Ice Age Trail Alliance briefs Chippewa County on route plans, land purchases and hunting rules

Kevin Thuzias, senior director of land conservation for the Ice Age Trail Alliance, briefed the Chippewa County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 30 on the nonprofit’s plans to route the Ice Age National Scenic Trail through parts of northern Chippewa County and nearby townships. Thuzias said the Alliance is working with private landowners and public partners, has acquired a 74-acre parcel called the Otter Lake Preserve with private funds, and is using a corridor planning approach rather than purchasing all land inside a broad outline.

The update came during the board’s reports section and followed public comment from Dean Gullickson, who urged the board to vote against any county support for a project he said would remove large tracts from the tax rolls and curtail hunting. Gullickson said he believes the planned corridor would “gobble up hundreds and maybe thousands of acres” and voiced concern that parks or federal ownership could restrict hunting and shrink town tax bases, harming services such as road plowing and schools.

Thuzias described the Trail as a long-term, parcel-by-parcel…