A trail winding through a Door County nature preserve

How We Save Land

Door County is a rare and remarkable place. Protecting it takes long-term vision, diverse tools, and local care.

Our Work

Door County holds more rare species and shoreline habitat than any other county in Wisconsin.

But its beauty and biodiversity are under constant pressure from development, climate shifts, and habitat fragmentation. Every protected acre contributes to clean water, climate resilience, biodiversity, and future generations' right to experience this land.

We protect land in three primary ways — and once land is protected, we care for it permanently.

Our Impact

Four Decades of Conservation

acres protected forever
conservation easements
nature preserves

Three Ways We Protect Land

Each strategy plays a distinct role. Together, they form a network of protection across Door County's most important landscapes.

Nature Preserves

Land we own and care for. These are public-access natural areas permanently protected by Door County Land Trust. Trails, wildlife habitat, and ecological restoration make these places open and alive.

Explore Our Preserves

Conservation Easements

Land privately owned, but permanently protected. We work with willing landowners to place legal agreements that safeguard their land's natural features forever — no matter who owns it next.

Learn About Easements

Land Donations & Sales

Some landowners choose to donate or sell their property for conservation. Whether it is a full gift, a bargain sale, or a bequest, these contributions create lasting legacies.

Explore Giving Options

How We Decide What to Protect

On a peninsula with over 300,000 acres and development pressure increasing, we can't protect everything. So we focus where it matters most.

Our Conservation Priorities

We've identified seven natural features most vital, fragile, and unique to Door County's ecosystem:

1. Significant geological features — the Niagara Escarpment and its unique microhabitats
2. Native forest communities
3. Surface and groundwater resources
4. Fish habitat
5. Ecological and riparian corridors — pathways that allow the safe movement of wildlife
6. Migratory and breeding bird habitat
7. Rare species

Priority Conservation Areas

When several of these priorities overlap in one place — a groundwater-fed creek that supports rare species, native forest, and bird habitat, like at Three Springs Nature Preserve — we identify that place as a priority conservation area.

The Land Trust has identified 33 priority conservation areas across the peninsula. These are the places most critical to Door County's ecological wellbeing. Focusing here ensures our resources have the greatest conservation benefit. Many of our preserves and natural areas are within these priority areas.

Map of Door County showing conservation priority areas rated low, medium, and high

Based on The Nature Conservancy's Door Peninsula Conservation Action Plan, highlighting priority areas for Hine's emerald dragonfly habitat, native fish spawning, wetlands, nesting bird islands, the Niagara Escarpment, migratory bird forest habitat, shoreline communities, and native forests.

A Collaborative Approach

There is no competition in conservation. Our plan for land protection includes input from other conservation organizations. Scientific data — hydrological studies, biological inventories — has been shared between Door County's conservation groups to plan protection strategies together.

We collaborate with The Ridges Sanctuary, Crossroads at Big Creek, Wisconsin DNR, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and The Nature Conservancy. Each organization has certain strengths and areas of focus, with some overlap. To know which projects are best managed by the Land Trust, we start with our conservation priorities.

From Priority to Protected

When the Land Trust commits to protecting a piece of land, we are committing not just current resources but future resources. Every potential project goes through a thoughtful review process before we take action.

First, a new project goes to the

Beyond Acquisition

Protecting land is just the beginning. We are also responsible for what happens next.

Stewardship

We monitor, restore, and manage every preserve and easement we hold — invasive species removal, trail maintenance, prescribed burns, and ecological restoration. This work never ends.

How We Care for Land

Hunting Program

Managed hunting on select preserves supports deer population balance and ecological health. A limited number of permits are available annually through our application process.

About the Program