What We Do
Protect
We focus on environmentally significant land and water
in Waukesha County.
Care
Through stewardship practices, we preserve native ecosystems allowing for plants and wildlife to thrive.
Engage
Clean air, clean water, and open beautiful spaces for the community today and future generations.
Mission
Protect and care for environmentally significant land and water in Waukesha County for future generations
Vision
protect all available, environmentally
significant land and water in Waukesha County
Upcoming Events
Calhoun Creek Prairie Preserve
$50 donation for any size tree
Pre-registration (not required, but appreciated)
Land protection can be accomplished in several ways:
Land Donations
Donating land to a land trust is one of the finest legacies anyone can leave their community. Landowners who donate land to a land trust receive an income tax deduction for the full market value of the land. The donation may reduce federal estate tax liabilities and will eliminate the responsibility of property taxes.
Conservation Easements
A voluntary legal agreement between the landowner and land trust or government agency. It protects the conservation values of a piece of land by permanently limiting its present and future uses. This allows the landowner to retain ownership and use of his/her property and can be established to protect all or part of a property that has significant agricultural, historic, scenic or wildlife habitat resources.
Land Purchases
Sometimes, land trusts pay full value for land they consider highly significant and extremely threatened by development. Conservation-minded landowners who use this method to sell their land gain peace of mind knowing it will be protected.
Our Approach:
prioritizing environmental significance
Unique, high quality, and/or outstanding natural features
Endangered, threatened, or rare species native to our area
Primary environmental corridors, natural areas, and critical species habitat
Wetlands, waterways, and bodies of water
Outstanding scenic value
Buffer areas to conservancy preserves of publicly owned land
Stewardship
caring for land & Water
We rely on our staff, board, volunteers, and contractors to steward the land through:
Become a Member
The power to protect nature is in your hands.
Be part of a passionate community of people determined to transform nature’s future. Your donation helps fund our mission and the most urgent on-the-ground conservation efforts to protect and restore our beautiful land, water, and wildlife. As a Waukesha County Land Conservancy member, you can make a difference in the community and know you are doing your part for our planet.
Alternate ways to give:
By mail:
PO Box 2572
Brookfield, WI
53008
By phone:
262-875-3070
Monday - Friday 8AM-4PM
Give the Gift of Membership
Sharing your love of Waukesha County's special places with family or friends is an awesome experiential gift that gives for a whole year.
Thank you for your support!
Become a Sponsor
We are better together.
BY BECOMING A SPONSOR you will have the opportunity to showcase that your company is making a difference in our environment and in the communities you serve - the places your customers and employees live, work, and play!
BUSINESSES WILL BENEFIT BY creating a culture of supporting important environmental work and receiving valuable publicity for their efforts on our social media platforms, website, newsletter and bimonthly eNews.
The Waukesha County Land Conservancy’s Sponsorship Program is a great way for local businesses and individuals to give back to their community while helping us maintain the natural beauty, ecological integrity, and safe access to our preserves.
To reach our goals, the Waukesha County Land Conservancy depends on relationships with a variety of like-minded partners including agencies, institutions, local businesses and corporations. These relationships are vital to our work and success.
Connect with Nature
work alongside conservancy staff, partners and other volunteers to care for nature, and discover unique events, tours and activities in our community.
Volunteers are needed for stewardship, preserve monitoring, wildlife monitoring, photography, education & outreach, and more.
Some opportunities might include: removing invasive plants; conducting species inventories; annual preserve monitoring; hosting information tables for events; and nature/special event photography.
Adopt-a-Preserve
Waukesha County Land Conservancy's Adopt-A-Preserve program is the official coordination system for generous volunteer efforts to remove invasive species, trash, maintain trails, and sustain land for wildlife and public use spanning over 3,100 acres in Waukesha County. The Adopt-A-Preserve program helps preserve, protect, and care for the environmentally significant lands and waters for our community and generations to come.
WHY SHOULD YOU CONSIDER ADOPTING-A-PRESERVE?
Hunt WCLC Preserves
Our local hunting community has a long tradition of supporting the conservation of the Waukesha County Land Conservancy’s (WCLC) lands and waters. We thank you for your interest in properties owned and managed by WCLC. While some of our properties are open for sporting opportunities, some are closed to hunting due to location, access limitations, or other conditions. In all cases, WCLC considers the biological effects of hunting to ensure the protection of the plants, animals and natural communities. As such, some sensitive habitats are not currently publicly accessible. Every ecosystem must be balanced and with the absence of top predators, this balance is easily skewed. Lack of predation on deer can cause a significant population increase, which impacts forest regeneration. Today, our hunters perform this ecological role by keeping populations in check.
Open preserves for hunting allow ethical-use gun and archery hunting of waterfowl, small game, turkey, big game, and trapping. Any hunters using these preserves must have hunting permits from the Wisconsin DNR and must follow hunting season regulations put forth by state and local governments. Hunters must remain within WCLC boundaries at all times.
WCLC Hunting Lottery
The 2023 Season lottery winners have been chosen.
Check back in spring 2024 for the new application.
Meet the Staff
Allison Heine de Romero
Operations Director
Helen Holtz
Land Management Director
Meet the Board of Directors
Steven Schmuki
President
Neal O'Reilly
Vice President
Joe Nolan
Treasurer
Samantha Adler
Secretary
Pamela S. Angst
Aaron Feggestad
Mary Hiebl
Jeffrey Koeberl
John Remmers
Dan Scardino
Tim Voeller