Oct. 20, 2018 – Big Cedar Lake, WI – As Cedar Community continues to work on plans to develop new independent living homes on its Cedar Lake Campus, an important part of that plan includes the creation of a nature conservancy on its property on Big Cedar Lake.
“Cedar Community has been a strong steward of our Cedar Lake Campus on County Road Z in the Town of West Bend for more than six decades, and we are dedicated to preserving this unmatched natural setting,” said Lynn Olson, Chief Executive Officer.
“Cedar Community is committed to protecting approximately 100 acres of shoreline, prairie and forest lands through a legal conservation entity, and we are currently exploring all options by which to do so,” said Olson.
Much of the 245 acres on the Cedar Community campus was originally bare farmland. Over the years there has been an ongoing and robust effort to plant trees throughout the campus, preserve and protect the largest undeveloped area of shoreline on Big Cedar Lake and maintain natural Wisconsin prairies as part of an ongoing conservation process.
“Cedar Community has done an amazing job of maintaining this beautiful piece of property on Big Cedar Lake. Their current prairie restoration areas are healthy and pristine and provide a natural watershed buffer to Big Cedar Lake. They are planning to further this buffer with additional native grasslands along the shoreline,” says Kristi Sherfinski, a landscape architect and botanist working with Cedar Community.
Sherfinski’s locally-based landscape architectural firm, Helianthus, specializes in wetlands and environmentally sensitive areas. They are working with Cedar Community to conduct a thorough site inventory and analysis, including wetland and invasive species assessments, as well as wildlife and tree surveys on the Cedar Lake Campus.
Protecting the lakefront and surrounding prairie and forest lands is also very important to Cedar Community’s residents.
“Our residents and their families have a great love of the beauty of the forest and the undeveloped shoreline, and of our many woodland ‘residents’ that Cedar Community cherishes as part of our natural campus,” said Julie Gabelmann, Vice President of Resident Experience.
Cedar Community hopes to have a comprehensive plan ready for review by the Town of West Bend before the end of 2018. “As stewards of this amazing campus for generations, we feel our plan will offer opportunity for growth, along with a conservancy plan that will protect this campus and the shoreline of Big Cedar Lake in order to ensure a beautiful, natural setting for residents and their families to enjoy for generations to come,” says Olson.
About Cedar Community
Live more at Cedar Community, an engaged living community, whose natural settings, faith-based mission and high-quality services
afford seniors the opportunity to live a more purposeful, fulfilled life among family and friends. From beautiful homes and apartments
for active and independent adults, to assisted living, short-term care and rehabilitation, skilled nursing and memory loss services,
Cedar Community is the only not-for-profit community in Washington County where people age 55 and better have the peace of mind,
knowing the services they may need are right there, provided by a team of professionals they know and trust.