A birds eye view of a river that winds to the left along a frozen landscape with icy shorebanks,

Elk Creek Bottoms property in Dunn County permanently protected

The purchase was partly funded by a $118,500 grant from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program.

Landmark Conservancy purchased the land that will become Elk Creek Bottoms, a new conservation area in Dunn County, just west of Eau Claire in the town of Spring Brook.

The 69-acre property was previously owned by the Midwest Institute of Scandinavian Culture. The conservancy received a $118,500 grant from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program to help fund the purchase.

The property is located near two other conservation areas, the Lower Chippewa River State Natural Area and the Town of Union Conservancy Area, adding to the amount of land that is preserved surrounding the Lower Chippewa River.

“This land ranks extremely high in terms of climate resiliency,” said Landmark’s Conservation director Rick Remington in this article by the Dunn County News. “This means that the landscape’s diverse features are highly likely to continue hosting biodiversity as our climate changes in the future, even though species composition may shift.”

The property will be open to the public for recreational activities like hiking, skiing, fishing, and hunting. Landmark Conservancy will be evaluating how to make the park more accessible to visitors, including mapping existing trails and adding signage.

Learn more about the property and watch a video on the conservancy’s website here.

Featured image by Landmark Conservancy, 2022.

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