× Expand Mary Kay Baum

Dick Cates gets passionate when he talks about the land his family has owned in the Lowery Creek Watershed near Spring Green for more than 50 years.

He notes that Lowery Creek is one of the most productive streams in the entire Driftless area for native brook trout.

“The Wisconsin DNR collects trout spawn and takes them back to their fish hatchery where they grow them out as fingerlings to put them in other streams,” he says. “It’s a very, very special watershed.”

Cates grazes cattle in the valley, but he proudly mentions that he follows Aldo Leopold’s land ethic. Quoting Leopold, he says: “The land is a community that yields not only an ecological but also a cultural harvest.”

That’s why Cates believes it’s vital that everyone have an opportunity to experience the beauty of the region. “For people who don’t own land, how do you get to be a part of it?” he asks. “How do you learn to love it?”

Cates is involved with one effort to provide a way — creating the Driftless Trail, a 50-mile network of paths that would connect the vistas from the tops of Blue Mound and Tower Hill State parks, the rolling prairies and ravines of Governor Dodge State Park, to the cliffs and gorges of the Ridgeway Pine Relict State Natural Area and the fertile watersheds laced with trout streams of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway.

“A trail gives people that opportunity,” Cates says. “I feel strongly that the more people who care about nature, the more it will be protected.”

Hikers have long been able to explore state-owned lands in the region. But Dave Clutter, director of the Driftless Area Land Conservancy in Dodgeville, came up with the idea of connecting the trails in these public spaces with others that would pass through private land. The idea is to not only provide more recreational opportunities and tourism dollars, but to make the area more resilient against climate change and protect the land.

The Driftless Area is a unique landscape created when the last three continent-wide glacial advances missed the area during the past half million years. Clutter also sees the trail network as a response to the proposed ATC transmission line.

“The benefits of the trail are such a huge contrast to the future that we would see if the ATC transmission line, with its massive towers and denuded corridor, cuts through the Driftless Area,” says Clutter. “I would like to see us work toward the best future we can, and the trail would embody a scenic gem set in the Wisconsin landscape.”

× Expand A map of the Driftless Area shows where trails could link several natural areas including the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway and Tower Hill, Governor Dodge, and Blue Mounds state parks.

The Driftless Area Land Conservancy has been laying the groundwork for the trail for several years. This project is now ready to start connecting the dots with a strategy that will integrate state agencies, landowners and local communities.

The conservancy protects land through acquisitions and easements. “The more we can connect high-quality wildlife habitats, the more resilient areas become to climate change,” says Barb Barzen, the trail project coordinator at the conservancy. “Wherever the trail goes, we will focus our land conservation work, and by building the trail we will create a corridor of well-managed natural resources.”

Officials anticipate the trail could be used for backpacking, with overnight camping in existing parks. The trail would not be open to bicycles, horses or motorized vehicles.

Anne Sayers, deputy secretary at the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, is excited by the project. “I think there is something about the word Driftless that makes it seem like a place to explore, a place to get lost in and a place to experience something new. We know that the number one reason visitors say they come to Wisconsin is outdoor recreation. People will travel for this kind of opportunity, and that is really good news for local economies.”

Communities that could benefit from economic development related to the trail include Spring Green, Dodgeville, Ridgeway, Barneveld, Blue Mounds, Arena and Mount Horeb. “The Driftless Trail is exactly what visitors are looking for right now,” Sayers says. “They want opportunities to get out in nature but also at the end of the day, visitors want to be close to other amenities, attractions and a dining experience, or check out a museum or some interesting architecture. The Driftless Trail will make all of that possible.”

Barzen says that some ideas that came up during public meetings included pizza delivery to the trail and small restaurants in the woods. “Someone talked about doing a natural arts tour with creative ways to frame natural beauty along the trail,” she says. “It’s been fun to hear people think outside the box and bring ideas they have seen elsewhere, applied to this trail.”

Earlier this month, Wisconsin became one of the first states in the Midwest to fund an office of outdoor recreation. “States with an office of outdoor recreation have had incredible success with it because it’s a way to unite many interests,” says Sayers. “Whether you are talking about for-profit outdoor retailers and manufacturers, nonprofit organizations, or the many levels of state government — everyone has an interest in making sure people get outside and explore, learn and recreate on our public lands.”

The challenge for the Driftless Trail is that, while it is connecting public lands, it will mainly be traversing private property in between and will depend on landowners to welcome the trail on their property.

“So far, we have been talking at a very general level, explaining why we want to do this, what we have in mind and fielding landowner questions and concerns,” says Barzen. “We’ve been talking with people at the Ice Age Trail Alliance, and what they hear from participating landowners is the number one reason they like hosting the trail is a sense of giving back.”

Landowners who participate will also have the benefit of volunteer crews who will protect the native environment on both sides of the trail.

“Trails across the country are often managed by volunteers,” says Angie Tornes, Wisconsin field office manager of the National Parks Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program, who has been working with DALC.

Tornes says connecting the trails will broaden how people can explore the area. “There are short trails in protected areas like state parks,” says Tornes. “But there is no opportunity to follow the natural terrain of the landscape in an intimate and extended fashion. It will be an opportunity to experience the whole of the Driftless Area and absorb the story of the Ho-Chunk and early European pioneers among others, who came here, not to mention the ecological diversity and geology that is unique to the Driftless.”

A potential segment, called the Welsh Hills Trail, opened to the public in June, starting at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin outside Spring Green. The Taliesin board needs to approve adding this to the Driftless Trail, but officials there say that it fits with their mission.

“The Welsh Hills Trail is a way to get more people onto the landscape to enjoy this beautiful place that inspired Wright’s work,” says Mike Degen, Taliesin natural landscape coordinator.

Adding segments like this will be how the Driftless Trail gets started. “It will begin as a network of little loops,” says Barzen. “Once we get a couple of prototypes on the ground, we hope to grow it from there.”

With a dedicated group of volunteers, environmental groups and landowners involved, Barzen is hopeful the project will take off.

“The whole idea is community conservation,” Barzen says. “Unlike the traditional model of having a patchwork of well managed properties, the collective strategy involves and energizes the whole community. It creates new partnerships. I think of this trail as being like the garden at the Obama White House. It’s an example of how you can use one project to become a platform for a lot of other things like environmental education and better health.”

[Editor's note: This article originally stated that Wisconsin was the first state in the Midwest to create an office of outdoor recreation. But Michigan, which created its office in May 2019, was the first.]