Page 24
Progress — 2014
Northwoods Land Trust protects
nine conservation properties in 2013
The Northwoods Land Trust (NLT),
a nonprofit conservation organization
based in Eagle River, completed a total
of nine new perpetual conservation
projects in 2013, including their first in
Forest County.
According to Executive Director
Bryan Pierce, one outright donation of
conservation land and eight conservation easement donations were finalized
before the end of the year.
These nine projects have helped the
land trust permanently conserve another 745 acres and more than 5 miles
of natural river and lake shorelines on
private lands in Vilas, Oneida, Forest,
Florence and Price counties.
“The conservation land donation was
a 42-acre woodland and wetland parcel
located in the town of Lac du Flambeau
in Vilas County,” said Pierce. “We expect
to enroll that property in the state’s
Managed Forest Law program for longterm sustainable timber production and
it will be open to nonmotorized outdoor
nature-based recreation.”
The majority of projects were grants
of land protection agreements, or conservation easements, by private land-
owners, according to Pierce.
“As any angler or hunter knows,
good fish and wildlife populations depend upon having good habitat,” said
Pierce. “The extensive public benefits
of these projects included protection of
undeveloped stretches of natural
shoreline habitats on Lake Julia in
Forest County, the Wisconsin River and
Three Lakes Chain of Lakes in Oneida
County, a small undeveloped lake and
the Jump River in Price County, and
the South Branch of the Popple River
in Florence County.”
Pierce noted that the Wisconsin River land protection agreement was the
ninth such project along the upper Wisconsin River in Vilas and Oneida counties. The recent conservation agreement protected 98 acres just below Hat
Rapids Dam south of Rhinelander on a
popular stretch of the river for canoeing and kayaking.
“This site was directly across the
river from two other previous conservation easement properties, so we have
now been able to protect both sides of a
significant section of river corridor,”
Pierce said.
isconsin-
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According to Pierce, two adjacent
properties in Florence County were conserved by family members as private inholdings nearly surrounded by the
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
“Over 1 mile of pristine stream corridor was protected on the South
Branch of the Popple River,” he said.
“The Popple was given special designation by the state legislature as a ‘wild
river,’ one of just a few designated wild
rivers in the state.”
A year ago in December, the NLT accepted its first conservation easement
donation in Price County.
“In 2013, we were able to add three
more perpetual conservation agreements
in Price County with over 450 acres and
over a mile of corridor on the North Fork
of the Jump River, an exceptionally biologically diverse river,” said Pierce.
Pierce noted that under the donated
conservation agreements, the lands remain privately-owned and managed, and
they are still subject to property taxes.
The conservation easement runs with
the deed to the property in perpetuity.
“The land can still be sold or passed
on to heirs, but whoever owns the land in
the future must continue to abide by the
conservation agreement,” said Pierce.
The land trust takes on the role of
annually monitoring each property and
legally defending the agreements if
necessary. Any access to the property is
still up to the landowners.
Since forming in 2001, Pierce said
that the NLT has completed permanent land protection projects on 70
properties in the region, conserving
more than 9,500 acres of woodlands,
wetlands and other habitats and over
48 miles of natural lake and river
shorelines. The land trust serves areas
of Vilas, Oneida, Forest, Florence, Iron
and Price counties, as well as northern
Langlade County.
“The NLT achieved national accreditation in 2013 after an intensive review
of our conservation and organization
policies and practices,” he said. “We are
a membership and volunteer-supported
conservation organization.”
For more information on the NLT
and voluntary conservation options for
private landowners, call Pierce at (715)
479-2490
or
visit
northwoodslandtrust.org.
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