This week on a Northwoods Moment in History , local historian Gary Entz tells us how television came to be in the Northwoods. Television is such a part of our everyday lives that most of us don’t think twice about it. With cable, satellite, and Internet streaming services, we have hundreds of news and entertainment choices available twenty-four hours a day. In addition, if we can’t find something we like, we can always pop something in the DVD or Blu-ray player. It wasn’t always this way, and

What is it with dogs and playing fetch? In this week's episode of Wildlife Matters , the Masked Biologist relates his own dogs’ fetching instincts to their ancestral roles and the masters they served. I have a three-year-old Labrador retriever that loves to fetch. No surprise, really; he was bred from two hunting dogs who love to fetch, and is a breed known for its love of fetching. Furthermore, since the day we brought him home from the breeder, we have been teaching him to fetch. He is a

The Bearskin State Trail in Oneida County is a popular destination today. As part of our series A Northwoods Moment in History , Gary Entz tells us about how it's changed over the years. The Bearskin State Trail in Oneida County is part of the Wisconsin State Park system and a popular year-round trail used by hikers, cyclists, and snowmobilers. The trail is a converted railway corridor and was once part of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad. As scenic as the trail is today,

Have you ever seen a cradle knoll? Do you know how they form, or their importance on the landscape? That is the subject of this week’s episode of Wildlife Matters . On a recent field trip I led, we came across a large red pine that had blown over in a summer storm. We were in a recently completed timber harvest area, and this tree was one that had been left to continue to grow, what we sometimes refer to as a sentinel tree or a super-canopy tree. This tree would never be either, thanks to a gust

Summer tourism in the Northwoods is ending and some of our seasonal residents are leaving the Northwoods for their permanent homes elsewhere. At Holiday Acres Resort in Rhinelander, a dedicated group of family and friends have been coming up the last week of July every year for almost 50 years. Holiday Acres recently asked some of them to interview each other about what that tradition and the Northwoods as a whole means to them. In the second and final installment of a Northwoods StoryCorps

The name Frederick S. Robbins might ring a bell for those in the Rhinelander area. As part of our continued series A Northwoods Moment in History , local historian Gary Entz has the story of his life. Frederick S. Robbins is a fairly well-known name in Rhinelander history. He came to the city in 1886, built a sawmill in 1887, and ran the Robbins Lumber Company for many years. Robbins lived an active and adventurous life, but what is less well-known is how tough and vigorous he really was.

Do turkeys eat grouse? Why are some areas that used to have more grouse seeing more turkeys and less grouse? In this episode of Wildlife Matters , the Masked Biologist tackles these questions. I have often heard people blame turkeys for reduced grouse numbers in Wisconsin. Are turkeys rampaging across the countryside, gobbling up any other game birds in their path? Or could there be another explanation? First, ruffed grouse and turkeys really don’t extensively share habitats. An aspen forest

This time of year, business for local area resorts starts to slow down and many of our seasonal residents leave the Northwoods for their permanent homes elsewhere. At Holiday Acres Resort in Rhinelander, a dedicated group of family and friends have been coming up the last week of July every year for many years. Holiday Acres recently asked some of them to interview eachother about what that tradition and the Northwoods as a whole means to them. In the first installment of a three part Northwoods

In 1926, four Chicago gangsters fled to the Northwoods. Just ahead, Gary Entz tells us exactly what transpired as part of our continued series, A Northwoods Moment in History . On August 6, 1926, John “Mittens” Foley was gunned down on the corner of Richmond and Sixty-fifth Street in Chicago in a syndicate fight over beer trafficking. The four assailants escaped in a large touring car with enlarged cylinders. In other words, a car geared to racing speed. That car was soon spotted driving around

In this month's installment of Field Notes, Scott Bowe of Kemp Station discusses Milkweed in Wisconsin. In the past few years, milkweed has taken root at Kemp Station. If I had to guess, we have more than a few acres of milkweed along our roads and in our open areas. Milkweed plants are an American genus, Asclepias L., a herbaceous perennial consisting of more than 140 different species, most of which are toxic. Wisconsin has 14 native milkweed species including the common milkweed (Asclepias