Childhood memories of immersing themselves in the wilderness around what is now Shivering Sands Nature Preserve and their mother’s love for the outdoors prompted the Fischer siblings to make a gift in her honor. According to John Fischer, the challenge makes the family’s donation even more meaningful.

John and Xan Fischer

“If we don’t invest in conservation, no one is going to be paying attention,” John said. “We’ll have all sorts of environmental problems, like Shivering Sands’ former issue of poor water quality. Donating to the Land Trust allows land to be put aside, with people paying attention to its care—the land will stay wild, and it will be protected.”

In 1969, when John’s parents were living in Elmhurst, Illinois, they bought a vacation home on Glidden Drive near Shivering Sands. “I’d run off in the morning and be by the creek all day,” he said. “I’d find ways to occupy myself in the woods. It was a formative part of my childhood. The only thing that would get me out was my mother dragging me to summer YMCA camp. I was a feral child.”

In more recent years, John took note of the natural restoration of Shivering Sands. He also discovered through research how similar that property was to Kellner Fen Natural Area, which is close to his current home on Lake Forest Park Road. “The Land Trust, WI-DNR, and The Nature Conservancy have done wonderful work together with the Shivering Sands wetlands,” John said. “We wished to contribute to the Land Trust’s efforts to do for Kellner Fen what has been done for Shivering Sands.”