Fall 2014 Newsletter
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
ADDITIONS TO THE BOARD
PARTNERING TO PROTECT
WESTERN WI STREAMS
POGO LAKE
BIRD SANCTUARY ADDITION
TRIMBELLE RIVER
CAMP AMNICON
Conserving Land on the
Lake Superior Coast
Amnicon River
Camp Amnicon, a youth ministry
camp in northern Douglas County,
has donated a conservation easement
to West Wisconsin Land Trust which
permanently protects 500 acres of
their land on the south shore of Lake
Superior. Partners in this effort include
Enbridge, the US Fish & Wildlife Service,
and the Wisconsin Stopover Initiative.
Held by the land trust, the easement
will maintain the unique conservation
values of this property in perpetuity.
This beautiful portion of the Lake
Superior Coastal Plain includes two miles
of wild Amnicon River frontage and onehalf mile of Lake Superior shoreline.
The Amnicon River originates at Lyman
Lake and then flows for thirty miles,
descending 640 feet before joining Lake
Superior. The Amnicon is designated
as Outstanding Resource Water by the
State of Wisconsin.
An innovative feature of the easement
is the creation of a significant new
opportunity for migratory bird research.
The camp and the land trust are
partnering with the Wisconsin Stopover
Initiative to enable avian researchers to
utilize this land for long-term studies of
the habits and needs of these birds. The
Stopover Initiative is a collaboration of
public agencies, private organizations,
individuals, and businesses working to
provide habitat for migratory birds.
In addition to being ecologically
important on its own accord, Camp
Amnicon is contiguous to over 800 acres
of neighboring private properties that
are also under conservation easements
Welcome
Dear Friends,
Welcome to our fall newsletter. As
you may have noticed, we now have
multiple “channels” for you to keep
up with the work of the land trust. In
addition to this fall print publication,
we publish an annual report every
spring, a monthly e-newsletter, a
Facebook page, and our website. As
we all know, communicating can be
a complicated business these days!
We hope that one or more of these
formats will be just right for you.
We are now in an important fund
raising period. The largest portion of
our individual gifts comes to us in the
final quarter. This year-end giving
season is critical to our continued
pursuit of land conservation, as over
half of our income is from individuals.
If you have already contributed this
year, thanks again for your generosity and for your commitment to
conservation.
If your membership is up for renewal,
I want to thank you in advance for
taking the time to carefully consider
the request you will be receiving
from us. These gifts are your investment in this corner of the world that
we all love and that continues to sustain us in so many ways. We look forward to continuing to work together
to preserve the best of this landscape
for all the generations to come.
-Bob Fitzwilliam
Executive Director
[email protected]
held by West Wisconsin Land Trust. The
combined 1,300+ acres is critical habitat
that will be conserved forever.
Camp Amnicon has offered wilderness
trips and retreat programs to youth,
adults, and families from all backgrounds
for almost fifty years. According to the
camp’s executive director, Alana Butler,
the camp strives “to connect the mission
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America with the care of God’s creation
through community based camping,
family camps, and retreats.” Ms. Butler
and the camp’s board feel that this
conservation easement with a research
component fits perfectly with the camp’s
mission and its commitment to good
stewardship of the camp’s lands.
Funding for this project was made
possible through a grant from the US Fish
and Wildlife Service, as well as generous
gifts from supporters of Camp Amnicon,
from Enbridge, and from members of
West Wisconsin Land Trust.
NEW MEMBERS OF
THE WWLT TEAM
Conservation
We are pleased to announce
that Andrew Norman has
joined our conservation department as conservation
specialist. He graduated from
UW-Eau Claire with a B.S.
in Geography and Resource
Management and has most
recently been working parttime as a wildlife technician
with the DNR. In this halftime position at the land trust,
Andrew is providing much
needed help for our annual
monitoring of 175 conservation easements, as well as
supporting the implementation of new projects.
Communications
Two Great Additions to
the Board
This spring we welcomed long-time
Menomonie resident Bill Butsic to the
WWLT board. Bill recently retired from
managing the Con Agra (Swiss Miss)
production facility in Menomonie. He
originally hails from the UP of Michigan
and is an avid cross-country skier and all
around outdoors enthusiast. He is a very
active volunteer in the Dunn County
community, serving on a number of
boards and local initiatives.
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We feel similarly fortunate to have Rory
Cameron join us for a two-year term. Rory
has served as a circuit judge in Chippewa
Falls since 1983. A native of Rice Lake, he
is a member of Beaver Creek Reserve in
Fall Creek and president of the Beaver
Creek Bird Club. Rory is passionate about
birds and participates in annual owl,
marsh bird, and Golden Eagle surveys.
Other interests include running, biking,
and playing the highland bagpipes.
This year we were also happy
to welcome Scott Fischer to
our communications team.
Scott is a senior in the Entertainment Design program at
UW-Stout and is helping us to
polish and keep current our
various digital publications.
We may not need any of the
Pixar-like special effects that
Scott can cook up, but we
are very much appreciating
the extra design help and his
terrific problem-solving skills.
Scott’s work is supported by
a grant from the Community
Foundation of Dunn County.
CONSERVATION PLANNING GAINS MOMENTUM
Brule River Watershed
West Wisconsin Land Trust is partnering
with the newly formed Brule River
Coalition to produce a road map for
conservation planning in the watershed
of this Wisconsin jewel. Funding for our
effort has come from the Biodiversity
Fund of the Duluth/Superior Area
Community Foundation, as well as
the Midwest Office of the Land Trust
Alliance. We are happy to be joining
forces with Brule River Preservation,
Inc. and a host of other organizations to
assess the needs of the watershed and
to develop a conservation action plan.
To learn more about this initiative visit
bruleriverpreservation.org.
CONSERVING OUR NORTHWOODS HERITAGE
Pogo Lake
Pogo Lake, also known as Big Lake, is
located in central Polk County within the
West Wisconsin Land Trust Northwoods
Landscape. This 135-acre project is an
addition to a 240-acre conservation
easement completed in 2003.
The now 375-acre project encompasses
the entirety of Pogo Lake and nearly
two miles of wild, natural shoreline
surrounded by mature northern drymesic forest, tamarack-black spruce bog,
and moist sandy meadow. Ephemeral
ponds dot the forest. The diverse,
hummocky topography on the property
is indicative of the outwash plain
found along the terminal moraine of
Wisconsin’s last glacier.
After the first phase of the project was
completed over a decade ago, owners
Tim Dickinson and Terri Tacheny were
committed to permanently protecting
LAND TRUSTS JOIN
FORCES FOR LAKE
SUPERIOR LAND
CONSERVATION
West Wisconsin Land Trust
provided support to Bayfield
Regional Conservancy (BRC)
in order to conserve the headwaters of North Pikes Creek,
which is located near the tip
of the Bayfield peninsula.
Over the past year BRC received funding from WWLT’s
US Fish & Wildlife funded
South Shore Streams project,
the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, and also
the USDA Community Forest
Program in order to acquire
the 280-acre wetland. BRC
will own the property and
will work with the Friends of
North Pikes Creek to manage
it for long-term water quality, species conservation, and
sediment reduction, as well
as for public education and
enjoyment.
the north half of the lake. Their foresight
ensures that Pogo Lake and its varied
forest and wetland communities will
remain as we see them today.
Wildlife on the property is abundant,
with bald eagles and nesting trumpeter
swans commonly seen on and around
the lake. And because diversity begets
diversity, the property teems with a wide
array of plants, animals and birds—each
in tune with its own unique habitat.
Pogo Lake is located within the Straight
Lake Conservation Opportunity Area, as
identified in the Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources Wildlife Action
Plan. This area is significant in the upper
Midwest for its habitat and geological
attributes. Straight Lake State Park, the
cornerstone of the area, is approximately
three miles northwest of the property.
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Bird Sanctuary Addition
PARTNERING
TO PROTECT
WESTERN WI
STREAMS
In Douglas County, adjacent to the area
known locally as the Bird Sanctuary, we
are working to acquire approximately
twenty-four critical acres. The land is
immediately adjacent to the Solon
Springs Sharptail Barrens State Natural
Area, within the 4,000-acre Douglas
County Wildlife Area. It is located within
a landscape designated as Wisconsin
Priority Conservation Opportunity
Area for Wildlife Species of Greatest
Conservation Need and is regarded as
globally significant.
The acreage contains the flora and fauna
of the pine barrens with scattered clumps
of jack pine, Hill’s oak, bur oak grubs,
and occasional red pine. The vegetation
is characteristic of the pre-settlement
vegetation that once covered much of
northwestern Wisconsin. Maintained by
fire, the barrens are one of the best sharptailed grouse habitats in Wisconsin.
We are seeking funding from the
Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program
and from our project partner, the Friends
of the Bird Sanctuary. Their website is
fotbs.org.
LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR
Punchbowl Spruce Up
We are happy to report that Fairmount
Minerals will be donating $5,000 toward
the construction of the new stairs at the
Devil’s Punchbowl near Menomonie.
This effort has become a terrific collaboration among a wide variety of business-
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es, civic organizations, and individual
donors. Also pitching in with significant
donations are: Community Foundation of Dunn County, Cedar Corp., Dunn
Energy’s Round Up Fund, Menomonie
Noon Rotary, and WESTconsin Credit
Union. We anticipate construction being
completed this fall.
The McKnight Foundation
has awarded $50,000 to West
Wisconsin Land Trust to
support permanent protection
and public access along
streams in western Wisconsin.
This two-year grant enables
the land trust to collaborate
with the Wisconsin DNR’s
stream bank program, which
aims to add 100 miles of
public access statewide
through the purchase of
permanent easements from
private landowners.
This will result in increased
public access for fishing
and wildlife observation,
and provides for permanent
conservation of these riparian
lands. Our newest staff
member, Andrew Norton,
is WWLT’s point person for
this effort. He is working
with area DNR staff to
provide additional on-theground support. He will be
meeting with landowners as
needed and developing site
information for stream bank
easement purchases. We
are hoping this added effort
helps create a high number
of easements in western
Wisconsin.
We are extremely grateful
for McKnight’s support for
this work and their ongoing
commitment to our region’s
aquatic resources.
Trimbelle
River
This project will acquire 40 acres of
land in Pierce County containing the
Trimbelle River corridor and associated
riparian acreage. The property lies
within the heart of a large landscape of
protected floodplain forest habitat and
will provide important wildlife habitat
and recreational opportunities. This is
the last parcel needed to complete a
451-acre block of publically accessible
conservation land in a county that has
greater than 95% of the land in private
ownership. All of this land will be
managed for wildlife habitat and public
recreation.
The property contains approximately
one-half mile of frontage on the Trimbelle
River, a Class II trout stream, which runs
north to south through the property.
The Trimbelle River is also considered a
Wisconsin Exceptional Resource Water,
and is a priority for protection.
We hope to acquire this property with
funding from the Knowles-Nelson
Stewardship Program, as well as
funding from the Kinnikinnic Chapter of
Pheasants Forever. We expect to wrap
up the project this fall.
A LANDOWNER’S STORY
Why I Love This Place
So many of our land projects begin
with one family’s affection for a
particular piece of land. Such is the
case with this Chippewa County
farm that has been protected by a
conservation easement held by the
land trust.
Nestled on the southern edge
of the Chippewa Moraine near
New Auburn, these 240 acres
are a remarkably diverse mix of
forest, wetlands, kettle lakes, and
agricultural fields. And right through
it all flows McCann Creek, a Class
I brook trout stream. Nearby are
hundreds of acres of state recreation
land. Sally grew up here and
still sees those fields and forests
every day. In 2005, she decided to
conserve it forever. Below, in her
own words, Sally describes what this
small piece of western Wisconsin has
meant to her and to her family.
My soul knew this place before
my conception and my soul will
know this place long after I am
gone. Outer landscapes have
shaped inner landscapes. This
place has raised more than just
crops and dairy animals. This
place is not done raising me yet.
This place has been a childhood
playground full of delights: a
big front yard to play ball in; a
creek to wade in; a hill to slide
on; ponds to catch frogs in; a
barn full of cows for milk and
witnessing the birth of calves;
a haymow rope to swing on; a
large garden to pick and eat
fresh produce from; a clothesline
to make a tent of blankets to
sleep outdoors.
This place has been a workforce
development camp. Farm
chores were done daily on a
regular schedule. Teamwork,
responsibility, accountability and
creative problem solving were
not only encouraged but needed.
It was here that I learned
physical labor has the power to
free the mind of worries. It was
here that I learned time spent
outdoors is good for the body
and soul.
This place has been my college
dorm. Finding it less expensive
to commute to University of
Wisconsin – Eau Claire from
New Auburn, I stayed home on
the farm. The folks bought my
commuter car and paid for my
college education. My mother
would do my chores so I could
spend more time studying, but
I helped when I could - while
going to school and for years
beyond.
This place has been my weekend
destination when I worked
my first professional job in
Wisconsin Rapids.
This place has been my home
when I found new employment
in Chippewa Falls. A few years
later I married but continued
to visit weekly, helping my folks
with projects and maintenance.
This place has been my
sanctuary at the end of my
marriage. The best way for me
to heal was to get back to my
rural roots.
This place has been a hospice for
both of my parents. Dad called it
his “private” nursing home.
This place has been my home
during my career in healthcare.
Now I am developing new skills
and talents here.
This place has been permanently
protected and preserved as an
everlasting expression of my
gratitude for the “groundworks”.
That protection ensures that this
place will forever continue to
support my growth and spiritual
evolution.
- Sally Lewis
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West Wisconsin Land Trust
NONPROFIT ORG
U.S. POSTAGE
500 East Main Street, Suite 307
PAID
Menomonie, Wisconsin 54751
EAU CLAIRE, WI
PERMIT NO. 2141
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
“A deep familiarity between a
local community and a local
landscape is a dear thing,
just in human terms. It’s also,
down the line, money in the
bank, because it helps you to
preserve the working capital
of the place.”
- Wendell Berry
This newsletter is published by:
West Wisconsin Land Trust
500 East Main Street, Suite 307
Menomonie, Wisconsin 54751
Phone: 715-235-8850
www.wwlt.org
©2014 – All rights reserved
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