An abundance of opportunity and a chance to have a big impact. This is how Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust describes the situation we are in. We’ve experienced an influx of high-value conservation projects this year leading to a host of new land acquisition projects. We have more than double the usual number slated to be completed this year, along with several waiting to begin in 2025.

The new projects are spread across our 12-county service area, with each addressing specific local conservation needs. In Waupaca, we are working to protect land along the Crystal and Waupaca Rivers. Two rivers that are as important for recreation and water quality as any in Wisconsin. It’s the water and the woods that draw people here. By adding another conservancy to the other land protection work we’ve done in this area, we ensure this beautiful place will retain its character for the future.

We are working to close two projects in the northern reaches of our service area. One of these properties, lies on a stretch the Peshtigo River at a place know by locals and paddlers as Roaring Rapids. Together, these classically “up-north” properties will add 200 acres to the growing tally of northern forest and forested wetland we hold for the sake of providing large tracts of wildlife habitat and keeping the water in the tributaries that feed into Green Bay clean and pure.

In keeping with our water quality focus, we are at work on the eastern side of the Bay as well where we are writing grants to purchase land to add to the preserve complex at Point Au Sable and Wequiock Creek. The parcel we hope to buy is incredible. Truly one of the most important remaining sites to preserve for the benefit of migratory birds, fisheries and water quality in Green Bay.

Altogether, the conservation projects we are at work on speak to the richness of the landscape. Each with its own conservation value, but yet part of a greater whole that is northeast Wisconsin. With the support of people who care and the willingness of landowners to think of the future, we are piecing together a legacy of protected lands that will be a benefit for generations to come.

These properties are each unique in many ways, but they are all connected as part of the Green Bay watershed. Each plays its own role in creating the beautiful and ecologically rich landscape of Northeast Wisconsin. And thanks to all of our members and supporters playing their own roles across the region, the land trust is able to protect and preserve this beautiful landscape for generations to come.