There are two huge wins for conservation you may have heard about from SWTU or on your local news that we don’t remind repeating … and hope you don’t mind hearing about again.

You asked – they listened – Dane County land purchase passed

We asked you to contact the Board of Supervisors about Dane County’s decision to buy 160 acres with 4,000 feet of double stream bank frontage on the Sugar River and Badger Mill Creek. Many of you did and we’re pleased to note the purchase was APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY at their September 17 meeting. Thank you for making your voice heard. We know we’ll have a lot more to share on this important purchase in the months and years to come.

Easement extends protections on Black Earth Creek (BEC)

One of the most popular spots on BEC has been the South Valley Bridge. Drop in a twig and it can happily float downstream through miles of public water. But look upstream and you’ll see a great stretch of water that has not had access … until now thanks to a new permanent DNR easement. And if you keep going up, you’ll now connect to more miles of public water … all of it contiguous now. SWTU extends its most sincere thanks to Dan Oele of the DNR and the Statz family, owners of the land.

You may also recall that our June/July issue had a number of articles about stream easements and informational resources about streams.