasting impression on our county. This year, that award goes to Karyl Fritsche, an individual who has dedicated much of her career to protecting the quality of the precious natural resources in Crawford County.
“I worked very closely with Karyl on a wide variety of projects over her time here in Crawford County,” Troester said. “Karyl told me that after starting her career in Wisconsin with back-to-back flood and drought events, she wanted to be able to do more to help farmers help the land to be more resilient. I was always so impressed with her ability to relate to our producers, and work with them on projects that made huge differences on their farms, both financially and conservation-wise.”
Troester explained that Fritsche had helped to bring millions of dollars of federal assistance into Crawford County, assisting with the installation of grade stabilization structures, rip-rap, invasive species management, grazing projects, and everything in between.
“One unique project that Karyl spearheaded was the aerial cover crop seeding project,” Troester said. “That project helped get thousands of acres of fields seeded down into cover crop each year at little to no cost to producers.”
Fritsche plans to continue her career in conservation, as well as running her businesses with farmers always in mind. She wrapped up our recent conversation with this, “I hope I have instilled the importance of stewardship in my four children, that would be my true legacy.”
Fritsche has married the importance of conservation farming into two businesses that she started. Joe 2 Go uses dairy milk sourced exclusively from WW Dairy in Waukon, Iowa. She believes she is getting a better product for her customers, and is investing directly into a local farming operation. At The Drake Piano Bar, she sources all of the meat from farmers whose conservation stewardship she has personally verified. The Piano Bar features local spirits where the distilleries and breweries are buying their grain direct from local farmers.
Water Quality
The Crawford County Land Conservation Committee likes to recognize landowners that go above and beyond in regard to preserving the quality of our surface and groundwater resources. This year’s award was given to Mike and Theresa Kelly.
“Mike and Theresa were living in southeast Wisconsin in 2017 when they finally found what they thought was their dream property, nestled along Tainter Creek in northeast Crawford County,” Troester said. “The beautiful 177-acre property was the perfect combination of fields and woods, ridges and valleys. However, they quickly learned that it would need a lot of hands-on management to keep it that way.”
Troester said they noticed that after each heavy rainfall event, they would find loads of plastic bottles and other garbage that had washed down the ditch.
“After having to fill 15 large garbage bags with these items, they were able to get the DNR to require the neighbor to clean up a decades-old trash pile on the property uphill from theirs,” Troester explained. “This situation helped them realize the interconnection between surface water and the topography of Crawford County.”
Troester said that after taking a conservation class, the two have gone on to install four grade stabilization structures (small dams) on the property to slow down the water from heavy rainfall events. He said they are working well, trapping a lot of sediment, and allowing the water to leach into the soil instead of scouring across the surface.
“This property is also enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), to ensure flood-prone fields are removed from agricultural production, which reduces soil and nutrient runoff into the streams,” Troester shared. “They also converted two acres of crop ground to a pollinator planting to reduce runoff, and improve food sources for area pollinators.”
Troester said that when he asked the Kellys about their conservation philosophy, they said, “we’ve always enjoyed being outside and watching nature, and if we can make the woods healthier or the rivers cleaner or more habitable, it just seems like the right thing to do.”
Forestry award
To be selected as the Conservation Forestry Award winner, a landowner must place the overall protection of their land’s natural resources ahead of simply maximizing the profits that the property could produce.
“The winner of this year’s award does exactly that,” Troester said. “The 2025 Conservation Forestry Award goes to Steve and Eileen Dalebroux.”
Troester shared that after getting married and finally settling in Madison, Steve and Eileen eventually began looking to buy a rural property of their own around the year 2000.
“They were strongly attracted to the Driftless Area, with its rolling hills and many rivers and streams,” Troester said. “Finally in 2002, they were able to purchase a 47-acre parcel in the Town of Scott. It was the perfect mix of hardwood forest and open fields.”
Troester said the Dalebroux worked with the Wisconsin DNR Forester for Crawford County to enroll the property into the Managed Forest Law program. This helped them to develop a plan to improve their forest habitat for wildlife, and to restore a portion of the open fields to a native prairie. Their primary focus has been on conducting timber stand improvement projects and planting thousands of evergreen trees and shrubs.
“In 2017, they were able to purchase an adjacent six-acre field, on which they quickly planted 3,200 evergreen seedlings across four acres, and have restored the other two acres to native prairie. When I looked at the most recent aerial photo of the Dalebroux property, I was pleased to see that it was obvious that they had just conducted prescribed burns on their prairie sites.”
Troester said that Christine Walroth, retired DNR Forester, told him she was very impressed how Steve and Eileen continue to work on forestry practices, including non-commercial practices such as wildlife habitat improvement and invasive species control.
“When asked about the key to the success of the work they’ve been doing on their property, Steve told me that they have received a great deal of advice and help from family, friends, and neighbors, as well as from the Wisconsin DNR and the National Wild Turkey Federation,” Troester concluded.
Educator award
The Crawford County Land Conservation Committee’s goal of maintaining a conservation-minded atmosphere in Crawford County is no easy task. With issues such as conversion to all row-crops, an increasing number of high-volume precipitation events, and invasive species threatening to change our landscape, it is critical that positive conservation messages are provided to our residents, especially our youth, through outreach and education.
“The LCC is proud to recognize individuals who help promote soil and water conservation in our county,” Troester said. “For that reason, this year’s Conservation Educator award goes to Seneca Art Teacher Cody Sime.”
Troester said that Sime relocated to Crawford County with his family in part to pursue his love of outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing. He said that when Sime started teaching art at the Seneca School District, he began having his students participate in Crawford County’s Conservation Poster contest.
“This is an annual contest with five different age groups, with a conservation theme each year determined by the National Association of Conservation Districts,” Troester explained. “For example, this year’s theme is ‘Home Is Where the Habitat Is.’ Two of Cody’s past favorite themes were the Star Wars inspired ‘May the Forest Be With You, Always,’ and ‘Dig Deeper, Mysteries in the Soil’.”
“Troester said that Sime has had students from all grade levels participate in this contest, and estimates he has coordinated over 2,000 poster entries in his time as Seneca’s Art teacher.
“That is an amazing number of students who take time depicting what conservation means to them and reflecting it through their artwork,” Troester said. “This contest is a great opportunity to keep area youth engaged with natural resources.”
“The contest is a great tool to help teach kids about our environment,” Sime said. “We live in a beautiful part of the state, and we all should want to keep it that way. I love the outdoors and enjoy sharing that with my students.”
Troester said Sime told him that he looks forward to teaching this important lesson in conservation each year. He gives credit to the students because “they have great ideas and make being an art teacher fun.”
