Linda Falkenstein
The Ridges Sanctuary lets visitors access a rare and fragile ecosystem.
The Ridges Sanctuary in Door County protects a rare landscape. Its 1,600 acres encompass a series of sand ridges and swales created as Lake Michigan has receded over millennia. It is one of the few remaining ridge ecosystems and it is home to rare species, including 26 species of orchid and the endangered Hine’s Emerald dragonfly. The Ridges is also the first land trust in Wisconsin, established in 1937.
Albert Fuller, who at the time was curator of botany at the Milwaukee Public Museum, heard that 40 acres of land at Bailey’s Harbor in Door County was to be developed as a private campground. Fuller, who’d searched for orchids in the area, understood the rare wetland should not be destroyed and he raised enough money to buy the original 40 acres and legally protect it in the future.
As a land trust, The Ridges differs from a state park. It is privately owned, and the emphasis is on protection, preservation and education. Today, a $5 admission supports The Ridges; hiking is encouraged on trails that follow the ridges, while boardwalks bridge the swales, protecting fragile plants.
There are close to 50 land trust conservancies in Wisconsin. Groundswell Conservancy, Driftless Area Land Conservancy and The Prairie Enthusiasts are nearby land trusts Madisonians may be familiar with. Most of their lands are open to the public; unlike The Ridges, most are free. They can range from small trusts protecting a few acres to the largest land trust in the state, The Nature Conservancy, that manages 28,000 acres at different properties.
“Land trusts are all different,” says Elizabeth Koehler, The Nature Conservancy’s state director. “But we share tools and goals and definitely share a lack of awareness.”
They are private nonprofits, often without paid staff. Koehler calls land trusts a tool that citizens can use to preserve special places and says “there are a range of reasons why a group of people bands together to save a property.” It may harbor rare species, or exemplify an entire plant and animal community.
Most land trust properties are more “rustic” than state parks, Koehler notes. Parking lots are small and unpaved. There is usually access to the land’s special features through hiking trails. There can be a feeling of surprise when people discover these conservancy lands, which tend to be “off the beaten path, more remote than parks,” says Koehler. “People don’t always know they’re there, but the birds know.”
Keeping trails clear is usually the task of volunteers, and signage, well, varies. Koehler says The Nature Conservancy improved its signage a few years back after a hiker got lost at a property up north — and that was with a Nature Conservancy guide.
Most conservancies have a website with information that will help plan a visit; look for a downloadable trail map, a description with key features, and any no-nos. (Some do not allow dogs, for instance.) Many are also State Natural Areas, a designation which does not mean they are state-owned but does provide an extra level of protection for significant sites.
Land trusts do collaborate with state and federal agencies. The Nature Conservancy, for instance, partners with local land trusts, the DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service in managing lands, splitting up responsibilities.
The Nature Conservancy is focused on acquiring land to “fill in between places we already own,” or connecting its lands with large public lands. One area of concentration is the Baraboo Hills, where the trust owns 8,000 acres. Connecting those lands to Devil’s Lake State Park protects the forest canopy and makes space for nesting migratory birds. And in northern Wisconsin, The Nature Conservancy is working to buy lands to create a “corridor between state protected forests and federal lands in the Upper Peninsula, so mammals can move between the larger blocks of protected land,” Koehler says.
If smaller landowners want to preserve their land but their parcels don’t line up with The Nature Conservancy’s goals, the group will point them to a smaller organization. Gathering Waters can also help point interested landowners in the right direction; it’s an umbrella organization for more than 40 land trusts in Wisconsin.
This spring Gathering Waters, along with The Nature Conservancy, pushed for renewed funding of the state’s Knowles-Nelson Stewardship fund for the next 10 years in the 2021 budget. That was how Knowles-Nelson had been funded since its inception in 1989, until 2019, when the funding was reauthorized for just two years. While Gov. Tony Evers’ budget called for the 10-year reauthorization, it was knocked down by Republican lawmakers to four years, which Koehler characterizes as “better than two.”
The funds can be used for several purposes, such as improving state parks and recreational opportunities, as well as matching grants for local communities and nonprofits and land trusts for land acquisition.
Knowles-Nelson funding is “why Wisconsin is the way it is,” Koehler says, beautiful and natural and a draw for recreational tourists, hikers, paddlers and bicyclists. It is the “premier” state funding for creating protected areas. Getting one of the grants is “a rigorous process; we explain the land’s natural values, and how we intend to use it and make it open to the public.”
Koehler calls the 10-year authorization important in negotiating land deals, which can take more than a decade. With a four-year reauthorization, some landowners looking to sell to a conservancy may question if the funds will be there when they plan to sell, she says.
To anyone who doubts the importance of the Knowles-Nelson program, Koehler suggests taking the time to “visit these places, or step back and think ‘What would my community be like without this?’ Every place we work, what we hear from local people is ‘This is what makes our community special.’
“We have to be intentional about keeping these places this way. We all really cherish this state and we don’t realize what may be at risk if we don’t keep being intentional.”
