Mission

The Natural Heritage Land Trust protects natural areas, wildlife habitat, working farms, healthy lakes and streams, and recreation land to provide a high quality of life in the Dane County, Wisconsin region.

• Work with interested landowners to protect important conservation lands through land protection agreements called conservation easements. Occasionally, we buy land to create nature preserves and parks that will be open to the public for hiking, picnicking, and other outdoor activities.
• Manage and monitor protected land.
• Develop and advance land protection strategies.
• Build community understanding of, and support for, our work.

The Natural Heritage Land Trust is a results-oriented organization. Since our inception in 1983 (originally as the Dane County Natural Heritage Foundation), we have protected more than 4,588 acres of land.

We have helped establish county parks along Black Earth Creek and Fish Lake, collaborated with many farm families to protect over 2,400 acres of high-quality farmland in the Town of Dunn, set aside a 10-acre hilltop in the Village of Waunakee to preserve a public view of the state capitol, restored and opened 63 acres of land for fishing and hunting in the Black Earth Creek Valley, set aside 57 acres of public land at Patrick Marsh adjacent to the rapidly-growing city of Sun Prairie, conserved a major source of freshwater for Token Creek and Lake Mendota, preserved an important link in the Nine-Springs E-way where the Capital City bike trail crosses the south side of Madison, and helped protect the setting for Cave of the Mounds, an important local business near the village of Blue Mounds.

Madison, Wisconsin 53703