news and outings

Door County Land Trust Aims to Purchase Camp Cuesta from the Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes

  Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes (GSNWGL) proudly announce they have reached an agreement to sell Camp Cuesta in Baileys Harbor to the Door County Land Trust. This strategic partnership would ensure the continued availability of Camp Cuesta for local Girl Scouts and the preservation of this cherished property.    Located adjacent to the…

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Camp Cuesta: Protecting Land, Preserving Tradition

Local Girl Scout Troop Co-leaders Sarah Martin and Anna Knapp call Camp Cuesta, a Girl Scout camp in Baileys Harbor, their “happy place,” a place to take in the calm and wonder of nature. This feeling is deeply rooted in the Door County community, through decades of Girl Scouting and an appreciation of the ecological…

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Master Naturalists Making Momentum

By Krista Wilkie Samson   As the buds were opening and perennials emerging this spring, so was the 2024 Master Naturalist Class beginning interesting coursework. The Clearing’s Jensen Center availed itself to an eager set of northeastern WI. residents, curious to know what they didn’t know of the natural sciences. This Wisconsin Master Naturalist Training…

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Successful Bird Migration: Timing IS Everything

  The success of each year’s spring migration comes down to timing—and climate change is tampering with the clock.     Climate change is having a direct effect on the availability of food sources (predominantly insects) from the beginning to the end of the migration route. This nourishment is necessary to fuel the flight of…

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Discovering Common Ground in Land Protection

  Mike Schmitz took a date to the Land Trust’s 2022 Annual Gathering and ended up with a conservation easement. At the Gathering, he discovered that his date, Ginny Bolger, shared a passion for conservation equal to his own. Bolger influenced Schmitz’s timing for entering into a conservation easement agreement with the Land Trust this…

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Celebrate Earth Week With the Land Trust

The Stewardship Workday planting on April 16 was a warmup of sorts for our community tree planting event at Oak Road on Tuesday, April 23. Join us! Video by Emily Wood This year, the Land Trust won’t celebrate just Earth Day. It’s celebrating Earth Week with FREE activities that are open to the public.    The…

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New Property Protects Nature and Memories at Three Springs

Many times when land transfers from private ownership to the Door County Land Trust more than the land itself is exchanged. For Ingrid Nelson Lawrenz, the Sister Bay property she recently sold to the Land Trust holds memories of a lifetime spent indulging in the joys of the wild places just outside her girlhood home. …

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Shoreline Property Becomes Land Trust Conservation Easement 

The Schmitz conservation easement. Kay McKinley photo Shoreline property on the bay of Green Bay owned by Michael Schmitz, of Ellison Bay, was recently protected by a conservation easement with Door County Land Trust. The agreement ensures that the four-acre property, which includes 589 feet of rocky shoreline, will remain undeveloped forever. The easement’s size…

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Trio of Land Projects Expand Land Protection

Hibbard Creek photo by Julie Schartner   With the recent addition of three land projects, DCLT now protects more than 9,400 acres across Door County and its surrounding islands. The three projects are an addition to the Hibbard Creek Natural Area, the creation of the new Oak Bluff Natural Area, and a new conservation easement.…

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Oak Bluff Natural Area: Land Protection by the Bay 

  Door County Land Trust’s portfolio of protected properties includes a variety of ecologically sensitive lands protected for the plant and animal inhabitants. The latest land protection project, completed on December 6, 2023, is a perfect example of why some lands are best protected for wildlife.  When it comes to the Land Trust’s recent creation…

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