Wisconsin's Path

In Wisconsin and around the world, demands on land and water are increasing. Globally, only five percent of the natural lands at high risk of development are protected.

Meanwhile, nature is on the move like never before in history. Each decade, plants and animals are shifting an average of 11 miles north and 36 feet higher in elevation to get away from overly warm temperatures, flooding and altered habitats. We must do more, faster, to help nature adapt to climate change.

Over the last decade, TNC mapped the locations of places across the United States that are important for protecting biodiversity, storing carbon, filtering water and providing pathways for plants and animals to migrate as the climate changes.

This important conservation tool became available in 2020. We are sharing it with others and using it to focus our conservation efforts on those places where we can have the most impact, including the Baraboo Hills, the southern Kettle Moraine and Wisconsin’s Northwoods.

During the campaign, TNC has protected nearly 2,000 acres of land in Wisconsin through purchases and conservation easements. In Door County, for example, we bought and then donated 362 acres of coastal boreal forest to the State of Wisconsin in 2019. This almost doubled the size of the Baileys Harbor Boreal Forest and Wetlands State Natural Area, which is a globally important wetland for migratory birds and rare species like the dwarf lake iris and the Hine’s emerald dragonfly.

Once special places are protected, we restore and manage them to keep them healthy. In the Baraboo Hills, we intensified efforts on our land to restore the oak forests, one of the most endangered habitats in North America. We’ve removed shade-tolerant species used prescribed fire on 825 acres to set the stage for acorns to germinate and take root and for oak seedlings to have plenty of light to compete well.

Prairies, savannas, wetlands, and other habitats need fire to thrive. We work with agency partners through the Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Council and the Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium to share information, provide training opportunities and implement collaborative burns — resulting in more than 30,000 acres of prescribed fire each year.

In 2019, in collaboration with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS), TNC produced a field guide for climate-adapted forest management in the Northwoods. This guide was published online and distributed to county, state, and federal agencies across Wisconsin. It was well-received, and we are developing a similar guide for southern Wisconsin forests. Currently, we’re working with NIACS and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to incorporate climate risk assessment into their forest management software. These tools help foresters consider climate risks, so they can plan and adapt for the future.

There is broad support for phasing carbon out of energy production and consumption in Wisconsin. To accelerate this transition, we connected with leading Wisconsin businesses to learn about their experiences. Based on our findings, in 2021 we published a report—Wisconsin’s Renewable Energy Future—that contains information about the current state of renewable energy in Wisconsin, businesses’ renewable energy programs and plans, and the challenges and opportunities they see. We’re sharing the report broadly in 2021 to help advance the renewable energy transition and change the dialogue around climate change in Wisconsin by focusing on the benefits of clean energy to people and our economy.

With our partners at Farmers for Sustainable Food and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, we created a new resource guide for farmers who want to work together to improve soil health and water quality on their farms. In 2020, TNC and our partners supported 211 farmers who put conservation practices on almost 240,000 acres of land. Many of them shared what they learned and the environmental and economic benefits they are seeing with other interested farmers through on-farm demos and field days.

The East River, which flows into Green Bay, has a history of big flood events. In 2019, 50 homes were condemned following one of them. TNC and a host of partners launched an effort in 2020, to help communities in the watershed work together to assess how prepared they are for a wetter future with more and bigger storms. TNC Fellow Blake Neumann is coordinating the effort, which will create a framework that municipal planners and decision-makers can use to guide the development of a comprehensive strategic plan for the watershed.

Over the past four years, we mentored 38 new conservation champions through our intern and fellowship programs, providing them with new skills and learning from them in turn.

We have hired students and young professionals as interns and fellows for more than 20 years. These young people get paid, hands-on experiences in a wide variety of activities in the conservation field. The positions are opportunities to engage youth from varied backgrounds, and TNC has partnered with groups such as Milwaukee County Parks and La Causa, a Hispanic-based nonprofit that operates a charter in Milwaukee, to expand the reach of the program.

Bing and DeeDee Rikkers have long been inspired by nature. Bing grew up in Waupun, Wisconsin, where he fondly remembers his time as a teen serving as the nature director for a Boy Scout camp in the area. DeeDee is from Madison, Wisconsin, and spent time as a child riding horses through prairies and forests. They met as undergraduates at the University of Wisconsin, married in 1966, and later moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1984.

“We first became aware of the wonderful work and mission of The Nature Conservancy when we lived in Nebraska,” said Bing. “Our home was adjacent to a beautiful, protected 1,700 acres called the Fontenelle Forest bounded by the Missouri River,” DeeDee added.

Bing and DeeDee became TNC members in 1990, around the same time DeeDee began volunteering on the board of TNC’s Nebraska chapter. They eventually found their way back to Madison when Bing accepted a position as Chair of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin. Now in retirement, Bing and DeeDee spend as much time outdoors as they can. They are avid birders, and Bing has now photographed 570 different bird species while on trips around the country and the world.

The Rikkers are also thinking about the conservation legacy they would like to leave. They are members of TNC’s Warren Knowles Society, which recognizes Wisconsin members who make annual gifts of $1,000 or more. And they have joined the Legacy Club by including TNC as a primary beneficiary of their IRA. Bing and DeeDee have arranged for their Legacy gift to support the highest conservation need in Wisconsin, so years from now they can support whatever work will maximize their impact on conservation.  

“We are so impressed that TNC not only buys and permanently protects land, but that you form partnerships with landowners and local partners to better manage the property. Protecting these places has only become more important to us as climate change increasingly becomes a threat to nature. We’ve included TNC in our estate plans because we want to help protect the world’s outdoor spaces for our children, grandchildren and future generations yet to come.”

Some supporters make “blended” gifts that include both outright and deferred components so they can support the causes they care about now and create a legacy for the future. That’s exactly what Jim Schleif and Bill Morley decided to do with their gift to the Wisconsin’s Path campaign.

Jim, who has had careers working for nonprofits and later in real estate, and Bill, who spent his career in information technology, have recently turned their focus toward increasing their volunteer involvement with organizations like TNC as well as thinking about how they can realize their philanthropic vision now and well into the future. They created a trust to direct their current giving, which included making a campaign gift to Wisconsin’s Path. Jim and Bill also supported our campaign goal for the future when they became Legacy Club members by naming TNC as a beneficiary of that trust.

“We have immense confidence in The Nature Conservancy to be innovative stewards of our legacy gifts. It is our dream that TNC will continue to lead, lifted by diverse voices, through an evolving entrepreneurial approach founded in science, focused on reversing the issues threatening nature we have witnessed in our own lifetimes. Our gift comes with these hopes: that climate change will be conquered; cities will be healthier and green; our oceans and waters made cleaner; sustainable, healthier agricultural practices will be second nature; biodiversity will be gained; the world will be powered by alternative energies; and, more sacred lands will be preserved. For these very same reasons and hopes, we have invested in the Wisconsin’s Path Campaign at a level that made our hearts full while also carefully considering a significant gift that would create change today.”

While Jim and Bill like spending time outside at city parks near their home in Milwaukee, they also like to get away from the city. They enjoy Wisconsin’s state parks, traveling to awe-inspiring places around the world, and taking in the peace and quiet of their Forest County cabin along the Lily River.

Nature is our life support system. Just like we take care of our physical and mental health, we need to take care of Wisconsin’s lakes, forests, wetlands, and other special places so they can take care of us.

Nature also reminds us that uncertainty and change are inevitable—but the ability to adapt allows plants, animals, and people to adjust and even thrive.

Four years ago, we could not have envisioned just how much we’d need to adapt to new ways of thinking and living through a pandemic. But we did know we were facing immense challenges like a changing climate, increased threats to our water and flooding in our cities.

The science was clear, we needed to do more for nature. In 2017, we launched Wisconsin’s Path, a major fundraising effort to raise the resources needed to protect even more land and water across the state, as well as launch new initiatives to tackle climate change, provide food and water sustainably and address urban conservation challenges.

As you’ve read in the pages of this newsletter, through the Wisconsin’s Path campaign we have already raised more than $65 million for conservation – representing a combination of gifts to fund the work we’re doing today and new planned giving commitments to ensure support for our work in the future.

As a Nature Conservancy member, you are an integral part of the milestones we’ve achieved. We are grateful for your support and our work would not be possible without you!

As we look ahead, the pandemic and the racial justice movement are also prompting another kind of adaptation, opening up difficult but necessary conversations about people who do not benefit equally from nature. Protecting nature so that it can thrive and protect all of us is going to require complex solutions and all voices at the table.

Strength through Diversity is one of five priorities in our current strategic plan. To strengthen our ability to deliver on our conservation strategies, we are working with a consultant to create a multi-year diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plan. That plan will guide investments in DEI training, foster organizational strength through collaborations with diverse communities and help us better recruit and retain a diverse board and staff.

As we move into the final year of our Wisconsin’s Path campaign, the challenges continue to be urgent and complex. Solutions will require science, innovation, and a variety of perspectives.

There is no better time than right now to take action for nature. Thank you for joining us on this path to create a world where nature and all people thrive.

With gratitude,

Elizabeth A. Koehler, State Director
The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin