Local Features

Did you have some hassles with wildlife in or around your home this year? Now is the perfect time of year to take steps to exclude unwelcome guests. That’s the focus of this week’s Wildlife Matters.

A logical result of the pandemic and a weakened economy would be a sluggish real estate market in the Northwoods and elsewhere. Instead, real estate purchases are booming in many parts of the country including the Northwoods. Ironically, the pandemic and stay at home orders may be behind a recent surge in local real estate purchases.

Cindy Hoffman is a grandmother. She doesn’t have a job, but she’s not retired. Instead, for eight hours a day, she’s a student. “Yes. It is my job until I get my degree,” she said, sitting on her back porch in St. Germain. Using her laptop, Hoffman showed off her Nicolet College learning portal. “I’ve been on the Dean’s List now a couple of times,” Hoffman said. “If I do anything, I want to do it well.” Now in her late 50s, Hoffman was named the college’s Academic Success Student of the Year

Many young people today cannot name a Supreme Court Justice or identify their own Congressional Representative. Voter participation is lower in the U.S. than in any other Western Democracy. It was not always this way, and in the past Rhinelander made certain its young people were aware of their civic responsibilities. Historian Gary Entz has the story.

Pete McGeshick II looked out upon Spur Lake and thought about what used to be. “The lake was full,” he said. “The rice bed was full all the way around.” Wild rice used to grow thick on the 113-acre undeveloped lake in eastern Oneida County. It grew tall, too. “You could come out here and you could see people harvesting wild rice,” McGeshick said. “A lot of them, you couldn’t even see because the wild rice was so high.” McGeshick, a Sokaogon Chippewa tribal member and former Rice Chief, is 80

There are many stories of early Northwoods Pioneers. Most of us recall the lumbermen as being the first, but the tourist industry developed simultaneous to the logging industry, and early resort builders like Edward Walsh were key in the economic development of the Northwoods. Historian Gary Entz has the story.

Perhaps you have heard of foxfire, an ethereal glow that appears in the deep dark woods late at night. The Masked Biologist casts some light on the subject in this week’s Wildlife Matters.

The Lac du Flambeau band of Lake Superior Chippewa have been an important part of Northwoods cultural history since the early eighteenth century. However, the tribe has not always been treated with the respect it has earned, and the era of allotment is a particularly painful memory. Historian Gary Entz has the story.

Are you somewhat of a locavore? Many Northwoods residents are. In this episode of Wildlife Matters the Masked Biologist points out the benefits of hunting and gathering locally.

Most Rhinelander citizens take the Davenport Street Bridge for granted. It is simply something we pass over on our way into town. But the current bridge is not the first structure to span the river, and the first bridge in that location met with a tragic end. Historian Gary Entz has the story.