Enter Lottery for Landowner Conservation Report

Landowners can once again enter a lottery to obtain a free customized report from Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Conservation program to discover what unique plants and animals may live on their land.This time, people who previously entered the lottery but were not selected in 2014 or 2015 will get preference points that improve their chances of being selected in 2016.

“We had such a tremendous response from landowners last year that we’re going to do it again,” said Erin Crain, deputy director of the DNR Division of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. “We had more than seven times as many entrants last year as we had available slots, so we’re running another lottery to try to meet the demand.”

The lottery runs from Dec. 15, 2015, until Jan. 15, 2016, and 100 landowners who voluntarily enter their name will be randomly selected to receive the customized report, known as aLandowner Conservation Report. Those landowners whose names are drawn also will have the option of a free site visit from a department biologist.These reports provide landowners information about rare species found in the area, invasive species to be on the lookout for and general information about the soils, geology and hydrogeology in the area.The report also contains general recommendations on improving habitat and controlling invasive species, information on where landowners can get technical and financial help for habitat work, and a list of private contractors who can help landowners develop detailed conservation plans and assessments.

People can learn more about Landowner Conservation Reports and enter the lottery by visiting the DNR website, dnr.wi.gov, and searching the keyword, “LCR.”