A pristine lake and old-growth section of woods has been preserved by the Northwoods Land Trust.
Executive Director of the Eagle River-based organization, Ted Anchor, says the acquisition of the Sack Lake Hemlocks Old-Growth Forest in the Town of Knight in Iron County is part of an initiative to preserve the few remaining tracts...
"...This is one that came to us from the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands(BCPL), which is the original land holding organization for the State of Wisconsin. It also came to us through a patent instead of deed going all the way back to the 1800's...."
The property is 130 acres. It contains old-growth yellow birch and some large stands of old-growth hemlock. Anchor says it also includes more than 800 feet of frontage on Sack Lake, which is undeveloped. Anchor says generous donors to the trust made the outright purchase possible.
Anchor says acquiring a sliver of the few bits remaining of old-growth trees is important...
"..There's less than one percent left. Parcels like this just don't come up very often. This was a great opportunity to further the land trust efforts...."
Anchor says retaining ‘old trees’ in our forested landscape preserves the genetic pool of the strongest and most disease resistant trees, those that have survived and adapted over centuries of environmental change. It also retains species who need this type of habitat, and attract people who like to recreate in the old trees.
NWLT works with private landowners who wish to permanently conserve their natural shoreland,woodland and wetland habitats in Vilas, Oneida, Forest, Florence, Iron, Price and northern Langlade counties. The trust protects over 13,600 acres of land and 72 miles of natural lake and river shoreline.
More information is on their website.
