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Working Land Preservation
Farmers who care about the environment in which they live and
work feel increasingly threatened by development sprawl and an
uncertain economic future, which negatively impacts rural land
uses, farm families, and Wisconsin’s farming heritage. These
trends have led GLC to place a high priority on protecting
working lands, including helping interested farmers develop
and implement agricultural easements that assure
the right to farm for generations to come.
Click here
for a copy of GLC’s brochure on agricultural easements.
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Working Lands
Advisory Group
Since January 2006, this advisory group, consisting of farmers and farm-related
businesses, has been meeting regularly to discuss the issues
of protecting our rich farmland. The group has adopted a
series of policy and program recommendations for local and
state governments. Some members of the advisory group
participated in addressing DATCP Secretary Rod Nilsestuen's
Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative Steering Committee
as they recently studied how to protect the state’s forests
and rich farmlands for future generations.
Click
here to read GLC’s Preserving Wisconsin’s Farmlands position
paper.
To read the Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative Steering
Committee’s final report, go to
www.datcp.state.wi.us/workinglands |
- Stewardship Lot Program
GLC has been awarded a grant by the Wisconsin Department of
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to implement a dairy
development pilot project in the Town of Mosel, Sheboygan
County. GLC's pilot project seeks to create a local ordinance
and program structure that will leverage future residential
development to generate funds for the purchase of conservation
easements from willing area farmers. Purchases will be in
harmony with local land use planning and will strive to
establish permanent agricultural preservation zones.
- Discovery Farms Sponsor. GLC provided
a start-up contribution in 2004 for the University of
Wisconsin-Discovery Farm project for Point Creek research at
Soaring Eagle Dairy and the entire project research area in
Manitowoc County. Their mission is to gather on-farm research
data to assess environmental and economic effects of current
Best Management Practices and then suggest improvements to those
practices in order to achieve healthy and sustainable
agriculture. In order to reach that goal, this 5-7 year research
project includes year-round monitoring of surface waters and
underground drain tiles to test the impact of different farm
practices on water quality. Research results to date appear to
be potentially ground-breaking.
To learn more, go to:
www.uwdiscoveryfarms.org
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Land Stewardship
GLC is responsible for the stewardship of the land under easement
to protect its conservation values. To date, that includes over
600 acres.
- Point Creek Natural Area Co-Management.
Point Creek Natural Area is a 39-acre Lake Michigan shoreline
parcel with a conservation easement with GLC. The land is owned
by Manitowoc County because public and private funds were raised
by our organization to purchase the land in 2002. A
reforestation project began in November 2003 when pine trees
from an overgrown 30-year-old pine plantation were thinned to
make room for an introduction of native species. The goal of
returning the land back to mixed native species, including
hardwood trees, will bring great benefits to wildlife, plant
life, and water quality. University of Wisconsin students and
faculty from Green Bay, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan use the natural
area for study and research projects.
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Watershed Protection
More attention than ever is paid to keeping drinking water safe
and our water systems healthy. One of GLC’s main priorities is the
protection of our water resources.
- Elkhart Lake Committee. Our members in
the Elkhart Lake Area -- one of the Conservancy's Conservation
Priorities -- understand that it’s not too late to protect their
local delicate and vulnerable watershed and surrounding area
with its beautiful spring-fed lakes, open spaces, and working
agricultural lands that has regional impact on groundwater, the
Sheboygan Marsh, the Sheboygan River and Lake Michigan.
- Lake Michigan Shorelands Alliance.
Since 2002, GLC has joined with nine other land trust that work
to protect land within the Lake Michigan Watershed Basin of
Wisconsin. As development pressure increases and the threats to
our land and water become more severe, this cutting-edge
alliance has been developing a region-wide conservation plan so
that the most valuable and vulnerable sites are targeted as
priorities, including the upper Milwaukee River basin.
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Urban Parkland Protection
GLC believes that livable urban areas with great parklands and
vital green infrastructure not only contribute to the natural
resource health of a city, but can help to reduce sprawl
development into prime farmlands and fragile resource areas.
- Friends of Sheboygan’s Parks Committee
promotes the preservation and enhancement of urban and suburban
parkland and green spaces, as well as their uses and values.
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More about our programs:
water testing equipment
Point Creek, Manitowoc Co. |
