For over 30 years, Paul worked with the DNR out of the Wilson Nursery in Boscobel. Throughout his career, Paul worked as a special conservation warden, land acquisition agent, property manager, and educator along with his primary work as wildlife biologist. Paul was instrumental in the creation of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, assisting the DNR in purchasing thousands of acres of public land.

He played an integral role in Wisconsin’s turkey re-introduction program and assisted in organizing the early landowner appreciation days, which became a hallmark of the successful turkey management program in the state. Paul gave hundreds of public presentations to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the area’s wildlife and natural resources, and spent countless hours both on and off the job picking up litter along his beloved Riverway.

During these years he had a partner in life and a fellow lover of all things environment, Ruth Bauer. Ruth was an art teacher for the Boscobel school district for 24 years.

In 2005, Paul passed away unexpectedly at age 60, leaving over $600,000 to his Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Fund. Paul also bequeathed 80 acres of land to the Boscobel Area School District that was dedicated as the Paul Brandt School Forest.(PBSF) Ruth shared Paul’s vision and became the driving force behind developing the bequeathed land into an outdoor classroom for the students and staff. Ruth poured her heart and soul into initially working on getting the school board to accept Paul’s donation of land and thus in 2006, the story of the Paul Brandt School forest began. Ruth would share bits and pieces of ideas she had for developing the forest. She talked about the need to fundraise, so that we could build trails and pay for busing to get the kids and teachers out there. Ruth had the vision and knew what she wanted, so began long nights and weekends searching for and writing grants.

In 2008, we received the

Target grant so the first annual Earth Day was held. That money paid for busing the kids out and porta potty rental. We realized that the teachers were really wanting to have ideas for what activities to have the kids do.

So in 2011 we wrote our first grant to the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board (WEEB) . These grants were for schools to help develop and continue school forests. We received our first grant from WEEB and wrote curriculum for each grade level. It matched activities to the curriculum for spring, fall and winter.

In 2012 we received another WEEB grant for supplies. We had written all of the activities, but we needed materials. We were able to purchase microscopes, binoculars, butterfly nets, etc.

In 2013, we received another WEEB grant to build a road so that the buses could turn into the land and not unload out on the road. We also held seven different family fun nights with activities for the families to do.

With Ruth’s determination and vision, we have received more grants to develop the garden and fence it in. We have built a large shed for storage materials. We held a buffalo stomp…where the kids all helped sow seeds for the 20 acre tall grass prairie. There were more grants and fundraising, concession stands, pop can collecting, talking to civic groups, recycling shoes, saving box tops, selling produce and maple syrup from the land. Sadly, Ruth died in February, 2019 from cancer. We lost our leader, our mentor, our school forest “queen”, We lost a true friend.

Greg Plotz, and I have tried to keep the forest accessible to staff and students. Greg continued all the mowing and maintenance and the tree cutting, the maple syrup collection, the garden, greeting classes, fixing, …the list continues and is very long! Covid then changed everything; no staff or students came out and we had to cancel an Earth day. But the upkeep and maintenance continued. Greg saw to that. He has worked tirelessly. But it’s time for him to have time for his family and spoil some grandchildren. He was done at the forest on June 30. We have posted the coordinator position. I’m hopeful that we will find someone who loves being in nature and who wants to share their love of outdoors to create experiences for our children.

Ruth took the gift from Paul and has taken it from 80 acres of land into a true outdoor learning environment. A place where teachers and kids alike can learn to cherish the amazing place we call The Paul Brandt school  Forest.