News from the NWS Board

Newport Wilderness Society recently funded the purchase of a lightly-used Trackchair® for use at Newport State Park. It will be available for visitors with mobility challenges to use for better access to Newport Beach and nearby trails. Newport places a high priority on accessibility in our wilderness park, and NWS […]

This is the time of year when we come together to celebrate our wonderful team of volunteers and all of the work they have accomplished in support of Newport during 2023. Carol and Chris Ash once again opened up their beautiful space at Kick Ash in Ellison Bay for us to gather. Sixty-five […]

NWS board member Deb Ford has photo-documented some of the volunteer workday scenes from the newly constructed Fern Trail boardwalk. The collection includes images of the seasonal flooding that impacts the trail; the deconstruction of the former ground-level boardwalk; and the incredible hard work (and fun) that went into building […]

On Saturday, October 7, NWS board member Gene Kenny placed the final deck board of the new 1,800′ elevated Fern Trail boardwalk. Gene has guided this entire project from conception/design; DNR approvals; grant applications and funding; working with Custom Manufacturing to secure all the materials needed for the project; and, […]

You know those 700 trees we planted at the entrance to Newport in April?And then hand-watered over multiple weeks because…very little rain. Overall, they are doing great! Mark Glasser and Deb Ford recently walked the new tree field to remove the pink yarn markers from the tree-lings and tally the […]

Summer may be in our rearview mirror, but we still have glorious fall to look forward to. This is the time to get some great merchandise and also support Newport Wilderness Society. All profits from merchandise sales fund the naturalist’s salary, interpretive programing and infrastructure projects at Newport State Park. There are new […]

A Special Announcement sent via email, newsletter, and Facebook post to friends of Newport. NWS members and friends: You may or may not be aware that the Recreation Objectives for Newport State Park in the WI DNR 2018 Northern Lake Michigan Coastal Master Plan include “Expand recreational opportunities by adding […]

Writing workshops at Newportfor members and friends of Newport Wilderness Societypresented by Write On, Door County  This is a special opportunity for members and friends of NWS to explore and reflect on the natural world using Newport SP as a backdrop and source of inspiration for writing. Overcome any intimidation around writing and learn how to […]

A swarm of tired and ravenous Fern Trail worker-bees descend on the picnic area at mid-day. Waiting for them is a hearty lunch, sometimes prepared by one of those same worker-bees. We are overdue with expressing our thanks to the behind-the-scenes volunteers who have fed our Fern Trail boardwalk volunteers […]

The Friends of Wisconsin State Parks (FWSP) has provided much support to Newport Wilderness Society in a variety of ways over the years. We are especially grateful for a recent grant received from FWSP which will help us partially fund the park naturalist’s salary this year.  NWS has historically underwritten the naturalist’s salary at […]

NWS held our (38th!) annual meeting at the park on July 29th. We had a beautiful morning to reconnect with long-time NWS friends, meet some new NWS members, and to remember former Newport SP superintendent Harvey Stahl. We recognized retiring board members Terry Heidenreiter, Jeanne Rabel, and Greg Wilde. We welcomed […]

At their July 17 Giving Event, 100+Women Who Care (Door County) selected NWS as the recipient of a $7,000 award which will be directed to our Fern Trail Boardwalk Restoration project. NWS is deeply grateful to receive this award. Our sincere thanks to Julia Keepper (NWS board member and 100+WWC member) for […]

Remember those 700 trees that were planted at the park entrance in April? Well, conditions have been a bit dry the past few weeks, so NWS volunteers are stepping up to help water and make sure they continue to get off to a good start. Twenty-ish people had it all done […]

With her extraordinary gifts of talent and time, NWS volunteer Alison Whitney has completed a stunning new mural inside the Visitors Center at Newport State Park. What is most remarkable about the project is that this is Whitney’s first mural. NWS funded the costs of paint and materials, but Alison […]

As part of the 2023 Door County Big Plant, over 40 volunteers planted more than 700 trees at the entrance to Newport State Park on April 26th. This collaborative project was sponsored by Destination Door County and coordinated by the Climate Coalition of Door County and Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership. […]

The Nature Center at Newport SP is in the beginning stages of a makeover, thanks to the vision of Master Naturalists Helen Berch-Kenny, Maureen Flatley, Mary O’Grady, Lynn Reuter, Holly Smith; volunteer Julia Keepper; and Park Naturalist Beth Bartoli. Existing displays are being organized and consolidated and a new display devoted […]

Our 33rd Annual Candlelight Ski-Hike-Snowshoe is in the history books. As is the tradition, guests enjoyed traversing the Fern Trail loop, guided by candlelight through the forest and along the lakefront. Conditions were fairly icy this year, so most people chose to hike. A roaring fire and yummy hot chocolate […]

NWS volunteers began turning lumber into new Leopold Benches in early February…a great winter project. The benches will be installed at 13 Newport campsites when the weather permits. This project was funded by NWS with the help of a $3,500 matching incentive grant from Friends of Wisconsin State Parks. It also includes […]

As we have in the past, Newport joined with many other parks around Wisconsin and the nation and hosted a First Day Hike on January 1st. It is the perfect way to ring in the New Year!  Coordinated by Mark Glasser, a record number of people enjoyed hiking the Fern […]

Earlier in 2022, it came to the attention of Newport park management and Newport Wilderness Society that the fire rings and Leopold benches at some of the park’s campsites were showing signs of significant wear and tear. With the help of a $3,500 matching incentive grant from Friends of Wisconsin […]

Text and Photos by Deb Ford, NWS Board NWS volunteers have begun constructing the first 600′ of the new elevated, accessible boardwalk that will traverse a seasonally-flooded section of the Fern Trail. Preassembled panels, decking lumber and hardware were delivered to the park on September 19 & 20. Our first […]

With the initial delivery of materials and hardware, we are officially underway with the construction of a new elevated, accessible boardwalk along a section of the popular Fern Trail that is prone to spring flooding. Delivery of construction material from Custom Manufacturing (Clinton, WI) occurred earlier this week. Greg Thoma […]

Text by Mary O’Grady; Photos by Deb Ford Lynn Reuter and Mary O’Grady recently completed the Wisconsin Master Naturalist training program held this past Spring.  Course participants are required to produce a Capstone project in either environmental education/interpretation, stewardship or citizen science.  For their project, Lynn and Mary chose to […]

Text and Photos by Mark Glasser, NWS President We got started on replacing kiosk roofs today, August 22, 2022.  NWS volunteer Dave Keen supplied the materials we needed from his inventory that included underlayment boards, tar paper, and shingles.  Today was a “proof of concept” to see if what we […]

Text and Photos by Gene Kenny, NWS Board I should have gone away this past winter. Every person I met asks, “How’s the Fern trail project going?” I don’t really mind the question. I enjoy telling everyone about the project, but I forget who I’ve told what details to. As […]

Helen Kenny and Maureen Flatley, two NWS members who have already given so much of their time and skills in support of Newport, recently completed the Wisconsin Master Naturalist training program held this spring at The Clearing in Ellison Bay. Master Naturalist training is a 40-hour series of sessions and […]

An amazing group of over 40 NWS volunteers came out on Saturday, April 30th to help park staff move forward on some large projects at Newport. The exterior of the Visitors Center and nearby gardens were tidied up; trash was picked up from along the main road and along Newport […]

Depending on the amount of winter snow and spring rains we receive in Door County, the park’s Fern Trail is often seasonally-flooded from April into early June. This year, the flooding has been impressive. These photos were taken on April 21. NWS is planning to construct an elevated boardwalk through […]

Newport Wilderness Society will be at the Every Day is Earth Day festival at Kress Pavilion on April 23. Please stop by our booth to meet some of our volunteers and learn more about the work we do in support of Newport State Park. There are so many great events […]