Land Trust Protects Two New Properties In Hibbard Creek Natural Area

An aerial view of Hibbard Creek reveals valued, forested areas that aid in water filtration.  Photo by Dan Eggert

Door County Land Trust has recently protected a pair of properties in the ecologically significant Hibbard Creek watershed area located between Fish Creek and Jacksonport. Hibbard Creek and the surrounding watershed have been a Land Trust conservation focus since 1998 due to the area’s importance to water quality and its impact on the survival of wildlife. The new properties are near each other in Baileys Harbor.

“Two properties containing a mile of stream within the Hibbard Creek corridor are now permanently protected,” said Executive Director Emily Wood. “This completes a full mile-and-a-half corridor of protection around Hibbard Creek. This land provides a buffer for water filtration that provides positive outcomes for water quality before the creek makes its way into Lake Michigan.”

   Map of Hibbard Creek Watershed The yellow rectangle is the University of Wisconsin property and the green rectangle indicates the Mike Bacsi and Patti Seger property. Red and white rectangles represent Land Trust Protected lands. The white is a  conservation easement property.

Wetlands around the creek are filled with cedar trees that filter ground water. The creek is also a natural fishery where salmon, trout, and longnose suckers spawn. The forested land following Hibbard Creek offers wildlife free-roaming habitat and fresh water. Birds, fish, and wildlife thrive on abundant food sources like insects. “Protecting that corridor is an intentional strategy because we know protecting linear habitats around water is extremely valuable to wildlife,” Wood said.

Twenty-six years ago, a land donation of 80 acres from Patti and Neil McCarty spearheaded the Land Trust’s preservation efforts of Hibbard Creek Natural area. Today, through a series of land protection projects, the Land Trust is now protecting over 250 acres of land along the creek.

One of the recently gained properties totaling 78 acres was purchased from the Universities of Wisconsin. Wood said, “It’s gratifying to know that this property is now truly protected forever.”

The process to purchase the second property began with Mike Bacsi walking his dogs along his normally deserted dead end road and seeing Land Trust stickers on parked cars. “I put two and two together and thought the Land Trust folks were looking at the 80 acres for sale to the south of our property,” Bacsi said. “I then thought they would be interested in our 18 acres that adjoin it because there’s a really nice natural spring in there that feeds into Hibbard Creek.”

According to Bacsi and his wife, Patti Seger, they never intended to develop the property and thought that they would eventually contact the Land Trust. “It really jump-started the process to see the cars there,” Bacsi said.

Never picturing themselves as owners of great amounts of land, Bacsi and Seger grew to love their property through the abundance of natural gifts it brought to the couple: Among them artesian springs that flow in the winter, an old growth forest of beech and maple, and the daily visits in April and May of Bald Eagles looking to fish Hibbard Creek during spawning season.

When they first visited the land about 20 years ago, the former owners told the couple a story of a Bald Eagle flying overhead that they took as a sign to buy the property. When a Great Blue Heron flew above Bacsi and Seger, they felt that their destiny was to also purchase and protect the land.  “We made a commitment to make sure that the land was preserved and not built on.” Seger said. “It’s kind of magical.”

“We have always enjoyed the properties the Land Trust preserves,” Bacsi said. “This is a way to pay forward something in terms of future generations being able to enjoy more land.”

The purchase of the new Hibbard Creek Natural Area properties is made possible by membership contributions and Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program funds, the Fox River and Green Bay Natural Resources Trustees grant, and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant. Membership donations to the Land Trust provide for the long-term care of the property and the costs for land acquisition including surveys, appraisal, environmental assessments, and stewardship, which involves invasive species removal and other duties in the field.

To protect lands within the Hibbard Creek project area, the Land Trust expects to employ a variety of land protection tools that include accepting donated lands, purchasing land, or working with private landowners to create conservation easement agreements. One strategy supporting conservation in the Hibbard Creek area is the matching fundraising challenge inviting the community to give generously to the 2024 Conservation and Stewardship Campaign. Donations may be made online here.