By George Varnum
We live in the sandy river valley of the Township
of Holland in La Crosse County. For years, our nearest neighbors
were Victor and Maud Chalsma, retired farmers. They had let their
fields lie fallow, and weeds had grown in. We used to walk our
dog on the Chalsma farm, and we noticed that it wasn't just "weeds", but grasses and flowers – it
was a beautiful place to walk.
In conversations with Victor, I learned that he had purchased his farm from the original homesteader, and that most of it had never been plowed. Victor and Maud had been chicken farmers, who sold eggs on a route that included local hospitals and an orphanage. They kept only a cow or two, for milk, and grew some feed grain, but the farm was mostly pastured, or cut for "prairie hay."
 In 1983, when my daughter Laura was a high school junior, she was assigned to collect wildflowers for a biology class. The more flowers collected and pressed, the higher the grade would be. Our family purchased some flower guidebooks, and got busy. In addition to flowers there was an abundance of birds, including upland plovers, along with fox, coyotes, and badgers. Blandings turtles came there to lay eggs in the early summer. We soon realized what a treasure existed on the Chalsma farm, probably one of the last unplowed prairies left in western Wisconsin—right in our own backyard.
 We have saved 61 acres from the bulldozers forever, and forever is a long time. I am part of a project that will live long after I am gone. I have heard that land changes you, and this land has changed me … forever!
~ Pete Putnam, Friends of the Holland Sand Prairie
As Victor Chalsma became elderly, the land was passed on in trust to his son, who put it up for sale. The Wisconsin DNR was amazed by the diversity of the property and made attempts to purchase the Chalsma farm, but the prices they offered were never enough, and the threat of development always loomed. At the same time, the Village of Holmen was trying to annex the farm for an industrial park, and neighbors became concerned that if action wasn't taken soon, “bulldozers would roll.”
The Mississippi Valley Conservancy became involved in our effort to save this unique prairie. A Township meeting was held on the matter, and the vote to dedicate tax money to saving the prairie passed by a margin of 118-2. The DNR pledged their support from the state Stewardship Fund for 50 percent of the purchase price, and the Conservancy could raise the funds to match.
One generous individual wrote a check for over
$1 million to purchase what would become the Holland Sand Prairie
State Natural Area before it could be plowed and developed. The
partnership of the Township of Holland, the Mississippi Valley
Conservancy, and the Wisconsin DNR has saved this natural area.
Rolling sand dunes left by receding glacial waters, covered with
wildflowers and grasses make the Holland Sand Prairie a unique
place to walk and enjoy.
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