about Gatherings register pressroomLMSA Gathering Waters

sponsor a gathering / contact us / home

Great Lake Gatherings: Mequon
October 8, 2008
Mequon Nature Preserve Mequon, WI

Register | Agenda | Speakers | Field trip | Hosts | Sponsors | Directions

PreserveOzaukee Washington Land Trust and Gathering Waters Conservancy invite you to join us on October 8th for the Mequon Great Lake Gathering. The Gathering will be from 5:30 to 8:30pm at the Mequon Nature Preserve.

Everyone who shares a common love for the natural treasures in the Lake Michigan basin is encouraged to attend: business owners, elected officials, landowners, economic development organizations, conservation groups, chambers of commerce, community organization members, and the general public. The Great Lake Gathering will introduce participants to new partners who are working to protect that treasure in our shared back yard.

line

Agenda

4-5:00pm  

Optional Field trip (limit 50 people)

Mequon Nature Preserve
The Mequon Nature Preserve is a 438-acre natural area within the City of Mequon. Plans for the preserve include an education center, a trail system, and a volunteer-powered effort to restore native hardwoods by collecting and planting seeds and seedlings.

5-5:30pm  
Registration & Reception
5:30-8:30pm  
Program
Welcome Mayor Christine Nuernberg
City of Mequon
Keynote Secretary Rod Nilsestuen
WI Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Panel Session with Q & A
 

Tony Warren, President, West Bend Mutual Insurance Company
Marcus White, Director of Community Partnerships, Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Shawn Graff, Executive Director, Ozaukee Washington Land Trust
Claus Dunkelberg, Water Industry Specialist, Milwaukee 7 Water Council

line

Speakers

Mayor Christine Nuernberg - In 1970, Mayor Nuernberg and her husband, Robert, purchased a home in Mequon where they have raised their two daughters. In the 1970’s Mayor Nuernberg joined the Mequon Thiensville School Board where she served for eighteen years. During her tenure she served as the clerk for four years and then as treasurer for nine years. Ms. Nuernberg went on to become a Supervisor of the Ozaukee County Board of Supervisors for eight years, the last two as first vice chairman.

Mayor Nuernberg then retired from political life and became the executive director of ARC Milwaukee, a human services agency which serves individuals with developmental disabilities. However, several Mequon citizens approached Mayor Nuernberg in 1997 and asked her to run for Mayor. She took up the challenge and was elected in 1998, and re-elected in 2001, 2004, and 2007.

Throughout her tenure, Mayor Nuernberg has been very active in environmental affairs, and was instrumental in the creation of the Mequon Nature Preserve. In collaboration with the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Mayor Nuernberg worked to reserve this special place for public use and future generations. This project represents the essence of public and private partners working together, along with the support of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund. She continues to serve as a liaison for the Preserve with the city’s common council. Nuernberg also led the effort to establish a Transfer of Development Rights program which, in the first transaction, resulted in saving 112 acres. A second transaction that will protect an old growth woods is now in progress.

Rod Nilsestuen, Secretary of WI Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, has led the charge to preserve Wisconsin’s working agricultural and forest lands. In 2005, Nilsestuen convened the Working Lands Initiative Steering Committee, a diverse group of leaders who share an interest in keeping Wisconsin’s working lands in production and healthy. That committee proposed a statewide Purchase of Development Rights program which, if instated, would be an invaluable tool for communities, farmers, and land trusts working to preserve Wisconsin’s farmland.

Anthony Warren is President and Chief Executive Officer of West Bend Mutual Insurance Company. West Bend Mutual's corporate campus boasts 150 acres of restored prairie and three miles of walking trails. The company has long held a strong conservation ethic that is rooted in its commitment to community. During his tenure with West Bend Mutual, Mr. Warren has supported efforts to provide a balanced growth environment. He believes that we need to build a community where families wish to stay and not leave, which is in part created by the ability to drive by open space, farms, and clean rivers. To that end, West Bend Mutual is involved with 64 different non-profit organizations, including Ozaukee Washington Land Trust and Gathering Waters Conservancy.

Marcus White is Director of Community Partnerships with Greater Milwaukee Foundation. The Foundation is a family of nearly 1,000 individual charitable funds, each created by donors to serve the charitable causes of their choice. Grants from these funds serve people throughout Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties and beyond. Started in 1915, the Foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the world with assets of approximately $543 million. Mr. White help guides the Foundation’s new community engagement efforts to develop and work for the implementation of innovative ways to address some of the most critical needs facing metropolitan Milwaukee in concert with a wide range of community partners.

Shawn Graff is the Executive Director of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust and has over 24 years of experience in areas of historic preservation, fundraising and non-profit management. He has served as Executive Director of the Pabst Mansion and Wisconsin Heritage's in Milwaukee, Curator of Education for the Paine Art Center and Arboretum in Oshkosh, and Assistant Director of the University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee Art Gallery. Shawn is involved in several Wisconsin organizations, including serving as Chairperson of the Slinger Preservation Committee and Past President of the Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation.

Claus Dunkelberg, is the Water Industry Specialist for the Milwaukee 7 Water Council. The Milwaukee 7 was launched in September 2005, was formed to create a regional, cooperative economic development platform for the seven counties of southeastern Wisconsin: Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Waukesha and Washington. Its mission is to attract, retain and grow diverse businesses and talent.

line

Hosts

Ozaukee Washington Land Trust and Gathering Waters Conservancy with support from the Joyce Foundation, are hosting one in a series of open forums this fall in four Wisconsin communities: Green Bay, Sheboygan, Mequon and Milwaukee.

Land trusts play an important role in preserving and improving the ecological, economic and human health in the area. One goal of the Gatherings is to encourage community leaders to look to their land trusts as a resource.

line

Sponsors

Hosts

Argosy Foundation

Brico Fund

Joyce Foundation WI DNR

Benefactors

West Bend

 

Partners

HarrisBank

 
WI Coastal Management Program WI Energy Found

line

Directions

PieperPower Education Center
Mequon Nature Preserve
8200 W County Line Rd (map)
Mequon, WI 53097
(262) 242-8055

 

Questions? Call Liz Walsh at (608) 251-9131 x12 or email liz [at] gatheringwaters.org.


Hosted by:

OWLT

Gathering Waters

Related links:

About the Gatherings »
    • Green Bay
    • Sheboygan
    • Mequon
    • Milwaukee

Register now »

Share with a friend »

Press Room »

Great Lakes – Great Facts »

Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy »

Long-term Economic Benefits for the Great Lakes Region »

Other upcoming Lake Michigan Events »

 

Back to Gatherings page »

211 S. Paterson St. Suite 270 • Madison, WI 53703 • PH 608-251-9131 • FX 608-663-5971 • info@gatheringwaters.org