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0ne of the goals of the Tall Pines Conservancy is to preserve the quality of our lakes and streams which we have come to enjoy and appreciate. The quality of these lakes and streams is dependent upon their developed and undeveloped surroundings, which includes the watershed. A watershed is defined as a region or area bounded peripherally by a divide and draining ultimately to a particular watercourse or body of water.

Watersheds protect the quality of our lakes and streams by filtering contaminates, and providing a healthy environment for plant and aquatic life. In turn, we need to protect the quality of our watershed.

Pine and Beaver Lakes are unique in that they are contained in a compact watershed that encompasses only these two lakes. Most watersheds are much larger and have many streams and lakes that make up the drainage area that affects the quality of water and the land around the lakes.

The Pine/Beaver Tributary Drainage Area is approximately 3,700 acres with about 2,300 acres of that known as Direct Drainage area. This area includes Pine and Beaver Lake that combine for 1,000+ acres. The boundaries of our watershed are highlighted on the enclosed map. As you can see the area is bordered by the Bark River watershed on the South and East and the Oconomowoc River watershed on the North and West. These adjacent. watersheds have suffered degradation from the unchecked growth within their boundaries. The lakes and streams contained within them are feeling the stress of excessive runoff. There is a great deal of silting in these areas, with high levels of toxic runoff starting to appear in lake and stream bottoms.

Being a small watershed has some positive and some negative implications. On the plus side we can have a greater impact on how we manage the lands in our watershed. The key negative is that seemingly small changes in the lands of our watershed can have dramatic impacts on our bodies of water. The biggest threat to our watershed is runoff created by development. The next biggest threat is from farming techniques that can affect the delicate balances in our ecosystem.

Good farming and lawn maintenance are key to protecting and enhancing the quality of our watershed. Some common sense practices to protect our watershed include: limited use of fertilizers that could possibly find their way into our lakes and streams, tilled fields with retention ponds to control surface water runoff, and proper shoreline vegetation, using native plants that help to prevent erosion and unfiltered drainage into the lakes and streams. All of these practices are easy to implement and can provide significant improvement to the ability of our soils to absorb and filter contaminants.

Development must include proper retention ponds so that any surface water remains in the development and is either treated or aspirated back into the air. These ponds must be built to the highest runoff expectations not the minimums, and they must be properly maintained and checked for build up of sludge and contaminants that should be removed on a periodic basis. Often times retention ponds are built to minimum standards and are inadequate for the resulting development intensity.

These ponds should he sized to capture all surface water generated by a new development. The minimum runoff standards look at hard surface area, such as parking lots and buildings and give green space credit to manicured areas, such as soccer fields and golf courses. This approach is not acceptable when dealing with surface and near surface water. An acre of manicured grass is not the same as an acre of mature trees on natural terrain.

Too often the topography and vegetation are changed in a dramatic fashion that leads to a loss of the natural capacity of the land to deal with water. Kettles and wooded areas are far superior to lawns and soccer fields when dealing with water. The soil a like a sponge that has a finite capacity for water retention, when the sponge is full excess water runs off into the streams and lakes in the watershed. This runoff carries silt and pollutants.

Trees are the best means to help to dry out that soil after a hard rain. Water is aspirated into the atmosphere much faster when the area its covered by trees than when it is covered by a carpet of cut grass. Kettles act like natural retention ponds that give trees the time to dry out the soils. It is estimated that 5 acres of trees in a kettle area can handle 5 to 10 times the water of 5 acres of golf course or soccer field.

As you look at the map of our watershed we need to be cognizant of the lands left to be developed and the types of development proposed for that land. CLC needs everyone's help in controlling what goes on in our small but delicate watershed. If you have any questions or comments or of you're interested m participating in a seminar on watershed, please contact the Tall Pines Conservancy.

When talking about the goals of the Tall Pines Conservancy, members of the Board of Directors have made frequent reference to Provident Realty Company. The history of Provident is intertwined with the history of the Village of Chenequa. Special thanks to Bill Stark in providing his History of Provident Realty for this article.

On October 1916 Albert User's attorney, William Simmers, along with N.L. Baker, and H. W. Erwin signed the incorporation papers as original and only stockholders of a company named the Provident Realty Company. The business of this corporation was to be "Buying, leasing, acquiring, holding, improving, voting, mortgaging, exchanging and dealing in all kinds of real property or interests therein." These attorneys acted as agents of residents of Pine Lake concerned with the future of the area of present day Chenequa. (The Village of Chenequa wasn't to be incorporated until 1928. This incorporation was only realized after being appealed to the State Supreme Court.)

Provident Realty Company was in place but didn't act until 1920. The first transaction of the company was the purchase of the property on the west shore of the lake now owned by Fritz and Betty Meyer. Provident was then reorganized and the original stock, owned by the three attorneys was turned in and property owners purchased the new issue.

One event stands out in the history of Provident Realty. Robert E. Friend personally called on property owner after property owner, urging each to put certain restrictions on his (or her) land. These restrictions were endorsed by Provident Realty and later adapted by the Village of Chenequa. These property restrictions, included by 90% of Pine Lake property owners in their deeds, called for "no public boat or aeroplane landing or livery, dance hall or place of public amusement, hotel, boarding house, institution, or resort of any kind shall be permitted upon said land, and not more than one house per acre or per 150 feet of lake frontage shall be built upon it, and access to said lake shall not be given to more than one family for each 100 feet of lake frontage."

Three large tracts of property on Pine Lake provided the impetus for these actions: the Chenequa Hotel property on the northeast side of the lake; the Gibson Farm at the south end of the lake; and the Rudberg Farm, extending from Highway 83 to the east shore of Pine Lake.

The Chenequa Springs Hotel was about to be sold by Harry Wilson in the late twenties to the Wright Hotel Company and Provident was authorized by its stockholders to purchase the property for $95,000.00. About a dozen property owners not only pledged support of this action but also actually underwrote with cash a guarantee of any loss that Provident might sustain in resale of the Hotel property. Albert Gallup, Sr. led the group of guarantors.

In 1945, Gibson's farm was purchased and resold to Francis Trecker. In this transaction, the 1921 restrictions were placed on the property. Provident later had to repurchase this property from Francis Trecker and this purchase called for a guarantee fund protecting Provident against loss after resale. This land, subdivided into restricted lots, is now known as Pine Meadows. The Rudberg Farm was purchased by Provident in 1951 and sold to John Pritzlaff, Jr. Restrictions were also put on this property.

In the year 2000 deed restrictions conveying development rights were placed on some of this land. The Tall Pines Conservancy now holds these restrictions, in the form of permanent conservation easement.

These three transactions were the most important and basic actions of the Provident Realty Company but other efforts are notable. Provident was involved in purchasing a right of way from the Jacobson Farm to the west shore of Pine Lake. Provident also purchased an entirely off lake area - the Hasslinger Farm - which was subdivided into minimum tracts of five acres and renamed Oakland Hills. Again, this transaction involved guarantors against any loss Provident might incur in reselling the property.

Two points should be emphasized when studying the history of Provident Realty. The actual negotiations were handled by individuals close to the situation and working on Provident's behalf. Also, guarantor property owners usually had a special interest in Provident's transactions because of the proximity of their land to the properties in question.

The recent purchase (September, 2000) of the Barkow property on Highway C in Chenequa drew on both of these elements. "Estate buyers" and adjacent landowners financially supported the Tall Pines Conservancy in this transaction.

The history of Provident Realty conveys a very real message for the residents of Chenequa and its environs today. These men and women who saw that the preservation of the environment they loved would have to be actively pursued have done us a tremendous service. Present day Provident Realty and the Tall Pines Conservancy have combined efforts to preserve the scenic views, open space, water qualtiy and natural habitats of our local environment for current and future generations.

The past is prelude -- the future of our beautiful area needs our attention. Please get involved.