Eagle area land donated for sanctuary

Thursday, December 27, 2007 12:44 PM CST

MADISON (AP) - An Eagle couple who loved nature, birds and animals donated 374 acres, cash and other assets worth about $12.5 million to the Nature Conservancy for a nature sanctuary near the Mukwonago River, the group said Wednesday.

The gift from the late Newell and Ann Meyer is the largest dollar amount of donated land and cash for conservation in Wisconsin history, said Mary Jean Huston, state director for the Nature Conservancy, a leading conservation organization.

The Meyer land is in Eagle, about 30 miles southwest of Milwaukee. The property will be open to the public after a dedication next spring to name it the Newell and Ann Meyer Nature Preserve.

“Newell and Ann Meyer loved nature and, in particular, this special place, and they wanted to ensure that it would always be here for others to enjoy,” Huston said.

Among outdoor recreation activities permitted at the preserve will be hiking, photography, bird watching and deer hunting, Huston said.

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Mrs. Meyer, 82, died in 2004 and her husband, 90, died in 2006, said Chris Anderson, a spokesman for the Nature Conservancy in Madison. The gift was part of the couple's will and the estate was recently settled, Anderson said.

The Meyers originally bought 80 acres in Eagle in 1976 as a summer retreat, Huston said. After the couple retired from newspaper jobs in Milwaukee, they purchased additional properties nearby with the goal of amassing enough land to create a large nature sanctuary.

The donated land, appraised at $3.8 million, includes oak savanna, grasslands, a sedge meadow, an emergent marsh and spring outlets that comprise the headwaters of the northern branch of the Mukwonago River, the Nature Conservancy said.

The area provides nesting habitat for sandhill cranes, a favorite of the Meyers, as well as habitat for numerous migratory birds, Huston said. Wild turkey also roam the property.

The property includes the couple's home and one cabin.

The couple's gift included cash and other assets valued at $8.7 million, which will be used to restore the donated land and to acquire or conserve additional lands along the Mukwonago River, which supports 60 species classified by the state Department of Natural Resources as endangered, threatened or of special concern, Huston said.

The Nature Conservancy owns three other preserves in the Mukwonago River watershed that are open to the public - Lulu Lake Preserve, Crooked Creek Preserve and Pickerel Lake Fen Preserve.

Since 1960, the group has conserved more than 140,600 acres of forests, wetlands, prairies, lakes and streams in Wisconsin for nature and the public by various means, including purchasing many of them, Anderson said.