March 4: News from around the Driftless Area
‘News from Around the Driftless Area’ is a compilation showcasing the excellent work and interesting tidbits from the community journalists sprinkled throughout our area.
VIROQUA –The Friends of Vernon County Parks & Forests recently concluded their successful series of ‘Winter Hikes and Bonfires’ with a hike at Sidie Hollow County Park. Expect an announcement soon about a spring series of ‘Spring Ephemerals Hikes,’ to begin in April… The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded more than $2.7 billion in funding to nearly 2,900 public housing authorities (PHAs). This includes $273,937 to the Viroqua Housing Authority, and $70,170 to the Prairie du Chien Housing Authority… Students in grades 7 to 12 at Viroqua Area Schools who have been part of the hybrid learning model since the school year began will resume in-person learning five days a week, Monday, March 1. Students who are taki
Oak Wilt increasingly a problem for local landowners
DRIFTLESS - Problems with the Emerald Ash Borer have grabbed headlines in recent years as a threat to the forest resource in Southwest Wisconsin. Oak Wilt is another plant disease that has potential to damage the forests, particularly as oak is such a prevalent species in our forest mix.
“Oak Wilt is increasingly a concern in Crawford and Vernon counties,” WDNR Senior Forester Christine Walroth said. “The problem is that landowners can have a big problem before they even become aware that it is happening, and don’t know that the restrictions on logging in areas experiencing the infestation, between April 1 and July 15, apply to their woodlot.”
February 25: News from around the Driftless Area
‘News from Around the Driftless Area’ is a compilation showcasing the excellent work and interesting tidbits from the community journalists sprinkled throughout our area.
VIROQUA –Students in Carissa Brudos’ first semester art and design class at De Soto High School had the opportunity to create designs for Wonderstate Coffee for a logo design challenge. Brudos said she wanted to incorporate real world art and marketing in students’ everyday lives, so she reached out to Wonderstate, which is based in Viroqua, with her idea of a logo design challenge. Brudos sent the designs to Wonderstate, where the winners were selected. Mya Radde, a ninth-grader, and Zoey Boardman, a senior, were the winners of the logo design challenge… The Viroqua School Board voted to approve offering a summer school program this year at its regular meeting, Monday. District Administrator Tom Burkhalter said the program will look diff
February 18: News from around the Driftless Area
‘News from Around the Driftless Area’ is a compilation showcasing the excellent work and interesting tidbits from the community journalists sprinkled throughout our area.
VIROQUA –The NRCS and engineering teams working on the Watershed Study of Coon Creek and West Fork Kickapoo watersheds to help LaCrosse, Monroe and Vernon counties determine what to do with the five flood control dams that breached in the 2018 flood event are continuing to move forward. At this time, the engineering team is refining the very complicated water modeling for both watersheds. The engineering team presented preliminary alternatives to representatives from the three counties on January 19. With feedback from that discussion, the team has gone back and is further developing alternatives emphasizing upland treatments. The project has taken extra time to ensure that the alternative development is done well and a very comprehensive an
Federal appellate judges heard debate over whether claims of bias against two commissioners who approved the power line’s construction are enough to halt the project.
Howard Creek in the Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Brandon Jones/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
CHICAGO (CN) The tug-of-war over a major electric transmission corridor proposed to run through two Midwest states arrived back before a Seventh Circuit panel on Wednesday, where attorneys and judges raised questions over past approval of the project.
Environmental groups fighting construction of the power line say two members of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin with ties to transmission companies involved with the project were biased in approving the corridor and that the line’s approval is doing ongoing harm. The commissioners and transmission companies say there is no cognizable harm being created by the finished deal and that the allegations of bias are not supported by fact.