“A trueconservationistis a man who

knows that theworld is not given

by his fathersbut borrowed

from hischildren.”

• John James Audubon

Connectingpeople with

nature

ENTERS A NEW ERA

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In Wisconsin our natural resources are not just a part of our landscape,they’re a part of who we are. As a state, we value our hunting and fish-ing traditions and access to nature — even for those who live in our largestmetropolitan areas.

In his 2007-09 budget, Governor Jim Doyle recognized the importance ofprotecting these natural resources by calling on a major conservation achieve-ment, the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, and proposing its reauthoriza-

tion from 2010 to 2020. The Legislature agreed, and the annualbonding authority was increased from $60 million to $86 million forthis 10-year period, which reauthorizes the fund while maintaining itshistorical purchasing power. Proponents of the increase arguedsuccessfully that as land prices increase so too must funding forStewardship.

Land value appreciation in the last 30 years has put even solidlymiddle class families in the position of facing financial difficulty inpassing land down to the next generation. Estate and property taxesare often more than the heirs can afford.

Lifestyle changes also warrant Stewardship reauthorization.Recreation continues to lead to organized activities rather than inde-pendent outdoor exploration. Stewardship is the primary tool that wehave to purchase land close to population centers and provide oppor-tunities for kids from all backgrounds to just “be” in nature.

Stewardship also provides public access to recreational areas in atime when farmland and forest fragmentation have created less oppor-tunity for public access as compared to the past when large private hold-ings were open for exploration and recreation.

“The greatest threat to the vast majority of species that have calledWisconsin home for centuries is habitat loss,” says Signe Holtz, direc-tor of the DNR’s Endangered Species Program. “The Stewardship Fundis, by far, the best tool we citizens of Wisconsin have to maintain our nat-ural heritage of plants and animals in natural communities.”

And, we are learning that some wildlife, in particular forest in–terior birds, need large blocks of undeveloped spaces to survive. En-

WhyStewardship?

Natasha Kassulke

Building on a major conservation achievement.

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The Knowles-NelsonStewardship Fund preservesvaluable natural areas andwildlife habitat, protectswater quality and fisheries,and expands opportunitiesfor outdoor recreation.

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dangered species also need special places forprotection.

Continuing Stewardship, says Rep. SpencerBlack (D-Madison), provides for state landprotection by the DNR, local government andmany nonprofit conservation organization part-ners. He adds that knowing that the programis extended to 2020 allows for long-range plan-ning, negotiations with landowners, and con-tinues a Wisconsin tradition of setting asidelands for public use today and for the future.

“I believe we have an obligation to futuregenerations not only with our words, but ouractions,” says Governor Doyle. “Since I tookoffice, we’ve gone forward with projects for-ever protecting forests, parks, natural areas,wildlife habitat and shoreland.”

Stewardship lands also anchor a good por-tion of the state’s economy — from the $11 bil-lion tourism business to the $22 billion forestryindustry and the state’s $4 billion hunting andfishing investment.

“The Stewardship Fund has helped us pre-serve great natural places like Straight Lake inPolk County — a wild undeveloped lake andsurrounding areas with a rich, vibrant ecosys-tem that includes everything from northern piketo trumpeter swans — and the bluffs of LaCrosse, and the more urban setting of BigMuskego Lake,” Doyle says. “Lands like these— some of Wisconsin’s greatest outdoor areas— are one of the main reasons why peoplewant to live, vacation and move here.”

Wisconsin’s Stewardship Program contin-ues the work of the Outdoor Recreation ActProgram (ORAP) enacted in 1961 with the sup-port of Governor Gaylord Nelson and renewedin 1967 with the support of Governor WarrenKnowles. ORAP was Wisconsin’s first compre-hensive, long-term land acquisition program.Over 31 years, the program protected 54,000acres of land by collecting a one-cent per packtax on cigarettes.

While revered as a pioneering program,ORAP was losing steam by the late 1980s. ThenSpeaker of the State Assembly, Tom Loftus,wanted to see the program reinvigorated andasked Black to head a committee to develop anew ORAP.

After many public hearings and meetings ofa committee that included Knowles and formerNatural Resources Board chair Harold “Bud”Jordahl — Nelson acted as a close advisor —the Stewardship Fund was born.

Stewardship goals were to be forward think-ing, as well as bold enough to stand up to thethreats to land in Wisconsin, including increas-ing development and changing land ownershippatterns. The program also had to be coopera-tive involving partner groups and willing sell-

ers. And it had to be focused. After a few mod-ifications, the fund was adopted and included inthe 1989 state budget.

The name, “Stewardship,” reflected its mis-sion. “Stewardship is a time honored tradi-tion,” Black says. “It recognizes that we havean obligation to take care of our resources forfuture generations.”

It is a strong program locked into a 10-year investment instead of being tied to year-by-year support.

Black recalls the first Stewardship event,held in Albany on July 10, 1990. Participantsrode bicycles to the site — 194 acres of wet-lands and forests including habitat for an en-dangered plant and springs feeding the LittleSugar River. Since then, the Lower WisconsinRiver was protected along with parts of the Ket-tle Moraine State Forest. Extensive trails weredeveloped and important watersheds like LuluLake protected.

Almost 20 years later, the Stewardship Fundhas protected about a half-million acres ofwhat’s left of the best of Wisconsin, Black says.“It has preserved some very special places andexpanded outdoor recreational opportunities.”

The program is successful because it workswith willing sellers, looks at buying easementswhen it makes sense, and leverages matchgrants that allow a broader public to becomeinvested.

The Stewardship Fund has arguably be-

come the largest conservation effort in Wiscon-sin. “I’ve been delighted beyond expectations,”Black says. “It would be a very different stateif we didn’t have the Stewardship Fund.”

Stewardship has funded projects in 71 ofWisconsin's 72 counties from the majestic soli-tude of the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage to theurban Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee. Theprogram supports projects as diverse as acqui-sition of a pristine boreal forest in AshlandCounty to restoration of an urban riverfront inBeloit. And it is providing special places for res-idents and visitors alike to hike, bike, ski, hunt,fish, camp, canoe, learn and simply relax.

Growing support along with acreage“Stewardship reflects the conservation and out-door ethics of the people of Wisconsin, and isevidence that they want to get out and use theseresources,” says Steve Miller.

Miller has closely watched Stewardshipthroughout its history, first, while working withthe DNR wildlife management program andmore recently as director for the Facilities andLands Bureau. Among the Stewardship projectsof which Miller is most proud has been protec-tion and enhancement of 21,000 acres in theLower Wisconsin River Basin from the vastLower Wisconsin State Riverway to the tinyspring creeks that are home to wild populationsof brook trout.

During the second era of the Stewardship

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Straight Lake State Park,whose undevelopedshoreline was preservedwith Stewardship Funds,contains an 850-acremature forest block withsome trees approaching100 years old. It has agreat fishery and hasbeen nominated as animportant bird area bythe Wisconsin BirdConservation Initiative.It is home to eaglesand a pair of nestingtrumpeter swans.

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program, Miller says, there has been a lot of dis-cussion about how much purchased land is enough.

“We took a step back and took a longrange look at what should, and what needs tobe protected,” Miller says. “And that was thegenesis of the Land Legacy Project. It helpedput a frame around what the ‘green print’ couldbe for Wisconsin.”

The Land Legacy Report describes specialplaces that will be critical to meet conservationand recreation needs for the next 50 years.Identified over a three-year process involvingthe public, nonprofit organizations and naturalresource professionals, these Legacy Places are,collectively, what “makes Wisconsin Wiscon-sin.” Visit the Legacy website at dnr.wi.gov/master_planning/land_legacy. The report isavailable for $15 plus tax and shipping/handling. Call 800-362-7253 or visit any DNRservice center.

The third phase of Stewardship, Miller says,looks at the Statewide Comprehensive OutdoorRecreation Plan (SCORP) in an attempt to clas-sify, measure and ultimately provide for the pref-erences and needs of a statewide recreatingpublic. Recent SCORP results show that morethan 3.5 million Wisconsin citizens walk forpleasure, 2.3 million enjoy viewing and photo-

A BIPARTISAN BASE

The Wisconsin Legislature created the Steward-ship Fund in 1989 to preserve valuable naturalareas and wildlife habitat, protect water qualityand fisheries, and expand opportunities for out-door recreation. In the process, this innovativefund has proven that valuing and protecting ourland and water resources is a tradition thatcrosses political lines.

This history of bipartisanship is reflected inthe fund’s name, which honors two of Wiscon-sin’s most revered conservation leaders,WarrenKnowles (Republican, Governor 1965-1971)and Gaylord Nelson (Democrat, Governor 1959-1963, U.S. Senator 1964-1981).

Since 1989, the Stewardship Fund hasbeen adjusted several times from its originalfunding level of $25 million annually. GovernorsTommy Thompson and Scott McCallum, bothRepublicans, recognized the importance ofmaintaining the historic purchasing power ofthe Stewardship program, as has GovernorDoyle, a Democrat.

graphing wildlife, two million enjoy bicycling andanother 1.6 million enjoy fishing.

“The power of Stewardship is that it con-serves the state’s most important natural habitatwhile purchasing perpetual public access for allstate residents,” says Todd Holschbach, directorof government relations for the Wisconsin chap-ter of The Nature Conservancy.

Holschbach says Stewardship fosters public-private partnerships that allow citizens to play anactive role in protecting natural resources. TheNature Conservancy, for example, works withprivate landowners, businesses, government andother conservation organizations to conservemore than 139,000 acres of the state’s most out-standing lands and waters. TNC uses science-based planning to identify lands that needprotection and then leverages private matchingfunds.

“It’s proven to be a wise investment,” Holsch-bach says.

Fine tuning“Stewardship also has proven to be a successfulprogram,” Miller says. “Now we are fine tuning it.”

Besides increasing the bonding to maintainthe purchasing power of Stewardship, the reau-thorization (Act 20) requires that administrativerules outline a process by which the Natural Re-sources Board may restrict public access for oneor more nature-based activities, and how such de-cisions may be reviewed. These nature-based out-door activities are hunting, fishing, trapping,hiking and cross-country skiing. DNR must re-port annually to the Legislature identifying landswhere public access has been restricted or pro-hibited and the reasons.

Public comment sessions were held and DNRSecretary Matt Frank appointed a 30-memberCitizen Advisory Committee to provide input onthe rule.

“The advisory group represents various recre-ational constituencies, local units of governmentand land trusts,” Frank says. “Working together,these members will help ensure that we continue toprovide broad public access to lands acquiredthrough Stewardship purchases or grants, pro-moting all forms of outdoor recreation.”

At the first meeting in July 2008 Frank said,“The Stewardship program is near and dear tothe hearts of people in Wisconsin. And we can bea model for the nation. It is about how we relateto nature and how Wisconsin citizens can accessthat...I can’t think of a program at the DNR thatmeans more to future generations. And I think weshould celebrate that we are now going into thethird decade of Stewardship.”

Building blocks for future stewards“As a member of the Natural Resources Board,

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Otter Creek islocated in Baxter’sHollow of theBaraboo Hills.The area providesthe deep woodsthat forestsongbirds need.

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STEWARDSHIP IN A NUTSHELLUnder the Stewardship Fund, about 500,000 acres in 71 of 72 counties have been protected. Where doesthe money come from to pay for Stewardship? The state sells bonds to investors to pay back the debt over20 years. This spreads the cost over time so it is shared with future public lands users. Debt payments comeout of tax revenues, so all taxpayers in the state contribute to the Stewardship Fund, and benefit from itsinvestments. Together land trusts and local governments have also raised over $130 million to match grantsthrough the Stewardship program.

What does the public think of Stewardship? Thereis strong public support. A recent bipartisan poll con-ducted by The Nature Conservancy found that nearly90 percent of Wisconsin voters agreed that even intight fiscal times the Stewardship program should be apriority. A Wisconsin Public Radio/St. Norbert’s Collegepublic opinion poll showed that 76 percent of residentssupport state acquisition of conservation land.

What kinds of recreation are permitted on Stew-ardship lands? About 92 percent of all lands protectedby the Stewardship Fund are open for public hunting,and 97 percent are open for fishing and other types ofrecreation, including hiking, wildlife watching, bikingand more. Those lands not open to hunting includeheavily used urban parks and trails like Lakeshore StatePark and the Hank Aaron Trail in Milwaukee.

Are local governments compensated for loss of taxbase? Yes. Each year, DNR makes property tax pay-ments to all municipalities where the state owns land.This is called a payment in lieu of taxes or PILT.The statepaid $7.9 million in 2006 to local governments to makeup for lost property tax revenue.While there are differ-ences in how PILT payments are made depending onacquisition date, under the current program, local gov-ernments typically receive more money through PILTpayments on land acquired after 1992 than they wouldhave through regular property taxes. The LegislativeFiscal Bureau has this to say about PILT: “Although theformula for calculating aids in lieu of taxes is intended to produce a state payment equivalent to what ispaid in property taxes, in practice, state payments typically exceed the property taxes that would have beenpaid because the purchase price of conservation land has routinely exceeded the property’s assessed value.”Source: Legislative Fiscal Bureau Informational Paper 60 — “Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship Program,” January 2007

EXPLORE STEWARDSHIP LANDS

The DNR is electronically identifying Steward-ship lands for customers. An interactive web-site helps the public find Stewardship pro–perties, learn about property acquisition his-tory and discover activities they might enjoythere. To access these maps, visit the DNRhomepage at dnr.wi.gov and click on the“Maps” link under the “Favorites” headingand then go to “DNR Managed Lands.” Tolearn more about the Stewardship programvisit dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/cfa/lr/stewardship/stewardship.html

• 1990 to 1999 at $25 million/year

• 2000 to 2010 at $46 million/year for twoyears and $60 million/year for eight years

• 2010 to 2019 at $86 million/year(Beginning July 1, 2010)

DNR and countyland acquisitions $45 million

Grants to Nonprofit ConservationOrganizations (minimum) $12 million

Board of Commissioners ofPublic Lands acquisitions $ 2 million

Ice Age and other trails $ 3 million

Recreational boating aids $ 2.5 million

DNR property development $10 million

Local Units of Governmentassistance grants (maximum) $11. 5 million

Total: $86 million

I think protecting land for the future is the mostwonderful thing we do,” says Christine Thomas,Wisconsin Natural Resources Board Chair andDean of the College of Natural Resources at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

“Stewardship is not just important, but crit-ical to the future of outdoor recreation as thepopulation increases because not everyone canafford to have their own piece of paradise.There are people who would never have anopportunity to walk in the woods with theirgrandchildren if not for public land,” she says.“Some of the best of what we do as an agencyand as citizens is the Stewardship investmentthat we make for the future.”

Thomas’ favorite Stewardship project isthe Wild Rivers Legacy Forest in Forest, Flo-rence and Marinette counties. The NatureConservancy and the state worked together toconserve more than 64,600 acres of forests,wild lakes and rivers in northeastern Wiscon-sin. The land transaction was the largest instate history, and working forest conservationeasements keep the land open to the public forrecreation and guides forest management in asustainable manner. Funding came through acombination of Stewardship funding, FederalForest Legacy funding, private equity fromConservation Forestry LLC, and its consortiumpartner, Forest Investment Associates, and pri-vate funds raised by The Nature Conservancy.“For decades citizens have been enjoying thefruits of managed forests, but we are at a timewhen many of these forests are at risk of beingsold off and fragmented. With the Wild RiversLegacy Forest, the new benefit we obtained isa guarantee for the citizens of the state thatland would be accessible to them in the futureas it has been for decades.”

Students at UW-Stevens Point, Thomas says,are very much tuned into outdoor recreation, areusers of public land and understand their

responsibility as future stewards.“Many students are financially strapped, but

because they have access to Stewardship lands thatare open to the public for free,” Thomas says,“they can afford to get out and enjoy the re-sources. Some also work on public lands throughsummer jobs, internships and volunteer activities.”

As they work and play, these future stewardsof our public lands are connecting with natureand finding out that clean lakes and rivers, lushforests and abundant wildlife — these things, to-gether, are Wisconsin, Thomas says. ❦

Natasha Kassulke is creative products manager forWisconsin Natural Resources magazine.

“The Stewardship Fundhas fulfilled its promise to the

people of Wisconsin by preservingthousands of acres for use by

sportsmen, conservationists andnature enthusiasts alike. The time,however, has come where we mustdevise a new program and strategyto ensure Wisconsin enters the 21st

century as America’senvironmental leader.”

• Governor Tommy Thompsonon Stewardship

Reauthorization in 1998

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PROGRAM FUNDING HISTORY:

NEW STEWARDSHIP ALLOCATIONS

(Beginning July 1, 2010)

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he DNR cannot accomplish itsmission by itself. We absolutelyneed our nonprofit and local gov-ernment partners,” says Mary Rose

Teves, chief of the DNR grants section in theBureau of Community Financial Assistance.“How lucky Wisconsin is to have partners whobring money and expertise to the table to con-serve special places for future generations.Other states are not so fortunate.”

Many agree. The Stewardship program’ssuccess is in its collaborative nature. Partnersare involved at every level — from willing sell-ers working with the state, to local governmentand nonprofit conservation groups interested inleveraging funds, to State Parks Friends groupsproviding people power to maintain the landsand provide environmental education.

Janet Beach Hanson, the first to administerthe Stewardship grants to nonprofit conserva-tion organizations, says “Stewardship gave cit-izens — private landowners — the chance toget directly involved in conservation.”

“Local governments also are seeing the suc-cess of Stewardship and they are submittinghighly competitive grant proposals,” says AmyBradley, a DNR Stewardship grant manager.“In fact we’ve had over $25 million in grant ap-plications this year from local governmentswith $8 million in allocations.”

DNR land acquisitionThe key to land acquisitions is matching a will-ing seller with conservation projects of regionalor statewide importance. Stewardship, andORAP before it, have been fortunate to drawfrom a strong conservation ethic among ourcitizens and those in authority who considerour land deals as an obligation to responsiblyprotect land, explains DNR Real Estate Direc-tor Dick Steffes.

After negotiations are complete, DNR asksfor permission to get an appraisal. If the sellingprice is over $350,000 two appraisals are needed.The DNR then reviews the appraisal and pres-ents an offer.

As in the private sector, a title search andsurvey are done, if needed. If the purchase isover $150,000, it must go to the Natural Re-sources Board for approval. All purchases alsoneed governor’s approval. After approval, theDNR draws up a contract and the landownerand DNR move to closing, assisted by a titlecompany.

“I’ve seen records of negotiations going onfor more than 30 years,” says Steffes. “There isa lot of emotional attachment to land, andsome negotiations take a lot of trust building.”One selling point is that the land is then open tothe public so the seller can always visit, which

Natasha Kassulke

Partnerships are why Stewardship works.

“T

“Since its inception in 1989,the Stewardship Fund hasachieved incredible results,

protecting more than 470,000acres of Wisconsin’s greatest

natural resources. Projects haveranged from 100-square-milepurchases such as the Wild

Rivers Legacy Forest in north-east Wisconsin to one-acre

additions to the Hank AaronState Trail in Milwaukee.

The land protected has providedremarkable recreational oppor-tunities for hikers, bikers, birdwatchers, hunters and anglers.The Stewardship Fund is not

only good for conservationists;it’s a key component of ourtourism and local timber

economies.”

• Steve Bablitch, chairmanWisconsin Board of Trustees

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and have learned more about property rightsand how they may be shared among a numberof people,” Haag says.

He gives the example of a Bayfield Countyproject involving three properties — the NourseSugarbush State Natural Area, the Bayfield/Mt.Ashwabay ski hill and 560 acres in between.

There were concerns that the spectacularviews the properties provided might be devel-oped and no longer open for public use. Mt.Ashwabay offers cross-country and alpine ski-ing featuring stunning views of the Apostle Is-lands National Lakeshore and the Chequa–megon National Forest. The Nourse Sugarbush

site had a long history of maple sugaring — forhundreds of years the Ojibwe tapped the largetrees. In the summer, this area is the center oftourist activity in the region with the Big TopChautauqua outdoor music festival drawingthousands of people to its performances. Thistract also is at the core of a northern mesicforest that has been identified as a flyway formigratory birds.

Two years ago, the DNR proposed that thestate acquire 400 acres in the area from PlumCreek Timberlands at a cost of $1,088,000. Twohundred acres would be acquired for the NourseSugarbush State Natural Area and 40 acres forthe Pikes Creek State Fishery Area. The remain-ing 160 acres would be held for sale or tradedwith Bayfield County or a local land trust.

A $40,000 donation from Murphy OilUSA's Superior Refinery helped cap the pur-

may not be the case if the land was purchasedby another private party. The state’s ability toresell that land is very limited and guided bystatute.”

Steffes says DNR priorities for land pur-chase include lands with significant benefit toendangered resources, privately owned parcelswithin DNR managed land, land that providespublic access to public property, rare opportu-nities such as a paper company deciding to selloff a large tract, lands that make sense topurchase in concert with other entities such asfederal partners, and Natural Resources Boardand citizen priorities.

“The state paysa fair price — a fairmarket value,” Steffessays. “We come froma tradition of payingfair market valuebased on appraisalsconsistent with pro-fessional practices,fairness and respectfor landowners andfocusing on importantconservation needs.These are all neededto ensure the publictrust and produce con-servation accomplish-ments over the longterm.”

Working foresteasements earn about$350 to $450 per acre.Fee title lands sellfor $1,500 to $7,000per acre with the av-erage about $3,000per acre.

Steffes says one of his favorite purchases isthe Rainbow Flowage in Oneida County, whichinvolved 50 years of negotiations with the Wis-consin Valley Improvement Company.

For about 70 years, the Wisconsin ValleyImprovement Company (WVIC), a private cor-poration that operates 21 reservoirs to regulateuniform flow in the Wisconsin River, had beenthe steward of the Rainbow Flowage located inthe Northern Highland-American Legion StateForest.

When WVIC had to sell the land becauseof restrictions on foreign ownership, it lookedto the state as a buyer.

“We had plenty of potential buyers inter-ested in developing the land,” says Bob Gall,president of WVIC. “But we also had an un-derlying stewardship philosophy.”

After some price negotiating, WVIC agreed

to sell to the state. In 2004, the Natural Re-sources Board approved a $7.04 million pur-chase using Stewardship funding to preservealmost 5,200 acres of primarily undevelopedforest land and 63 miles of frontage on theRainbow Flowage and nearby Pickerel Lake.The deal worked out to about $1,400 an acre.

The Flowage is a highly productive fisheryand offers habitat for eagles, osprey and manyspecies of waterfowl.

When the deal was completed in 2007 and2008, WVIC also donated an additional 3,869acres of submerged land at the Rainbow Flow-age and 6,402 acres at the Willow Flowage,

Gall says. Today, the land is managed forwildlife habitat, forestry and outdoor recreationincluding hunting, shore fishing, hiking, birdwatching and cross-country skiing.

“All the pieces were in the right place at theright time to allow the Rainbow purchase tohappen,” Gall says.

One aspect of Stewardship that DNR RealEstate Section Chief Doug Haag says he mostappreciates is that it gives landowners, whetherthey are an international corporation or a long-time local landowner, a conservation alterna-tive when they decide to sell.

“Stewardship has created a lot more focuson land and water conservation,” Haag says.

Since Stewardship began, he says he has seena tremendous increase in partner involvementand sharing knowledge, skills and funding.

“We’ve learned to layer funding sources

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The Patrick Marsh Natural Resource site is an educational and recreational area northeast of Sun Prairie in Dane County.The property, a protected ecosystem, easily could have been destroyed without the efforts of many individuals, organizationsand governmental agencies working together.

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chase of another 160 acres. Along with dona-tions from individuals and businesses, the Mur-phy Oil gift triggered matching support from theStewardship Grant Program totaling $240,000and investment of funds from Bayfield County,which will hold permanent title to the land. Theland will remain accessible to the public and inforestry use.

“This is an important piece of property forthe community, for skiing and for scenic enjoy-ment,” Haag says. “This project embodies thecommunity conservation ethic that makes Stew-ardship so successful and brings governmenthome to people. Stewardship gives land own-ers a conservation alternative. We are fosteringa stronger land ethic in a subtle way. These ne-gotiations occur at mom and pop kitchens andsometimes in large board rooms.”

There are basic contracts and massive legaldocuments, but they all end up with the sameresult — a warranty deed.

Nonprofit conservationorganizations (NCO) land acquisition

One of the more innovative and popularfeatures of the Stewardship Fund is its grantsprogram for nonprofit conservation organiza-tions, or land trusts. Wisconsin is home to morethan 50 of these citizen-run organizations,which work in communities across the state toprotect natural resources.

“Land trusts are an excellent community-

based complement to state and local govern-ment,” explains Vicki Elkin, policy director forGathering Waters Conservancy.

“Not only do they provide a way for citi-zens to get involved in conservation, but landtrusts also raise private funds to match statedollars.”

Gathering Waters is the nonprofit servicecenter working to strengthen Wisconsin landtrusts through technical assistance and state–wide education.

“When Gathering Waters started in 1994there were only 12 land trusts in the state,”

Elkin says. “Now more than 50,000 people aremembers of a local land trust.”

Stewardship has allowed land trusts towork strategically, explains Elkin. With pre-dictable funding for high quality projects, landtrusts can do more than just respond to scat-tered opportunities.

Why should nonprofit conservation groupshelp carry the load? “Because we’re losing someof our most precious places every day,” saysElkin. “People see the landscapes around themchanging. Places they’ve always loved are sud-denly converted to residential or commercialuse. They want to take action, and land trustsallow citizens, working directly with privatelandowners, to permanently protect some ofthese places.”

Land trusts are already moving people ontothese lands. They use the properties as classroomsand host field trips and volunteer work days.

“We are in a tough budget time, and wecan’t rely on the state to fund all the needs.Stewardship and the matches the land trusts areable to raise are a way to stretch the state’s dol-lars,” Elkin says. “We all need to work togetherto be creative about how we will reach our con-servation goals.”

“The Stewardship Fund has been instru-mental in the growth of the land trust move-ment across Wisconsin,” agrees John Torinus,board member of The Nature Conservancy andOzaukee Washington Land Trust. “Without

matching public dollars, we would not havethis powerful and passionate group of landtrusts all working to save the most preciouspieces of land and water. Wisconsin is wayout ahead of most other states in terms ofsaving its best pieces of the natural environ-ment. That leadership role could not be donewith private dollars alone.”

As an example, Torinus cites the DongesBay Gorge Stewardship purchase in summer2008. Stewardship kicked in $2,256,500 forthe purchase of 23.1 acres featuring over1,200 feet of Lake Michigan shoreline, aravine and most of Donges Bay Gorge inOzaukee County.

Donges Bay Gorge is a stop on an interna-tional migratory flyway, home to 16 uncom-mon plant species, three plant species that are injeopardy of becoming endangered, and a pairof nesting bald eagles named Kurt and Katieand their offspring. This is the first successfulnesting by eagles in southeastern Wisconsin inover 100 years.

The Ozaukee Washington Land Trust hasmatched the Stewardship grant with three do-nated properties, which have been designatedas natural areas of significance by the South-eastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commis-

sion. Another major partner in the acquisitionis the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage Dis-trict. The district has given the land trust a$600,000 grant from its Greenseams Programin exchange for a conservation easement thatwill prohibit future development of the prop-erty with only a few exceptions, such as a park-ing lot and trails.

“The project simply would not have been pos-sible without the Stewardship Fund,” Torinus says.

The Natural Heritage Land Trust (NHLT),a leader in protecting natural and agriculturallands in Dane County, has leveraged Steward-ship funding for 17 projects.

“Stewardship helps create confidence amongdonors that the project will happen,” says JimWelsh, executive director of the NHLT. “It helpsus tell donors that the state is stepping up to theplate...Stewardship backs up all the talk andmakes these projects happen.”

Among the special places the NHLT hashelped protect using Stewardship dollars arekey areas of the Black Earth Creek watershedand Cherokee Marsh in Madison. Preservingthe 990-acre Patrick Marsh Natural ResourceArea is an ongoing collaboration among theDNR, NHLT, Patrick Marsh Conservancy,Dane County and the City of Sun Prairie. TheStewardship Fund has provided over $750,000in grants to match their fundraising efforts.

Kim Wright, DNR grants manager for thenonprofit portion of Stewardship, worked forThe Nature Conservancy when the first Stew-ardship program was passed into law. “There

NCO-FUNDED GRANTS

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Natural Areas 38%

State Trails/Ice Age Trails 16%

Habitat Areas 37%

StreambankProtection 6%

Friends Grants 3%

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The Kickapoo ValleyReserve State NaturalArea, located betweenthe villages of La Fargeand Ontario in VernonCounty, is home toseveral rare plants andanimals, and significantarcheological andgeological features.The Kickapoo ValleyReserve is owned bythe state and Bureauof Indian Affairsin trust for theHo-Chunk Nation.

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were many more unique lands needing protec-tion than there were organizations with the ca-pacity to do so, prior to Stewardship,” sherecalls. She says Stewardship has transformedlocal groups of concerned citizens into viableconservation organizations, deepening a lastingconservation ethic in Wisconsin by making itpossible for people to preserve special places intheir own communities.

Wright points to the Military Ridge PrairieHeritage area as an example of preserving highquality prairie and grassland habitat amid aviable agriculture community. In 2008, Gover-nor Doyle announced a $405,200 Stewardshipgrant to The Nature Conservancy Wisconsin topurchase 153 acres in the Military Ridge PrairieHeritage area in Iowa County. The funds wereused to expand Thomson Prairie, part of theBarneveld Prairie State Natural Area within theheart of the Military Ridge Prairie HeritageArea, an extensive grassland landscape sup-porting a high concentration of prairie and oaksavanna remnants.

The Thomson Prairie Stewardship purchaserepresents one of the best opportunities to pro-tect grassland birds, such as upland sandpiperand a rare insect, the red-tailed leafhopper. Itwill also substantially increase the permanentgrass cover and provide habitat for the state en-dangered regal fritillary butterfly and two plantspecies of special concern — marbleseed andprairie turnip.

The Nature Conservancy has helped pro-tect 1,823 acres in the Military Ridge area. It

has partnered with the federal Natural Re-sources Conservation Service, DNR, the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service, Pheasants Forever,Blue Mounds Area Project and The Prairie En-thusiasts to conserve native prairie communi-ties. The Thomson Prairie property wasoriginally approved for high-end residential de-velopment, but The Nature Conservancy nego-tiated with the developer and protected theproperty.

“One misconception is that the Steward-ship grants program just gives out money, butit’s a very planned process often with severalpartner groups,” Wright says. “Conservation isa collaborative activity.”

Karen Blodgett, a DNR grants specialist inthe West Central Region, works with nonprofitgroups and points to a partnership amongPheasants Forever, Chippewa County, DNRand other local nonprofit organizations that hasprovided the public with 600 acres of primehunting land at Hallie Marsh in ChippewaCounty.

Using Stewardship funds, private donationsand federal funds from the North AmericanWetlands Conservation Act, the Chippewa Val-ley Chapter of Pheasants Forever over fouryears purchased 520 acres of wetlands, forestsand former agricultural lands between EauClaire and Chippewa Falls from privatelandowners. The parcels are adjacent to 80acres owned by the DNR that was landlocked,Blodgett recalls. Pheasants Forever then trans-ferred its land to the DNR for long-term pro-

tection and management, opening up the joinedparcels to the public for hunting, hiking, wild–life watching and other recreation.

“Stewardship is a catalyst that gets theseprojects done,” Blodgett says. “For most ofthese groups, the motivating factor is protectinga special place.”

The Stewardship Fund also has been vitallyimportant to the land conservation work of theMississippi Valley Conservancy and its morethan 900 members. As a regional, nonprofitland trust in La Crosse, the MVC has perma-nently conserved over 7,200 acres of blufflands,prairies, wetlands and streams in the Coulee Re-gion since its founding in 1997. About 1,600 ofthose acres were funded through Stewardship.

The MVC works with private landownersand local communities on voluntary conserva-tion projects in seven counties along the Missis-sippi River. In 2001, the City of La Crosse andthe MVC formed a partnership with the state toprotect the scenic and recreational values of aneight-mile stretch of blufflands along the Missis-sippi River.

These landmark blufflands were targetedfor conservation by local citizens in the city’scomprehensive land use plan. Using fundingfrom the Stewardship Fund, as well as matchingdollars, the partners have protected more than840 acres, which are open to the public for hik-ing, hunting, birdwatching and other recre-ational and educational uses. Work to preservethe blufflands is ongoing and as the MVC ac-quires the land, it transfers it to the city for

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“The Stewardship Fundunites all lovers of the outdoors

in their quest to makeWisconsin a desirable place tolive. It provides an excellentopportunity for protectingthe environment while stillallowing us to use available

resources. It is rare in theway that it satisfies both

environmentalists and huntersalike. In a world where conflict

seems to take over almostevery aspect of our existence,

we must preserve thisinnovative and insightful piece

of legislation.”

• Julia KolbergUW-Madison student majoring

in biological systems engineering(The Daily Cardinal, August 29, 2007)

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long-term ownership and management. Thecity grants a conservation easement to theMVC, which protects the land permanently forfuture generations.

“Stewardship is a cost effective conservationtool because it leverages matching funds,” saysTim Jacobson, executive director of the MVC.“It is effective, efficient and protects the naturalbeauty and heritage of these important places.”

In areas like La Crosse where tourism is amajor economic driver, Jacobson says, preserv-ing the landscape is critical to success.

Local units of governmentThey call them LUGs in the grants business.Local Units of Government have received morethan $84.4 million since the beginning of Stew-ardship for land acquisition and developmentprojects. Equally impressive, these same com-munities committed over $84.4 million to matchthe public’s investment in these projects.

This includes protecting more than 14,900acres and grants for more than 765 projects.Stewardship funds, for example, contributed $1million to establish the Mequon Nature Pre-serve, a 438-acre natural area within Mequonin Ozaukee County. The partnership involvesthe City of Mequon, the Ozaukee Washington

Land Trust, Greater Milwaukee Foundationand the state.

Lavane Hessler, a financial assistance spe-cialist in the DNR West Central Region workswith LUGs interested in pursuing Stewardshipfunding. She offers three examples of Steward-ship funded projects in her region that havechanged the face of local communities: Ray’sBeach, Phoenix Park and Domer Park.

Ray’s Beach on Lake Wissota in ChippewaCounty was owned by Xcel Energy, and peoplewere trespassing to get to the beach, crossing adangerous railroad track owned by WisconsinCentral Limited Railroad Company. Erosionwas extensive.

Through a wide partnership involving localgovernment (the county and Town of Lafayette),

Xcel Energy and the railroad, a safe access pointwas established. The Town of Lafayette was will-ing to take over the area, maintain it and elimi-nate the erosion. Xcel Energy agreed to put

$50,000 towards area improvement and deedthe land to the town for $1. The county helpedconstruct a safe railroad crossing to the beacharea.

The area today is wheelchair accessibleand includes a picnic space, restroom and boatdock. Development work was completed withcost sharing through the Stewardship Fund —$149,193 of the total project cost of about$306,032.

“Ray’s Beach is an excellent example ofwhat can occur when everybody works to-gether,” Hessler says. The beach opened in 2007and is a model for other Stewardship projects.

Phoenix Park, in the City of Eau Claire,was once a blighted industrial area. It was con-taminated with lead and heavy metals. But today,the area has been cleaned up and is a keystone inthe economic redevelopment of downtown EauClaire. Royal Credit Union built its corporate head-quarters on half the site, and the rest was developedas park property.

Visitors find Phoenix Park home to a recre-ational trail, a shelter, festivals, concerts and afarmers’ market. Part of the Chippewa RiverTrail passes through it, and Stewardship was in-strumental in funding the project at almost$500,000 for land acquisition and trails devel-opment.

In 2007, Eau Claire received about $210,000from Stewardship to match local funds to buy thesix-acre Domer Park in Eau Claire. The grounds

include a picnic area with trails, habitat protec-tion along the shoreline and green space over-looking a fishing area. Domer Park houses someof the last undeveloped land on the river.

DNR facility developmentWhile land purchases often attract the headlines,one of the most important functions of Steward-ship is developing, repairing and maintainingstate property. In fact, one-third of all develop-ment funding for DNR properties comes fromStewardship.

Stewardship has been used for everythingfrom upgrading bathroom and shower facilitiesto creating park entrance centers and providingseed money for environmental education atplaces like Crex Meadows State Wildlife Area,Horicon Marsh and the Mead State WildlifeArea.

“Stewardship is the bread and butter of ourrecreational development program,” says JohnHagman, DNR section chief for facilities man-agement. “It funds the facilities that give peopletheir first and often lasting impressions of ourproperties.”

“Because it is a stable fund, we can planahead,” Hagman says. “It gives our propertymanagers hope that we will be able to meet someof their requests and fund critical needs and im-provements. With Stewardship, we can keep theroofs on and expand recreational opportunitiesfor people. It’s also a matter of health and safety.”

Stewardship funds have been used to repairwastewater treatment plants in areas such asPeninsula State Park. The Pottawatomie Light-house on Rock Island is the oldest of Door

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Local Park Aids 50%

Urban Rivers 20%

UrbanGreen Space 20%

AcquireDevelopmentRights 10%

LOCAL ASSISTANCE GRANTS

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For decades, ChippewaCounty residents haveused a Town ofLafayette area knownas Ray’s Beach as apopular public swim-ming area. Stewardshipfunding helped makethis beach, which islocated on the southshore of Lake Wissota,more accessible.

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OUTRIGHT PURCHASES ORFEE TITLE ACQUISITIONFee title, also sometimes called "feesimple," is a real estate term thatmeans the type of ownership gives theowner maximum interest in the land,entitling the owner to use the propertyin any manner consistent with federal,state and local laws and ordinances.For example, most homeowners owntheir land in fee title.

EASEMENTSA conservation easement is a voluntarylegal agreement between a landownerand the state, local government orqualified nonprofit conservation organ-ization. The agreement places restric-tions on the present and future pro-perty uses in an effort to protect itsconservation values. The land remainsprivately owned and can be lived on,sold or passed to heirs. Conservationeasements can be donated or pur-chased for a specific period of time orin perpetuity. A common easementwould restrict development on a parcel.

When a landowner donates aconservation easement to a nonprofit,that landowner may be entitled to in-come, estate and property tax bene-fits. A gift of a conservation easementis considered a charitable donation.Toqualify for an income tax deduction,the easement must be permanent,

must be donated to a qualified con-servation organization and must serveconservation purposes.

Some landowners turn to conser-vation easements because of estatetax benefits. Placing an easement ona property generally reduces its fairmarket value since it restricts futuredevelopment. This reduced value re-sults in lower estate taxes, typicallyreduces property value, and may re-duce their property tax bill.

The easement is attached to theproperty’s deed and stays with theland, meaning that all future landown-ers must abide by the restrictions.

LAND DONATIONSIn Wisconsin, many lands and landrights are donated each year to landtrusts and, to a lesser extent, to publicagencies. Stewardship rules enableland trusts to leverage the value ofdonated properties to protect addi-tional natural areas. “Land trusts canuse land as a match, and it is some-times easier to get people to donateland than money,” says Vicki Elkin,policy director for Gathering Waters.

FEDERAL GRANTSOne of Stewardship’s greatest strengthsis attracting a diversity of matchinggrants. Stewardship uses state funds toleverage federal dollars through pro-grams, such as LWCF, the Forest Legacy

County's lighthouses. The Stewardship fund pro-vided nearly $63,000 in matching grants to theFriends of Rock Island for lighthouse restoration,maintenance and interpretive displays.

Stewardship funds were used to purchase asearch-and-rescue boat to improve safety onRock Island, and solar lighting to keep Rock Is-land off the grid. Stewardship also was used toreinforce the overhead tunnels along the BadgerState Trail. And because of Stewardship, theDNR was able to open its first new parks inover 40 years — Lakeshore State Park in Mil-waukee County and Governor Thompson Parkin Marinette County.

“We have spent about $1.75 million ofStewardship money on making our recreation

facilities accessible to all users,” Hagman says.“We spent almost $12 million on park toilet/shower buildings, $8.6 million on park en-trance and visitors stations, $6 million on rail-to-trails projects and $13.6 million on new andrenovated campsites.”

From a state parks perspective, Steward-ship is critical, explains Kimberly Currie, DNRsection chief for business management for stateparks. “The Stewardship program gives us thestage for enhancing park amenities,” Curriesays speaking to the acreage purchased throughthe program.

“And every stage needs a production and aset,” she says pointing to the park amenities theStewardship Fund provides. ❦

Program, NorthAmericanWetlandsActand Coastal Wetland grants.

LWCF is the federal Land andWater Conservation Fund, approved in1964, which created a fund to matchgrants to states for outdoor recreationprojects. DNR is the state agency re-sponsible for administering LWCFfunds in Wisconsin. LWCF pays up to50 percent of approved project costs,upto $750,000 for acquisition, while de-velopment/renovation projects are lim-ited to a $400,000 grant maximum.

The Forest Legacy Program (FLP)is another federal grants program thatcomplements Stewardship. The FLP isdesigned to identify and protect envi-ronmentally important private forest-lands threatened by conversion tonon-forest uses. No more than 75 per-cent of total payments can be paid bythe federal government for the FLPpurchases. State, local and private in-terests must come up with the remain-der. Easements may include a varietyof property rights but most often re-strict development and subdividing.

The North American WetlandsConservation Act provides matchinggrants to partnerships to carry outwetlands conservation projects thatbenefit migratory birds and otherwildlife.The act was passed, in part, tosupport activities under the NorthAmerican Waterfowl Management

Plan, an international agreement thatprovides a strategy for the long-termprotection of wetland and uplandhabitats needed by waterfowl andother migratory birds in North Amer-ica. In December 2002, Congress reau-thorized the act and expanded itsscope to include the conservation of allhabitats and birds associated with wet-land ecosystems. Congress appropri-ated $40.3 million to fund the Act’sgrants program in fiscal year 2008.

Additional program funding comesfrom fines, penalties and forfeiturescollected under the Migratory BirdTreaty Act of 1918; from federal fuelexcise taxes on small gasoline enginesto benefit coastal ecosystem projects;and from accrued interest on the fundestablished under the Federal Aid inWildlife Restoration Act. The U.S. Fishand Wildlife Service is responsible forthe program.

The National Coastal WetlandsConservation Grant Program is anothermatching option established in 1990.Under the program, the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service provides matchinggrants for acquiring, restoring or en-hancing coastal wetlands. Funding forthe program comes from excise taxeson fishing equipment and motorboatand small engine fuels. States thenprovide 50 percent of the total projectcosts.

FOUR WAYS LANDS ARE SET ASIDE

Stewardship Fund lands are set aside through outright purchases or fee titleacquisitions, easements, partnership grants and donations.

“The Knowles-NelsonStewardship Fund is

Wisconsin’s most importantland conservation program.

Without it, placeslike the Mequon Nature

Preserve and Milwaukee’sLake Shore Park would never

have been established.”

• Arthur Harrington,president of Gathering Waters

Conservancy and an attorney in theMilwaukee office of Godfrey & Khan

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With everything that goes intomaking Stewardship funds pos-sible, it’s easy to forget that itsprimary goal is making Wiscon-

sin’s natural assets accessible and attractive toall.

“We spend all this money on these lands,we want people to get out and use them, enjoythem and understand what activities they cando on them,” says Elizabeth Kluesner, Nature isOur Business project coordinator.“They’re notsupposed to be a secret.”

The DNR has put its ingenuity to the testby trying to attract diverse groups of people—including diversity of age, ethnicity, economicstatus and mobility capacities—to state lands.Kluesner says these efforts are essential and,since everybody’s tax dollars pay for these lands,they should offer something for everybody.

Bruce Neeb, DNR government outreachteam supervisor in Eau Claire, leads programsto underwrite costs of community projects andoften works with Stewardship funds. Neeb sayshis biggest challenge with Stewardship dollars ismaking sure all the desired recreational oppor-tunities are available.

“We’ve got a lot of different publics thatare looking for access to outdoor recreationalopportunities, and we try to balance those,” hesays. “[The renewal] created an assumptionthat Stewardship acquired lands would be avail-able for some basic uses — hunting, fishing,cross-country skiing.”

Regardless of what activities appeal to eachindividual or family, a primary goal of the pro-gram is providing Stewardship lands closeenough to “make sure you don’t have to ownyour own property to go out and enjoy nature,”Neeb says.

These initiatives will likely benefit urbanpopulations, whose densely populated commu-nities and lower income levels often preventthem from experiencing the outdoors.

In fact, Neeb says that projects that ac–knowledge diversity of usage, income and pop-ulation are more likely to be granted Stewardshipdollars. Additional points are given to commu-nities with populations of 50,000, 200,000 and500,000 people. Also, projects in countieswhere the population has a faster growth rateare awarded extra points.

“Virtually anywhere in Wisconsin, urban,rural, north or south, you can get to Steward-ship funded land quickly,” Kluesner says.

Neeb points out that while “more conven-

tional tourist attractions are pricey,” Steward-ship lands provide free recreation that “fami-lies can enjoy every week if they want to,” hesays.

And, it seems to be working. James Buch-holz, superintendent at Kohler-Andrae StatePark in Sheboygan, says he has seen a large in-crease in ethnic diversity at the park over thecourse of 20 years.

He says minority populations in the areaincreased because of available jobs andchurches that sponsored families, many of themHmong. Buchholz says increased mobility forthese populations due to purchasing cars forjobs, coupled with the close proximity ofKohler-Andrae, is probably responsible for in-creased minority visits to the park.

Eileen Hocker, a diversity coordinator with12

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Preservingyour options

Creating diverse and accessible outdoor opportunities.

Kiera Wiatrak

The Kettle MoraineNatural HistoryAssociation usedStewardship dollarsto restore a barnat the Kettle MoraineSouthern Unit.

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the DNR Bureau of Law Enforcement, worksclosely with Hmong and thinks that populationwill benefit the most from Stewardship landsthat allow access to hunting, a prominent partof their culture.

“[Stewardship lands] are going to be big forthat community because it’s hard for many ofthem to know which lands are public,” she says.“They’re hoping that with all this publicityabout Stewardship lands, everyone will know,which tracts are free and open and where theycan hunt and know that they’re welcome.”

The Hank Aaron Trail that connects Mil-waukee’s Miller Park Stadium to the Lake Michi-gan lakefront, “runs along the most denselypopulated and most racially diverse census dis-tricts in the state,” says Melissa Cook, DNRpark and recreational specialist in the SoutheastRegion.

Cook has noticed that many of the paths innearby neighborhoods are worn down wherepeople are walking to the trail, and the trail al-lows people to bike to work and downtown in-stead of driving. Some users receive healthinsurance benefits because they are exercising andthe trail provides an attractive alternative forpeople who can’t afford a health club membership.

“Some businesses that are close to the trailhave started a health work group within the of-fice setting . . . Programs that encourage peopleto walk at lunch time or to walk before or afterwork sort of rolled into a health awareness pro-gram,” Cook says.

Beyond the urban wallsStewardship projects also aim to attract raciallyand economically diverse groups of kids to thelands. “Our population is getting more diversein this state. In the future, the people who aregoing to grow up and take care of this landaren’t all going to be white, and they’re not allgoing to have rural experience,” Hocker says.“They’re going to grow up in cities or denselypopulated suburbs.”

Therefore, she says, it’s imperative to getchildren from minority populations to careabout state lands so they are inspired to takecare of them when they become adults.

Kluesner notes that the minority children ofWisconsin, who tend to live in urban settings,need these lands because they have few otheropportunities to enjoy the outdoors.

“An urban kid who just sees concrete needsto be able to get to an outdoor space and feelthat different kind of experience,” she says.

But it’s going to be a challenge.“There is one study that shows that a lot of

the youth in Milwaukee have never seen LakeMichigan,” says Kate Zurlo-Cuva, a DNR staffspecialist who has worked closely with the State

Parks Friends groups. “Through the LakeshoreState Park, the Friends are trying to create agateway to natural resources and teach kidsabout what is out there, what it means to be in-volved in nature.”

Zurlo-Cuva says the Friends have addedpark amenities including benches and signs inan effort to attract Milwaukee youth. Annually,$250,000 is available for Friends groups with a50 percent match required.

Cook says 10 Milwaukee schools are par-ticipating in an art program to decorate theHank Aaron Trail. The Friends group is spon-soring bike camps where kids from nearbyschools can learn about bike safety. Cook hopesto use Stewardship dollars in the future to fur-ther link the adjacent neighborhoods to the trailsand make the river more accessible via rampsthat make it easy to get down to the river.

In addition to the Hank Aaron Trail, Kohler-Andrae has attracted a lot of Milwaukee’s urbanyouth.

“Quite a few school groups are bused herefrom the inner city Milwaukee area,” Buchholzsays. “I think that encourages them to come

back when they have transportation of theirown later.”

However, Carrie Morgan, who coordinatesnatural resources educational opportunities forkids for the DNR, thinks the growing cost oftransportation is a problem. She hopes thatfunding can be found to supplement the cost ofbusing so kids can come out on field trips.

Back to the basicsGetting a diverse group of kids outdoors is chal-lenging given television, cell phones and com-puters.

“I think one of the things we talk about fre-quently with respect to Stewardship, is how canfamilies get back to basics?” Kluesner says.“There’s that time to just be in the outdoorswithout structure, without pressure, withoutother technology. It’s important in fightingchildhood obesity, it’s important for fighting at-tention deficit disorder. [It’s important] for kidshaving an appreciation of the outdoors andbringing that into their adult lives.”

That point is exactly what Richard Louvhighlights in his book, Last Child in the Woods.

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Lake Wissota StatePark, northeast ofChippewa Falls,houses a popularinterpretive andplayground areathanks to effortsby the Friends ofLake WissotaState Park.

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Louv argues that today’s youth have replacednature with technology, which is largely re-sponsible for depression, attention disordersand obesity.

“Yet, at the very moment that the bond isbreaking between the young and the naturalworld, a growing body of research links ourmental, physical and spiritual health directly toour association with nature — in positiveways,” he writes.

Moreover, he adds that if children don’tconnect to the outdoors, they won’t be moti-vated to take care of its withering state whenthey’re adults. “How the young respond tonature, and how they raise their own children,will shape the configurations and conditions ofour cities, homes — our daily lives,” Louvwrites.

Zurlo-Cuva says the Friends groups tend tohighlight education in their projects.

Some educational attractions that Friendsgroups built with Stewardship dollars includethe Tamarack Trail signage at Kettle MoraineState Forest, an amphitheater at WhitefishDunes State Park and a solarium at the RichardBong State Recreation Area.

Zurlo-Cuva highlights an outdoor ship-wreck exhibit at Whitefish Dunes State Park.“It encompasses the mission of the Stewardshipprogram by getting people outdoors and learn-ing at the same time,” she says.

Morgan thinks adding hands-on attractionswould be a step forward in getting kids excited

about the outdoors.“[At the zoo], they often have little stations

along the way where you can stick your handsin boxes, or you can flip lids and look in,” shesays. “I think those kinds of things would en-gage kids a little bit better than just some flatpanel.”

Access for all abilitiesStewardship funds also are useful for making theoutdoors accessible for people to ensure thattheir nature enthusiasm is met.

Andrew Janicki, DNR accessibility coordi-nator, hopes to use Stewardship funds to en-hance the outdoor experience for people withdisabilities. He suggests that state parks canmake trails accessible by compacting dirt, oradding crushed limestone or granite. While itdoesn’t have to be paved, these materials arecompact enough that wheelchairs can easily roll

across them. Visit dnr.wi.gov/org/land/parks/access/actrails.html.

Water accessibil-ity is also a top priority.Janicki talks about es-tablishing some ac-cessible canoe camp-sites. At Pattison StatePark, a plastic grid sys-tem is in the works torun along the beach,creating a trail that awheelchair can easilycross.

Whitefish DunesState Park and Kohler-Andrae each has abeach wheelchair withballoon-like tires thatcan trek through sand.In addition to thebeach, people withmobility impairmentscan reserve a night inKohler-Andrae’s newaccessible cabin, par-

tially funded by Stewardship dollars. The cabinis available between May and October, but dueto its popularity, reservations will probablyhave to be made far in advance.

Buchholz says one family told him that thecabin allowed their son to use a faucet for thefirst time in his life. The cabin faucet’s height isadjusted to be within reach for people inwheelchairs. “It’s giving people who visit heremore ideas,” Buchholz says, “for what theycould do with their own homes.”

Janicki says he will look into building moreaccessible cabins to complement the seven in

the Wisconsin state parks properties.

Creating a healthy economyMore than just nature benefits, Stewardshiplands boost the economy of the communitiesthey inhabit. According to a 2002 study, statepark visitors spend over $500 million a year inthe communities surrounding their outdoor des-tinations. A significant chunk of this incomecomes from the pockets of out of town visitors.

“If you are a community that’s looking to at-tract businesses, the fact that you have publiclands that are easily accessible for employees canbe billed as a reason why a business would wantto locate there,” Kluesner says.

While the parks have attracted tourists, thetourists have attracted environmentally con-scious businesses.

Travel Green Wisconsin, a program that cer-tifies businesses committed to conservation, hasseveral green businesses in communities sur-rounding Stewardship lands.

“The data and information that we haveabout people who are taking outdoors vacationsor day trips is that they want to spend theirmoney at a place that is in line with their valuesrelated to the outdoors,” Kluesner says.

Will Christianson, outreach coordinatorwith the Wisconsin Department of Tourism,agrees. “I’m sure it’s a symbiotic relationship,”he says. “When they see and recognize [theTravel Green Wisconsin logo] in other busi-nesses...they know that it’s a business that’s in-terested in preserving and sustaining the naturalresources that make Wisconsin unique.” ❦

Kiera Wiatrak is an editorial intern with WisconsinNatural Resources magazine.

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“This program unitespoliticians of both parties and

people of all walks of life, fromhunters and anglers to outdoor

enthusiasts. Our naturalresources make this greatstate what it is and are the

fundamental part of our valuesas Wisconsinites. It was the

vision of my father and of for-mer Republican Governor

Warren Knowles to create ameans by which we can protect

the waters and lands ofthis state.”

• Tia Nelsonexecutive secretary Board of

Commissioners of Public Landsand daughter of late Governor

Gaylord Nelson

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High Cliff State Park in Sherwood features a reservoir known as theButterfly Pond. A path, the 1.5-mile Butterfly Pond Trail, provides a saferecreational area for those with mobility concerns. Several accessibleparking stalls are provided adjacent to the trail.

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We owe much to Wisconsin’searly conservationists — peoplelike Aldo Leopold and plantecologist John Curtis — who

recognized the importance of natural areas andthe consequences of their loss. Under their guid-ance, the first state-sponsored natural area pro-tection program in the nation was formed in1951 as the State Board for the Preservation ofScientific Areas and has evolved into the StateNatural Areas (SNA) program within theDNR’s Bureau of Endangered Resources.

Today, the SNA program, a partnershipwith several other agencies and private landtrusts, has 560 sites in its statewide system ofnature preserves. Stewardship has providedfunding to acquire 36,200 acres at 102 of thesesites. Using Stewardship, the state can purchaseSNA acreage that represents the best examplesof our natural landscape, such as Spread EagleBarrens SNA in Florence County, which is co-

owned by the state and WEEnergies and protects thou-sands of acres of pine bar-rens, and the 7,784-acreBibon Swamp SNA in Bay-field County, which is hometo rare orchids.

“We can preserve placesthat are near and dear tothe hearts of Wisconsin res-idents and visitors, such asthe Dells of the WisconsinRiver State Natural Areawith its sandstone cliffs,pine trees and rare plants,”explains Thomas Meyer, aconservation biologist withthe SNA Program.

“We are buying highquality natural areas,” addsMark Martin, another SNAprogram conservation biol-ogist. “They are not all largeparcels. Some are small proj-ects that provide rare habitatfor endangered species.”

Both Meyer and Mar-tin point to the PlainfieldTunnel Channel Lakes SNAin Waushara County as anexample of a snippet ofland that is critical to thehealth of one of our rarestplants. This 123-acre SNAis home to Fassett’s loco-weed, a federally threat-ened member of the bean

family that is endemic to Wisconsin and occursonly on the fluctuating shorelines of five lakesin central and northwestern Wisconsin.

Among his favorite preserves, Meyer citesQuincy Bluff and Wetlands SNA, which is agreat partnership project between DNR andThe Nature Conservancy-Wisconsin Chapterthat protects a huge block of wetlands, forestand barrens in the bed of former Glacial LakeWisconsin in Adams County. “The sandstonebuttes rising above the lowland are really in-credible,” Meyer says. “The Stewardship Fundhelped rescue this wonderful landscape frombeing converted to cranberry beds.”

About $680,000 in Stewardship fundingwas used to purchase 224 acres that became theSkunk and Foster Lakes SNA in 2003. Thisproperty was Gov. Jim Doyle’s first Steward-ship approval as governor. “The area has deeplakes that would have been developed other-wise,” Martin explains. “And the Ice Age Trail

Not justquantitybut quality

Natasha Kassulke

Protecting special places andendangered resources.

runs through the land.”Cassville Bluffs SNA in Grant County is an-

other successful partnership between the DNRand a land trust. With Stewardship funding, theSNA Program and Mississippi Valley Conser-vancy purchased a 244-acre forest and prairielandscape on a bluff towering over the Missis-sippi River. Parts of Bark Bay Slough, Lost CreekBog, and Port Wing Boreal Forest SNAs in Bay-field County were purchased through Steward-ship and are widely used by migrating birds.

Water is a common thread that runs throughmany SNAs. Moose Lake SNA, 1,113 acres inIron County, is funded with Stewardship dollars,and features a lake containing a classic North-woods Wisconsin fishery surrounded by old-growth forest. About 105 acres of the Moon-light Bay Bedrock Beach SNA in Door Countywas purchased using Stewardship in 1990-91 for$615,000. The area protects more than three-quarters of a mile of Lake Michigan shorelineand a boreal forest along the Door Peninsula’snortheastern coast. And Stewardship purchased1,400 acres of the Tomahawk River Pines SNAin Oneida County from the Board of Commis-sioners of Public Lands. This area features sev-eral undisturbed stands of large red pines alonga wild and undeveloped reach of the TomahawkRiver upstream of the Willow Flowage. Its talltrees and isolated nature provide excellent nest-ing sites for bald eagles and osprey.

The Natural Resources Foundation hasadopted the SNA program as one of its keystoneprojects and works to raise awareness of theprogram. The Foundation has developed a con-servation endowment fund for natural areasmanagement, which includes tackling invasivespecies, such as garlic mustard, restoration work,such as planting prairies and long-term man-agement such as prescribed burns.

“These are legacy places that speak to whatWisconsin was once like.” Meyer says. ❦

To learn more about Wisconsin’s State Natural Areas visit dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/sna/

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Fassett’slocoweed(Oxytropisjohannensis) isfound only inWisconsin.

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The primary featureat Moonlight BayBedrock Beach StateNatural Area in DoorCounty is the dolomitebedrock beach, whichis periodically coveredand exposed dependingon Lake Michiganwater levels.

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Between 1997 and 2002,about 94 percent ofWisconsin’s private indus-trial forestlands, or about one million acres, changed hands. Some ofthese lands were later subdivided into small parcels and re-sold —putting forest industry jobs,wildlife habitat and public access at risk.

The economics of land valuation is the culprit. Land is worth more asdevelopment property than as working forestland, and some companiesare paying down their debts by selling off this land — often in smallerparcels, explains Rich LaValley, a DNR forest tax law field manager inTomahawk.

Although the state has been able toacquire conservation easements on over110,000 acres of these industrial forestlands,the rest of the 920,000 acres have no sucheasements that keep these lands in privatehands and sustain public access for futuregenerations.

“Stewardship maintains forest healthand vigor for future generations,” says BobMather, DNR bureau director for forestrymanagement. “In forestry, size does matter.”

Bigger tracts are easier to manage andprovide greater benefits for wildlife andwatershed quality.A goal of the forestry pro-gram has been to reduce fragmentation andease costs to society.When cabins and homesare built into the forestland, fragmentedparcels create greater demand for rural serv-ices and infrastructure like roads and utilitycorridors, and police and fire services.

Preserving large tracts of forestland and keeping them in produc-tion is equally important to the state’s timber industry, Mather says, asthese lands provide both economic and environmental benefits to thepeople of Wisconsin. Working forests are lands that are managed sus–tainably for the long term with harvesting and planting, and protectingendangered resources and water quality. The timber company may dothe harvesting and planting, but it is monitored by the state to complywith the property management plan and compatible with forest man-agement law.

“Because of the Stewardship Fund,” LaValley says, “the state hasbeen able to purchase easements on these large tracts of land to keepthem intact. The state buys the development rights and public access sothe land will not be developed and will remain open for recreationforever. In most cases the company still owns the land and manages itunder a long-term forest management plan.”

An example of such an agreement is the Wolf River Forest LegacyProject. In October 2005, the Plum Creek Timber Company, a real estateinvestment trust, announced that more than 18,500 acres of propertynear the Wolf River in eastern Langlade County would be permanentlyconserved through an easement with the state. The Wolf River area isimportant to those who use the land for hunting, fishing, hiking, birdwatching and other outdoor activities.

State easement acquisition took place over two years.Approximately10,700 acres were purchased in 2005 and about 7,800 acres were

purchased in the second phase in 2006.The area includes frontage on the banksof Nine Mile Creek and the Lily River, TyraLake and a six-mile segment of the IceAge Trail.

“There is a growing interest in recrea-tional trails and the need to secure linearcorridors and links to build a trail networkto meet the needs of a wide range of recrea-tional trail users,” LaValley says. “Many ofthe companies I work with are interestedin providing public recreation such assnowmobile and cross-country ski trails.”

The Baraboo Hills Forest Legacy Areais an example of a different kind of pro-ject that involved several small landown-ers who, along with the public, benefitedfrom Stewardship and the Forest LegacyProgram.The Baraboo Hills project beganin 2003 and was completed in 2007. The

bluffs are composed of the largest surface deposit of quartzite in theMidwest, and thus as both a landform and mineral lode, have signifi-cance. Agreements were reached with 16 property owners to buy con-servation easements on approximately 1,000 acres of forestland in theBaraboo Hills.

The easements were negotiated through the Forest Legacy Program,a partnership between the DNR and U.S. Forest Service.

Conservation easements ensure that these privately owned envi-ronmentally important forestlands are protected from non-forest uses,such as commercial development. At the same time, landowners havethe ability to use, manage, benefit from, and enjoy their property.

“Acquisition of easements from a grouping of smaller landowners,combined with a wide variety of other conservation efforts in the area,will help protect the long-term conservation and forest productionvalues of the Baraboo Hills,” Mather says.

Sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Land DivisionPUB-CE-4019-2008Produced by Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine: visit wnrmag.comDesigned by Thomas J. SenatoriCover photo courtesy of Jennifer Hassrick Photography

Creating a forest legacy

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Quincy Bluff andWetlands StateNatural Area inAdams County.Quincy Bluff rises200 feet andextends forapproximatelytwo miles.

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