Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
AREA RESIDENTS and officials with the Northwoods Land Trust gather at U.S. 2 and Center Drive in Kimball for the unveiling of sign marking the public access to the land bordering Interstate Falls. Among those attending the ceremony were, from left, Kimball supervisors Ray Kivi and John Smith, Kimball Town Chairman Ron Ahonen, former property owners Don and Nancy Siebert, Northwoods Land Trust Executive Director Bryan Pierce, Land Trust Board President Mary Schwaiger and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Grant Specialist Jillian Steffes.
KIMBALL, Wis - Area residents, officials and supporters of the Northwoods Land Trust gathered in Kimball Saturday for a ceremony marking the town's acceptance of land bordering Interstate Falls. The The Northwoods Land Trust, an Eagle River-based organization dedicated to conserving land, originally purchased the land from long-time owners Donald and Nancy Siebert before transferring ownership to the town of Kimball.
"I didn't want to commercialize (the property). I didn't want to build houses (on the land)," Donald Siebert said during the ceremony. "I wanted it to stay the way it is so anyone could go there."
After the trust's annual meeting and a short lunch at the Kimball Community Center, the dedication ceremony was held. The trust's executive director, Bryan Pierce, started the ceremony by recognizing the state and town officials in attendance, as well as the current and former members of the trust's board.
Pierce then gave a brief history of the effort to acquire the falls, explaining the group has initially sought to simply get a purchaser to agree to include a conservation easement on the property. Once this effort fell through, Pierce said the focus shifted to purchasing the property outright and donating it to the town.
The efforts were almost derailed again, he said, as cuts to the state budget eliminated funding for the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program being used to fund a portion of the purchase.
With the work of the area's legislators, state Sen. Janet Bewely and state Rep. Beth Meyers, enough funding was restored that the grant application could go through, said Pierce.
Half the purchase price came from a stewardship grant, Pierce said, with the remaining funds coming from a variety of private organizations including the Caerus Foundation, James E. Dutton Foundation, John C. Bock Foundation, James & Jane Watermolen Foundation and the Modestus Bauer Foundation.
After Pierce and Kimball Town Chairman Ron Ahonen spoke, Siebert gave a brief history of the property.
"The reason I wanted it was my dad - he was dead already - but he always wanted to buy it, but it was never for sale," Siebert said, saying he has owned the property for 58 years.
Following the ceremony at the community center, attendees drove to Center Drive and U.S. 2 where a sign marking the property was unveiled. The sign can now be seen from the highway.
The purchased property - which consists of approximately 38.7 acres near the 17.5-foot waterfall on the west side of the Montreal River and includes 2,500 feet of frontage on the river along with a roughly quarter-mile corridor on Cominski Creek - was named the Siebert Scenic Conservation Area to honor its former owners.
Despite the transfer in ownership of the property, Pierce said the trust will continue to be involved in making improvements to the site.
Among the planned improvements are a parking lot, visitors kiosk and potentially some form of viewing platform so people can safely enjoy the falls year-round.
Interstate Falls is downstream from nearby Peterson Falls, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS officially named the pair of falls in 2007, ending longstanding confusion regarding the proper names for each of the features.
