A failed drainage project and a decade-long tax dispute just handed Wisconsin one of its biggest conservation wins in years — nearly 2,000 acres along the Lower Sugar River, permanently protected.

  • 2,000 acres of wetlands, floodplain forest and prairie now permanently protected
  • 2+ miles of Sugar River frontage included in the deal
  • 43 years — Groundswell Conservancy's history, and this is its largest project yet
  • 2,600 total acres protected across four linked Avon Bottoms projects

From struggling farmland to wildlife corridor

Applegate-Bader Farms spent years trying to make the low-lying property along the Lower Sugar River in Rock County work as cropland. Drainage tiling — burying pipes to pull water out of the soil — couldn't keep pace with the floodplain. The family eventually enrolled in the USDA's Wetland Reserve Easement program, and this year sold the land outright to Ducks Unlimited and Groundswell Conservancy, who protected all of it permanently.

The path there wasn't simple. Applegate-Bader had sued Wisconsin's Department of Revenue in 2016 after a rule change excluded permanent conservation easements from the state's "use-value" farmland tax assessment — a legal fight that wound through the courts before the family found their way to a conservation buyer instead.

"Protecting nearly 2,000 acres at once creates an even larger, connected corridor where wildlife of all kinds can move, feed, nest and thrive," said Amy Mertz, Groundswell Conservancy's director of development and communications.

What the land protects

The property will eventually transfer to the Wisconsin DNR as part of the Avon Bottoms Wildlife Area, already recognized as a state Conservation Opportunity Area and Important Bird Area. Wildlife biologist Jason Cotter told the Daily Cardinal the wetlands are home to endangered Yellow-crowned Night-Herons and Ornate Box Turtles, threatened Cerulean Warblers and Acadian Flycatchers, and protected Blanding's Turtles.

Funding came from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, administered by the Wisconsin DNR, and a North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, alongside private donors and groups including the National Wild Turkey Federation and Pheasants Forever.

Open to the public

The land is already open for hiking, fishing, hunting, and wildlife watching. Ducks Unlimited plans active habitat management going forward.

"We hope to maximize wildlife habitat potential on the property through wetland enhancements and upland management," said Brian Glenzinski, Ducks Unlimited's director of conservation programs for the Upper Midwest. "Specifically, knock back the woody growth that has invaded the property through prescribed fire to provide better nesting habitat for waterfowl and other grassland birds."

Beyond wildlife, the wetlands do quieter work — filtering nutrients, storing floodwater, and recharging aquifers — for a region where public access land is otherwise scarce; Cotter noted nearly 2 million people live within an hour's drive.

The deal is also a reminder of how fragile that kind of funding can be. Groundswell secured its Knowles-Nelson grant just before the program expired on June 30, 2026. "A project of this size and significance simply doesn't happen without a lot of people and organizations working together," Mertz said. Read more from Ducks Unlimited's announcement of the partnership.