Posts Tagged ‘wisconsin’

Snow over the weekend here in the Baraboo hills didn’t fill us with hope that summer would be coming anytime soon, but as someone on our Facebook said, “Don’t worry, our three months of bad sledding will arrive.”  Well, it won’t arrive soon enough for me, that’s for sure.  Forecasters are calling for a chance of snow every day through Friday in our area.  That’s Fantastic!  (Hang in there.)

Last night in less than an hour, Wisconsin’s GOP senators passed a stand-alone bill to eliminate bargaining rights for state employees and more.  Protests have been called for some 15 sites around the state at 9am including the capitol building in Madison.(Read Email Below)  To the best of our knowledge schools will be open this morning and no general strike has been called, yet.

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The committee meeting to split the budget bill, and the senate vote that followed, (One at which there were no Democratic representatives present.) happened so fast that local media was simply unable to keep up. It was once again up to the users of the social media platform, Twitter to inform the public.  Users following the hash tag, “#wiunion” were being flooded with information from every corner as events unfolded. By the time the MSM caught up, the bill had been passed and the state capitol was once again filled with protesters.   Read the rest of this entry »

Autumn doesn’t only bring bright fall colors, it is also the time of year when most deer & driver collisions happen as well.  According to a recent Sauk County press release, “October is the start of the increase in car deer crashes in Sauk County as well as in the state. Last year in Wisconsin there were seven fatal crashes involving deer and four hundred and seventy-four injuries as the result of car deer crashes according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. In total there were 16,338 reported car deer crashes in the state for 2009.” Read the rest of this entry »

Nearly perfect weather and nearly peak fall colors combined over the weekend to give nature lovers and fall foliage fans the gift of a life time.  Temperatures hung near 80 both Saturday and Sunday as thousands of visitors filled Sauk County’s parks and natural areas.  At Devil’s Lake State Park the parking lots filled as if it were a summer holiday weekend and yet the cars kept coming.  By early afternoon on Saturday cars were lining the the north shore entrance road.  Normally this would not be allowed of course, but our impression is that park law enforcement were simply overwhelmed.  The park has experienced a good jump in visitors over all this year, by some estimates nearly a 20% increase.  It certainly looked like it this weekend!    Read the rest of this entry »

If you thought the mosquitoes were bad in Wisconsin this summer, you should be worried about how our bats are doing. Cave bat populations in the eastern US have been ravaged by a voracious fungal condition called white nose syndrome and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is now concerned the threat has spread into our state as well.  Read the rest of this entry »

While attendance was reported as way down for the air show held at the Baraboo/Wisconsin Dells airport over the weekend, crowds did seem to show up for Spring Green’s annual arts and crafts fair.  On Saturday the streets of Spring Green were filled with amazing works by area artists while live music filled the air.  The only down side to the event was the rather un-scripted parking which could easily disorient first time attendees unfamiliar with the layout of the town or the event. All in all however, the show had a wonderfully festive summer spirit and was certainty a great way to spend a hot summer Saturday. Read the rest of this entry »

We were just leaving the Coffee Bean Connection in Downtown Baraboo when the rain began to fall.   Sure, there were flash flood warnings in Sauk County, but we were still hoping to get in an afternoon of paddling at Devil’s Lake State Park.

Now we know why the lake has flooded so often in recent years. Read the rest of this entry »

ReserveAmerica, America’s leading recreation reservation service provider announced their annual “Top 100 Family Campgrounds”, and Devil’s Lake State Park here in Baraboo, Wisconsin ranked Number 1.  With it’s 500 foot bluffs, spectacular scenery, great beaches, and almost 30 miles of nature trails, Devil’s Lake State Park has something for everybody. It’s no suprise that over 1.4 million people visit the park each year. What’s more, Devil’s Lake State Park is just one among a plethora of unique natural areas and fun family attractions that make the Baraboo area a unique and “natural” alternative to Wisconsin Dells.

Congratulations to the park staff who deserve a lot of credit for the work they do each day to make the park a joy to visit.  Devil’s Lake is Number 1?  Yeah, well, we could have told you that!!

Opinion - The Baraboo News Republic is reporting today that Wisconsin State Parks could be opened to more hunting.  The opening line of the article states, “Voters in Sauk County and elsewhere overwhelmingly supported a proposal to allow trapping and hunting in state parks during last week’s statewide fish and wildlife rule hearings.”  The problem of course, is that these “Voters in Sauk County and elsewhere” are a minority within a minority.  These are folks who attend such hearings specifically because they have an agenda in one direction or another.  They are not, as the casual reader of this article may suppose, voters as a whole, but select, activist voters. In the case of Wisconsin State Parks, this is an important distinction.

First let me say I’m not opposed to hunting in the parks. Yet, as a frequent park user I am aware of the restrictions put on hikers, bikers and other park users when hunting is allowed.  (Our local park, Devil’s Lake State Park, does allow limited hunting in some areas.) The trick is balancing everyone’s desires as much as possible while serving the best interests of the park as a whole. In reading the article I was struck by what I thought should have been some rather obvious questions that could have given balance and fleshed out such a headline as, “State parks could be opened to hunters”.   First, how many “Voters in Sauk County” actually voted? What percentage of county voters do these hearing attendees or “voters” represent?  How about on a statewide level? Who uses the parks most often and in the largest numbers, hunters or recreational users such as hikers, climbers, campers, cyclists etc.?  Are the majority of park users local residents or tourists from outside the county or state? If as I suspect local users and hearing attendees are a small minority of regular park users (certainly in our area), then how much influence should they actually have in such decisions?  I assume no more than the percentage of folks they actually represent. Public hearings are great in that they allow anyone with a concern to step up and try to sway government opinion but they are rarely representative of the public as a whole.

Now this brings up the most obvious question, “What percentage of actual park users, those most effected by such rulings, support more hunting and trapping in the parks?”  Shouldn’t we ask ALL the folks who use the parks regularly? It would certainly be easy enough. Why don’t we hand out a quick survey or ballot to everyone who buys a Wisconsin Park Sticker, Bike Pass or reserves a campsite?  You wouldn’t get responses from everyone, but certainly you will overwhelm the number of those who voted on this recent resolution. Let’s then compare numbers and opinions again. If the majority support more hunting so be it, but you know where this is going… Chances are that if you asked the majority of folks who actually frequent Wisconsin State Parks  rather than the attendees of “Fish and Wildlife rule hearings”, you may find you get another result entirely.  Sometimes a little context is a good thing. (Before things are put to a vote that actually effects us all.)

Do you notice anything about the figure in this sign?  Since here at Skillet Creek the “hiking guy” is part of our daily life we see him all the time.  That’s probably why yesterday while our family was out hiking  at Wildcat Mountain State Park  near Ontario, WI., I could just feel something was wrong.  The hiking guy just didn’t look right.. Read the rest of this entry »