​Michael and Margaret O’Sullivan bought their first property on Spider Lake near Hayward in Sawyer County in 1975 and, as Michael put it, “over the years, our whole family has come to absolutely treasure our little corner of the Northwoods.”
            So much so that now they have taken steps to protect some of it forever. The O’Sullivans have donated a conservation easement on eight acres of mostly forested land that abuts their lakeside home, guaranteeing it will never be developed. In addition to keeping the protected property as a buffer against development, the easement is meant to preserve the land as wildlife habitat and help protect the water quality of Spider Lake and surrounding waters.
            And, as the first conservation easement established on the Spider Chain of Lakes, Michael O’Sullivan said, it may inspire other owners to consider the benefits of such permanent protections for their own property. While his neighbors are not yet aware of the easement, he expects they will be receptive to the O’Sullivans’ efforts to protect against increased development. “God willing, we plan to have all of our neighbors over sometime next summer and make the announcement personally to them. My hope is that they will all be as enthusiastic as we are,” says O’Sullivan.
The easement will be held by the Bayfield Regional Conservancy, a land trust that works with property owners to protect air, water and land within 4 counties of Northwestern Wisconsin. Conservation easements are perpetual legal agreements between property owners and land trusts or similar bodies in which the owner places restrictions to protect the natural values of the land. Restrictions can vary, allowing uses desired by the owner while prohibiting unwanted development. The owner retains all rights of ownership while the land trust monitors compliance with the restrictions going forward.
            O’Sullivan said he and his wife began considering the benefits of conservation a few years ago after learning about its benefits from a friend on their local lake association. Having watched the value of lake property increase so dramatically in recent years, O’Sullivan had concluded that the next push for development would come on backlots such as his, which had already been subdivided into 4 lots by the previous owner, each with its own legal access to Spider Lake.
            “It seemed a shame to us that it could be crowded with new development,” he said. “Protecting this land was important to us. Margaret and I talked about it a lot before we decided this is what we wanted to do.”
            The easement will prohibit development by the O’Sullivans and any future owners of the property, but does allow owners to continue to use the property for any purposes consistent with protecting the land’s conservation values. O’Sullivan said the financial investment in obtaining the easement will be easily offset by the permanent benefits of protecting the property. And if their decision inspires neighbors to take similar actions, he said, it will have been even more worth the effort.
            “It’s small,” he said. “It’s a small easement, but strategically it’s significant.” Erika Lang, the conservation director for Bayfield Regional Conservancy, agrees. “Hopefully, Michael and Margaret’s vision acts as a catalyst among other area landowners, and results in more landowners making good stewardship decisions for their properties and surrounding areas. Shoreland protection is especially important to protect wildlife habitat and water quality, and property values. Setting up conservation easements is one of the best tools to protect these values that we all cherish.”

​One property owner in Sawyer County saw encroaching development near his property and wanted no part of it. Another in southern Bayfield County, the fourth-generation to live on a small lake his great-grandfather had named, wanted protections that couldn’t by undone by future owners or government actions. And yet another owner who lives in a cabin she built herself wanted protections against development not just for herself but also for the wildlife that shares her wooded land.
            Their parcels vary in size and natural features and their motives differed slightly but their shared vision of land protection will be achieved thanks to conservation easements approved recently by The Bayfield Regional Conservancy. The easements extend into perpetuity, putting development restrictions not just on current owners but on all future owners as well.
            Abett Icks, whose easement covers the 27-acre parcel on Little Bass Lake near Cable where she has lived since 1976, said she had thought about getting a conservation easement for nearly a decade before finally acting.
            “I always felt it should be protected,” she said. “I wish I had a hundred more acres and I’d protect it all. I look around the world and see so much destruction. Now, I can sleep at night.”
             Conservation easements are legal agreements between property owners and land trusts or similar bodies in which the owner places restrictions to protect the natural values of the land. Restrictions can vary, allowing uses desired by the owner while prohibiting unwanted development. The owner retains all rights of ownership while the land trust monitors compliance with the restrictions going forward.
            Steve Dahl, who donated an easement on his 57 acres on the East Fork of the Chippewa River in the Town of Winter in Sawyer County, said seeing development on a property just down the river motivated him.
            “It was a beautiful property…that got chopped up and developed into 200-foot lots,” he said. “We just said we can never let it happen to this (land).”
            Dahl, who lives in the Twin Cities but has owned the land since 1982, said the process of settling on the language of the easement was difficult at times but the final product offers the protections he was seeking with sufficient flexibility to replace a small, rustic cabin with a new one. In the meantime, he will continue to visit often to plant red and white pines and, with the guidance of a good forester, managed the property’s varied ecosystems. The property has coniferous and hardwood forest, ponds and wetlands and Chippewa River frontage.   
            “That’s what we enjoy,” he said. “It’s just fun for us to be up there. You go in there and all these areas are available, and they will be available forever. I’m not going to be around forever, my son’s not going to be around forever, my grandson’s not going to be around forever (but) I think I’ve done what I can to protect it in perpetuity.”
            Joseph Brady’s easement covers just 15 acres on Lake Wilipyro in the Town of Drummond but the property has significance to him far beyond its size. His great-grandfather was the first resident on the lake and even helped name it by using the initials of early owners. Brady, who has degrees in forestry with an emphasis on shoreline protection, also had thought for a number of years about donating an easement, especially when a neighbor and friend who was a board member of Bayfield Regional Conservancy took the same action for his property. Noting that elected officials in state government have been making changes to local shoreline protection rules, Brady said he was further persuaded when his neighbor said, “you can’t count on the people in Madison to protect your property.
            “Well, now it’s protected. Yes, it’s money (to obtain an easement) but what are you going to do. The truth of the matter is we’ve done quite well since 1914 (but) we just can’t know what’s going to happen in the future. I have to accept that I have to do my part, just like I’m asking future generations to do their part.”
            Brady said he initially had concerns about the potential impact of an easement on future resale but decided protecting the property was more important. Icks said she, too, considered the issue of future sales but determined in the end the easement would add to her property’s value, not detract.
            Most people who move to northern Wisconsin do so for the quiet, for the woods and water that would be protected by an easement, she said, adding it was enjoyment of the outdoors as a child that drew her to northern Wisconsin.
            “It’s a wonderful place to be, and it will be for someone else and the next person and the next person,” she said. “It enhances the value of the property, it absolutely does. It enhances it totally.”
            Erika Lang, conservation director for Bayfield Regional Conservancy, said each of the properties covered by the new easements come with a conservation bonus because each abuts other public lands. “They are really important properties in terms of wildlife corridors,” she said. “Each of these landowners donated specific property rights to the Conservancy so that the conservation values will be protected forever," Lang said.  "From now on the Conservancy is responsible for assuring that all current and future property owners will use the land in such a manner that these publicly recognized conservation values will remain."

Protecting the natural places of Northwestern Wisconsin has been entrusted to the Bayfield Regional Conservancy (BRC) and this week they celebrate two newly acquired and remarkable places that coincidentally are headwaters. “Within a week’s time we closed on the purchase of 40 acres at the top of Bayfield’s much loved Big Ravine” said Meghan Dennison, executive director at BRC, “and purchased 280 acres that will forever protect the wetlands feeding North Pikes Creek.”  Both flow into Lake Superior and provide invaluable habitat for migratory birds and more.

“Anytime you can protect an entire watershed, it is protecting a community,” says Dennison.

“The North Pikes Creek Wetland (NPCW) purchase is a great example of how BRC is working together with the diverse community of stakeholders in the area toward the protection and care of an entire watershed,” says Tracy Hames, executive director of Wisconsin Wetlands Association.

The Bayfield Regional Conservancy has been working on these two projects for over a year and although they are not” entire” yet, their headwaters are crucial. “It is hard to find a watershed that runs clear from its source to its mouth,” says Dennison. Many factors contribute to water quality including development and forest management practices.

The community, adjacent landowners, local governments and special interest groups all collaborated to set in motion a complex series of events in order to make this happen. As a result the BRC was awarded both state and federal grants. “It would not have been possible if all four landowners were not willing to sell their lands,” says Kim Bro, former chair of BRC’s Land Projects committee and current board member.  

The Big Ravine properties were purchased with funding from Wisconsin’s Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program (WKNSP) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Joint Venture Habitat Restoration and Protection Program’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The North Pikes Creek Wetland was purchased by WKNSP funds and the US Forest Service Community Forest Program.

One of the sellers, FutureWood, owned 240 acres of actively managed forestland along North Pikes Creek but was supportive of protecting the property long-term for habitat, water quality and public enjoyment. The area’s extensive wetlands absorb run-off from three directions and replenish seeps, springs and water tables for miles around. “We rely heavily on the integrity of the perched water table up here,” says Rick Dale, owner of Highland Valley Farm just outside of Bayfield.

In a sense, when a wetland dries up so does the fruit business. The apple trees above Bayfield “like their toes tickled by water,” says Dale. “We need to work more closely with nature.” Dale was thrilled that the BRC and community friends of North Pikes Creek had indeed acquired the land.

NPCW also protects a Class 1 trout stream. Its numerous beaver dams slow the flow and in-turn reduce flooding and bank erosion down-stream.

As for the Ravine, “I remember as kids we used to slide down the steep sides of the Big Ravine and play in the woods,” says Don Olson. He would like to see others “enjoy the big trees that haven’t been cut for years.” A passion for the ravine dates back in Olson’s family whose grandparents owned the property. Don and his sister Betty always thought the Big Ravine should be protected for future generations. “It was a special historic area,” says Don who spoke of the logs that were once skidded down the ravine to the Bayfield lumber mill.   

Amongst birders the ravine is known for the ethereal and seductive ‘whirling down a metallic pipe’ song of the veery. Considered a Wisconsin Species of Greatest Conservation Need and a Partners in Flight Priority Bird, the veery thrives in the ravine’s large, unfragmented, mixed forest and undulating slopes of cedar, hemlock, pine and hardwoods. “The place seems wild, like the way nature intended,” says a nearby resident who is surprised given its close proximity to downtown Bayfield.

Both lands will be managed for their recreational and educational opportunities including trails while protecting their conservation values. The BRC will work with “Friends of North Pikes Creek Wetland” who helped secure the grants and raise additional funds for both properties. Thanks to a grant from the John C. Bock Foundation the BRC will convey the ravine property to the Town of Bayfield with a conservation easement, adding  it to their over 160 acres already publicly protected.

The John C. Bock Foundation supports qualifying conservation organizations that are directly engaged in the preservation and protection of landscapes containing mature woodlands and old-growth forests.

“In protecting these two important watersheds and leaving them in their natural, intact condition, we are helping to minimize erosion and sedimentation, one of the most significant environmental problems in the Great Lakes ecosystem,” says Erika Lang, conservation director at BRC. “People committed to good stewardship,” the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care, “is why we were able to get these properties,” adds Lang.

FROG BAY WILL OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The Red Cliff Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe Purchases the Frog Bay Land Parcel in Partnership with the Bayfield Regional Conservancy

In a move applauded by tribal officials, David Johnson and his wife, Marjorie, are selling their property known as Frog Bay to the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, in partnership with the Bayfield Regional Conservancy. The acquisition which closes on Friday, November 18, 2024 will protect the 88.6 acre property, keeping in its pristine state the nearly quarter mile of sandy and pebble beaches offering views of five of the Apostle Islands in the Gaylord Nelson Wilderness Area.  Because this area has been historically important for the Red Cliff Tribe, but has been inaccessible in recent history, the Red Cliff band plans to open the site for public use and education on sustainable resource management, use of medicinal plants, nature based educational activities, for traditional/spiritual ceremony and to further the understanding that all land is sacred.  Red Cliff officials are planning to repurpose the property as Frog Bay Tribal National Park (to be created next spring).  Also, in order to ensure the long term protection of the site, the Bayfield Regional Conservancy will hold a Conservation Easement on the property, that will permanently restrict the property from uses that are incompatible with the protection of its conservation values.

How the transfer came about involved more than a bit of serendipity. The Johnsons were longtime close neighbors and even closer friends with former Sen. Gaylord Nelson and his family. It was Nelson, of course, who is deemed the father of the Apostle Islands, and the view from the Johnsons’ Frog Bay property was of islands managed as part of the Gaylord Nelson Wilderness. It was Nelson’s daughter, Tia, who says Marjorie Johnson was “like a second mother to me,” who put the Johnsons’ in contact with Ellen Kwiatkowski at Bayfield Regional Conservancy and initiated discussions that led to tribal acquisition. The Johnsons couldn’t be happier knowing the pristine property will be preserved for future generations.  The Bayfield Regional Conservancy and the Tribe are proud to announce this remarkable and historic occasion.

Funding for the purchase was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program.   The Apostle Islands Area Community Fund also helped cover some of the costs associated with the acquisition.

# # #

If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Meghan Dennison please call Meghan Dennison at 715-779-5263 or e-mail Meghan at meghan@brcland.org