About Us
Located at the border of Milwaukee and Ozaukee County.
8200 W County Line Road Mequon, WI 53097
Questions? Call the main line: 262-242-8055 or email a staff member.
Trails are open from sunup to sundown every day of the year. The PieperPower Education Center is open Monday-Friday 9:00am-2:00pm (May-September) and 10:00am-2:00pm (October-April).
Our Mission:
Be a guiding example of habitat restoration by returning the land to a mosaic of forests, prairies, and wetlands and to establish an educational conservancy that inspires exploration and cultivates stewardship.
Our Five Facets:
Habitat Restoration
Environmental Education
Research & Monitoring
Agricultural Heritage
Recreation
Our History:
With a generous grant from the Paddock Fund at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Mr. Richard Paddock set in motion an effort that has saved almost a square mile in the heart of the Milwaukee metropolitan area for future generations. As Dick looked out from his Alexian Village apartment in 2000, he saw woods and fields stretching north and said with a twinkle in his eye, “It would be good to save a little land.” The City of Mequon with the assistance of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust took up his challenge. Since that time, Mequon Nature Preserve has grown to 510 acres in size and has over six miles of trails, an observation tower, a natural playspace, and an education center. The PieperPower Education Center, located at 8200 West County Line Road, Mequon, Wisconsin, is MNP’s hub for outdoor activities and community programs.
The City of Mequon leases the property for $1 a year to Mequon Nature Preserve, Inc., a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. MNP Inc. provides FREE hands-on science field trips to thousands of Milwaukee area school children and has set out to restore the beech maple forest and wooded wetlands that existed on the property in the early 1800’s. All programs and activities are funded by charitable contributions.
Our Team:
Our team works hard to maintain the land, teach the next generation on the environment, and keep this place open and free for all! To learn more about our hard working team and a list of our Board of Directors, click here.
Land and Water Acknowledgement:
We acknowledge that Mequon Nature Preserve lies on traditional Menominee, Potawatomi, and Ho-Chunk homeland at the division of two watershed systems near the southwest shores of Lake Michigan, part of North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes. On this site, the people of Wisconsin’s Menominee, Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk, Oneida, and Mohican sovereign nations remain present to this day.
