“Many hands make light work,” is a good reminder to small organizations with big ideas. Observatory Science Director Dr. Jennifer Phillips-Vanderberg has one of those big ideas for the community of Port Washington. With the help of some incredibly generous and dedicated partners, the Observatory’s multi-year Neighborhood Habitat Improvement Project hopes to inspire more local citizens to become proud and active contributors of a conservation-minded community where their actions will result in better water quality, beautiful and healthy yards, and improved habitat for struggling populations of birds, butterflies and pollinators.

We extend our heartfelt thanks for the encouragement and support of the following foundations and organizations that, like the Observatory, believe we can make a better life for all by being faithful stewards of our environment.

These include the We Energies Foundation, Natural Resources Foundation, Brico Foundation, James Dutton Foundation, Dorothy Inbusch Family Foundation, Arthur J. Donald Family Foundation, American Transmission Company, Ozaukee County Planning and Parks, Port Washington Parks and Forestry, the Kettle Moraine YMCA, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee – Conservation and Environmental Science Department, Wild Ones - Menomonee River Area, Port Washington Garden Club, Native Roots Design, ARTservancy, the Wisconsin Monarch Collaborative, Bird City Wisconsin, A Wealth of Nature, Friends of Cedarburg Bog, the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, the W.J. Niederkorn Library and a growing number of individual volunteers.

Please contact us at if you or your organization would like to become a contributing partner to the Neighborhood Habitat Improvement Project.