Schwartz Lake Preserve Donated to State

In September, the Door County Land Trust turned over the Schwartz Lake preserve to the state to become part of one of the largest wilderness areas in Door County – the Shivering Sands State Natural Area.

“It’s just a whole landscape of very high diversity for birds and plants and other creatures,” said Mike Grimm, conservation ecologist from The Nature Conservancy. “It’s a rich landscape. They don’t make landscapes like this anymore, and there aren’t many like this in the state of Wisconsin.”

The Door County Land Trust donated 483 acres to the state in September. Photo by Katie Sikora.

The preserve is south of Whitefish Dunes State Park in Sevastopol, west of Glidden Drive. It’s home to upland and lowland forests, three shallow, undeveloped lakes, and the preserve provides habitat for endangered species of plants and animals.

Although it’s just one of many land preserves in the county, its size causes Shivering Sands to stand out in the crowd. At 483 acres it was the largest purchase the land trust ever made and was the largest conservation purchase in Door County in 44 years.

“This was the opportunity to almost double in size the protected acreage that is out in Shivering Sands right now,” said Dan Burke, executive director of the Door County Land Trust.

It’s large enough to provide places for migrating birds to stop and rest and habitat for species, like many woodland hawks, that need a lot of space. Grimm said having one large undeveloped area, rather than many small undeveloped areas, is better for species that require a large, unsegmented hunting territory.

The Door County Land Trust purchased the land from the Baudhuin family in March 2012 and always intended to give the property to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for further management, Burke said.

“The land trust took on the responsibility of negotiating purchase with family and raising money,” Burke said. “It became clear that having this in the state’s hands, long-term, made the most sense. We’ve been hoping all along that we were going to donate it to the state.”

Long-term management of the area involves a forestry plan to help the lowland cedar trees regenerate when the oldest trees start to die off. DNR forester Bill Ruff expects that the upland forest area will eventually be dominated by cedar, hemlock and white pine trees.

“We have to project ahead in forestry because trees don’t grow overnight,” Ruff said.

The Schwartz Lake preserve has been open to the public since it was purchased by the land trust. There’s already a hiking trail that cuts through the property with entrances on Glidden Drive, and the DNR could expand the trail system with paths to Arbter and Schwartz lakes along old logging roads according to the agreement between the Door County Land Trust, the DNR and the Baudhuin family.

But Grimm said the site wouldn’t be developed for heavy recreation use – there wouldn’t be campsites, dirt bike trails or ball diamonds.

“These landscapes were created through history – geological history and human history,” Grimm said. “If we alter them significantly, to the point that they don’t support the animals and plants that were adapted to it or evolved with it, they’re lost. They’re not going to show up anywhere else because they need these specific conditions. Once it’s lost, it’s not replaced.”