A prime piece of elk habitat in northern Wisconsin could be set aside for years to come, after its purchase by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
The 120-acre parcel, called the Snipe Lake Property, is located in Sawyer County, east of Moose Lake and within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. It is part of the habitat for the Clam Lake elk range, which has 115 elk in its herd, according to Kevin Wallenfang, program manager for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's Great Lakes Conservation Initiative.
When the property came up for sale by a private owner, the Missoula, Mont.-based organization stepped in to purchase the land. The organization will hold onto the land until the U.S. Forest Service has the budget to purchase the land sometime in early 2008, Wallenfang said. It would then be open to the public.
"This is outstanding wildlife habitat and the potential home for hundreds of elk, so we want to keep it part of the north woods," Wallenfang said in a telephone interview. "Public land is getting hard to come by these days."
Wallenfang declined to share the purchase price of the property, and officials with the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest could not be reached for comment.
Bernie Lemon, regional chairman for the foundation, said the group's work is part of broader trend toward habitat protection.
"A lot of people don't realize that the Elk Foundation has completed more than 200 projects in the western Great Lakes region over the years," Lemon said in a written statement. "And now, because of the partnerships and fundraising possibilities created through the Great Lakes Initiative, we expect to see a heavy focus on more permanent land protection projects like Snipe Lake and Venison Creek in the years to come."
The newly acquired land was the second property in Wisconsin purchased by the foundation in 2006. It picked up a 1,150-acre parcel, also near Snipe Lake, that could be added to the public land base as early as April.
And Wallenfang said the foundation is currently working on two other purchases in the same area, one an 80-acre site and the other with 900 acres. Since starting in 1984, the Elk Foundation has purchased or obtained conservation easements on more than 5,000 acres of elk habitat in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.
In its written statement announcing the purchase, the Elk Foundation noted that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is considering adding elk to the Clam Lake herd, and is exploring the start of a second wild herd in Jackson County's Black River State Forest.Ashland Daily Press
