Borst Land is Purchased, Now for the Planning

The Conservation Committee met earlier this month at city hall and front and center in their discussions was the development of a site plan for the 103 acres of land known as the .

Early snags with weed-tipping

The land, which will be renamed the Badertscher Preserve at the request of Nancy Borst in honor of her father. The commissioners will now begin thinking of how they want to develop that property, and Conservation Coordinator Tom Zagar presented a restoration and development plan for their review. 

The land holds a lot of promise, but DNR funding may be in jeopardy as part of it is used by the Little Muskego Lake District (LMLD) to tip weeds.

Zagar said the weed harvesting was mentioned in the initial application process, and the city did disclose it in their letter to the DNR. However, none of the acquired land was set aside for this purpose. The LMLD is in need of places to tip weeds and were helpful in the initial process with the city to acquire the Borst property.

However, Zagar said the DNR made it very clear that they didn’t consider this a compatible use, and that any cost-share money to the DNR would need to be returned. In the meantime a reappraisal would have to be done for just that portion of land used for the weed disposal. In spite of the snag, Zagar felt the process could be worked out and said he would work with the district to craft an approach of the issue with the DNR.

Wetland, prairie restorations planned

Some possibilities for the land, which has been deemed environmentally significant to the Little Muskego Lake watershed, include enrolling the wetlands into the National Conservation Resource Service program or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore them. A grant is being proposed for a $16,500 project of which they would cover $9,500, with a $7,000 local share. As the over the next 10 years to the preserve, overall costs would be nil.

Earlier a burn was conducted at the oak savannah tree area on the land to clear out the grassy area and oak litter on the ground. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would also have the city hire a contractor to cut all the brush out, with the goal of prairie grass restoration similar to the Engel Conservation Area. Additional tree plantings were also suggested by Zagar.

Public access and use

Access to the Badertscher Preserve would include a parking lot with approximately 20 stalls, which is again similar to Engel's lot.

Hiking trails exist already on the land, and Zagar said it would be a matter of putting signage up in some areas, and closing a few other trails down in the northwest section "because there are too many." In addition, Zagar said cross-county skiers could use these same hiking trails and potentially including equestrian trails along with them.

Development and maintenance of the preserve would come in large part from staff, and Zagar said they are also able to keep costs down by getting grants, and working with scouts looking to do Eagle Scout projects.

As this land was  acquired with assistance from the DNR Stewardship grant program, hunting must be allowed on it. also will now allow it. Bow hunting was proposed as a more compatible use in the area versus the use of fire arms, especially considering the proximity of neighbors and others using the trails. Zagar said a permit system to limit the number of hunters was also proposed in the plan but as hunters were not crowding the city’s DNR lands a permit system limiting hunters was really not necessary and it could be too cumbersome to manage. No decision was made on whether to create a permit system yet or not.

What won't be allowed on the land is the use of motorized vehicles, bicycling, camping, camp fires, firearms use for hunting or target shooting (with the current carry law, the firearms in general cannot be disallowed) and the walking or running of pets. However, Zagar stated if approached by the Icetronauts, they could consider a connection trail for snowmobiles through the preserve.