Callsen’s Conservation Easement: Preserving Beauty for the Generations to Come

Door County, WI – While the Door County Land Trust (DCLT) is most known for the public preserves like Kangaroo Lake, Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, Three Springs and more, a lesser known and equally important tool used to protect our peninsula is partnerships with local landowners through a conservation easement, which protects privately-owned land from future development. One such easement that has recently been brought into the fold of DCLT protection is thanks to the generosity of Vonnie and Dave Callsen. 

Vonnie and Dave Callsen, founders of the iconic grocery store, Main Street Market in Egg Harbor, understood the value of this tool when they decided to partner with the DCLT to protect nearly 14 acres in Ellison Bay. The couple have long been supporters of Door County Land Trust, with Dave previously serving on the board as Board President and both being Legacy Circle members. They wished to preserve a piece of their land to protect a prairie and forest with thriving wildlife and an area of ridge and swale wetlands. The land also protects groundwater resources contributing to the Mink River Estuary and Hine’s emerald dragonfly habitat. 

“I don’t think there’s anything like getting up in the morning and looking outside to see what nature has brought today,” Dave said. 

“We have six great grandchildren,” Vonnie added, “and we want them to have the same beauty that we have. That’s why we’re trying to save as much as we can.” 

Vonnie and Dave have been staples in Door County since they opened Main Street Market in 1987. Though they owned their property for longer, they officially became residents that same year. When they first bought the property, there was no house, just an old barn, an apple orchard, and nearly 30 acres of natural beauty. They would camp on the property and put a kitchen and bathroom into the barn before finally building their house a few years later. 

“One of the most impressive aspects of completing the Callsen Family conservation easement is that it buffers existing protected lands—specifically, The Nature Conservancy’s Mink River Preserve. Door County Land Trust conservation easements on properties abutting protected lands are becoming increasingly common across the peninsula,” noted Drew Reinke, Door County Land Trust’s Senior Conservation Easement Manager.  

The property is also near to the Clearing Folk School, a 120-acre conservation easement protected since 2006. When Door County Land Trust assesses land to protect, lands bordering existing protected properties, or particularly vulnerable habitats are the highest priority. This made Vonnie and Dave’s land a perfect candidate for a conservation easement. 

Those of us who have been living in or visiting Door County for generations know what a unique place it is. So much of that is due to the wild and natural beauty that is still ubiquitous in the lands and waters of the peninsula. Private landowners like the Callsens play a vital role in preserving Door County’s natural character in a time when land prices have skyrocketed, and conservation funding is plummeting.  

“People just took all of this for granted, that it’s always going to stay like this. And, of course, that’s not true,” Vonnie said. 

“The beauty of the land is only there because people will it to be there,” Dave added, emphasizing the role that conservation easement donors play in protecting land. 

 

Dave and Vonnie also want other landowners to understand the benefits of a conservation easement for their properties.  

A conservation easement is an often misunderstood yet invaluable tool in a land protection toolkit. Through conservation easements, property owners voluntarily enter into a legal agreement with a land trust or other qualified organization, such as Door County Land Trust, that permanently protects the property’s identified conservation values by restricting certain uses and activities that could compromise those values. A conservation easement does not require a property owner to vacate their land or sell it. Rather, they retain ownership and can continue to use and enjoy their property. They can also pass the land on to their heirs or sell it to a future owner, who will likewise be bound by the easement. In this way, a conservation easement provides a lasting way for protecting important natural, agricultural, scenic, or other conservation values while allowing the property to remain in private ownership. 

“You’re not giving your property away,” Dave emphasized. “You still have it, you can use it, you can live on it” 

While the Callsens have saved their land for themselves, ultimately that wasn’t the real reason they did it. For them it was the generations to come that were most important in their decision.  

“We need to get more young people involved. You’re one of the people that [the property] was saved for,” Vonnie said to DCLT staff member, Lucy Hodkiewicz. 

You, too, can save your land for yourself and generations to come. If you’re interested in learning more about a Conservation Easement for your own property, reach out to the Door County Land Trust to get started.