Project Seeks To Protect Land Next To Copper Falls State Park In Northern Wisconsin

The state Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program is awarding a northern Wisconsin land trust $362,900 for a roughly 600-acre land deal in Ashland County.

Private landowners approached the Bayfield Regional Conservancy in 2016 about selling 590 acres near Mellen. The land purchase would protect undeveloped forest property next to Copper Falls State Park, said Erika Lang, conservation director for the private, nonprofit organization.

“This park is extremely popular, and we think that by purchasing this 590 acres (there) will be obviously more public recreational opportunities for the local people and for tourists to enjoy,” she said. “But, protecting this land will also help buffer the protected land of the park, too.”

Lang hopes the land purchase will increase tourism and economic benefits for the region. She said this property would be open to nonmotorized activities like hiking, hunting and fishing. It would be the organization’s largest land purchase that protects undeveloped forested areas and wetlands in northern Wisconsin, Lang said.

“The Tyler Forks River actually runs through this property — this 590 acres — before it goes through the park … By purchasing this upstream property and protecting it into perpetuity, it will protect the water quality, the brook trout, fish habitat, the wildlife habitat in that watershed area,” she said.

The project is estimated to cost $725,650. The Bayfield Regional Conservancy plans to apply for a federal grant through the U.S. Forest Service Community Forest Program to fund the other half of the project. The conservancy has turned to the federal program for funding of past land preservation projects in Bayfield County.

“We purchased the Lincoln Community Forest in 2012 with this funding, and we purchased North Pikes Creek Wetlands Community Forest in 2014,” she said. “In both these cases we matched the DNR — the state grant — with the U.S. Forest Service — the federal grant.”

Lang said they hope to purchase the land by the end of the year.

Editor’s Note: Danielle Kaeding contributed reporting for this story.