The Nature Conservancy announced Thursday that plastics entrepreneur Bob Cervenka and his wife, Debbie, of Phillips have donated $1 million toward the acquisition of a pristine expanse along the Michigan border in Vilas County.
The gift, and a previously announced $2.1 donation by the State of Wisconsin, goes a long way toward the purchase of the 971-acre Tenderfoot Forest Reserve.
The Tenderfoot has been in the hands of Reinhardt Rahr and his descendents since 1885.
The Rahr family, originally from Manitowoc where they brewed beer and supplied malt to the brewing industry, agreed to sell the land in August. The parcel was appraised $4.26 million, and as part of the transaction, the family reduced the value of the asking price by $1 million in the form of a gift.
The Nature Conservancy has almost 12 months to raise the remainder of the money, said spokeswoman Cate Harrington.
The property includes four miles of undeveloped shoreline on three lakes and almost 500 acres of old-growth forest - the largest remaining holding of old-growth timber in private ownership in Wisconsin.
The Tenderfoot is part of a larger area the conservancy calls the Border Lakes, which covers about 24,000 acres in Vilas County. The area includes spring-fed ponds and 400-year-old white pines on private land and on another property owned by the conservation organization, the 2,189-acre Catherine Wolter Wilderness Area.
When the acquisition of the Tenderfoot property is completed, the conservancy said the land will be open to the public.
The state grant came from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund - money earmarked to buy land for public use.
The donation by the Cervenkas is the largest private donation for land and water conservation since 1994, when Tom and Pat Klein, then of Minocqua, also donated $1 million, Harrington said.
Debbie Cervenka is a member of the The Nature Conservancy's board of trustees in Wisconsin.
She also is executive vice president of Phillips Plastics Corp., an injection molding company with annual sales of $216 million. Bob Cervenka, chairman and chief executive officer, founded the company in 1964.Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
