Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust was founded in 1996 to “preserve and restore the natural heritage of Northeast Wisconsin land and waters through partnerships in land conservancy and resource management.” But the beginnings go back before that.

 

1993: The initial impetus for Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust was the desire for protecting land along streams and lakes to improve water quality in the watershed. In 1993 The State of the Bay: A Watershed Perspective was published by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay: “We cannot clean up lower Green Bay unless we clean up Lake Winnebago. We cannot clean up Lake Winnebago unless we clean up the Fox and Wolf Rivers. We have to attack pollution at its source and we have to do it through the entire watershed.” Extensive cleanup of “point” sources of water pollution, such as discharge pipes from industries or sewer treatment plants, meant pollutants and sediments were reaching Green Bay from “non-point” sources, such as eroded stream banks. One part of the solution was to protect the land from uses that are detrimental to our waterways.

The board of directors of Northeastern Wisconsin Waters of Tomorrow (NEWWT) told Executive Director Bruce Johnson: “Start a land trust!” Fortunately, good information for starting a land trust was available from the national Land Trust Alliance (LTA), and would soon be available from Gathering Waters, then being established in Wisconsin. Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust’s initial service area was the Fox-Wolf watershed, plus other counties draining into Lake Michigan, a total of sections of 22 counties. This watershed approach was a daunting service area, and has been cut back as other land trusts developed in the area.

1994: Two meetings were held in 1994, with speakers representing land trusts and state funding programs.

1995: In 1995, a core of interested people began meeting every two weeks as a Steering Committee, setting up four sub committees: Legal, Membership and Outreach, Finance, and Land Management & Protection. Bruce worked one-quarter time as Executive Director. He secured a $50,000 grant from the EPA Great Lakes National Program Office Habitat Preservation Program. This grant could not be used for direct land protection, but was to build the organization. Steering Committee members attended the Land Trust Alliance Rally in California, and began the steep learning curve of establishing a land trust and using land protection tools such as conservation easements.

1995 & 1996: In 1995 and 1996, public outreach meetings were held at Appleton, Waupaca and Lake Noquebay in Marinette County. A look at attendance at these first meetings reveals two landowners who would later protect their land through Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust.

1996: The Land Trust incorporated in Wisconsin in March of 1996, developing articles, bylaws, and an application to the IRS, with the assistance of attorney William O’Connor of Madison, who was at that time Chairman of the Land Trust Alliance board. The founding Board of Directors included President Jeanne Agneessens, Vice-president Sue Kinde, Secretary Curt Solberg, Treasurer Bob Stadel, Bill Elman, Sue Dyer, Kari Esbensen, Ken Jaworski, Bruce Johnson, Paul Neumeyer, Tim Schmidt, and John Young. The IRS gave preliminary approval of NEWLT’s 501(c)(3) status on December 10, 1996 and final approval on March 30, 2001.

1997: The first newsletter was published in 1997, and well-attended banquets were held in April 1997 and March 1998. Work parties and celebrations — including a yearly welcome at Ken and LouAnn Pauer’s Environmental Education Preserve — attracted new members to the Land Trust.

1998: Thanks to the patience of landowner Pat Timm, 60 acres known as Timm’s Woods/Vessey Lake Grasslands was protected in 1998, creating our first conservancy area. In 1998, 259 total acres were protected.

1999: In 1999, John and Jean Reeve donated the Reeve Reserve on the Little Wolf River, creating our first preserve with public access for fishing, hunting and pedestrian recreation. Volunteer resource managers developed a management plan for the property.

Four dedicated funds have been established. The first at the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, for stewardship of protected lands, was started as the Esbensen Lake Protection Fund in honor of Dr. Victor G. Esbensen. A second stewardship fund has been established at the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, and a third at the Oshkosh Community Foundation. An administrative endowment has been established at the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. Many donors have supported these funds.

2002: A Community-based Conservation Initiative was first developed in Waupaca County in 2002. As a result, a local “Friends of the Little Wolf Headwaters” group formed.

2005: In 2005, a similar “Friends of Red River/Red Banks” group formed in northeastern Brown County. The Land Trust will rely on the interests of these kinds of groups to make the case for protecting the special places that are important to local communities.

In 2005, the Land Trust received the Guckenberg-Sturm Preserve property on the west shore of Little Lake Butte des Morts in the heart of the Fox River Valley, as part of a Fox River habitat restoration project. This 48 acre protected marsh is used by many species of migrating waterfowl and provides opportunities to restore some measure of ecological value to the Fox River.

2006: In 2006, Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust celebrated its Tenth Anniversary with a picnic at the former residence of Peter and Sue Guckenberg, adjacent to the Guckenberg-Sturm Preserve. Over 70 members enjoyed an array of speakers who talked about the history and significance of preserving special places in northeast Wisconsin.

2007: Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust experienced a record breaking year with 9 new conservancies being completed and an additional 887 acres of land protected. Also astounding was the amount of landowner inquiries about conserving their land, 68. By the end of 2007, the Land Trust protected 30 conservancies throughout eight counties, 23 of these conservancies are located on water.

2008:  We applied for and were awarded our first two Knowles-Nelson Stewardship grant for the purchase of our Gilson Creek Preserve and Winneconne Wetlands. Gilson Creek Preserve, a State Natural Area, is owned by the Land Trust and is open to the public, while Winneconne Wetlands, a 440 acre State Natural Area was purchased by Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust and was immediately donated to the State to be open to the public. We also completed our second easement in Shawano County along Kroenke Creek.

2009:  We added on to our Mt. Morris Conservancy which provides habitat for the Karner Blue Butterfly.  This brought the total number of acres conserved to just over 3,500! NEWLT also held field trips to Reeve Reserve and our Bagg's Hill Conservancy on an very chilly, but refreshing October day.

2010: This year the Land Trust purchased 50 acres of land in Green Lake County and donated it to Wisconsin DNR to add to Puchyan Prairie State Natural Area. We also added 354.5 acres protected by conservation easement. We added our first conservation easement on the west shore of Green Bay. In all, five projects were completed this year which helped us reach the milestone of protecting 4,000 acres of land. Workdays and clean-up activities were held at Red Banks State Natural Area on our Gilson Creek Preserve. We also developed a new three year strategic plan for our organization. What a busy year!

2011: This has been a truly exciting year. Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust welcomed our largest conservancy to date, 600 acres! And we protected a very special place at a confluence of the Peshtigo River …add Maloney…. We added staff to begin a new proactive land conservation campaign to save land in the more northern reaches of our territory, Brown, Oconto and Marinette Counties. It is our goal to serve these counties as well as we serve conservation needs elsewhere. To accommodate our growing family, we moved into a larger suite at our existing location. Thanks so much to all of our supporters. Without them none of this would be possible.