Kokiwanee: Celebrating 20 Years

Twenty years ago, ACRES acquired Kokiwanee from the Girl Scouts who had operated the property as a camp from 1945 to 1996. Before that, the property was a farm, and before that, it was a forest. Before the forest, it sat under a mile-thick glacier for a long time. Before that, it was under a shallow, saltwater sea. Before that…

Kokiwanee is still responding to these recent and ancient impacts — the ground is still “rebounding” upward each year as it recovers from the weight of the last glacier. Like its past, Kokiwanee’s future will remain dynamic, its plants and animals continuing to change. Sea creatures, mastodons, bison, elk, bears and wolves once called this property home, so it’s naïve for us to think that Kokiwanee’s current residents will always be its future inhabitants.

While nature is constantly changing, we do know some things about its future. Because ACRES will always own and steward this place, Kokiwanee will continue to provide the space for nature’s continual changes. So here’s to ACRES first 20 years stewarding this land, and all best wishes for whatever nature will do with this place over the next 200 — and 2000 years.

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2024 ACRES Quarterly that gets mailed to members each season. The 20-page Quarterly features ACRES news, stories and events. You can subscribe by becoming an ACRES member with a donation of $20 or more. Click here to learn more!