Nature Conservancy Gives Point au Sauble Preserve to University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Preserve is an Important Area for Teaching and Research

GREEN BAY, WI--November 12, 2002--The Nature Conservancy and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay are pleased to announce the Conservancy's gift of the Point au Sauble Nature Preserve to the University.

Leslie Shade, trustee emeritus of the Wisconsin chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Chancellor Bruce Shepard unveil the sign commemorating the transfer of the Point au Sauble Nature Preserve to UW-Green Bay and recognizing all those who contributed to the preservation of the nature sanctuary.
Photo ã Julie Schartner/TNC

"For more than a decade, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has been very ably managing the Point au Sauble Nature Preserve," said Leslie Shade, trustee emeritus of the Wisconsin chapter of The Nature Conservancy. "Because of the preserve's proximity to the campus and because of its value to the campus for research and teaching, it is very appropriate that the University has now become its owner as well as its caretaker."

Leslie Shade made her comments at a ceremony on October 31, 2002, where The Nature Conservancy presented the deed to the Point au Sauble Nature Preserve to University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Chancellor Bruce Shepard. A sign, recognizing those who contributed to the preservation of the preserve, has been erected on the west side of County Highway A, just north of County K.

In accepting the preserve from The Nature Conservancy, UW-Green Bay Chancellor Bruce Shepard noted the "hard work and participation" that have gone into its preservation by private individuals, volunteer organizations, state agencies, the corporate sector, and others. "This is a gift not just to UW-Green Bay, but for the future," he said.

Located just six miles northeast of Green Bay, the 130-acre preserve contains the largest remaining wetland on the east shore of Green Bay and provides critical habitat for more than 200 different types of migratory and resident birds.

Thousands of ducks, grebes, cormorants, gulls, and other water and shoreline birds use the preserve as a stopover site where they can rest and feed during migration. The forests at Point au Sauble provide important habitat for migratory songbirds including northern orioles, scarlet tanagers, and 30 species of warblers.

UW-Green Bay faculty and students have used the Point au Sauble Nature Preserve for teaching and research since 1992. "My colleagues and I are very lucky because we get to work with students and see their excitement and growth as a result of the research projects they are able to carry out," said Robert W. Howe, director of the UW-Green Bay Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, which manages the preserve.

The Nature Conservancy initiated conservation efforts at Point au Sauble in 1991 with a 10-acre land purchase. Additional acreage was added over the years, culminating with a gift of 54 acres in 1997 from long-time Green Bay resident John M. (Jake) Rose.

The land that Mr. Rose donated, located at the tip of the peninsula, was acquired in 1903 by several men in the Green Bay area who formed a hunting club for ducks and geese. Over the years, Mr. Rose acquired the owners' interests to ensure that the land would never be developed.

In addition to Mr. Rose's gift of land, the Conservancy received substantial monetary donations from Appleton residents John and Mary Strange and Ducks Unlimited to purchase the parcels of land that today comprise the Point au Sauble preserve. The Conservancy also received a grant from the state's Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund to help acquire land at the preserve. Since its enactment in 1990, more than 250,000 acres of parks, forests, shorelines, and natural areas have been protected using the Stewardship Fund, which is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

In 1999, the University received a $120,000 grant from the Fox River Group to provide for the long-term stewardship of the preserve and for the study of the wetlands as a living laboratory by University faculty and students.

Since then, 21 graduate and undergraduate students have completed research projects on birds, mammals, plants, insects, fish, hydrology (the movement of water), and geographic information systems at Point au Sauble. These studies not only increase understanding of the ecology of the site itself but of the entire Great Lakes ecosystem, according to Howe. Results from many of the studies are posted on the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity web site at www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/.

In addition to students and faculty, the preserve is used by many other groups including the Midwest Birding Symposium, local Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups, and the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

This is the second gift of land from The Nature Conservancy to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. In the early 1970s, the Conservancy made a gift to the University of 608 acres at Toft Point, located in Door County near Bailey's Harbor.