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Birchwood Lake Nature Preserve County: Fond du lac
Lot size: 4.25 acres Established: 08/28/2014 |
Property Story
The Protected Property located is within the West Branch of the Milwaukee River watershed in the Lake Michigan Basin near the Kettle Moraine State Forest Northern Unit in the Town of Osceola. The land is on a glacial ridge consisting of 3.638 acres of dry mesic, lowland, and mesic forest, restored dry and mesic prairies, a native prairie nursery, a tamarack swamp and shoreland bordering a small lake. The property’s lowlands are identified in the Wisconsin Wetland Inventory by the Wisconsin DNR as a state-recognized wetland. This wetland is home to rare and unusual plants such as cream gentian, showy lady slipper and small yellow lady slipper orchids. The property includes a noncontiguous parcel of .61 acres adjacent to a town road and surrounded on all other sides by the Kettle Moraine State Forest – Northern Unit providing an undeveloped scenic buffer of large hardwood trees, high quality understory and unusual plants including Indian-pipe.
Property provides natural habitat for two protected orchid species listed with Wisconsin State Special Concern, specifically Small Yellow Lady Slipper and Showy Lady Slipper. 222 species of birds along with an extensive relative habitat of plants and wildlife exists in a well managed nature habitat. The property includes significant natural scenic and open space areas, relatively natural wildlife and plant habitat, glacial geology, and high quality wetlands to protect and preserve.
Property provides natural habitat for two protected orchid species listed with Wisconsin State Special Concern, specifically Small Yellow Lady Slipper and Showy Lady Slipper. 222 species of birds along with an extensive relative habitat of plants and wildlife exists in a well managed nature habitat. The property includes significant natural scenic and open space areas, relatively natural wildlife and plant habitat, glacial geology, and high quality wetlands to protect and preserve.
Now available for purchase...Birchwood Lake Nature Preserve book, authored by the landowners themselves.
Read about the history and transformation of their land
Read about the history and transformation of their land
Bill Volkert and Connie Ramthun have been working on their land since 1982 to restore a series of natural communities native to this part of Wisconsin. While only 5 acres in size their land is adjacent to the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest and lies along the shore of Birchwood Lake. A seven acre wetland joins their land which they also manage.
Over the years they built their house on this land and began removing invasive plants, including common buckthorn, Asian honeysuckle and multi-floral rose plus a host of non-native herbaceous plants. They transformed an old corn field to a native prairie and Connie established a native plant nursery there as well. All of the seeds for this were gathered from nearby sources to maintain the local genetic varieties.
As their woodland was cleared of invasive shrubs, native wildflowers began to reappear. They also introduced a few varieties of woodland wildflowers which also came from local sources. Over the years they have not only continued to manage their land but also documented their progress. Thousands of pictures were taken to catalog the changes. Additionally, they maintained a list of all of the plants and animals found on their land which now totals more than 650 species, including 207 species of birds.
In order to provide a history of their land and restoration efforts they compiled a summary which will be useful to future landowners and Glacial Lakes Conservancy. The story of their land and land management efforts has been summed up as a pictorial history and was recently published as a book. Their story may be of interest to other landowners who are working toward very similar goals.
This book is available through Bill and Connie for $19.95 (plus $5.00 postage).
Copies can be ordered by writing them at W996 Birchwood Drive, Campbellsport, WI 53010 or email at [email protected].
More information is available at http://billvolkert.com/index.html.
Over the years they built their house on this land and began removing invasive plants, including common buckthorn, Asian honeysuckle and multi-floral rose plus a host of non-native herbaceous plants. They transformed an old corn field to a native prairie and Connie established a native plant nursery there as well. All of the seeds for this were gathered from nearby sources to maintain the local genetic varieties.
As their woodland was cleared of invasive shrubs, native wildflowers began to reappear. They also introduced a few varieties of woodland wildflowers which also came from local sources. Over the years they have not only continued to manage their land but also documented their progress. Thousands of pictures were taken to catalog the changes. Additionally, they maintained a list of all of the plants and animals found on their land which now totals more than 650 species, including 207 species of birds.
In order to provide a history of their land and restoration efforts they compiled a summary which will be useful to future landowners and Glacial Lakes Conservancy. The story of their land and land management efforts has been summed up as a pictorial history and was recently published as a book. Their story may be of interest to other landowners who are working toward very similar goals.
This book is available through Bill and Connie for $19.95 (plus $5.00 postage).
Copies can be ordered by writing them at W996 Birchwood Drive, Campbellsport, WI 53010 or email at [email protected].
More information is available at http://billvolkert.com/index.html.
