The Windsor Village Board voted 5-0 in favor of adopting the Token Creek Conservancy Committee’s 2024-2028 Master Plan on Thursday, Feb. 1.
The plan is the result of the committee’s months of hard work, dating back to the summer of 2023, reviewing the previous master plan and making suggestions for future conservancy improvements.
The original plan was adopted in January 2012 and was intended to guide the committee for 5-10 years. Its newest iteration is only intended to have a lifespan of five years, though its suggestions may happen further down the line.
Recommendations made by the committee centered around three overarching goals: increasing public awareness and volunteer involvement, promoting sustainable stewardship of resources, and expanding conservancy development.
Improvements in the plan are designed to take steps towards advancing these goals. Each of the five separate management areas of the conservancy were subject to site analyses and carry their own specific enhancements.
Elmer and Edna Culver Site
Popular with dog owners, full of trails and wildlife, the Elmer and Edna Culver Site makes up a large portion of the conservancy. It also makes up an equally large portion of estimated improvement budget. Some notable suggestions are:
$200,000 for improvements and a possible boardwalk for the culver springs area.$500,000 to construct a visitor center/shelter if additional land is acquired.$375,000 to expand the site’s trail network and potentially connect it with the Old Mill Site.
Old Mill Site
The Old Mill Site at one point housed Token Creek’s last functioning mill. The master plan encourages village leadership to focus on fishing, education, picnicking and maintaining the Veteran’s Memorial and Token Creek Cemetery. Additionally of note in this area is the sedge meadow plant community, which can be viewed from a boardwalk platform.
Suggestions for this portion of the conservancy include:
$10,000 to expand the existing gravel parking lot and pave the drive up to it.$150,000 to renovate the existing pedestrian bridge or construct a new one to provide safe passage to the DNR Ponds.
DNR Ponds SiteThis portion of the conservancy is relatively small and is owned by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The village manages it through an intergovernmental land use agreement that expires in 2027. The master plan puts specific emphasis using the space to provide fishing opportunities for youth and anglers with disabilities.
The master plan does not include any suggestions for site improvement to do the village’s limited ability to work on the site outside of maintenance. However, it does acknowledge that the village and the DNR should begin working towards future plans due to the expiring land use agreement. The committee agreed that Windsor should be somewhat involved with the areas future as time goes on, possibly even reclaiming the property.
Big Hill Site
Alongside the Elmer & Edna Culver Site, Big Hill is another large part of the conservancy. The village manages this area alongside the DeForest Area School District and its primary use is an outdoor classroom for students. The committee encouraged furthering this use by suggesting:
$4,000 for a prairie flower guide to be used by the public for educational purposes.$1 million to expand the site’s trail network, possibly connecting it to Kimberly Way Park and the Old Mill Site.
Raintree SiteThe Raintree Site is designated as an open space after a portion of the land was donated to Windsor by Wilfred and Verena Grosse. Because of this, large-scale alterations to the site won’t be pursued. It currently houses four acres of space that includes ponds and their culverts as well as the lawn around them.
The conservancy committee suggests that the village look into convert the current lawn space on the site into a low prairie with mowed trails. This project is estimated to cost $8,600 in its first year and $1,800 annually for the following three years.
Token Creek
The conservancy committee also looked at Token Creek itself, which runs through all of the sites in some capacity. They suggested to continue routine algae control for the site in addition to contacting experts and the DNR for recommended improvements. Outlined in the plan are $5,000 for an erosion control study on the creek and a partnership with Trout Unlimited for fly fishing classes.
Outside of these site-specific suggestions, the plan also estimates that the village can spend $1 million on land purchases to achieve some improvements. However, these decisions will be up to village leadership in the coming years as will all any action on the master plan’s initiatives.
The suggestions that the master plan makes are intentionally opened ended. They outline prospective actions that the village can take to improve the area, subsequent timelines of as well as estimated costs. Financial and community circumstances may permit some initiatives and delay or prohibit others.
Initiatives in the plan do not bind the committee or village board to any decisions or plans. It will be up to the village board and the conservancy committee in coming years to determine which improvements take place and when.
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