news and outings

Annual Gathering celebrating 30th Anniversary of the Door County Land Trust

  On Sunday, August 14, 300 members, volunteers and friends gathered to celebrate 30 years of protecting Door County’s exceptional land and waters. The Annual Gathering was held at the first property ever protected by the Door County Land Trust, a property protected by Conservation Easement agreement by Ruth Neuman in 1986, which is now cared…

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Door County Land Trust Announces Selection of New Executive Director

The Door County Land Trust is pleased to announce Tom Clay as its new Executive Director. He will officially join the Land Trust in mid-September. Tom will replace Dan Burke, who left the Land Trust last February. Tom, 55, comes to the Door County Land Trust after ten years as the Executive Director of the Illinois…

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170th bird species recorded on Chambers Island

  For a small, four-square-mile island, Chambers Island’s list of nesting and migratory birds includes a remarkable number of species deemed as rare, endangered, special concern or of greatest conservation need. For the birds, Chambers Island provides a safe resting stop on their migration or a summer nesting site to raise their young. Earlier this…

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Volunteer Opportunity – Three Springs Nature Preserve

Join the Door County Land Trust for a morning of work at Three Springs Nature Preserve to control non-native scotch pine. Scotch pine is a coniferous tree in the pine family (Pinaceae) that strives in old fields and open forested areas like at Three Springs. We have worked here in the past to control scotch…

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Native Tree Planting Creates a Resilient Landscape

  In April 2016, the Door County Land Trust’s volunteer group, the “Stew Crew,” planted more than 1000 native tree and shrub species after controlling non-native honeysuckle at Lautenbach Woods. The Stew Crew continued their efforts at Three Springs and planted 800 native tree and shrub species after controlling non-native Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The tree…

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The Draw of Nature

by John Hermann Land Trust preserves are magnetic in the way they pull at me. At Heins Creek, the morning light through the pines always appears new and different than it does in any other place. Similar feelings arise as I walk in the dappled afternoon light at the Bay Shore Blufflands’ escarpment, through the…

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Get Involved

Volunteers are vital to our mission of protecting Door County’s exceptional lands and waters forever. Volunteers help by infusing energy and new ideas, taking the lead on exciting projects and events, and serving a key role in engaging with our community.   Hosting or Helping at a Dining for Open Spaces Event   Mailing Parties  Office Work, Filing or Data…

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Evil Weevils and Thistles with Nets

  The Land Trust’s Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Nature Preserve is host to one of the region’s most robust populations of the federally-endangered Pitcher’s dune thistle, a rare plant that depends on open sand dunes. Researchers from Chicago Botanic Gardens and Land Trust staff hope joint efforts can keep this population healthy for years to…

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A Travel Back Through Time on Chambers Island

The Land Trust staff recently spent two days on Chambers Island working on activities related to the establishment of a 1,000-acre Chambers Island Nature Preserve. While many hours were spent walking through the magnificent forest on the island to evaluate properties the Land Trust is interested in acquiring and post boundary markers on the recently…

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Three Springs Nature Preserve Recognized as a Wetland of International Importance

The Door Peninsula Coastal Wetlands complex has recently been designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty for protection of exemplary wetland systems around the world.This 11,443-acre wetlands complex joins Everglades National Park in Florida and Chesapeake Bay Estuary in Virginia as one of only 37 sites in the…

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