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The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin Returns Kennedy Bench to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Former Newspaper Executive Included the Bench in Record Gift for Conservation

MADISON, Wis — May 4, 2008 — The Nature Conservancy announced today that it has returned a wooden bench used by John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The couple sat on the bench on April 4, 1960, when they visited the newspaper during his successful presidential run.

The bench was given to The Nature Conservancy last year by the late Newell and Ann Meyer as part of a $12.5 million gift to help conserve Wisconsin’s Mukwonago River, the state’s most biologically diverse small river system. The gift includes 374 acres in Eagle, Wis., about 40 miles southeast of Milwaukee. The property will be open to the public later this year when it will be dedicated as the Newell and Ann Meyer Nature Preserve.

“Newell and Ann Meyer have left an incredible legacy,” said Mary Jean Huston, director of The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin. “Their love of nature and wildlife inspired the largest gift ever received in Wisconsin for conservation. Because of their generosity, The Nature Conservancy is now working to create a large new nature preserve that can be enjoyed by everyone and which will help conserve the ecologically significant Mukwonago River.”

“The value of this beautiful old bench for conservation is limited; however, it is truly a historical and cultural treasure for Milwaukee, the state of Wisconsin and our nation because of its association with the Kennedys,” said Steve Bablitch, chair of the Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin’s Board of Trustees. “We believe that the best place for this artifact is back at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. We know it will receive great care and will be much admired by everyone who sees it.” 

Both of the Meyers worked at what was then the Milwaukee Journal. Newell started off as a tour guide before working his way up to become a vice president and serve on the newspaper’s board of directors while Ann served in the marketing department.

Newell, who was known as a history buff, received the bench as a gift when he retired from the newspaper.

The land donated by the Meyers to the Conservancy includes oak savanna, grasslands, a sedge meadow, an emergent marsh and spring outlets that comprise the headwaters of the northern branch of the Mukwonago River. The area provides nesting habitat for sandhill cranes, a favorite of the Meyers, as well as stopover habitat for numerous bird species that migrate through the area each year in the spring and fall. Waterfowl and wild turkey are also found on the property in large numbers.

In addition to the land, which was appraised at $3.8 million, the Conservancy received cash and other assets valued at $8.7 million. The Conservancy will use the cash and assets to manage and restore the land donated by the Meyers and to acquire or conserve additional lands within the Mukwonago River watershed from willing sellers.

The Mukwonago River is the cleanest river in southeastern Wisconsin. It supports 60 species classified by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as endangered, threatened or of special concern. Notable examples include the state-threatened longear sunfish, Blanding’s turtle and Cerulean warbler and the state-endangered rainbow shell mussel.

The Mukwonago River watershed spans more than 55,000 acres and it includes healthy wetlands studied by scientists from throughout the Americas as well as globally threatened oak savannas. The Conservancy has been working for more than a decade to protect water quality and the extraordinary variety of rare fish, mussels and other species that depend upon the river by conserving natural areas within the watershed and by collaborating with partners through the Mukwonago River Initiative. The Conservancy owns three preserves in the Mukwonago River watershed that are open to the public - Lulu Lake Preserve, Crooked Creek Preserve and Pickerel Lake Fen Preserve.

The Meyer gift will not only conserve more habitat for wildlife and provide additional public access for outdoor recreation, it will also help advance protection of the quality and quantity of groundwater and water in the river itself by conserving and restoring natural areas.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. In Wisconsin, the Conservancy has helped conserve more than 140,000 acres since 1960. The Conservancy has more than 21,000 members in Wisconsin and offices in Madison, Baraboo, East Troy, Minocqua and Sturgeon Bay. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at nature.org/wisconsin.