We have great news for all of the members and supporters of the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy. On January 16, 2013, we completed Phase II of the Hall’s Lake Natural Area land acquisition project with the purchase of the 100-acre tract of land on the east side of Hall’s Lake. The parcel is bordered on the south by the Neely Preserve, bringing to 122 acres the total permanently preserved natural space available there for non-motorized public access.
The new acquisition will be named the Kabana Preserve, in honor of the late John & Betty Kabana. The completion of this phase of the project was made possible due to contributions from more than 150 individuals and families and a pair of $60,000.00 matching grants from The Carls Foundation and the J. A. Woollam Foundation.
We raised $210,000.00 for this phase of the project in just the past 13 months. We are so proud of the enthusiastic support to bring this part of the campaign to a successful conclusion. We are also very grateful to John and Betty’s son, John Kabana, for holding the property and allowing us to build trails and conduct nature walks and other activities while we raised the funds to buy it.
We are not finished yet. We are already working on acquiring another 40 acres of the original 175-acre Kabana tract. Thanks to a lead grant of $21,000.00 from the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation, we are well on our way to raising the $93,000.00 needed this year to buy the parcel immediately west of the new Kabana Preserve.
We invite everyone to come out and enjoy these properties, collectively called the Hall’s Lake Natural Area, either through our 4th Thursday at Hall’s Lake nature walk series in the spring and summer, or simply on your own schedule whenever you have the time.
We will announce a dedication of the new Kabana preserve at a later date.
