2025 marks the Village's sixth year as a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Green Tier Legacy Community. The Village of Ephraim is proud to be a part of a select group of Wisconsin Local governments dedicated to sustainable improvements.
What Is Green Tier?
The Green Tier program empowers organizations to align their business objectives with environmental performance by providing a voluntary platform for collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Working proactively with high performers allows the DNR to expand its traditional role as a regulator to that of a resource and a partner. Would you like to learn more about Green Tier? Watch the Green Tier Overview Video.
Green Tier is the only state program in the country to acknowledge participants who drive their performance with a systems-based approach that integrates performance assessments and transparency.
Green Tier participation can lead to the following outcomes:
- The systematic approach helps identify and minimize potential environmental risks.
- Regular performance assessments reduce the potential for noncompliance and help facilities improve their overall environmental footprint.
- Annual reports ensure transparency with those potentially affected by a facility’s operations and can be used as a tool to promote environmental achievements to stakeholders.
- Measurable environmental improvement helps differentiate participants from their competition.
The DNR provides incentives to those who participate, including:
- The DNR recognizes Green Tier participants and works to share their stories.
- The Green Tier logo can be used by participants to brand their commitment to superior environmental performance.
- A dedicated DNR staff member is matched to each Green Tier participant. That staff member is there to improve communication and provide a consistent point of contact from the DNR.
- Eligibility for limited liability protections for mistakes that are proactively identified, addressed and self-corrected.
- Tier 2 participants can negotiate innovative regulatory solutions that can result in streamlining permits or allowing for additional flexibilities in operations.
Participants sometimes experience intangible benefits, like:
- Developing a good reputation as a sustainable organization.
- Identifying new business opportunities and improving their competitive advantage.
- Increasing employee engagement and satisfaction, which can improve retention rates.
Green Tier participants should take pride in their accomplishments! Participation in Green Tier provides an opportunity to work with the DNR to take the next step on their path to sustainability.
For more information, please refer to the WI DNR Green Tier FAQs page.
Wisconsin's Green Tier Legacy Communities:
For more information about who is in Green Tier in the State of Wisconsin, click here.
What is the Village of Ephraim Green Tier Committee Working On?
Carly Mulliken - Chair
Jeff Lutsey
Lane Methner
Bruce Nelson
Cindy Nelson
Sophie Nelson
The Village of Ephraim has been a Green Tier Legacy Community since November 12, 2018.
Ephraim formed a Green Tier Ad Hoc Committee of volunteers consisting of representation from: A Village Trustee, Ephraim Business Council, and resident/citizen members.
The Village, as a Green Tier Community, celebrates our historical Village and our healthy living. Ephraim is proud to be a Green Tier Community to take simple, voluntary, cost-effective actions to maintain and keep improving upon our clean water, our environmentally friendly practices, and our healthy lifestyles.
Ephraim Pursuing Green Tier Community Designation Peninsula Pulse 2/22/2019
- Solar Bollards installed for Cherry Street Steps and along the shoreline.
- Additional bike racks installed.
- No phosphorus in fertilizer.
- No use of Coal Tar Sealants
- Reduction in the idling of Village vehicles.
- Clean Marina Certification.
- Tree City Certification.
- Joined the County-Wide Green Tier Consortium.
- Dark Sky Policy Agreement.
- Door County Big Plant Tree Giveaways – 300 trees given away to date.
- County-wide composting initiative.
- Tree mapping of the Village.
- Food Pantry magnets for distribution to Short Term Rentals.
- Newsletter articles (Green Tier updates, composting, and recycling).
- Inaugural Clean Up Ephraim Day was held on June 1, 2024.
- 2025's Clean-Up Day was held on April 19, 2025.
- Completion of the initial stage of the Wetlands Project.
2025 Green Tier Goals
• Holiday Lighting - establish hours for lighting in relation to Dark Sky initiatives.
• Dark Sky Lighting - Statement to the Village Board regarding hours for regular lighting.
• Ephraim Wetlands - Signage and path maintenance.
• Water Filling Stations.
• EV Stations.
• Solar for the maintenance building and Wastewater upgrade.
• Moravia Point - Planting recommendation after repairs to the retaining wall (maybe a multi-year
goal).
• Village buildings energy audits.
• Watch for community battery collection and recycling events to share information with
residents/community.
Tree City USA is one of the Arbor Day Foundation’s oldest programs, founded in 1976 by a small group of people who envisioned a greener, healthier America, hoping the initiative would someday inspire nationwide change. Now, more than 40 years later, Tree City USA’s impact is felt throughout the country and even overseas.
The Village of Ephraim has been a Tree City since 2022.
To view other Tree City communities, click here.
As described by the Arbor Day Foundation, some of the key reasons why places should become a Tree City USA are:
- Trees help absorb the sounds of traffic in urban areas by 40%
- Neighborhoods with trees are 7-9 degrees cooler than those without
- Trees reduce energy costs up to 25% by shading buildings and protecting them from winter winds
- Homes with trees have higher property values
- Green space plays a major role in improving mental and physical health
- Planting and maintaining trees absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, mitigating the effects of climate change
- Publicly demonstrating your commitment to the environment is a great way to build pride among residents, as well as position your community as an attractive place to live. To help you share your award, we send signs, flags, press releases, and other materials after your acceptance
How Can I Support Sustainability?
The Door County Composting Initiative has created a composting network with a mission to educate the community about the benefits of composting, to encourage sustainable practices by diverting food scraps and other organic matter from landfills, and to inspire the restoration of Door County soils.
How to get started with composting: Extension Door County Composting Tips
What do we compost?
How to get started at home: Start by putting all your food scraps from breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a small bowl on your counter. In the evening, after doing your dishes, empty the bowl into a covered, 5-gallon bucket that you keep outside your back door. After a week or so, when the 5-gallon bucket is filled, you can compost in your backyard… or bring it to one of the Community Drop Off Composting sites that are being established in Door County.
Community Drop-Off Sites: See the map below for the 13 drop-off sites that participate in the Door County Compost Initiative.
Looking for more photos of invasive species? A great source for photos is: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/.
More Resources:
Solar Benefits
Ordinance, Permitting, & Process
Gorw Solar Door County Initiative:
Grow Solar Door County Initiative Announced - Door County Pulse
Door County Solar Buy
Eland Electric is sponsoring a group buy for Door County. To learn more about the group buy, visit doorcountysolar.com.
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Door County
Looking for spots to charge up your EV motor? Destination Door County has a list of the network of electric vehicle charging stations at various public locations as well as private businesses throughout Door County.
Wisconsin law prohibits local governments from banning plastic bags. This means municipalities cannot enact ordinances or regulations that restrict the use, sale, or distribution of plastic bags. This preemptive law was enacted in 2016 to prevent local governments from implementing bans, even though some municipalities had not yet done so.
Here's a more detailed explanation:
1. Preemptive Legislation:
Wisconsin Act 302, enacted in 2016, prevents any political subdivision (cities, villages, towns, or counties) from regulating auxiliary containers like plastic bags.
2. What it means:
This law prevents municipalities from banning or restricting the use of plastic bags, or imposing fees or surcharges on them.
3. Rationale:
Supporters of the law argued it would protect businesses from the costs associated with implementing different bag regulations across various localities.
4. Local Action:
While local governments can't ban plastic bags, they can encourage recycling efforts and educate residents about reducing plastic bag usage.
5. Recycling:
Wisconsin law requires businesses to provide recycling receptacles for plastic bags and film, and municipalities are responsible for managing recycling programs.
Facts about plastic bags:
In this country, we use an estimated 190,000 disposable bags per second, requiring the use of 12 million barrels of oil each year.
It is estimated that each American uses an average of approximately 500 plastic bags each year. Why should something that we’re going to use for a short time use a material that lasts hundreds of years?
An estimated 32% of all plastic produced--nine million tons!--escapes collection and ends up in the ocean each year.
Over 100,000 sea mammals and 1 million seabirds die each year from ingesting or getting tangled in long-lasting discarded seaborne plastic.
10 Good Reasons to Bring Your Bag:
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Most plastic bags never completely decompose. They are not biodegradable because bacteria will not eat them. They do disintegrate when exposed to sunlight, but they only break into small particles.
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According to recent EPA statistics, only 4.3% of HDPE plastic (the type used to make plastic grocery bags) is recycled in this country, while the rest of the 100 billion plastic bags we take home from stores every year become litter or go to landfills.
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Plastic bag litter is so ubiquitous that the Irish have been known to call the plastic bag their “national flag” and South Africans have dubbed it their “national flower.”
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Plastic bags and other plastic garbage that land in the ocean kill an estimated 1 billion seabirds and marine animals per year, often by choking to death or having plastic wrapped around their intestines.
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Plastic debris acts like a sponge for toxic chemicals. When tiny particles from disintegrated plastic bags are ingested along with plankton by filter-feeding marine animals, these toxic chemicals (like PCBs and DDE) are passed up the food chain, including up to humans.
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Plastic bags are typically made from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. The amount of petroleum used to make only 14 plastic bags would fuel a car for a mile.
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We make a difference when we refuse a bag for small purchases.
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We make a difference when we bring our reusable bags instead of taking dozens of disposable bags.
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We make a difference when we use plastic bags only when no other option is available.
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We make a difference when we responsibly manage plastic bags by making it a priority to reduce, reuse, recycle, and properly dispose of them, using alternative bags to the maximum extent possible.
Reducing, reusing and recycling plastic bags and wrap | | Wisconsin DNR
To protect Wisconsin’s trees, obtain firewood near where you will use it or use certified firewood that has been properly heat-treated or aged to kill any infesting pests or diseases.
Firewood can transport harmful tree problems to your backyard, street or favorite campsite. Just one firewood log can easily hide insects such as the emerald ash borer or spongy moth, or the tiny spores of a tree-killing fungal disease such as oak wilt.
Instead of taking firewood along on your next camping trip or bringing some home with you from far away, get your firewood where you're going to use it. Make sure it is from trees harvested nearby, or buy firewood that has been processed to eliminate pests and diseases.
Wisconsin regulates the movement of firewood in the state to help protect our trees and forests. Property owners and managers may also have additional restrictions. Here are some basic rules.
Help Protect Wisconsin Trees: Don't Move Firewood - Information Brochure
Rules for all of Wisconsin
The quarantine for the spongy moth prohibits the movement of firewood east to west from infested to non-quarantined WI counties.
If moving firewood to or through tribal properties, contact the tribe for its policy on allowable firewood.
County, federal, and private campgrounds may have their own firewood restrictions. Call ahead or look online for specific information, including whether firewood is available at the campground.
Rules for state properties
To prevent the spread of emerald ash borer and other invasive insects and diseases moving in firewood, the DNR developed a permanent rule that prohibits visitors from bringing firewood into Wisconsin state parks and other state-managed lands from locations further than 10 miles away from the property (effective June 1, 2014). Treated, pest-free wood from state-certified vendors is exempted from this regulation.
To help with trip planning, each state campground has a map showing the 10-mile radius. To help protect the state’s forests from harmful pests and diseases, obtain your firewood at the property, from within this 10-mile radius, or buy state-certified firewood if purchasing the wood more than 10 miles from the property.
