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Welcome to the the Ice Age National Scenic Trail!

Imagine a public greenway meandering across Wisconsin's glacial landscape. Imagine a trail 1,200 miles long leading both to places of glacial beauty close to home and to some of the remotest parts of Wisconsin. That is what the late Ray Zillmer of Milwaukee had in mind in the 1950's when he proposed that an Ice Age Glacier National Forest Park be established along the entire length of the moraines marking the furthest advance of the last glacier in Wisconsin. An avid hiker, he proposed a continuous footpath, similar to the Appalachian Trail, as the central feature of the park so that visitors could explore and enjoy the glacial landscape at their own pace.

In 1958 the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation was established by a group of Wisconsin citizens to promote the creation of the national glacial park. As the effort to win Congressional authorization of the park gained momentum, volunteers were already at work building the first segments of the future Ice Age Trail in the Kettle Moraine State Forest.

The result of these efforts was the creation, in 1971, of the nine-unit Ice Age National Scientific Reserve to be administered by the State of Wisconsin in cooperation with, and with assistance from, the National Park Service. While the nine Reserve units contain only portions of the glacial park proposed by Zillmer, the Federal legislation authorizing the Reserve specifically recognized the efforts of the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation to create a continuos footpath linking these areas, but offered no Federal assistance.

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In 1975, efforts to establish the trail accelerated across the State. In a few years, volunteers were successful in establishing major segments of the trail. Congress recognized the national significance of the trail and the efforts to establish it in October 1980 by designating it a National Scenic Trail (NST). The National Park Service administers the trail in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation. There are also many other partners that participate in the trail by developing and managing specific segments, including the U.S. Forest Service; county and municipal park and forestry departments; conservation, civic, and youth organizations; and private volunteers and landowners.

Changing land uses along the trail route and increasing development pressure made it obvious by the mid-1980's that a permanent right-of-way for the trail needed to be preserved. Consequently, the foundation began purchasing trail lands in 1986 with privately donated funds. The Wisconsin legislature also responded to the need to protect the trail by designating it Wisconsin's first State Scenic Trail in 1987. Three years later, the legislature enacted the Stewardship Program, a fund from which monies are available to assist in acquiring lands for the Ice Age Trail. The National Park Service, through its administrative authorities for the trail, leads the effort to plan the permanent route of the trail and provides technical and limited financial assistance to cooperating partners.

Today, approximately 300 miles of the trail have been certified by the National Park Service as part of the Ice Age NST. Certification indicates the segment is developed and managed in accordance with approved trail plans and entitles the segment to be marked with the official trail emblem. An additional 250 of completed trail segments are also open for public use and enjoyment.

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