Volunteer Highlight: Marilyn Hansotia

Marilyn Hansotia. Photo by Kay McKinley.

“Volunteering and learning with like-minded folks has been a privilege and so rewarding.”

Lives in: Ellison Bay

Profession: Home health nursing, journalist with local radio stations in central Wisconsin

Number of years in Door County: 19

Started volunteering: Started in the 1990s with the Rushes Wilderness Foundation as a timeshare owner

Area of interest: Bat monitoring

Volunteer accomplishments: In addition to regular bat monitoring, invasive-species control at several properties, educational programming on monarchs and leading interpretive hikes. I also do frog, toad and stream monitoring.

Why she began volunteering, and why she continues: I enjoy working with like-minded people who focus on the issues of the natural world, and having the opportunity to make a positive impact.

What she’s gained from volunteering: Volunteering and learning with like-minded folks has been a privilege and so rewarding. I was a student in the first Master Naturalist course offered in Door County. This opportunity opened doors to many others.

Favorite volunteering moment: Telling folks about the amazing habitat in Door County – so amazing that we have 12,000 acres in northeastern Door designated as Wetlands of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971.