On April 19th Dane County Parks held their annual Operation Fresh Start(OFS) gathering inside their garage facility on Robertson Road. The Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy hosted the event and although we were disappointed that the event could not be held outside at PBC due to weather, the gathering and training sessions all went very well. The FOPBC remain grateful for the past and future work accomplished in restoration and management of PBC by the OFS teams within their Conservation Academy training activities. Our Land Manager, Rob Schubert, and Restoration & Management Committee member, Susan Gruber, have collaborated with OFS and nurtured this relationship over the years. They have completed many difficult and important tasks within PBC. We were honored to host this event and value immensely our continuing relationships with Dane County Parks and Operation Fresh Start. Photos show Dane County Executive, Joe Parisi, FOPBC Co-president, Hans Hilbert and Dane County Parks staff, Shane Otto, addressing the entire gathering, as well as training sectionals provided by the FOPBC, including Rob Schubert and Susan Gruber on the Propagation Garden in PBC and Michael Niebauer and student (UW-Madison) naturalist, Drake, on increasing numbers of grassland birds within PBC as a result of our prairie restoration efforts. Additionally, time was given Gary Sater (Co-chair of R&M and Board member) within the grassland birds presentation to talk about the physical and mental health benefits of time spent in nature.