Official launch
Press Release: Crossroads at Big Creek launches Land Restoration School
(see Peninsula Pulse press coverage; read Door County Advocate article)
Crossroads at Big Creek is pleased to announce the establishment of a Land Restoration School to provide an educational immersion in the principles, practices and planning of ecological restoration for degraded lands.
The LRS will meet at Crossroads at Big Creek in Sturgeon Bay. It is designed to teach a cohort of 6-12 adults every year. Participants may include those honing or re-directing their college experience, those following a non-college learning path or those seeking a career change. All participants will share a goal of working in ecological restoration or an affiliated field.
Crossroads approached Dan Collins and Nancy Aten to be founding directors of the LRS. Aten and Collins, owners of Landscapes of Place, are well-known for their decades of conservation work in the Door County community. In July of 2021, a Land Restoration School Steering Committee made up of Crossroads board members, community members and staff began meeting and planning the initiative.
“The Land Restoration School responds to a need in Door County and beyond,” said Aten. “For the well-being of our communities and the earth and to combat climate change and habitat destruction, we need to teach and share the knowledge of how to reclaim and restore degraded lands, and we need skilled people doing this critical work.”
The LRS is modeled in part on biological field stations, where participants experience land-based learning and collaborative discovery. This year’s eight-week session will run from June 13 - August 5. In its inaugural year, students were invited to apply based on recommendations from Crossroads board members, staff, and colleagues. Ultimately, each session will host 12 restorationists from an open request for applications.
“We believe that a diversity of backgrounds, experiences and hometowns in our restorationists strengthens the learning environment,” said Aten. “Participants enter the program with unique skills and experiences that will enhance our high expectations for learning together.”
A history of restoration
Crossroads began as a school forest under the auspices of the Sturgeon Bay Educational Foundation. In 2002, it became its own 501c3 organization. The preserve has grown from the original 53 acres purchased in 1992 to nearly 200 acres. Much of the land that is now Crossroads had been tilled for agriculture or was neglected orchard. At the time of the SBEF purchase, the land was marketed as an ideal place for a gas station.
In 1998, Crossroads worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow the channelized Big Creek to remeander to its natural stream bed. Other efforts to improve wildlife habitat, most of them volunteer-led, have taken place over the years.
In 2020, Crossroads applied for and received large restoration grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Sustain our Great Lakes program, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife’s Coastal Management program and the Fund for Lake Michigan. These grants have allowed Crossroads to hire contractors to help remove invasive species and to purchase native plants. With the additional help of more than 1,100 hours from volunteer Habitat Healers, over 5,000 trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers were installed throughout the preserve in 2021. Crossroads expects to plant an additional 3,500 this year.
A perfect place to learn
Crossroads’ preserves offer a large number of native communities – upland forest, cedar swamp, creek, estuary, wet meadows, upland meadows and more. They include lands that have been altered and challenged. “This mix creates an ideal teaching ground with decades of restoration work ahead,” said Collins.
Participants will be provided with an immersive, hands-on education in the classroom and in the field, lodging and a paid fellowship stipend. The curriculum follows the Society for Ecological Restoration framework in planning and practice. “Our goal is to help develop critical thinking and build comfort in ongoing learning beyond LRS,” said Collins. “On completion, participants should expect to have the knowledge and skills to be employed in the ecological restoration field or start their own operation as a budding entrepreneur.”
The LRS is funded initially through private, anonymous donations. Visiting guest faculty members from all over the state will be teaching geology, soils, ecology, human/land history and relationships, plant communities, taxonomy, restoration planning and methods, team building and entrepreneurial skills.
Chris Young, Ph.D., of the Urban Ecology Center Institute, Alverno College, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, serves as the School’s curriculum chair and is guiding the faculty in developing learning objectives and assessment processes.
“We have a long history of environmental stewardship and education,” said Laurel Hauser, executive director of Crossroads. “The Land Restoration School represents our aspirations for sharing this ethic in a deeper and more inclusive way. We are excited to be taking these next steps.”
The School’s first offering to the community is a faculty talk by Chris Young, Ph.D., on Wednesday, May 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Collins Learning Center at Crossroads at Big Creek. The title of Dr. Young’s talk is “Where Restoration Begins.” The event is free and open to the public.
Crossroads at Big Creek Learning Center and Nature Preserve is located at 2041 Michigan Street, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Crossroads is a 501(c)3 organization committed to offering education, conducting research and providing outdoor experiences to inspire environmental stewardship in learners of all ages and from all backgrounds.
