State Natural Area unit named in honor of late state Natural Resources Board Member Jonathan Ela
January 23, 2013
Contact(s): Kurt Thiede, DNR, 608-266-5833
MADISON – A portion of a pristine, forested State Natural Area along Door County’s Lake Michigan coast has been renamed in honor of Jonathan P. Ela, a former Wisconsin Natural Resources Board member who passed away last year.
Current state Natural Resources Board members today designated the eastern-most portion of the Bailey’s Harbor Boreal Forest and Wetlands State Natural Area after Ela, who served on the board from 2003 to 2011, most recently as its chairman. DNR will erect a sign on the property to commemorate the designation.
Ela, of Madison, died at home on Oct. 31, 2012, of lung cancer. The portion of the State Natural Area renamed to honor him preserves a pristine boreal forest that harbors many rare plants and animals and includes a beach where Ela often swam and played as a boy.
Kurt Thiede, DNR division of lands administrator, told board members and an audience of Ela’s family and friends that the Jonathan P. Ela Unit of the Bailey’s Harbor Boreal Forest and Wetlands-State Natural Area “will serve as an enduring reminder to current and future generations of Wisconsinites that the beautiful landscapes, plentiful fish and wildlife, clean air and fresh waters require informed and persistent action by each of us, working together at every opportunity.”
The unit named after Ela encompasses the eastern-most portion of the 463-acre State Natural Area, including a long stretch of rocky shoreline and the sandy beach at Spikehorn Bay, where Ela spent time as a boy while vacationing at his family’s retreat on the peninsula.
The State Natural Area was established in 1995 to protect a northern forest of balsam fir, white spruce pine, white cedar and paper birch, characteristic of the forests found here before European settlement of the area.
Orchids and several species of rare plants, including the beautiful, federally threatened Dwarf Lake iris, are found on the property. Migratory shorebirds and waterfowl are attracted to the undeveloped lakeshore and boreal forest birds such as Blackburnian warbler and merlin nest in the adjacent woodlands.
After the unanimous vote approving the designation, Ela’s widow, Trish Stocking, addressed board members and family and friends in the audience. “Jonathan would be overwhelmed by this,” she said. “He loved serving on the Natural Resources board. He was so impressed by the quality and dedication of the staff of DNR.”
Mary Ellen Vollbrecht, DNR's executive assistant during much of Ela's tenure, said that during Ela's time on the board, he and other board members approved more than 250,000 acres of land for purchase by DNR and helped achieve special accomplishments including passage of a strong rule reducing mercury emissions into the air and one of the nation’s strongest rules to limit phosphorus pollution of lakes and streams.
His board service followed a long career in conservation that started in 1968 when he worked for Sen. Gaylord Nelson. In 1969, Ela began his long association with the Sierra Club, the national conservation organization founded in 1892 by John Muir, and where he worked on the national level to help protect Alaskan lands, the California Redwoods, the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and the Lake Superior Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Vollbrecht said.
Ela also worked for landmark national environmental initiatives including passage of the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. He wrote a book, “The Faces of the Great Lakes,” to draw attention to the challenges facing the lakes, the world’s largest fresh water resource, and founded the Sierra Club’s Midwest office.
Vollbrecht also remembered Ela for his analytical skills, fairness and ability to look at all sides of an issue, warmth and generosity of spirit and especially his sense of humor.
EDITOR'S ADVISORY: Digital photos and maps of the property to accompany this news release may be downloaded from the Wisconsin DNR flicker site.