The Ridges Sanctuary mission is to protect the Sanctuary and inspire stewardship of natural areas through programs of education, outreach, and research. The Ridges was established in 1937 after Albert Fuller, then Curator of Botany at the Milwaukee Public Museum, began spending a significant amount of time surveying the landscape. Fuller spearheaded a grassroots movement to protect this incredibly diverse property and establish Wisconsin’s first land trust. The Ridges now protects over 1600 acres comprising fifteen discrete plant communities, 475 inventoried vascular plants, a Boreal Forest glacial relict and twenty-six of Wisconsin’s forty-nine native orchids. The Ridges has also established popular early childhood education programs, a nationally recognized Orchid Restoration Project