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HABITAT COOPERATIVES

You can make a difference in your watershed no matter how small or large your property is. All land cover types can have an impact, including forest, prairie, and cropland. We are trying to form these landowner cooperatives throughout Wisconsin and locally.  A cooperative is a great way for neighbors to work together to share ideas and get funding for projects allowing you to improve your landscape. 

Benefits of Joining a Cooperative

  • Increase your acreage and enroll at a higher level

  • Added benefits and lower personal enrollment cost

  • Share management ideas with neighbors

  • Apply for funding together to complete larger scale projects

  • No obligations to complete suggested strategies or share property information with anyone else enrolled

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Finding a Plan That's Right for You 

The Wisconsin DNR offers a program, called DMAP (Deer Management Assistance Program), that allows eligible landowners to have a management plan written specific to them by a DNR biologist and forester. Brown County Land and Water Conservation Department is also ready to assist in planning management strategies based on your resource concerns. Funding is available to go towards habitat improvements.

  • Habitat and deer management

  • Consider ecological and social impacts of white-tailed deer on landscape

  • Collect biological data and participate in workshops

  • One on one relationship with a natural resources professional

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Give us a call or send an email for help on finding the plan that's right for you. 

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Visit our partners' websites:

Upper East River Watershed Cooperative

The Upper East River is located in southeast Brown County and flows north where it joins the Fox River and empties to Lake Michigan. The watershed for this river is approximately 22,992 acres and is primarily used for row crop dairy. The Nature Conservancy, along with US Fish & Wildlife Service, WI Department of Natural Resources, Outagamie County and Brown County, have written a detailed Habitat Conservation Plan for the Upper East River.

It has been determined that the Upper East River lacks the ability to support the fish and wildlife that could be present if the surrounding landscape was better managed. Impediments to aquatic organism movement, loss of keystone species, loss and reduction of in-stream and riparian habitat, presence of invasive species, degraded water quality, and alteration of natural hydrology has collectively compromised the health of this watershed.

Landowners can decrease erosion and improve wildlife habitat, plant diversity, and water quality by planting buffer strips, using cover crops, conducting timber stand improvement, removing invasive species, and providing stream structure along with other management strategies.
Targets for Improvement in the Upper East River (as defined by the Habitat Conservation Plan)
  • Native migratory fish
  • Mussels
  • Macroinvertebrates
  • Riparian plant communities
  • Forests & wetlands
  • Ground water base flow
  • Migratory birds
  • Bats
  • Pollinators
  • Turtles & Amphibians
  • Raptors
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Above:  Before restoration
Below: After restoration
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This drone footage was taken fall 2021 in Brown County, almost one year after the project was completed. This shows a wetland habitat restoration and is a large representation of the possibilities you have for your own projects.
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