(waves crashing) - By the 1970s, Door County's traditional way of life would undergo big changes.
- There was over 400 fishermen at the turn of the 20th century, and it stayed that way until about the 1950s, and then it slowly started to decline due to invasive species entering the Great Lakes.
It's just something that's just a mere shadow of what it once was.
You've got maybe a handful of fishermen left, maybe five in Door County, compared to 400.
It was the main industry at one time, surpassing logging and farming, and it just managed to be part of the essence of Door County.
- In 1969, National Geographic magazine featured Door County in an article called "A Kingdom So Delicious."
- And, of course, with a distribution of National Geographic , it got the word out on what a beautiful and wonderful retreat Door County was.
- "A Kingdom So Delicious?"
Wow.
That brought a lot of people to this kingdom.
- That seemed to open the floodgates for tourism.
- It just brought out all of the attributes of the county, and emphasized them and it-- Well, if I were a developer, that's where I would have gone right then, is to Door County.
- And there was no effective zoning, no land use plan, nothing in place to stifle all this new development.
- At the same time, Manitowoc Shipbuilding bought two Sturgeon Bay shipyards.
The new Bay Shipbuilding Corporation created hundreds of jobs, building freighters and other Great Lakes ships.
With thousands of new year-round residents, and tens of thousands more tourists, local governments began to consider controlling growth, through land use planning and zoning laws.
- And we've grown so fast the last seven years, that we're going to stop and take a good hard look at the progress we've made, and evaluate the things that have been accomplished, and then, do more planning for the future.
- To provide a blueprint of lands needing protection from development, UW-Madison ecologist Jim Zimmerman, and his wife Libby, began an inventory of the vegetation and ecosystems of Door County.
- And he knew everything, it seemed, about the outdoors.
He knew every plant and every tree.
- Unbelievable, that he was able to identify the areas that were ecologically very significant.
Unbelievable!
I don't think there was another person in the world, other than Jim Zimmerman, who could do that.
That really required a knowledge and a discipline and a dedication to do that.
And probably, his greatest single achievement was he developed a map of Door County identifying all the places that were environmentally important.
- We assembled them into township-size maps.
- People could look at those maps and see exactly where they lived, and what their particular area was like, if it was bordering on a wetland, and so forth, and it made them aware of what was going on in their own community, and what needed to be protected.
- We had several meetings with 'Jim Zim,' as we called him, as a presenter.
And there was always a full crowd.
I think Jim was aware that nothing is forever, that things are changing, and once they're gone, they're gone forever.
- A new awareness of lands needing protection led to the formation of the Door County Land Trust, a local group that now protects over 7,000 acres of sensitive and scenic lands.
[bird call] In spite of all the changes, Door County continues to rely upon many of the same resources as generations in the past.
And the county's setting and history continue to provide a lasting identity.
Villages still face the water, built on the sacrifices of the pioneers.
The draw to the land, and the connection to the water continue as they always have.
(children chattering excitedly) Door County remains a place to restore the connection with nature.
- We can put him in by the grasshoppers.
He'll be fine.
- The great diversity of the land, with many of its wild places now protected, will endure for generations to come.
The landscape still inspires artists of all kinds, and the artists, in turn, create another landscape, of art.
And the arts continue to flourish, one thing leading to another, kept afloat by local support.
Not on the way to anywhere else, Door County remains a destination, a getaway, and a place for fun.
(cheers and laughter) But constant through it all, is the beauty that defines Door County.
(birds chirping, boat brushing against dock)
Passport
Follow Us