In the nineteenth century, people believed Wisconsin’s forests to be inexhaustible. Lumber production proceeded at an unsustainable pace, but few cared as it was assumed that farming would naturally follow. Successful farming never came on a large scale, and the damaged land needed repairing. This is where the Trout Lake Nursery comes in. Frederick G. Wilson was born in October 1887 in Red Oak, Iowa. At the age of two, Wilson’s family moved to Milwaukee, and then to Sheboygan. Wilson loved the

Did the recent cold snap help us in our fight against invasive species? The Masked Biologist says “yes and no” in this week’s Curious North-inspired edition of Wildlife Matters. Recently, listener Bill Boldon went onto Curious North at WXPR and asked the question: Is the extended cold period long enough to help kill invasive species? Well, it depends. Like my dad used to say, “yes with an if or no with a but.” Invasive species are extremely adaptable by nature. They can move into an unoccupied

For Duluth, Minnesota resident, Emily Ford, a “hike” isn’t a leisurely stroll through the woods in a t-shirt and shorts. This winter, it’s a trudge through snow, ice, and cold across Wisconsin. Ford is hiking the entire twelve hundred miles of the Ice Age Trail in the state, setting a lot of “firsts” as she does it. I hiked along with Ford and her dog, Diggins, for a time on a -14 degree bone-chilling but sunny morning on the Summit Moraine Segment just north of Antigo. On this stretch of the

At Mole Lake Casino near Crandon, a machine greets visitors even before a person does. After visitors lower their faces to a camera, the machine scans their forehead, offering an automated invitation to advance if their temperature is below 100.4 degrees. A security guard checks for mask wearing and asks some health questions before allowing entry to the casino floor. The sights of the flashing lights and sounds of slot machine jingles are familiar. But there’s something else, too, the faint

The Indian Termination Act of the 1950s was a misguided attempt to alleviate economic hardship on Reservations by terminating tribal sovereignty and relocating Native peoples to urban areas where they could find work and be assimilated. The act had a significant impact on Wisconsin’s Menominee Tribe. It also led to the founding of the American Indian Movement. The Indian Termination Act of 1953 and the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 were conservative reactions to the liberal reforms of Franklin

The town of Sayner promotes itself as the “birthplace of the snowmobile” and the community has a legitimate claim to that title. However, as with so many historical topics, the story is a bit more complicated than that. Carl Eliason’s hand-built 1924 motor toboggan is on display in Sayner’s Snowmobile Museum, and Eliason’s design was the prototype for the modern snowmobile. While Eliason’s model became the most successful, it was not the first, and Northwoods residents experimented with all

Humans have used wood as fuel for millennia. It has been used for cooking, heating, and more recently power production. I thought this topic would be timely given that we are experiencing our first real cold snap of 2021. In fact, I’ve had our wood stove burning all weekend – enjoying the fire inside while looking out our frosty windows. Many people believe that wood is an old-fashioned fuel. It’s great for smores on campfires but ends there. What surprises people is how much wood is used as

If you’ve ever attended a public meeting to testify, you probably have noticed there is a broad range of testimony types that yield varying results. The Masked Biologist gives a few pointers for effective testimony. I have been watching a lot of meetings lately about natural resource issues, from wildlife hunting seasons to land acquisition or sale. Meetings have been a big part of my life in a career as a public servant, and it occurs to me that there are numerous simple ways that people can

The words “Mellen State Bank” are etched into the sandstone façade over which Jeff Peters ran his right hand on Tuesday. “It feels like history,” he said. “It almost feels like the history of connecting this area.” Those carved words and the one-story façade look just like they did when the Mellen State Bank opened in 1902. The sandstone was quarried on Basswood Island in the Apostle Islands, the same sandstone used to build fashionable brownstone homes in East Coast cities. But the building

The early history of Phillips in Price County is primarily one of the railroads and logging industries. Like other Northwoods communities, Phillips had a healthy economy based in logging, and that industry helped contribute to a catastrophic event in its early history. The town of Phillips is in the center of Price County and serves as the county seat of government. It was a logging town but originally came into existence because of the railroad. The Wisconsin Central Railroad was formed in 1871