Land acquisition funding, to permanently protect the Ice Age Trail, has come from a variety of sources for over 15 years. Chief among them are the Knowles-Nelson Wisconsin State Stewardship Program, the Dane County Conservation Fund and private donations to the Ice Age Trail Alliance. Only since 1999 have federal dollars, through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, been available for acquiring permanent Ice Age Trail rights from willing sellers.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has been a cornerstone of conservation and recreation for more than 30 years. Federal and state land managers use the fund to buy land to preserve wilderness, create urban parks, protect trails and address a host of other conservation and recreation needs. LWCF was established by Congress in 1964 and authorized at $900 million annually. Funded by offshore oil and gas leases, LWCF appropriations have been erratic at best since the early 1980s. Over the past decade, the majority of LWCF funds have been diverted to programs totally unrelated to conservation and recreation — as much as 85% has been used for other programs.

In recent nationwide surveys, American voters expressed clear and unequivocal support for funding land, water, wildlife and natural resource conservation. Fully 80% of voters across the country favor setting up a permanent land and water conservation trust fund, with the money coming from offshore oil and gas drilling revenues.

Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl has requested LWCF funding for the Ice Age Trail each year since 1999. Congressman Obey, Congresswoman Baldwin, Congressman Green, Congressman Petri and Congressman Kind have provided strong support for these appropriations. Their efforts are crucial to ensuring that the Ice Age Trail remains open to our children, and their children.

LWCF is critical to the future protection of the Ice Age Trail and the thousands of acres of forests, prairies, wetlands and other important wildlife habitat along its route. If you live in Wisconsin, please take a moment to thank members of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation who have supported LWCF appropriations for the Ice Age Trail and ask for future similar appropriations. If you're not from Wisconsin, ask your own representative in Congress to support future funding of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.

Imagine a family enjoying a segment of the Ice Age Trail. Partly into their walk, a four-lane highway with no bridge or underpass bisects the Trail. Is it safe for this family to try to dash across four lanes of busy traffic? Is this an appropriate situation for one of the eleven National Scenic Trails designated by Congress and the President?

These "at grade crossings" on busy highways present unpleasant and unsafe barriers to everyone’s use and enjoyment of the Ice Age Trail.

When a highway that crosses the Ice Age Trail is expanded, a "grade separated crossing" is often the best solution. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) Facilities Development Manual, Chapter 11, Section 55, Subject 15, "To be considered for a grade separation, the minimum highway Average Daily Traffic (ADT) is recommended to be 3500 or greater." Nearly all highways with planned expansion projects along the Ice Age Trail meet this ADT minimum.

The Ice Age Trail was also designated a State Scenic Trail by the Legislature and Governor and funding for "grade separated crossings" is provided to states as federal "transportation enhancements" to cover the costs of building safe crossings for the Ice Age Trail that are needed when highways are expanded.

What can you do to help make the Ice Age Trail safer? Here’s a list of planned highway expansion projects that will impact the Ice Age Trail. If you live near or hike these areas, please consider attending WisDOT’s public meetings and providing your comments to WisDOT to help keep the Ice Age Trail a safe place to walk:

• US Hwy 12 in the state forest east of Whitewater
• US Hwy 18 west of Wales
• US Hwy 45 between West Bend and Kewaskum
• Hwy 26 on north side of Janesville
• Hwy 83 at Naga-Waukee County Park
• US Hwy 10 at Foley Road east of Amherst
• US Hwy 45 near Summit Lake
• US Hwy 14 at or near Cross Plains
• Hwy 13 north of Chelsea
• US Hwy 63 near Barronett
• US Hwy 12 near Baraboo
• Hwy 48 at Straight River east of Luck
• Hwy 21 at Mecan River west of Wautoma

If you have any questions or become aware of other roadway expansions that will impact the Ice Age Trail, please contact the Ice Age Trail Alliance or National Park Service.

The Ice Age Trail needs your help. Support the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program.

The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program is critical for permanent protection of the Ice Age Trail. Since 1990, 70 miles of the Trail have been permanently protected, 57 of those miles protected with at least some assistance from the Stewardship Program.

Funds used to match Stewardship Program funding along the Ice Age Trail have come from various private, local government and federal government sources. One notable source of matching funding has been appropriations from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), administered by the National Park Service. Since 2000, $10.9 million from the federal side of LWCF has been used to match funding from the Stewardship Program.

Please contact your State Assemblyperson and State Senator using these four simple steps:

1. Determine which state legislators to contact:

• For names and contact information for your state legislators, click here.

2. Contact your legislator:

• Send a letter to the State Assemblyperson and State Senator in whose district you reside. An email is less effective, but still worthwhile.

3. Craft your message to include these four components:

• A short statement about why you care about the Ice Age Trail. This could be a short statement about a place along the Ice Age Trail that is special to you.
• State that you support the Stewardship Program.
• Thank him/her for taking the time to read and consider your comments.
• Include your name and mailing address.

4. Notify the Ice Age Trail Alliance of your legislative contacts:

• Let us know about your contacts by emailing Andrew Hanson, IATA Trailway Director, at drew@iceagetrail.org. If you have any questions, please call 800-227-0046 for assistance.

The Knowles–Nelson Stewardship Program was created in 1989 to preserve valuable natural areas and wildlife habitat, protect water quality and fisheries, and expand outdoor recreation in Wisconsin.

The Stewardship Program is named for two of Wisconsin’s most revered conservation leaders, Governor Warren Knowles and Senator and Governor Gaylord Nelson —men who helped shape the Ice Age Trail.

While governor, Warren Knowles expanded a precursor to the Stewardship Program known as the Outdoor Recreation Areas Program (ORAP) and worked to consolidate various programs to form the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He served on the Ice Age Trail Alliance (then the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation) board of directors from 1985 to 1993.

While a U.S. senator, Gaylord Nelson led the efforts to pass the National Trails System Act and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Both became law in 1968. He co-sponsored the 1980 legislation that made the Ice Age Trail one of the eleven National Scenic Trails. In 2002, he formally dedicated the western terminus of the Ice Age Trail at Interstate State Park in St. Croix Falls.

Gaylord Nelson also championed the federal designation of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. Two properties overlooking the Riverway, and visible from canoe on the river, were purchased by the Ice Age Trail Alliance (then the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation) with assistance from the Knowles–Nelson Stewardship Program. Both properties form the nucleus for a new city park called Ray Zillmer Park. The Ice Age Trail across these properties is helping to bolster St. Croix Falls’ goal to become the “City of Trails.”

Lands protected thanks to the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program

Between 1986 and 2006, various government and non-profit land trust partners have completed 152 land transactions to permanently protect almost 13,000 acres along and for the Ice Age Trail. This amounts to 79 miles of the Ice Age Trail permanently protected for public enjoyment. Fifty-seven of these Ice Age Trail miles would not have been secured for the public without the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program.

The groups that have utilized the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund to acquire land along the Ice Age Trail include the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Ice Age Trail Alliance, Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation, Riverland Conservancy, West Wisconsin Land Trust, and Natural Heritage Land Trust.

Individual properties along the Ice Age Trail that have been permanently protected, thanks at least in part to the Stewardship Program, include the following:

Polk County

Three purchases covering five parcels along the Straight River were made by the Ice Age Trail Alliance (then the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation) in the mid-1990s. These acquisitions opened a new segment of the Ice Age Trail to the public, protected significant river and wetland habitat and helped to draw conservation attention to this remarkable area. More recently, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources acquired 2,800 acres around Straight Lake to create a new state park and protect a new 3-mile segment of the Ice Age Trail.

Dane County

In 1992, the Ice Age Trail Alliance (then the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation) protected an 81-acre property at the edge of the Driftless Area in Dane County. Known as Valley View Preserve, the property has seen extensive restoration and trailbuilding efforts by local volunteers. Over two miles of public footpaths, including over a quarter-mile of the Ice Age Trail, provide a popular trail network.

Although the recently acquired Swamplovers property harbors important wetland resources, its most significant natural resource might be considered its prairie. At 433 acres, it is the largest property ever protected by IATA and is adjacent to a 73-acre property that IATA purchased in 1992. Neither property could have been protected without assistance from the Stewardship Program. The new Table Bluff Segment of the Ice Age Trail crosses both properties.

Marathon County

Several properties have been protected by IATA that are adjacent to and downstream of Marathon County’s Dells of the Eau Claire County Park and state natural area. Two of these acquisitions would not have been possible without matching grants from the Stewardship Program.

Walworth County

Three properties totaling 100 acres at the Clover Valley State Wildlife Area were purchased to protect a new segment of the Ice Age Trail and provide public hunting opportunities in densely populated southeast Wisconsin.

Washington County

Two properties at Polk Kames in the rapidly developing Mid Kettle Moraine of eastern Wisconsin were purchased by Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation (CLCF). Both have been transferred to DNR and will be the location of a new segment of the Ice Age Trail.

Two properties in the City of West Bend’s Glacial Blue Hills Recreation Area were purchased by the Ice Age Trail Alliance (then the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation) in the late 1990s with matching funds from the Stewardship Program. The trails through these properties, including a half-mile of the Ice Age Trail, are heavily used by neighborhood residents and statewide Ice Age Trail enthusiasts alike.

Taylor County

One of northern Wisconsin’s best cross-country ski areas gained a permanently protected trailhead when the Ice Age Trail Alliance (then the Ice Age Park & Trail Foundation) acquired the 30-acre Rusch Preserve near Rib Lake in 1999. Protected by the purchase were a quarter-mile of the Ice Age Trail and the southern quarter-mile of the Timms Hill National Trail. The Stewardship Program provided half the purchase amount for this popular property.

Lincoln County

The New Wood State Wildlife Area in a remote area northwest of Merrill more than doubled in size in 1999 with the purchase of over 2000 acres. A new 6-mile segment of the Ice Age Trail was opened across the property that is managed primarily for public hunting.

Waushara County

Two properties around the renowned Mecan River headwaters were purchased by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to add protection to the water resources, increase public hunting opportunities, and provide a permanent route for the Ice Age Trail.

Waukesha County

In the heart of the Kettle Moraine, Hartland Marsh is an island refuge in a sea of development. The Stewardship Program has helped the IATA protect over 130 acres while the Village of Hartland has acquired additional adjacent properties. Comprised of wetland, prairie, oak savanna, over a mile of the Bark River, a segment of the Ice Age Trail and other connecting trails and boardwalks, Hartland Marsh is an important outdoor classroom for students from nearby schools.

The Knowles–Nelson Stewardship Program is helping to protect these and the many other places that best say Wisconsin.

Providing public access is central to the effort to complete and maintain the Ice Age Trail. All properties that have been acquired for the Ice Age Trail using Stewardship Program funding include public access.

Primary public uses of Ice Age Trail lands include: hiking, walking, backpacking, fishing, snowshoeing, bird watching, nature appreciation, cross-country skiing and nature study. Other public uses that are accommodated in certain areas include hunting, snowmobiling, and other low impact uses.

Between 1986 and 2006, 75% of all the acreage permanently protected along the Ice Age Trail is open to public hunting.  Private landowners retain all hunting rights on an additional 6% of lands protected through easement agreements for the Ice Age Trail. Therefore, although providing hunting opportunities is not stated in the official vision for the Ice Age Trail, eight out every ten acres of all lands permanently protected along the Ice Age Trail are open to either public hunting or private landowner hunting. The properties that are not open to hunting tend to be either too small to provide legitimate hunting opportunities or are located too close to residential areas to be safely hunted.

The the Ice Age Trail Alliance actively promotes, encourages, and facilitates the public use and enjoyment of properties purchased with Stewardship Program assistance in a number of ways. Recent activities include publishing the Ice Age Trail Atlas, the Ice Age Trail Companion Guide, and a quarterly magazine about the Ice Age Trail, Mammoth Tales. Ongoing activities include constructing, signing, maintaining and restoring native habitat along approximately 600 miles of the Ice Age Trail currently open for the public’s use and enjoyment.