Local Features

One of the benefits of having experts like the Masked Biologist as a WXPR contributor is that you get the latest breaking wildlife news, good or bad. Unfortunately, this week’s Wildlife Matters has some bad news, and the Masked Biologist is asking you to keep your eyes open for birds with their eyes pasted shut. Passion for natural resources can be an emotional roller coaster. You can get some good news one day, bad news the next. Lately, it seems more bad news than good, seeming to last longer.

Last October, the end of the school year seemed a long way off for Rhinelander mother Leanne Vigue Miranda. “I live day by day because, otherwise, that prospect of, oh my gosh, I have to continue this for eight more months is super scary,” she told WXPR back then . Miranda is the registrar at Nicolet College. She decided it would be safest to keep her kids, fourth-grader Phoebe and kindergartener Luna, in remote learning this past year because of pandemic concerns. We talked to her again after

Summer is camping season, and Summer Camps in the Northwoods are guiding young people to embrace an appreciation for the outdoors. One of the more storied camps in the area is Camp Birchrock, which was founded by the local Girl Scouts. How the Girl Scouts and Camp Birchrock came to be is worth remembering. The Girl Scouts are a storied organization with roots dating back to the Progressive Era. The group was formed in Savannah, Georgia, in 1912 under the tutelage of Juliette Gordon Low. Low was

Are we ready to give our children the tools they will need to face environmental challenges in the future, or are the tools we’ve always used good enough for them? The Masked Biologist tackles the toolbox question in this week’s Wildlife Matters. I learned to rebuild a car engine when I was five. My father, in addition to working a couple of jobs, had a vehicle repair business. If I wanted to spend time with him, I had to be out in the shop evenings and weekends. His interest became mine. When I

Last week, Diane Dodge closed her doors for the last time as the owner of Diane’s Frame Shoppe in downtown Rhinelander. She’s owned and operated the frame shop since setting out on her own in 2005, struggling through a lean first few years. “There were a few times we had to borrow to keep everything going, but we felt that it was going to be worth it, so we just kept going,” she said. “It was worth it.” Through Diane’s work and the help of her husband, Ray, the successful business has now served

Indigenous people have made significant contributions to every war the United States has ever fought. In twentieth-century conflicts, we often hear about the heroism of individuals like Ira Hayes, or of groups like the code talkers. What we rarely hear about are contributions from indigenous people on the home front. Members of America’s First Nations have fought in every major military battle in U.S. history. Of all those conflicts, World War I was a defining moment for how the U.S. government

Here in Wisconsin, almost all our snakes are non-venomous, and rely on deceptive defense measures to scare off potential threats. The eastern hognose is one such snake and has slithered onto center stage in this week’s Wildlife Matters. Last month I came across an article about eastern hognose snakes that immediately captured my interest. Snakes tend to cause concern and fear in many people, and understandably so. Their appearance, movements, and behavior are entirely different from ours, and

Blades of helicopters slice incessantly through the western Wisconsin sky. “Security Forces is finding people in a search and rescue exercise. They’re finding people and they’re evaluating their needs and they’re sending them out on helicopters, in case they need medical care,” explains Lt. Col. Sarah Ashley Nickloes of the U.S. Air Force and Tennessee Air National Guard. National Guard soldiers and airmen, alongside civilian emergency crews, lift mannequins and live actors onto stretchers. This

Summer is baseball season, and many Northwoods residents enjoy playing the game in local leagues or watching professionals on television. A few of those professional players have found the Northwoods equally appealing, and more than one has called the town of Three Lakes home. One of them was first baseman Fred Luderus. Frederick William Luderus was born in Milwaukee in September 1885. The son of German immigrants, Luderus grew up in Milwaukee’s German American community and as a teenager gained

Full hides of brown and black leather are draped over a cart and wheeled by a worker from place to place in the maze-like Weinbrenner Shoe Company factory in Merrill. “Not everybody realizes what goes into making the shoe. I always tell people, if you get a chance to tour a shoe factory, take it,” says Rick Hass, a costing engineer serving as a tour guide of the factory floor. The factory, which produces premium shoes and boots sold under the Thorogood brand, dates to 1936. It has low ceilings,