Local Features

This week on A Northwoods Moment in History , local historian Gary Entz explains the Treaty of St. Peters and how it affects us in the Northwoods today. During the early decades of the nineteenth century, Americans living in the new United States aggressively pushed westward, taking more and more land from the peoples of the First Nations. President Andrew Jackson’s Removal Policy, enacted into law in 1830, accelerated the process. As the population of settlers grew along the Ohio River valley

Frequently our encounters with wildlife are completely safe, but there are always risks for injury or disease if bitten or scratched. In this week's episode of Wildlife Matters , the Masked Biologist talks about the prevention and presence of rabies. Recently there have been a couple of stories about rabid animals in the news, so I thought this would be a timely topic. Rabies is a viral infection carried in mammals, especially skunks, bats, raccoons, foxes, woodchucks, cats and dogs. It is

This week on A Northwoods Moment in History , local historian Gary Entz takes us back to a rather curious bank robbery that took place in Antigo in 1888. When we hear stories of bank robberies many people automatically think about tales of the Old West or perhaps the gangsters of the 1930s. However, bank robberies happened in other times and other places as well, and one curious Northwoods bank robbery took place in Antigo during the year 1888. On April 26, 1888, the cashier at the Bank of

Deer are definitely at the top of the list of animals that people love to see while enjoying the Northwoods. In this week's episode of Wildlife Matters , the Masked Biologist talks about deer, specifically deer fawn behavior this time of year. I have been noticing a lot more deer moving around during daylight hours lately. We typically consider deer to be crepuscular , meaning most active at dawn and dusk. There are plenty of other factors that influence behavior, though. For example, they might

This week on A Northwoods Moment in History , local historian Gary Entz takes us back to 1905 and tells us the story of a bindlestiff named Frank Lamperer, who benefitted from the kindness of the people in Rhinelander. Before President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s established the first social safety net, people down on their luck often had no option but to roam the countryside, usually under dangerous conditions, in search of work wherever it might be available. For people with no

This is the story of two ambulances, and a resident in Boulder Junction who felt compelled to help out a small Alaskan town a few weeks ago. WXPR’s Mackenzie Martin takes it from there. Living in the Northwoods, we often feel like we live in small towns. Enter the town of McCarthy, Alaska. The population of which was just 28 at the 2010 census, actually down from 42 in 2000. In the summertime months, the population increases to 200 - 300 people with seasonal workers, and there are even more

It’s the second Tuesday of the month, which is when we check in with our commentators in the field. In this month’s episode of Field Notes , Susan Knight of Trout Lake Station suggests we take a walk in the dark to see fireflies and other glowing organisms. It is almost firefly season. I am sure I am not the only one who is transported back to kid-hood when I see the first fireflies of the summer. Fireflies are beetles who make conspicuous use of bioluminescence, the emission of light by living

This week on A Northwoods Moment in History , local historian Gary Entz takes us back to 1931, when an air show was held in Rhinelander. Air shows where aircraft are exhibited, air races are run, and acrobatic demonstrations take place are still staged in many venues around the world, but they used to be a common occurrence in small towns across America. In the early days of flying, fixed base operators and aviators would use air shows to bring people out to the local airfield and drum up

Sometimes its not what you know, but who you know. In this episode of Wildlife Matters, the Masked Biologist recalls a photo of a forest floor discovery that required help from a colleague to identify. I admit, it had me totally stumped. I had to call in the opinions of someone smarter than I, an expert in the field. I had someone send me a photo of droppings that I simply could not identify. Honestly, they didn’t even look like droppings. They looked like someone had dumped out some wood

Every Friday, we turn back the clock on Morning Edition with local historian Gary Entz to find out what life in the Northwoods used to be like. This is part of a new initiative by WXPR to tell the history and culture of northern Wisconsin. In recent months there has been increased discussion of what to do with the intersection of U.S. Highway 8 and Wisconsin Highway 47. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has identified it as a dangerous intersection that has experienced several accidents