- In 1908, noted landscape architect John Nolen toured Wisconsin, in search of the best places to develop state parks.
- In Door County, Nolen and the new State Parks Board arrived to inspect the land that would eventually become Peninsula State Park.
The board members were struck by the site's possibilities for recreation, and as a place for city people to reconnect with nature.
In his final report, Nolen explained why Wisconsin should move quickly to preserve the land for a state park.
- "It is wild, and as yet, unspoiled, "with alternating interests of woodland and cliff, "bay and land.
"It sweeps from point to point-- "here a beach of fine sand, "there of gravel.
"Then, in contrast, precipitous limestone bluffs, "rising to a height of a hundred feet or more.
"Almost at each step, a new vista is opened, "a new composition afforded.
"The vegetation is rich, and varied.
"Extensive forests cover large tracts.
"With the purest of air, "laden with the fragrance of balsam and pine, "it is no exaggeration to say "that the broad beauty of the scenery "is not surpassed in Wisconsin."
(bird calling) - Jens Jensen, another nationally-known landscape architect, also made his mark on Door County.
After a long career as superintendent and designer of Chicago parks, and as a landscape designer for wealthy clients, Jensen retreated to Ellison Bay, in northern Door County, to start a folk school he called, "The Clearing."
- He intended it to be a clearing of the mind, a place where things would become clear to you out in nature.
He wanted a place...
He called it, "On the edge of the wild... somewhere, "high up on a hill or a bluff, "with a view of a large expanse of water, "with a setting sun."
He felt people had to be out in nature in order to be human.
People need this, in an increasingly urbanizing society, they get removed from it, and we still need this.
He was passionate, and he was a visionary.
He envisioned that whole corridor from the Indiana border all the way up past Milwaukee as being one large city someday, and we need to preserve some areas as wild areas.
But he wanted people to be out in them, using them.
- As Jensen continued building "The Clearing," another call for preservation began in Bailey's Harbor.
In 1924, Albert Fuller, a botanist for the Milwaukee Public Museum, visited the Range Light lighthouse station outside of Bailey's Harbor.
- He had gotten reports of rare orchids in that area.
Fuller was astonished by what he found.
The forty acres of land on the lighthouse property teemed with an astounding array of wild orchids and other rare plants.
- He came up with 25 of the 40 native orchids of Wisconsin right here on the original 40 acres.
He really knew this was something special.
- Over time, the waves and currents of Lake Michigan had formed a series of ridges of land.
- And in between are these unique wetlands called swales.
And depending on the soil type and the hydrology and the vegetation, they can be open like this one, like a sedge meadow, or they can be a bog.
And that's what makes it so unique, is that in this small area, you've got one plant community, then another plant community in the swale, and then could be a totally different plant community on the next ridge.
And so the geological formations with the ridges and swales has created this unique setting for a lot of different flora and fauna.
- During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the coast guard turned over the forty acres of land surrounding the Range Lights to the county.
– And up came the idea: let's make a campground out of the ridges.
And they were going to build a road, and they brushed it, they cleared it out, and one by one, people began objecting to what they were seeing.
And probably the loudest objector was Emma Toft.
She hated what they were doing.
The story, which was concocted about her standing or sitting in front of the bulldozers was not true, but she said, "It made a good point.
"I would've done it if I had to."
[chuckling] - And Albert Fuller got wind of that, and started this real grass-roots movement to protect the 40 acres.
He started to work with a lot of the local people like Jens Jensen, who had started "The Clearing."
Through the Bailey's Harbor Woman's Club, they started to have these meetings, and Albert Fuller would come in and present.
"Don't develop this area.
"It's very unique with its orchids, its diversity, "and preserve it, "and make it a destination "that people can come in and appreciate it."
- In a way, he was pleading with them: This place is special, needs preserving.
And they listened to him.
- On October 4th, 1937 The Ridges started, filed articles of incorporation, and worked with the Door County Parks Committee to protect the original 40 acres.
- The volunteer group quickly began a campaign to purchase a buffer of land around the 40 acres, inspiring future preservation efforts in Door County, and beyond... - That vision that they had created a real ripple effect.
- It was one of the first of its kind.
Quite a few groups used The Ridges as the model to copy from.
- Emma Toft went on to become a conservation legend for her decades of work at The Ridges, and her relentless efforts to preserve her family's old growth forest land.
Jens Jensen went on to lead an effort to locate and purchase wild land in Door County, to be preserved as county parks.
- So, we have these special parks in Door County, that are kind of wild.
Ellison Bluff, up the road a bit is Door Bluff Headlands County Park.
Cave Point, down by Whitefish Dunes, is another one.
- Albert Fuller went on to join Aldo Leopold and other UW-Madison biologists to start what would become the State Natural Areas program, protecting Wisconsin's endangered landscapes.
- He took this idea that was started in Bailey's Harbor to protect land for its natural beauty, but also to start preserving land for flora and fauna, and they've protected well over 350,000 acres throughout Wisconsin.
(waves lapping, bird chirping)
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