POSTER PRESENTER: http://tinyurl.com/2024WSC-Greymont CO-AUTHORS: Isaiah Guida and Anna Matthews, UW-Stevens Point TITLE: Student led stewardship: A path to restoring wetlands through volunteer workdays ABSTRACT: The Stevens Point student chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) teaches members about stewardship and safety protocols to follow during volunteer workdays through a newly developed stewardship training. In 2019 the officers of the club developed a weekend stewardship training class and a textbook based on the official Society for Ecological Restoration standards. This training allows students to safely lead workdays and put into practice many techniques used in the restoration field. This training is paired with a larger workday called the Restoration Celebration, which focuses on a specific work site and allows new stewards to practice their leadership skills. UWSP SER has workday sites within Schmeeckle Reserve and around the Portage County area. These sites are in a variety of habitats, including wetlands. On these workdays, volunteers perform activities such as collecting native seeds, planting native plants, removing invasive species, assisting with prescribed burns, and more. This presentation will focus on the training of volunteer stewards and the work that follows at their chosen sites. BIO: Olivia Greymont is a senior at UW-Stevens Point (UWSP). She is majoring in ecological restoration and is actively involved on campus through student organizations including UWSP Fire Crew and UWSP Society of Ecological Restoration (SER). She has served as the vice president of student chapter of UWSP SER for three years. Olivia is also involved in SER’s student stewardship program and has been a site steward for four years.