October 8, 2008 •
Mequon Nature Preserve • Mequon, WI
Register | Agenda | Speakers | Field
trip | Hosts | Sponsors | Directions
 Ozaukee
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.
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.
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5-5:30pm |
Registration & Reception |
5:30-8:30pm |
Program |
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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.
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.
Sponsors
Hosts
Benefactors
Partners
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.
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