Wisconsin forest project will provide clean water and help fight the climate crisis

August is National Water Quality Month, a month dedicated to making the most of the relatively small amount of fresh water we have, because having clean water is vital to our individual health, our collective agricultural needs, and the needs of our environment. Learn more.

A version of this story originally appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Saving Land magazine.

Thanks to a heroic effort by volunteers and conservationists, the Pelican River Forest in northern Wisconsin will remain wild.

The 70,000-acre property, formerly owned by a forestry company, had been on conservationists’ radar for years as a way to protect a gap of land between county forest and the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Home to iconic species such as wolves, black bears and bald eagles, and treasured by outdoor enthusiasts, the Pelican River Forest contains 68 miles of streams and is located in the headwaters of the Wolf and Wisconsin rivers.

The Conservation Fund explains why conserving this forest and the rivers that wind through it is so important:

Well-managed forests, particularly in upper watersheds, are critical sources of clean water. The 68 miles of streams, 27,000 acres of forested wetlands and dozens of ponds within Pelican River Forest support good water quality in both the upper Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds, so important to the health of the communities nearby. Water-based recreation, like boating and angling contributes a significant amount of the nearly $8 billion annually economic impact of outdoor recreation throughout Wisconsin.

The climate benefits are also substantial:

Ensuring the permanent conservation and sustainable management of our existing forests is one of the most effective strategies we have right now to combat climate change. Forests not only store carbon, they also absorb more CO2 as the trees grow. Pelican River Forest plays an important role in this fight, storing approximately 19 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, which is comparable to the emissions from 4.1 million passenger vehicles over the course of a year. Over the next 5 years, the forest is estimated to remove an additional 240,000-640,000 MT CO2e from the atmosphere.

In 2021, The Conservation Fund bought the land to buy time before securing conservation easements from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. But when the Wisconsin legislature voted to deny the funding, conservation groups and thousands of citizens rallied. Their support helped. In January, Gov. Tony Evers announced a new funding solution that would complete the largest land conservation purchase in Wisconsin history.

Read more about the journey to protect the Pelican River Forest.