Our Strategy for Land Protection

How do we determine which lands to protect? On a peninsula with over 300,000 acres, countless diverse natural features, and development pressure increasing, safeguarding Door County’s ecological wellbeing is an urgent challenge.

Door County’s Ecological Health: A Conservation Puzzle

At Door County Land Trust, we love puzzles. In our breakroom, pieces often cover half the table, with lunches carefully balanced around the edges. Piece by piece, the picture comes together in about a week.

When it comes to the big picture of protecting Door County’s exceptional lands and waters, we take the same approach: one piece at a time, though on a much longer timeline. Teamwork, strategy, and intention are vital parts of our approach, ensuring we keep our promise to protect these lands forever.

Door County’s Conservation Team

“There is no competition in conservation,” says our executive director, Emily Wood. “This is why our plan for land protection includes input from other conservation organizations.” Scientific data such as hydrological studies and biological inventories have been shared between Door County’s conservation groups to inform strategic protection.

Cooperation is imperative to the shared goal of maintaining the wellbeing of Door County’s lands and communities. The Land Trust has collaborated with organizations like the Ridges Sanctuary, Crossroads at Big Creek, Wisconsin DNR, and the Nature Conservancy to develop an intentional course for land protection.

Each organization has certain strengths and areas of focus. To know which land protection projects are best managed by the Land Trust, the strategy starts by identifying the core pieces of the puzzle—our conservation priorities.

Makaylee, Paige, Cinnamon, Maddie and Carrie take a break from working on Door County’s conservation puzzle to solve a bird puzzle in the lunch room. Photo by Don Krumpos

Conservation Priorities: Pieces of the Puzzle

Our conservation priorities are natural features that are most vital, fragile, and unique to Door County’s ecosystem. They are: 1. Significant geological features (the escarpment and its unique microhabitats), 2. Native forest communities, 3. Surface and groundwater resources, 4. Fish habitat, 5. Ecological and riparian corridors that allow the safe movement of wildlife, 6. Migratory and breeding bird habitat, and 7. Rare species.

Priority Conservation Areas: Connecting Pieces

When several conservation priorities are found in one place—such as a groundwater-fed creek that supports rare species, native forest communities, and bird habitat, like at Three Springs Nature Preserve—the area is identified as a priority conservation area.

The Land Trust has 33 priority conservation areas. These are the places most critical to Door County’s ecological wellbeing. Focusing our efforts here ensures our resources create the greatest conservation benefit. Many of our preserves and natural areas are within priority conservation areas.

Strategy for Longterm Success

When the Land Trust commits to protecting a certain piece of land, we are committing not just current resources, but also future resources. This is why our approach to land protection must be strategic. Every potential project goes through a thoughtful review process to ensure it provides the greatest conservation benefit.

A new project first goes to the Land Policy Committee for evaluation, then to the Board of Directors for a final vote. Once approved, the Land Trust begins the work of securing the property’s protection, writing grants, and raising private funds. Once acquired, a stewardship plan is put in place that will ensure the long-term resilience and health of the property.

Intention: The Key to Conservation

Conservation will never happen by accident. Without willing landowners, our work would be impossible. Our outreach is targeted towards property owners in priority conservation areas, and education is provided to anyone interested in conserving or stewarding their land.

Those who choose to work with us share a vision of Door County’s future—where beaches stay clean, forests teem with life, creeks run with trout, and open spaces stretch out along the roadside. Like the reference image included in every puzzle box, the intention to care for Door County long into the future is the key to this conservation puzzle.

By Lucia Hodkiewicz with credit to Laurel Hauser’s 2017 article, From Conservation Vision to Nature Preserve.