Local Features

Ron L. Zabler admits Oneida County winters have been harsh on his family’s cabin in the woods. Some of the paint may be peeling, but that makes this place no less important to him. “Once I’m up here, I don’t want to go back,” said Zabler, whose permanent home with his wife, Carline, is in southern Wisconsin. A lot of his attitude has to do with his family’s history on this plot of land. “I’ve been here since I was 14. I was here when the original owner was here,” said Zabler, who is in his 70s.

Transportation today is something we take for granted, but in the past getting from here to there could be an arduous experience. Particularly if the destination was the Northwoods. Historian Gary Entz has the story of the Ontonagon Mail Trail.

Have you ever seen a bee emerging from a hole in the ground in the spring? There are many ground nesting bee species in Wisconsin and for this month's Field Notes, Gretchen Gerrish tells us more.

Have we ever had parrots in Wisconsin, do we have them now, or will we have them in the future? While it might seem an unlikely topic for the Masked Biologist, parrots are the subject of this week’s Wildlife Matters.

Many infamous criminals and gangsters passed through the Northwoods during the 1920s and 1930s. John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Al Capone are just a few, but there were lesser known ones as well. Historian Gary Entz has the story of one such outlaw.

Did you know about the Cold War era ELF transmission site at Clam Lake, 80 miles northwest of Rhinelander? In this week’s Wildlife Matters, the Masked Biologist tells us about the antenna array and its connection to wildlife management.

Standing at Grand Traverse Harbor on the Keweenaw Peninsula, a look right reveals picturesque yellow-sand beaches and unassuming seasonal homes. A look left includes nothing but a black shoreline on this part of the peninsula, which juts into Lake Superior in Upper Michigan. Jay Parent scooped up a handful of the pebbly black sand, which stretches out of sight on the shoreline. “It was this high stamp sand right here all the way across the harbor,” Parent says, gesturing more than head-high.

The F.W. Woolworth and Company, most often referred to simply as Woolworth’s, was a mainstay of small-town main streets for many decades. It was a significant part of Rhinelander’s Brown Street as well. Historian Gary Entz as the story:

The turtle hatchlings are emerging from their nests, and turtles are starting to dig nests and lay eggs. The Masked Biologist explains this interesting survival mechanism in this week’s Wildlife Matters.

From a few yards away, a woman and four small children watch a massive machine rumble to life. They stand, look, and point as a boat is lifted by the Burnt Rollways Boat Hoist, carried over a road and dam, and dropped gently in the water on the other side. “It’s a novelty,” said Scott Blado, who is operating the machine. “It’s just kind of a thing that you go and do. It’s not really a ‘we’ve got to go that way’ kind of thing. It’s more of an event.” This week, operators fired up the hoist, the