Public Access Lands Public Access Lands Are Here for All of Us to Enjoy
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PUBLIC ACCESS 2018A Directory of Places to Explore LANDS Wisconsin’s Outdoors AtlasOF WISCONSIN This Land Purchased with Stewardship Funds dnr.wi.gov From state natural areas to state trails, lake shores to rivers, Wisconsin has a wealth of public lands for your enjoyment. These are your public lands and available for you to connect with the outdoors. If you are looking for a place to fish, hunt, or trap, this atlas will help you find public access opportunities to do so. If you are interested in wildlife watching, hiking, or skiing in the winter, the following pages will help direct you to prime places to enjoy these activities, and others, as well. Public access to many of these properties has been made possible by the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, providing places to play while also protecting water quality, habitat and natural areas since it was created by the Wisconsin Legislature in 1989. I am proud to offer this extensive directory of 441 maps that help you find some of the best habitats and most beautiful areas that Wisconsin has to offer. Take advantage of the information provided in this atlas and create new outdoor memories with friends and family. Daniel L. Meyer DNR Secretary Copyright © 2018 by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources PUB-LF-076 2018 ISBN 978-0-9912766-2-2 This publication complies with 2011 Wisconsin Act 95 and will be updated every two years in accordance with the law. 2018 Project Team: Jim Lemke, Ann Scott, Pam Foster Felt, Jennifer Gihring, Kathy Shubak, Jamie Touhill, Joe Klang, Andrew Savagian, Michelle Gary, Paul Holtan, Kaylin Helm 2016 Project Team: Pam Foster Felt, Doug Haag, Ann Scott, Kathy Shubak, Dan Schneider, Jamie Touhill, Kaylin Helm, Sawyer Briel 2014 Project Team: Pam Foster Felt, Doug Haag, Drew Hanson, Lavane Hessler, Cindy Hoffland, Steve Miller, John Pohlman, Mary Rose Teves 2014 Supporting Staff: Kathy Shubak, Tonya Duerst, Kaylin Helm, John Laedlein, Jeannie McCarville, Scott Moucka, Jennifer Pelej, Janel Pike, Ann Runyard, Jerry Sullivan, Kurt Thiede Book design: by Union Street Design, LLC Cover photo, Houghton Falls State Natural Area, Bayfield County. Purchased in part with a Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Grant. Photo by Thomas A. Meyer The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources provides equal opportunity in its employment, programs, services and functions under an Affirmative Action Plan. If you have any questions, please write to Chief, Public Civil Rights Office of Civil Rights– U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20240 This publication can be made available in alternative formats (large print, Braille, audio tape, etc) upon request. Please call the Accessibility Coordinator at 608-267-7490. A Directory of Places to Explore Wisconsin’s Outdoors — page 1 Introduction to the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program The Wisconsin Legislature created the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program in 1989 to preserve valuable natural areas and wildlife habitat, protect water quality and fisheries, and expand opportunities for outdoor recreation. Funded in part by the Knowles-Nelson The conservation and recreation goals of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program are achieved through the Stewardship acquisition of land and easements, development of recreational facilities and restoration of wildlife habitat. Program The general land acquisition component of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program is the backbone of Wisconsin’s public lands program. It provides the funds for all Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources land dnr.wi.gov acquisition not funded specifically by other Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program components. This mandate is extensive and includes acquisition in over 500 existing state parks and trails, flowages, fishery, wildlife, state forest, and rivers projects. Part of the funds from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program are available each year in the form of grants to local units of government and nonprofit conservation organizations (NCOs). These grants help fund land acqui- sition and recreational development statewide. Grants are awarded to expand the State Natural Area program, for wildlife habitat protection, riverway and water quality conservation, state trails, and acquisition of local parks and nature preserves. Lands purchased in part with Stewardship grants are managed for natural resource conservation and nature-based outdoor recreation. They are open to the public, but are owned by the grantees, not the State. This directory includes an index of contact information for the organizations or local governments that own or manage grant-funded Stewardship lands. Cherish Wisconsin Outdoors Fund As you page through this directory of the many gifts Wisconsin has as a direct result of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, we would like to invite you to learn about an easy way to support habitat management of these special places. Consider for a moment the places that mean Wisconsin to you. The lake where your grand- father taught you to fish. The forest you hiked with your family. The fields where you sighted your first deer or turkey. The state park where you experienced camping for the first time. How much do these places and memo- ries matter to you? How much do you want them to thrive for your children’s generation, and the one after that? The Cherish Wisconsin Outdoors Fund was created so that we can start now to ensure the future enjoyment of our state’s remarkable natural wonders. When you invest and give to the Fund you help ensure the 1.5 million acres of publicly owned forests, barrens, grasslands, wetlands, streams and lakes in Wisconsin will be cared for today and for generations to come. To help make this effort a success, the DNR has partnered with the Natural Resources Foundation, which will oversee the fund. The purpose of the Cherish Wisconsin Outdoors Fund is to protect, restore and improve habi- tat for Wisconsin’s plants and animals. Your donation to the fund will help support our state parks and forests, state wildlife and fishing areas, state natural areas, and wild rivers—the places we create memories. To learn more, please visit CherishWisconsin.org or call 866-264-4096. Introduction to Using Public Access Lands Public access lands are here for all of us to enjoy. As long as we all follow the same rules these lands should be available for many generations to come. Some activities like berry picking are free and unregulated. Other activities like deer hunting and wild rice harvesting require a license. Always read the signs at public land parking lots, trailheads and boat access sites. For more information about DNR land, contact the DNR’s customer service center at 888-936-7463 or search the Department’s web page at dnr.wi.gov. Contact information for other land managing agencies and organizations is provided in the back part of this atlas. Kettle Moraine–Southern Unit State Forest prairie Public Access Lands Atlas of Wisconsin, 2018 — page 2 Using this Atlas Annotated Legend County Forest Land. Land owned by the local county government and enrolled This atlas is designed to help you find Township Line. When the land was first in the Wisconsin County Forest Program public access lands in Wisconsin. The surveyed in Wisconsin in the 1800s, it under state statute 28.10. book consists of three sections: (1) was divided using a grid system known introductory information, (2) 441 maps as the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). State Land. Most of these are lands and (3) indexes and other supporting The first level of organization within the were acquired by the DNR prior to advent information. If you are looking for a PLSS is by township. Each township grid of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship specific DNR property, like Peninsula cell represents approximately 36 square Program. Some of the lands shown are State Park, check the DNR Properties miles, although the measurements were owned by the Board of Commissioners of Index near the back of the book. The not always precise due to the instruments Public Lands (BCPL), which is Wisconsin’s state index map that appears twice, the surveyors were using, among other oldest state agency. BCPL is comprised of on the back cover and just before the limitations. Each grid cell is identified by Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and first PAL map, is another helpful tool a township and range number. The range Attorney General. BCPL uses its land base for finding your special area of the number identifies the number of cells of approximately 75,000 acres to help state. Holding the maps so that the east or west of the central meridian line finance public education. title “Public Access Lands” reads left running through Wisconsin. Since the State Land. Land owned by DNR and to right will mean that north is at the township baseline in Wisconsin is also the acquired under the Knowles-Nelson Stew- top of the page. The scale of each state’s southern boundary, all townships ardship Program. of the maps is 1 : 105,000 or 1 inch in Wisconsin are identified by an “N”, for equals about 1.6 miles. north, after their number. The PAL maps State Easement. These are private lands are organized by township with four on which the DNR holds a permanent Not shown on the maps are lands townships per map. easement for which no Knowles-Nelson that are open to public access for Stewardship Program funds were used. only a period of some years, such as Section Line. Each 36-square-mile town- lands enrolled in the Managed Forest ship is further divided into 36 sections— State Easement. These are private lands Law (MFL) or Voluntary Public Access each section theoretically being 1 square on which the DNR holds a permanent (VPA) programs. Also not shown are mile, or 640 acres.