The current DCWMA Lease Agreement between Douglas County and the DNR can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking here (requires Adobe Acrobat).

This 25-year lease agreement was signed on September 18, 2003 and expires on August 18, 2028.

Note that General Provision #2 in the agreement includes the language "..... the lease, or a portion thereof may be canceled upon 90 days written notice ....."

The current DNR Master Plan for the DCWMA, created in 1985, can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking here (requires Adobe Acrobat).  As this document is 16 pages in length, a DSL or cable modem Internet connection is recommended for this download.

Note that the Management History section includes the following discussion:

"Field work began on the area in May, 1948, when 120 acres were experimentally burned.  During June of the same year, 20 acres of buckwheat food patches were planted.  Clearing of the vegetation began in 1949 when 70 acres of jack pine, aspen, and willow were cleared by hand.  Development progressed slowly, but steadily, for the next dozen years as land clearing and burning techniques were refined.  By 1960, the use of controlled fire was accepted locally and statewide as an inexpensive, but effective management tool.  Its use greatly accelerated management efforts on the wildlife area through the decades of the sixties and seventies."

The current DNR Management Plan for the Solon Springs Sharptail Barrens State Natural Area, created in 1994, can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking here (requires Adobe Acrobat).