Park or housing? City weighs bluffland use.

La Crosse officials are considering whether 160 acres of city-owned bluffland intended to be a park would be better used for residential development. The University of Wisconsin System sold the former Experimental Farm to the city in 1963 for $38,900 with the understanding it would become a park.

Despite the original intent, city council member Andrea Richmond said,“If there’s an opportunity to put some taxable property up there, we should really take a hard look at it.”

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/park-or-housing-city-weighs-bluffland-use/article_d0812c9c-26db-11e1-9e8d-0019bb2963f4.html

 In October, Dr. Rob Horwich donated a conservation easement on 140 acres he owns in Crawford County, WI to the Mississippi Valley Conservancy.  The easement protects the land from development or other uses which diminish its natural values.

“When you live on the land you begin to feel attached to it.  The only real way to protect the land is through easements,” Horwich said.

Horwich’s property includes a stretch of the Hall’s Branch of the Kickapoo River and woodland habitats of oak and hickory and maple and basswood, with floodplain forest and sedge meadow along the river.

The land is adjacent to a unit of the state’s Kickapoo Wildlife Area and another MVC private land easement, protecting over 900 acres of contiguous habitat.

 Horwich said the mature forest on his land harbors rare warblers like the hooded warbler and other forest-interior nesting birds. 

“I love the sound of the wood thrushes.   I’ve heard them here on the land and know that they’re here for the good habitat.”...

The La Crosse Community Foundation made a $15,000 grant to Mississippi Valley Conservancy for the “Mysteries of the Driftless” documentary project that MVC is co-producing with Untamed Science (www.untamedscience.com/mysteries-driftless-zone). To view the news stories, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbY52ur0L5I or www.wxow.com/story/16095622/mvc and http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/community-foundation-grant-funds-driftless-documentary/article_b184e294-119f-11e1-84f1-001cc4c03286.html.

On November 22, 2011, MVC held a joint news conference with Dahl Automotive to celebrate MVC's successful fundraiser to acquire a pickup truck for doing ecological restoration and land management work. You can see the news story at www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9zsp4jH1dc or at www.wxow.com/story/16106042/mvc-truck

Here's an article in Dairy Star about the Haugen Norwegian bachelor farmers who protected their farm with MVC: www.dairystar.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=6572&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&S=1

Countless natural and archaeological wonders and mysteries fill the rugged and unglaciated Driftless Region we live in. MVC has partnered with Untamed Science to produce an adventure documentary, "Mysteries of the Driftless Zone," that we will market for national TV distribution. We are looking for partners to take a stake in the project. Visit www.untamedscience.com/mysteries-driftless-zone . Here's your chance to get in on the ground floor and be a part of something huge!

This has been an absolutely remarkable week for MVC.  Following are some highlights.

404-acre conservation easement completed.  On Wednesday, a family donated a 404-acre conservation easement to Mississippi Valley Conservancy, a project that pushed MVC beyond the 13,000 acre mark for permanently protected land and beyond the 15,000-acre mark for land dedicated to conservation that includes our Landowner Registry properties.

DeSoto bluff donated.  Today, a landowner donated a Mississippi River bluff to MVC—-a property visible from the Great River Road, the big river itself, and the Village of DeSoto.  The landowner donated full ownership of the land (not an easement).  The gift will enable MVC to seek Stewardship Fund grant match to protect additional property.

Truck fundraising appeal receives big response.  This week, MVC received thousands of dollars of pledges toward our fundraising appeal to purchase MVC’s first company vehicle—a truck to be used to enhance our land management work across...

Check out yesterday's La Crosse Tribune article about the frac sand mining boom in western Wisconsin. This is going to be a major issue for our landscape and highlights the importance of permanent conservation. Is your neighborhood, view or health threatened?  Are we going to lose important wildlife habitat and our quality of life? Does your county and/or township have zoning to address these concerns?  Let us know what you think of this mining boom. http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_bec044a8-c62c-11e0-b32e-001cc4c002e0.html .

Mississippi Valley Conservancy just released a video about why it is pursuing national land trust accreditation. Visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vPkvrgvpSc

Over the weekend, Executive Director Tim Jacobson found what may be Orobanche fasciculata Nutt. (clustered broom-rape), listed as a state threatened species. It's parasitic on tree roots, and its genus name means, in part, to "choke or strangle" because of a parasitic habit. If we confirm its identity, it will be the first time this plant has been found in La Crosse County.

MVC protects habitat for a number of rare species, including the beautiful northern monkshood wildflower, the delicate October laddies tresses, prairie bush clover, birds such as Bell's vireo and Henslow's sparrow, reptiles such as lizards and timber rattlesnakes, and little things most people might never see, such as the Pleistocene snail and cherrystone drop snail.