Trust adds to Kingsley Bend
The Natural Heritage Land Trust and the Ho-Chunk Nation joined to protect another piece of the Kinglsey Bend Mounds, along Highway 16 in Newport. The trust announced Tuesday, the acquisition of roughly three acres at the Kingsley Bend Mound Group along the Wisconsin River that adds to the preservation of Wisconsin’s rich Native American history. "The Kingsley Bend area contains a 2,000-year-old cultural landscape where large domed shaped mounds are encircled by earthen birds that swoop toward the Wisconsin River and bear shaped mounds that prowl along the ridges," said State Archaeologist John H. Broihahn. "The preservation of this ancient landscape of Native American burial mounds is important because over 80 percent of the Native American burial mounds reported for Wisconsin have been destroyed over the last 170 years." In addition to protecting four additional burial sites and buffering the main mound group from incompatible development, the new acquisition south of Wisconsin Dells will offer more public access near the Wisconsin River for appreciation of the mounds. "The Land Trust is honored to work with the Ho-Chunk Nation to preserve this significant part of Wisconsin’s culture," said Natural Heritage Land Trust Executive Director Jim Welsh. "The Wisconsin River is a wonderful public resource and protecting this land is not only good for history, but good for the river as well." The Ho-Chunk Nation acquired the mounds from the state Department of Transportation in 2007 when the state closed the rest area there. Since then the Nation has been removing trees from the property so the mounds are more visible. Jay Totch, a tribal archaeologist for the Ho-Chunk Nation said at a dedication of the site in 2007, "Historically, the mounds were built to be seen from the river.The river was a highway prehistorically, and it’s one of the largest horseshoe bends in the entire Wisconsin River. So when you were coming down the river, you could see these mounds." The area is believed to have originally held more than 20 mounds, which form various symbols including the natural realms of air, earth and water. Throughout the area, are mounds in shapes of bears, birds, water spirits and snakes, which also correspond to the clans of the Ho-Chunk Nation. This is the Natural Heritage Land Trust’s second project in the Dells area. It worked with the Frank and Mariana Weinhold in 2007 to successfully set up a conservation easement on their property, which — among many other things — includes Louis Bluff. The 133.5-acre property, in the town of Lyndon in Juneau County, includes more than 7,000 feet of undeveloped shoreline on the Wisconsin River, all within the Dells of the Wisconsin River State Natural Area, The Natural Heritage Land Trust permanently protects local lands. Since 1983, the Land Trust has conserved more than 6,300 acres of important natural areas and vital agricultural lands in south central Wisconsin.