Page 7 - Local Features News Today

3:35 The southernmost continent of Antarctica is cold, inhospitable, and not the sort of place that most Northwoods residents think about when looking for adventure.  But for one Northwoods native, the chance to live and work in Antarctica was a dream come true. Carl Robert Eklund was born to Swedish immigrants in Tomahawk in January 1909.  He grew up in the Northwoods and during his high school years was a standout football player for Tomahawk High School.  Like many young people from the a...

Heather Berklund never envisioned herself as the Chief State Forester. She had worked for the DNR forestry division for two decades in the Northwoods, but didn’t have her mind set on the top job. “I would say it was never on my radar that I would ever be talking to you in this role or be in this position,” Berklund said on a recent interview, conducted while snowshoeing through the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest near Woodruff. But hard work and dedication paid off, and the...

5:15 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 niche and exploit it, and they lack the natural suppressive measures that would keep them in check in their home environment. Here in the Northwoods, our environment is ...

5:16 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 trail through Langlade County, Ford has rarely seen anyone, so she seemed happy for the company. Not so much for Diggins who stopped and faced me several times. Ford, while urging Diggins on, told me with a giggle that Diggins had become protective during the journey. Emily Ford and Diggins Credit Image Courtesy ...

The Rundown | Feb. 18-25 Image: Courtesy of Potosi Brewing New brew for a cause Brew Pipeline has announced the launch of a new collaboration with Potosi Brewing Company and Pink Boots Society – Rosa Stiefel. German for “pink boots,” this Hefeweizen made with real grapefruit will be available for a summer release throughout the country. $2 from every case sold will go toward Pink Boots Society’s scholarship program to assist, inspire and encourage women beer professionals to advance the...

3:47 The Indian Termination Act of 1953 and the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 were conservative reactions to the liberal reforms of Franklin Roosevelt’s Indian New Deal of the 1930s.  The laws of the 1950s were designed to break up the Reservations and relocate Native peoples into urban areas.  In addition, they gave Congress plenary power, or absolute authority to force compliance on Native peoples without negotiation. At the top of the list for termination was the Menominee Tribe of Wisco...

3:45 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 sorts of snow machines before settling on Eliason’s toboggan. One of the earliest attempts at over-snow travel accompanied the bicycle craze of the 1890s.  In Wisconsin people experimented with bicycles eq...

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

5:14 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 make their brief time testifying at the podium more effective. Here are a few. Avoid personal attacks – maybe a board member made a callous or personal remark or committed some other misstep. If you are calling...

The gray wolf has been on and off the federal endangered species list for years. Right now, it’s off the list. But designation on the endangered species