The 5th annual Gathering consisted of a tour of land that was conserved through great partnerships; the Beerline Trail and Wheelhouse property. A huge congratulations to the River Revitalization Foundation on this preserve! The hike began with a guided tour of the Wheelhouse Property, which was purchased and removed by the River Revitalization Foundation to make way for a park and to connect the Beerline Trail and the Oak Leaf Trail together.

Tour of the Wheelhouse Property

Hikers also witnessed the ribbon cutting of the newly completed Kiwanis Landing which provides improved access to the Milwaukee River.

Ribbon cutting at the Kiwanis Landing

For the last part of the afternoon, hikers were taken on a guided tour of the Beerline Trail. The tour provided scenic views of downtown as well as of the Milwaukee River.

Tour of the Beerline Trail

After the hike, attendees gathered at The Hamilton for the reception, where good, local, sustainable food was enjoyed thanks to Braise. Great speeches were also given by our sponsors and our partners this year. Thank you to everyone who braved the cold and came out to the 5th annual Gathering and helped us celebrate all of the wonderful conservation work happening in Wisconsin!

Reception speeches at The Hamilton

The Conservation Congress’ Vice-Chair Larry Bonde invited GWC and the land trusts to the convention, and we really appreciate being included in the program.  We’re looking forward to continued work with the Conservation Congress and others in the sporting community in the future.

It was really impressive to hear about several collaborations already happening between land trusts and groups like Ducks Unlimited, the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, and Pheasants Forever.  Shawn and Eric described several examples where their land trusts have come together with the sportsmen and women and other partners to accomplish shared conservation goals.

My name is Valerie Klessig, and I am a UW-Madison senior majoring in journalism and Spanish and graduating this May. I was a communications and outreach intern at Gathering Waters in 2010. The experiences, knowledge and skills I acquired at Gathering Waters are invaluable and have helped shape the young woman I am today. Above all, my internship helped to reinforce in me the values of sustainability and land conservation that I grew up with, affirming my desire to pursue work that I love.

I am part of the sixth generation born on my family’s dairy farm in Cleveland, Wis., where I developed my love for the land and learned that milk, cheese and corn are not, in fact, made at the grocery store but rather come from a process much more complex and interesting. My grandfather, who had Aldo Leopold as a professor, instilled in his children and grandchildren the desire to be good stewards of the land. I am proud to be a part of this legacy, but I didn’t fully understand how I wanted to build upon that legacy until my time at Gathering Waters.

As a graduating senior, I was recently offered some career advice: consider what really makes me feel alive and pursue that. I can tell—just from my five hours a week in the Gathering Waters office and the occasional field trip with GWC staff—that their work truly makes them feel alive. They are such passionate advocates of rural Wisconsin and all her residents who care about the land. I have many dreams about the potential career paths I may travel down. Perhaps I’ll pursue a communications-related job within the agriculture industry or work in the nonprofit sector to enhance rural Wisconsin. Yet, my biggest dream is to do something that makes me feel alive, just like the Gathering Waters staff does working to protect Wisconsin.

Two adages that ring true to me come from two people whom I admire.  A good family friend once told me that our land is our petroleum, and not enough people carefully consider the fact that we are not making any more land! That could be what Franklin Delano Roosevelt had in mind when he said that “the history of every nation is eventually written by the way in which it cares for its soil.” I believe that land is our most valuable resource, so it is wonderful to know our state has progressive leaders like Gathering Waters and the rest of the land trust community. It is because of those conservation values and the inspiration I got during my internship that I so strongly support Gathering Waters.

Our annual Land Conservation Leadership Awards Celebration takes place each fall and recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of individuals, policy makers, and land trusts who are working to protect the places that make Wisconsin special.

We encourage you to nominate someone (or a group) who has demonstrated leadership in protecting Wisconsin’s natural resources. Awards will be presented at Gathering Waters Conservancy’s annual Awards Celebration on October 4, 2012.

The award categories:

• Land Trust of the Year
• Policy Maker of the Year
• Rod Nilsestuen Award for Working Lands Preservation
• Conservationist of the Year
• Award with a Harold “Bud” Jordahl Distinction

If there is someone you would like to nominate, you can complete the Nomination Form and a description of the nominee’s actions and accomplishments that have advanced land conservation in Wisconsin. We welcome the submission of supporting materials such as letters of recommendation, newspaper articles, photos, maps or other resources.

If you have any questions, you can contact Mindy Petersen at 608.251.9131 x 15 or by email.

For more information on the Land Conservation Leadership Awards Celebration, visit our website.

Photo credit: Althea Dotzour Photography

* $200 Cash Prize for overall winner
* $100 Cash Prize for the winner in each of the contest categories (see website for details)

This weekend, help us celebrate Wisconsin’s conservation successes by visiting one of the many Land Trust Protected Lands that can be found all over the state. When you’re done, submit up to five of your photos into the “Wisconsin Land Trusts” category for your chance to win!

For more information on where to find protected lands and for full contest details, please visit our website. Good luck and have fun out there!

Here’s a new way to celebrate Earth Day: Urge your representatives in Congress to help pass the Conservation Easement Incentive Act.

This bill would restore a tax break to modest-income landowners who want to protect the valuable natural resource that is their property. It expired on Dec. 31, so landowners have less of an incentive today to donate a conservation easement – a voluntary agreement that limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values – to a land trust in their community.servation Easement Incentive Act.

But an amazing thing has happened in this year of partisan wrangling: 300 members of Congress have come together to support the restoration of this tax break, with majorities of both parties – 125 Republicans and 175 Democrats representing 47 states – supporting it in the House. Supporters include the chairman, ranking Democrat and 32 of 37 Ways and Means Committee members.

The Conservation Easement Incentive Act is a truly bipartisan bill. At a time when Democrats and Republicans seem miles apart on most environmental and tax issues, here is one place they have come together.

By giving landowners a decent incentive to place a conservation easement on their property, Congress would help preserve our vanishing forests and farmland and make available millions of acres for wildlife – and our kids and grandkids – to enjoy. Such a tax break is a proven success.

Since enacted in 2006, it has allowed landowners to deduct the fair market value of their donated easement up to 50% of their income. And forestland owners, ranchers and farmers have been able to deduct the full 100%. This boosted the amount of land preserved by easements by more than a third, to more than 1 million acres a year – about the size of Yosemite and Grand Teton National Parks combined – each year.

Privately owned and managed forestland, farms and ranches are essential to America’s great landscapes and the people, economies and wildlife that depend on them. And foresters, ranchers and farmers are taking the lead in permanently protecting the country’s best working lands. These landscapes not only provide incredible scenery, water quality and wildlife habitat but also produce wood, fiber and the safest, most reliable source of food in the world.

In Wisconsin, Mark and Pam Dryer protected 270 acres of sustainably managed forestland surrounding two miles of Marengo River shoreline with the Bayfield Regional Conservancy, protecting a high-quality water resource and habitat to rare and endangered species of wildlife. Riverbank erosion along the Marengo River is one of the biggest contributors to sedimentation, so protecting it from development also protects Lake Superior, which lies downstream.

Let’s give landowners the incentive to conserve their land, protect the fish and wildlife and the communities that depend on it and pass on this heritage to our children and their children.

The River Revitalization Foundation in Milwaukee is a land trust that strives to recreate the urban landscape using the river as a focal point. They are actively establishing parkways in and around the city for public access, walkways, recreation and education. As part of the 2012 Land Legacy Gathering, we are going to tour two of these conservation sites; the Beer Line Trail and the Wheelhouse Property.  GWC works with many land trusts like the River Revitalization Foundation to increase the amount of protected land in Wisconsin through private, voluntary action.

The Land Trust Alliance is a national organization that works with land trusts, like the River Revitalization, to help strengthen land conservation across the country. Their work involves building strong land trusts, defending the permanence of conservation easements, and dramatically expanding the pace of land conservation. We share many of these goals and strive to execute them on a statewide level.

We feel fortunate to have such strong partners in the River Revitalization and the Land Trust Alliance as we pursue our mutual goal of protecting Wisconsin’s special places.

You can help us celebrate all of the wonderful conservation work happening in Wisconsin and hear more about the partnerships advancing this work at our upcoming Land Legacy Gathering in Milwaukee on Saturday, April 28. More information can be found on our website. If you would like to join us, don’t forget to RSVP.

Hope to see you all there!

This preserved area is an important spawning location for the Northern Pike. The fish use the network of streams in the preserved area to travel inland from the Bay each year to spawn. Once the new fish hatch they return to the Bay and the streams once used as their travel routes dry up.

“If we care about the waters of the Bay and the quality of our fisheries, land conservation on the west shore of Green Bay is crucial. The health of Green Bay and also Lake Michigan is very much determined by what we do on the land here, in northeastern Wisconsin,” said Deborah Nett, Executive Director of NEWLT.

This area should be open to the public late this summer.  More information on recreational opportunities in northeast Wisconsin can be found by contacting Northeast Wisconsin Land Trust.

Guests arriving at the Leopold Shack, April 2008

The first ever Land Legacy Gathering, co-hosted by the Baraboo Range Preservation Association and the Aldo Leopold Foundation in 2008, was held at the Aldo Leopold Legacy Centerin Baraboo Wisconsin. The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center was built from pines planted by the Leopold family and is the first LEED Platinum, carbon neutral building in the world. The Gathering included a hike to the Historic Leopold Shack which was the Leopold family’s weekend retreat and served as inspiration for the writing, observations, and lessons of Aldo Leopold.

In 2009, the Gathering was held at the Mequon Nature Preserve in partnership with the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust. The Mequon Nature Preserve is a groundbreaking example of a restored natural area in an urban/suburban community. Attendees hiked through the Preserve’s 438 acres of woodlands, wetlands, and open fields.

Gathering guests enjoying a hike in the Kinni River Canyon, April 2010.

In 2010, the Gathering was held at the Kinnickinnic River Canyon Property in River Falls and co-hosted with the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust. The Kinnickinnic River flows through 96,000 square acres and the protected area includes creeks, springs, wetlands, fish and wildlife habitat, native plant communities, rare and endangered species, bluffs, coulees, and family farms. The event involved a guided hike of the Kinnickinnic River Canyon ecosystem restoration project.

The Ice Age Trail Alliance, based in Cross Plains, was our co-host site in 2011. At the Gathering, guests were taken on a guided hike of the Table Bluff segment of the Ice Age Trail.  The Ice Age Trail is a thousand-mile footpath, protected and managed by the Ice Age Trail Alliance, and highlights the unique features carved into Wisconsin’s landscape by a glacier over 12,000 years ago.

An oasis in urban Milwaukee

This year, we are excited to announce the Beer Line Trail and Wheelhouse Property as the location for our 2012 Land Legacy Gathering. These are two of Milwaukee’s most significant conservation sites. The conversion of this once blighted site into a riverfront park is very special for urban dwellers, who now have improved access to additional green space in the city and the river valley system of trails. This year we have partnered with the Land Trust Alliance and are co-hosting the event with the River Revitalization Foundation. We look forward to another great turnout this year and are hoping for beautiful weather!

For more information on this year’s event, please visit our website.  Hope to see you all there!

Alan Sweeney, recipient of the 2011 Rod Nilsestuen Award for Working Lands Preservation.

We are now accepting nominations for the 2012 awards!

The award categories are:

-Land Trust of the Year

-Policy Maker of the Year

-Rod Nilsestuen Award for Working Lands Preservation

-Conservationist of the Year

-Award with a Harold “Bud” Jordahl Distinction

If you can think of a deserving individual or organization, go ahead and complete our nomination form.  Nominations are due by Friday, May 11, 2012. These awards will be presented at Gathering Waters Conservancy’s 10^th annual Land Conservation Leadership Awards Celebration on October 4, 2012.

If you have any questions, you can contact Mindy Petersen at 608-251-9131 x 15 or by email.

For more information on the Land Conservation Leadership Awards Celebration, visit our website.