IXONIA, Wis. — The state of Wisconsin is known for its farmland and agriculture. One Wisconsin woman has been working to preserve that for nearly two decades.
For the past 16 years, Susan Buchanan has served as the executive director of Tall Pines Conservancy. Tall Pines is a nonprofit that focuses on preserving and protecting farmland, water resources and natural areas.
At the end of this year, Buchanan is set to retire from her position.
“It’s bittersweet, but the time has come,” Buchanan said. “Protecting farmland, working with the farmers personally, has been really rewarding for me. The farm families are preserving family legacy.”
With a background in land management and a love for the rural areas of the state, Buchanan said it was a natural fit when she first became a part of Tall Pines.
“I really wanted to do something good for the environment,” she said. “This was a great way to do that,”
During her time as executive director, she helped forge forward the Purchase of Agriculture Conservation Easements, or “PACE,” program with the state.
The program helps put local farms in conservation easements to protect them from being bought and developed.
Buchanan said this is one of the things she most proud of and she is still currently working to get that program re-funded.
Back in 2011, the program funding ran out. However, Buchanan and her team were able to get 16 Wisconsin farms into easements through the program.
The first farm to join the PACE program, with the help of Tall Pines Conservancy, was Zwieg’s Maple Acres in Ixonia. It’s a seventh generation dairy and crop farm in Dodge County.
Owner Kyle Zwieg said without the work of people like Buchanan and her team, he’s not sure they would be on their seventh generation at this family farm.
“When you operate a long-standing generational farm, you kind of operate under the premise that the land really isn’t yours. It’s just something that you are passing through on,” Zwieg said. “The easement and the program instituted by the state brings that to fruition for generations after myself.”
During Buchanan’s time at Tall Pines, she and her team have helped put over 2,200 acres of land under trust, with another 1,600 expected by 2026.
She said working with all the farm families is what makes her job so worth it.
“It’s just an amazing gift that they’ve given to the community,” Buchanan said. “It’s simply amazing. I get a lot of personal satisfaction from working with farm families,”
Buchanan is set to retire at the end of this year but said she still plans to work to help Wisconsin farms. She will be focusing on policy work with another nonprofit to protect farms and their families in the future.