Enbridge helps complete historic Wisconsin conservation effort
Convening in a lek, or mating arena, half a dozen pairs of male sharp-tailed grouse stare each other down, ready to fight for the favor of females in northwest Wisconsin’s Brule-St. Croix Legacy Forest.
The clash resembles a high school dance—the males run side to side like windup toys, and try to impress the females observing from the sidelines.
This unique mating ritual takes place in the forest’s globally significant pine barrens habitat, an open landscape that features acidic soil, low shrubs, stunted trees, and wind-blown sand. Like many species, the grouse is endangered by threats to its traditional lands.
With 67,000 acres of threatened habitat, sitting adjacent to more than 900,000 acres of protected land, the Brule-St. Croix Legacy Forest was identified a number of years ago by The Conservation Fund—a not-for-profit organization that conserves green spaces across the United States—as a golden opportunity for environmental stewardship.
It was “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to conserve a very large swath of highly significant, rare habitat,” says Tom Duffus, vice president of the Fund’s Midwest region.
The Brule-St. Croix Legacy Forest boasts 83 lakes and 14 miles of tributaries and streams supporting the headwaters of the St. Croix and Bois-Brule rivers, notes Duffus. It provides drinking water to nearby communities, and also acts as a working forest, supporting local jobs and the state’s economy.
That dream is now reality, after a series of important steps:
- In 2011, Lyme Timber Company, whose sustainable forestry practices ensure the land is used in a way that benefits the grouse and other species, purchased the property from its former owner, with the help of a $16-million loan from the Fund, and agreed to a conservation easement sale;
- Enbridge contributed $2-million, securing the commitment for the conservation easement;
- In 2012, the Conservation Fund and the State of Wisconsin produced the capital to protect the initial 44,000 acres of the property;
- And earlier this year, Enbridge, the Conservation Fund and other partners celebrated completion of the project, ensuring the conservation of the remaining 23,000 acres.
This final step allowed the Conservation Fund and the state to conserve the land in perpetuity, and completed the largest conservation project in Wisconsin history.
“Establishing the Brule-St. Croix Legacy Forest was a momentous occasion for Enbridge,” says Mark Maki, Enbridge senior vice president.
The dollars contributed to the Conservation Fund will continue to provide benefits for conservation projects for years to come.
The working forest easement on the Brule-St. Croix Legacy Forest restricts development on the land, ensures sustainable and habitat-focused forestry, and provides permanent public recreational access for hiking, skiing, biking, and other activities.
"This very large landscape provides space where wolves, moose, and wildlife can roam," says Duffus. "We don’t take that for granted."
