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Winter 2017-2018 Newsletter from the Door County Land Trust

Door County Land Trust

Protecting Door Countyâ€™s Exceptional Lands and Waters...Forever

Photo by Glenn Ocock

Red fox June 2017, near Kellner Fen Natural Area A red fox may travel up to five miles a night hunting, but thanks to land conservation, abundant and diverse habitats keep this beautiful predator close to its den and pups. Bohemian waxwings March 2017, Washington Island

Cover photo by Melody Walsh

Find bonus content in the digital version of this publication at www.DoorCountyLandTrust.org. The fern icon denotes there is more to see online.

Photo by Dan Eggert

Bohemian waxwings carry out their annual berry-passing courting ritual before nesting and raising their young.

Protecting an Irreplaceable Treasure Dear friends, This aerial view encompassing Peil Creek, Kangaroo Lake, the dunes of Heins Creek and Lake Michigan truly demonstrates the intricacy of Door County’s landscape. This amazing image and the protected lands therein also serve as a great reminder of the importance of our work. We are truly protecting Door County’s exceptional lands and waters...forever. Thanks to your help, today more than 8,000 acres of Door peninsula wilderness are permanently protected. The many land protection successes of Door County Land Trust demonstrate the scope and breadth of what can be accomplished when we work together. Thanks to you, we are making a critical and lasting difference upon Door County’s wild places and open spaces.

Photo by Dan Eggert

On behalf of our Board of Directors and staff, thank you for helping to protect this irreplaceable treasure.

Tom Clay, Executive Director Door County Land Trust

Landings, News Splash — Winter ’17-’18

Photo by Dan Eggert

The Land–Water Connection: Gibraltar-Ephraim Swamp and Eagle Harbor In the heart of the Gibraltar-Ephraim Swamp State Natural Area lie the headwaters of the Hidden Springs and Ephraim Creeks which drain into Green Bay. To protect the rich wildlife habitat found here, earlier this summer landowner John Wehling sold 120 acres which had been in his family for generations, to the Door County Land Trust. Besides helping filter and protect the water quality, this preserve will benefit wildlife, fish and birds. The mature white cedar swamp protects habitat for many rare and endangered species such as the dwarf lake iris, redshouldered hawk and bald eagle. Door County Land Trust will continue to acquire land and create conservation easements to further protect the Gibraltar-Ephraim Swamp State Natural Area.

Photo by Dan Eggert

Bay Shore Blufflands Buckthorn Blast

Funding for this project is provided by the Bay Shore Property Owners Association and Door County Land Trust with a Land Trust Excellence & Advancement Partnership (LEAP) grant from the Land Trust Alliance and Gathering Waters.

Photo by Dan Eggert

The Bay Shore Blufflands Nature Preserve is the site of a model partnership to care for the preserve and neighboring lands. Dedicated neighbors Ken and Denice Hubbard helped to forge a partnership between the Bay Shore Property Owners Association and the Land Trust to eradicate destructive buckthorn and honeysuckle that are invading the seven-mile stretch of bluffland corridor. Together, neighbors, volunteers and restoration contractors have begun a three-year effort to restore this critical ecosystem.

Landings, News Splash — Winter ’17-’18

Photo by Drew Reinke

In late August, landowners Bruce and Joan Pikas protected their beloved 37-acre forest and wetland property with a conservation easement. Joan said, “The longer we’ve owned this land, the more we realized it needed to be protected forever. The conservation easement with the Door County Land Trust ensures it will remain the same.” The newly protected land lies between The Nature Conservancy’s Mink River Estuary and the Door County Land Trust’s Three Springs Nature Preserve. Ten rare plant species and fifteen rare bird species have been identified in the surrounding protected landscape. The property lies within an 11,000-acre coastal wetland corridor recognized as internationally significant. Conservation easements are a key method for protecting wildlife corridors and ensuring opportunities for wildlife to move freely across the landscape, while keeping the property in private ownership. Some of Door County’s most wild and ecologically diverse lands are privately owned, and through conservation easements with the Door County Land Trust these landowners can rest assured knowing their beloved lands are protected.

Photo by Julie Schartner

Photo by Dan Eggert

A New Conservation Easement Bridges Two Natural Areas

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Landings, News Splash — Winter ’17-’18

Photo by Naseem Reza

A Refuge in a Sea of Blue

Photo by Naseem Reza

Chambers Island looks much like it did 150 years ago, with the exception of tire tracks on the dirt roads. For the hundreds of thousands of birds migrating over Green Bay, the wild island is a welcome rest stop on a long and dangerous journey to their summer breeding grounds. This summer, with the help of islanders and the Chambers Island Nature Preserve Committee, the Door County Land Trust completed several additions to the preserve, which now totals 593 acres. The Land Trust will continue land protection, stewardship and restoration work on the island ensuring that birds and wildlife will find refuge here forever.

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Conservation Easements Protect Homes for The Wildest Things

Photo by Nancy Aten

Landings, News Splash — Winter ’17-’18

Photo by Nancy Aten

Photo by Dennis Connolly

Visionary landowners Nancy Aten and Dan Collins completed the donation of a 17-acre conservation easement to the Door County Land Trust this fall. The property, located near the 274acre Bay Shore Blufflands Nature Preserve, adds to a complex of ecologically rich lands where several rare and threatened species have been identified. Waters from agricultural lands to the east are filtered through wetlands on the property before draining into the bay of Green Bay, resulting in cleaner freshwater and shoreline habitat. Dan and Nancy pass their passion for nature on to the next generation as they share their knowledge and their land with grad students and grade-school students, visiting conservationists and backyard naturalists.

Photo by Kelly Avenson

Landings, News Splash — Winter ’17-’18

Photo by Jason Wilke

Mapping Guides 2018 Restoration Work

This four-person crew spent part of their summer mapping invasive species in preparation for a restoration project to begin in 2018. Door County Land Trust’s Three Springs Nature Preserve is one of several sites prioritized in this partner project to map, monitor and reduce invasive species within the Door Peninsula Coastal Wetlands Ramsar site. The coastal wetland complex, an 11,443-acre stretch of wild and protected land was designated as a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention in 2015. The health of the wetlands at Three Springs Nature Preserve is threatened by invasive plant species including reed canary grass, buckthorn, and European marsh thistle. The restoration of this site will help ensure this natural area can continue to support the diverse plant and animal life Our thanks to the Door County conservation partners found here, including habitat for the federally threatened Hine’s emerald dragonfly. who collaborated on the grant proposal and to The Thanks to funding from the North American Wetland Conservation Act Grant, 399 acres at the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Nature Preserve and 50 acres at Heins Creek Nature Preserve are being restored. The project, begun in 2014, has already made great strides to eradicate invasive plants such as buckthorn, honeysuckle, autumn olive, reed canary grass and Phragmites, with the help of professional conservation contractors. Restoration work at these sites will continue through the fall of 2018 thanks to additional funding through a Fish and Wildlife Service Partners Program Grant. Nature Conservancy for securing and coordinating the grant. 12

Landings, News Splash — Winter ’17-’18

Many thanks to The Nature Conservancy for spearheading and managing this partnership project made possible by a grant award from Sustain Our Great Lakes (SOGL).

Photo by Julie Schartner

Restoring Balance to an Interconnected Ecosystem

Photo by Jesse Koyen

Gift Exchange

Photo by Dan Eggert

By Francha Barnard, Door County poet and volunteer As for me, on a trail hike, you wouldn’t want me to lead; can’t identify the ten different mushrooms or four or five ferns we’d see. Can’t tell the various orchids apart or the birdsong we’d hear nearby; can’t even find the bird in the tree. But that walk in the woods alone on any given calendar day yields gifts abundant, unbidden; yields lessons unexpected.

How do you hold the kingfisher just seen at the Ship Canal shore, and minutes later, a pileated woodpecker flying up before you from the woods? How do you value lichen lacing fallen trunks in Lautenbach Woods; bats leaving the barn at Three Springs to do their evening dance with insects? How do you repay for all this — this offer of secluded spaces where you go to sit, to look, to listen, to write or draw or paint? You find your fit in this diverse group You offer yourself (known talents or not) You repay what’s been offered to you. Ca Ching! Exchange….. You volunteer.

This poem was written for and read aloud at the October 1 event ‘Widening the Circle,’ in which several volunteers spoke passionately about the joy of volunteering with the Land Trust. To hear more from Land Trust volunteers and to learn how you can help, visit www.DoorCountyLandTrust.org.

Landings, News Splash — Winter ’17-’18

Photo by Jason Wilke

• Sound Finances • Ethical Conduct • Responsible Governance • Lasting Stewardship

Board of Directors

Emeritus Board Members

President Jeff Ottum

Nancy Aten Bob Barlament * Mike Brodd Dan Burke Fran Burton Dave Callsen Beth Coleman Andy Coulson Robert Cowles * Sharon Donegan Frank Failing * Robert Forsberg Darlene Forsberg Ken Gill Betsy Guenzel * Julie Guilette Chan Harris * Tony Haswell Jon Hollingshead Laurel Hauser Jim Janning John Jessup Jim Ingwersen * Jim Kinney Lucy Klug Lon Kopitzke Terry Lappin

President-Elect Donna DeNardo

Meet Jesse Koyen Jesse joined the Land Trust in May as a seasonal stewardship assistant and we are thrilled to announce that he is now working with our Land Team full-time as the Land Protection and Stewardship Specialist. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience and will assist in caring for our ever-expanding protected acreage. When he isn’t hiking the trails on the peninsula, Jesse heads home to Washington Island to fish and visit family. 14

Landings, News Splash — Winter ’17-’18

Treasurer Tim Stone Secretary Donna Hake Past President Kathy Wolff Jean Barrett Tom Blackwood Jack Finger Cathy Fiorato Peter Deschler Barbara Frank Mark Martin Bryan Nelson Kevin Nordahl Judy Perkins Gretchen Schmelzer Roy Thilly Rob Watson Karen Yancey

Staff Jim Lester Judy Lokken Paul Mahlberg Neil McCarty John McMahon Beverly Njaa * Frank Pechman * Nancy Rafal Kate Rohrer Carl Scholz Neil Shadle Oliver Skrivanie Mary Standish Bill Tischler * John Turner Kieth Van Dyke Rob Van Gemert John Wilson * Robert Yeoman Bill Yunker * Virginia Yunker * Elizabeth Zimmerman James Zimmerman * * Founding Board Member

Executive Director Tom Clay Director of Land Program Terrie Cooper Administrative Assistant Amy Dwyer Development Director Susan Gould Land Protection and Stewardship Specialist Jesse Koyen Land Stewardship Manager Amanda Pyke Conservation Easement Program Manager Drew Reinke Office Manager Kristi Rice Communications & Outreach Manager Cinnamon Rossman Land Project Manager Julie Schartner Office: 23 N. Fifth Avenue, Sturgeon Bay Mailing: PO Box 65, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Phone: (920)746-1359 Email: info@doorcountylandtrust.org

Photo by Dale Goodner

ACY CIRC L EG

Leave a Legacy

A bequest might be the most important charitable gift you ever make! Your planned gift to the Door County Land Trust creates a personal legacy of land protection that lasts forever. Even 5% of your estate can make a difference for the future. For more information, call (920) 746-1359 or check out the materials on our website at www.DoorCountyLandTrust.org/PlannedGiving We hope you will consider leaving a gift to the Door Count Land Trust in your will or IRA. And, if you have already included us, please let us know.

Explore the Door Give a Gift Membership Your recipient will receive a oneyear membership, including a gift package of our most recent newsletter, a Land Trust decal, Hiking Trails Map, and A Guide to the Places We Protect, along with a letter informing them of your gift. www.DoorCountyLandTrust.org/Gift

Winter Snowshoe hikes Register online to join us for an upcoming winter hike. New this year, you have the option to reserve snowshoes which will be available at the beginning of the hike. More details at

DoorCountyLandTrust.org/Hike

Save the Date!

Midwinter Gathering — Saturday, February 24, 2018 Each winter we gather ‘round to hear stories of the incredible lands and waters that together we have protected–and to raise funds for this worthy endeavor. This year, we’ll put the fun in fundraising to help protect and care for even more of Door County’s special places. Invitations will be mailed in early January.

Sat, January 6, 10am-Noon, Björklunden Sat, February 10, 10am-Noon, Three Springs Nature Preserve Sat, February 24, 10am-Noon, Björklunden

Landings, News Splash — Winter ’17-’18

Door County Land Trust

Protecting Door County’s Exceptional Lands and Waters...Forever (920) 746-1359 • www.DoorCountyLandTrust.org PO Box 65, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 Find us on

Facebook. Like preserving local lands? Like us on Facebook.

Photo by Jesse Koyen

Text to Give! Text 1-920-542-6247 with the amount you’d like to give in the message box. Follow the text instructions to complete the donation. More information online at www.DoorCountyLandTrust.org/text