The Door County Land Trust (DCLT) has acquired 6 acres adjacent to Grand View Park in Ellison Bay. This property showcases the ecological diversity of Northern Door County, and features wetlands, woodlands, and the Niagara Escarpment.
Barbara and Don Fuhrmann originally bought the property in 2000 to protect it from development. They sold it to DCLT at their original purchase price, well below current market value.
“We just wanted to get back our original investment – the appraisal was much higher,” noted Don Fuhrmann. “Above our cost, we’ll never miss the difference. We’d rather give the rest to the Land Trust.”
This expands DCLT’s 2012 purchase of 16 acres that established Grand View Park. That original purchase was funded by the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Scenic Byways Fund, and private donations. After a land management plan was finalized, ownership was transferred to the Town of Liberty Grove with an agreement that the town would manage and maintain the park with support from the land trust.
DCLT has already begun rehabilitating the additional 6 acres. Volunteers are working to restore the marshy wetlands and ponds by controlling invasive species and planting native wetland vegetation to benefit local wildlife.
Emily Wood, Executive Director of Door County Land Trust said, “This is a perfect next chapter in the Grand View story, which was initiated when a 44-unit condominium and residential project was approved for the site. The Fuhrmanns were also visionaries who bought their property with a clear purpose—to shield it from development—and the Door County Land Trust is honored to ensure that their long-held dream of permanent conservation will endure.”
This story was published on Door County Daily News, Door County Pulse, and WisBusiness.
Featured image by Dan Eggert/Door County Land Trust.
