Waupaca County
Austin Creek
160 Acres Protected
Austin Creek is a prime example of the “special places that make Wisconsin Wisconsin.” One of the Sand Country Trout Streams highlighted in the Wisconsin Land Legacy Report, Austin Creek “originates in the recessional moraine left by the last advance of the glaciers.” Converging within the Conservancy’s 160 acres are two high quality streams with a rich and diverse aquatic insect life supporting its healthy trout population.
Glacial deposits and a scenic, wooded drumlin add diversity to the already varied landscape of conifer swamp, sedge meadows, wet prairie, three ponds, and second-growth forests with dozens of different tree species and pine plantations in the Managed Forest Program.
Bags Hill
82 Acres Protected
Hiking up Bags Hill’s steep, wooded slopes one witnesses the exceptional panorama of southern Waupaca County and also of northern Waushara County. A local landmark, Bags Hill, is a prime example of Wisconsin’s glacial past which created the moraines, kettles, ridges, and the area’s undulating terrain with its sandy soil and beautiful vistas. It is striking that the conservancy contains much of the same forest components as the government surveyors described in 1851, with extensive stands of oaks still intact.
Bags Hill is a generally dry and wooded site with approximately 10 acres of restored prairie and 1.3 acres of mucky, poorly drained soils surrounding a small natural pond. The conservancy is being managed to improve wildlife habitat and diversity via tree planting around the hill and the creation of Karner Blue Butterfly habitat the restored prairie.
Butternut Point
3 Acres Protected
Butternut Point is located at the northern tip of Long Lake in the Chain O' Lakes and represents an excellent example of landowner stewardship helping to return the land to its natural state. This small, but significant parcel represents one of the last remaining natural places on Long Lake.
Chain O'Lakes
83 Acres Protected
Containing two ponds with bogs typically found much further north in Wisconsin, wild shorelines, forest and agricultural land near heavily developed Rainbow Lake along the Chain O’ Lakes in Waupaca County, this easement protects 83.59 acres, including 52 acres of active agricultural fields, 31 acres of woods and two ponds. It will perpetually safeguard this land's agricultural resources, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats, and the high quality of the surface and groundwater of Rainbow, Round, and Sunset Lakes.
Emmons Creek I, II, III, & IV
286 Acres Protected
Four contiguous conservancies near Emmons Creek in Waupaca County preserve green space in the increasingly suburbanized Chain O' Lakes area. Once extensively logged and farmed, the land is restoring itself with diverse trees including black cherry, aspen, birch, and red maple. Also present is a large upland area with medium-sized glacial erratics and old red oaks, providing wildlife food and habitat.
Property highlights include the many wetlands aging in the preservation of Emmons Creek and Emmons Lake. Other unique characteristics include: Hilly topography and scattered boulders representative of glacial activity; Highly erodible Kennan bouldery soils, left undeveloped for groundwater protection and soil erosion prevention; 50 acres of regenerated, healthy Northern Dry Mesic Forest.
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The conservancy straddles a groundwater divide recharge area for a Class I Trout Stream, and has valuable spawning habitat for northern pike. Its Long Lake shoreline is the longest section of natural and undeveloped shoreline on the Chain O' Lakes. Situated along a designated State Rustic Road, the conservancies provide scenic views of glaciated landscape when taking a quiet bike ride
Hlaban's Tree Farm
68 Acres Protected
This property consists of high oak ridges, lowland marshes and several perched wetlands, a wonderful mix of native tree species, wildflowers and grasses. The Hlaban Tree Farm also provides shelter to a wide variety of native wildlife.
Timm's Vesey Lake & Grasslands
127 Acres Protected
Vesey Lake was Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust's first donated conservancy. This is the first of two conservancies provided by the same landowner. Vesey Lake is a spring fed, kettle hole lake of approximately 50 acres surface area and depth of 10 feet. It provides excellent aquatic habitat for invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and waterfowl on this isolated, undeveloped land. Vesey Lake Grasslands is the second conservancy provided by the landowner of the Timm's Woods/Vesey Lake Conservancy.
This former agricultural land is being restored to bird and animal habitat with 15 acres of mesic to wet prairie, as well as grasslands and wetlands. The grassland preservation is aimed at providing habitat for grassland birds such as bobolink, meadowlark, clay and savannah sparrows, turkey, common snipe and others.
Wolf River Bayou I & II
97 Acres Protected
These two conservancies, provided by the same property owner in Waupaca County, increases the buffer for the Mukwa State Wildlife Area: a public, undeveloped wildlife area of the State of Wisconsin.
The property lies along Wolf River and includes 500 feet of shoreline which is known to provide spawning habitat for sturgeon. This conservancy also includes 20 acres of wetlands and contains a unique glacial sand dune which is believed to be part of the northern extent of the now extinct glacial Lake Oshkosh. A recent archeological dig found impressions and artifacts such as a Jesuit ring, pottery pieces and spearheads.
The predominating natural community is floodplain forest (silver maple, red maple, green ash, cottonwood, American elm) with occasional specimens of swamp white oak, white pine and shagbark hickory. An example of southern xeric forest (black/red oak, bur oak, black cherry) occurs on the very sandy hills on the north side of the property. Wet, wooded portions of the site contain cattails, bulrush, water plantain, and pickerel weed, elements of the shallow water marsh community.
Wolf River Bottomlands I & II
173 Acres Protected
This conservancy is two conservancies provided by the same property owners in Waupaca County. The swamp located here drains to the Lower Wolf River and then flows into the Fox River and north into Green Bay. Half of this property is being cultivated for various crops and three of the soil types found on this parcel are identified as farmlands of state importance. The other half of this property is covered with sugar maple, red maple, white oak, ash, and aspen and is enrolled in the Managed Forest Law Program. Since this conservancy has been in the same family when it was homesteaded in 1855, the property owners felt strongly about preserving the land in perpetuity.