Cherish Wisconsin Outdoors Fund helps fish and wildlife

National Resources Foundation Cherish Wisconsin Outdoors Fund committee members are currently working on selecting grant winners for the program from a list of well-deserving applicants. This endowment provides a permanent source of funding for projects on the state’s public lands.

When applying for hunting and fishing licenses on the DNR website, users are asked whether or not they would like to contribute to the Cherish Wisconsin Outdoors Fund, but many hunters and anglers may not know what that fund is. This fund is used to support the state’s 1.5 million acres of publicly owned forests, savannas, wetlands, grasslands and waterways.

The Cherish Wisconsin Outdoors Fund, or more commonly known as just Cherish, is a public/private partnership between the Natural Resources Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).  The fund was made possible by bi-partisan legislation

It was established in 2012 to create permanent funding and support for public natural spaces such as forests, meadows and waterways. These spaces are enjoyed by many including hikers, bikers, birders, hunters and anglers. 

Funding through this program allows grantees the opportunity to complete projects that protect, improve or restore habitat for native species of wildlife and plants across the state. Grants through the endowment fund support projects by disbursing investment interest earned. This means, for every $1 million in the endowment, $45,000 can go toward restoration or protection projects as well as habitat management projects. 

“The Cherish Wisconsin Outdoor Fund is fortified by investments from citizens like you,” according to the NRF website. “Every dollar you donate to Cherish is protected forever in the endowment funs, and the interest earned on your dollar is invested back into the lands you love here in Wisconsin ensuring that the 1.5 million acres of publicly-owned forests, savannas, grasslands, wetlands, streams and lakes are cared for — today, and for generations to come. This is what makes donating to Cherish different than to some other causes. One donation will keep doing great work forever, because only the interest will be used for granting purposes.” 

While this year’s grant recipients have not yet been announced, the NRF website does list past grant award winners. For instance, in 2023, the Waterloo Wildlife Area and Prairie in Jefferson County received $19,800. Invasive species were encroaching on a high-quality remnant prairie there. Wet prairies are fairly rare, and this particular one had been identified as a top priority. The site is said to be the home of several species of conservation concern such as the upland sandpiper. The grant will help control species such as reed canary grass and giant rag weed.

A Portage County project at the Leola and Buena Vista Wildlife Areas also received funding last year of $21,313. These wildlife areas are home to many grassland birds that are listed as species of greatest conservation need. The grant money will help remove woody vegetation that is moving in on the grasslands in these wildlife areas. The planned project would improve 350 acres of grassland habitat used by the greater prairie chicken. Over 70 percent of Wisconsin’s prairie chicken population can be found at Buena Vista.

The third project funded last year was at Baraboo Hills in Sauk County. That project, too, received $21,313 in funding from Cherish to improve a declining oak ecosystem. 

The project will consist of removing maple trees that have started to populate the area and replacing them with oak trees. Acorns from oak trees, of course, are important food sources for species such as bear and white-tailed deer. Improving the hunting experience in this area was one of the intended outcomes.

A quick run through the list of the projects funded shows that many of the projects listed take place in the southern part of the state. When asked why that was, NRB executive director David Clutter said he felt many in the north did not have much familiarity with the Natural Resources Foundation in general or with the Cherish Fund. Although people see it on the DNR website when they check out after purchasing licenses, he said, it did not give the true affect of the fund on the state’s natural resources. He said NRF was putting a plan in place to do more outreach in the northern part of the state in the hopes that those with natural resource projects in the North could  also benefit from funding through the Cherish program.

For more information on the Cherish Wisconsin Outdoors Fund, see the Natural Resources Foundation website at wisconservation.org/cherish.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].