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Manitou Maples - Drohman County: Manitowoc
Lot size: 57.52 acres Established: 11/30/2011 |
Property story
The Protected Property, located in the Silver Creek corridor of the Seven mile – Silver Creek watershed in the Lake Michigan Basin, lies to the southwest of the City of Manitowoc. The property consists of approximately 57.52 acres of rolling lands with ponds, wetlands, woods, cropland, restored prairie and woods along a tributary corridor of Silver Creek. The Residential Zone consists of a home, garage, well, septic system, outbuildings, orchard, barn and horse pasture. The Conservation Zone consists of the 17-acre Agriculture Area and a small area of fenced horse pasture. The land has a 15-acre sugar maple and beech dominated mature woods (ash, red and white oak, basswood, ironwood, shagbark hickory), floodplain forest, seasonal stream, wetlands, ephemeral ponds, uplands and open fields. The hailstorm of 2000 with its shearing winds killed or damaged all of the mature white pines, 100 mature sugar maples and 150 silver maples. Over the past 40 years, active management and restoration of this property by the landowners has included a new pond constructed from 1982 to 2003, the planting of over 10,000 tree seedlings, prairie flowers and grasses, fish species management, and invasive species control. 15 acres of the property are enrolled in the Managed Forest Law program. This property provides rich and diverse habitats--it has uplands, wetlands, and open water; it has dense woods and open fields. Large and small mammals, birds, insects, and amphibians use the area. Deer inhabit the woods. Muskrats tunnel into the dike and woodchucks tunnel in the fields. Bullfrogs swim in the duckweed. Voles gnaw on tree seedlings. Ducks, geese, and wading birds frequent the ponds; and insect-eating swallows and flycatchers scoop up mosquitoes. During a 2-hour site walk, the following birds were either seen or heard: red-winged blackbird, green heron, yellow-throat, nuthatch, kingbird, barn and tree swallows, black-throated green warbler, and red-eyed vireo. The property is located along the Lake Michigan flyway and provides a stopover site that warblers, hawks, and other migrating birds benefit from. The forest has a mixture of mature trees, dead snags, and a younger understory to suit various needs.
Landowners Personal Story...
"Mary and I own a 58-acre hobby farm where we have lived since 1971. When we purchased the farm there was a mature climax forest of about 15 acres with many sugar maples. We had zero experience making maple syrup but a friend suggested we try it. Forty five years later, we are still lured to the sugar shack each spring.
I bought Mary an old Manitowoc crane dragline and dug a one-acre pond in 1981-82. I added two more ponds and a dam which flooded a few acres of swamp woods. Dozens of beautiful wood ducks are raised each year in the flooded timber. They spend summers scooting around the pond gobbling duckweed. Our yellow lab can’t figure out why I don’t shoot some for him.
Over time, we planted over 20,000 tree seedlings, almost half of them by hand. Oh, how our kids complained 35 years ago, planting seedlings in this clay soil. Now they take pride as they walk the trails with their own children and friends.
We now have about 30 acres of trees, 8 acres of wetlands, and 1.5 acres of prairie flowers. I feel richly blessed to enjoy nature here and hope this is where I can spend my remaining years. I am happy we chose to donate a conservation easement to Glacial Lakes Conservancy. GLC will protect our farm from development and allow us to use a portion for agriculture. If sold, the conservation easement restrictions will always remain on the deed."
Gary Drohman
I bought Mary an old Manitowoc crane dragline and dug a one-acre pond in 1981-82. I added two more ponds and a dam which flooded a few acres of swamp woods. Dozens of beautiful wood ducks are raised each year in the flooded timber. They spend summers scooting around the pond gobbling duckweed. Our yellow lab can’t figure out why I don’t shoot some for him.
Over time, we planted over 20,000 tree seedlings, almost half of them by hand. Oh, how our kids complained 35 years ago, planting seedlings in this clay soil. Now they take pride as they walk the trails with their own children and friends.
We now have about 30 acres of trees, 8 acres of wetlands, and 1.5 acres of prairie flowers. I feel richly blessed to enjoy nature here and hope this is where I can spend my remaining years. I am happy we chose to donate a conservation easement to Glacial Lakes Conservancy. GLC will protect our farm from development and allow us to use a portion for agriculture. If sold, the conservation easement restrictions will always remain on the deed."
Gary Drohman
