Inside This Issue
- A Message from the Executive Director
- Spring 2009 Champions of Conservation Awards
- Lakeshore Waterways Art Sale
- Fred Depies Joins LNRP Board of Directors
- LNRP and Dominion Select Champions of Conservation
- League of Conservation Voters Define Priorities for 2009 - 2010
- Preserve Groundwater: Wisconsin's Buried Treasure
A Message from the Executive Director
Message from the Executive Director
Dear Friends of the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership –
It’s been a winter worth remembering with record snowfalls in December
and frigid temperatures in January. However, at the time of the writing
of this newsletter, spring seems to be right around the corner!
We’re looking forward to another banner year for LNRP in 2009 in our efforts to find Solutions through Community. Our Board of Directors has just finished going through strategic planning to come up with our 2009 Action Plan.
Our We All Live on the Water Campaign has been a great success in the last year with a series of seminars, workshops, and strategically placed signage. We are also continuing our efforts in developing locally based environmental education curriculum through the Lakeshore Environmental Resource Network and working to protect and enhance water quality in our Agricultural Watershed Improvement Network.
We’re planning on continuing our quarterly newsletter with a Spring, Summer and Fall edition to follow this, the Winter 2009 Newsletter.
We’re launching an art sale of the Waterways Calendar paintings this spring, and we’re hosting our Champion of Conservation Award Program in spring and fall. See below for the full announcements.
Remember, the Lakeshore Basin provides an unsurpassed quality of life - a quality of life worth protecting and enhancing.
Become a member of LNRP!
It’s as easy as visiting our membership page.
Jim Kettler, LNRP Executive Director
Email: jim@lnrp.org
Office Phone: 920-726-2199
Spring 2009 Champions of Conservation Awards
The Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP) and Dominion are proud to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the Spring 2009 Lakeshore Champions of Conservation Awards.
The environmental award
program recognizes and honors the outstanding achievements of any group,
program, organization, business or individual in a wide range of environmental
initiatives throughout Northeastern Wisconsin. The award seeks
to pay tribute to those that have demonstrated a commitment to environmental
excellence, leadership, and accomplishment in their respective fields.
By sponsoring these awards, LNRP and Dominion hope to encourage our communities to emulate the achievements of the successful nominees, thereby promoting innovative environmental efforts and enhancing the quality of life in the Lakeshore Basin.
Deadline for Nominations: April 15th, 2009
The awards are open to any group, program, organization, business, or individual located and working in the Lakeshore Basin. Nominations can be made by the person or persons involved in the activity or by a third party.
Individual award nominees should focus on one of the following four areas of concern:
Water Resources Protection: Projects that monitor or improve streams, rivers, lakes or wetlands. Also, projects to improve access to public waterways for passive, water-related recreation.
Environmental Education and Outreach: Projects that establish or improve communication and education about basin environmental issues for the general public, youth and stewardship programs.
Land Use Protection and Habitat Restoration: Projects that focus on improving land development decisions to restore or protect natural areas.
Pollution Prevention and Clean-Up: Projects that focus on reducing and preventing water, air or soil pollution from rural or urban sources.
LNRP uses community-based Selection Committees to determine the selection of our champions. Selection Teams are composed of knowledgeable volunteers from throughout the Lakeshore Basin including natural resource professionals, scientists, teachers and leaders of environmental organizations.
Each selection team will rank the nominees in each of their specific areas with the highest ranked nominee sent forward to the final selection committee.
The final selection committee is made up each selection team chair, two representatives of Dominion Energy, and the LNRP Executive Director (7 individuals). The committee will choose one Champion of Champions from the four recommendations coming from each selection team. Two Champion of Champions awards will be given per year. Each comes with a monetary award of $2000.
The selected individual will be notified by LNRP and invited to an award reception. The reception will also be the venue for the We All Live on the Water seminar series. The series brings speakers that can reflect on timely and topical issues impacting the Wisconsin watershed flowing into Lake Michigan.
Please see our website www.lnrp.org for nomination forms and instructions.
Lakeshore Waterways Art Sale
Many of you may have bought the 2009 Lakeshore Waterways Calendar produced by LNRP’s collaborative group of artists: Water’s Edge Artists.
An
exhibit and reception was held last fall at the Rahr-West Art Museum
in Manitowoc. Six of the 14 paintings were sold at the reception but
now you have a chance to purchase the remaining paintings. Every couple
of months, LNRP will send an electronic reminder that will open an
auction. The auction will remain open for three weeks with the highest
bidder getting their favorite painting!
The first painting to go on sale has been bought by Jim Kettler, the LNRP Executive Director. He bought Bonnita Budysz’s painting “Seeking the Source” painted on the Devil’s River at Old Mill Park near the town of Maribel in Manitowoc County.
From the very beginning of our collaboration, Jim and Bonnita felt that the painting would be a perfect complement to the LNRP newsletter: The Source!
Bonnita had these words to describe the setting – “Swirling around
my easel legs, water, water, everywhere creates an intimate communion
with the source of all life.”
The Old Rock Mill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The mill is one of the oldest in Manitowoc County and is very well preserved. The mill site sits at a very picturesque location cascading across a rocky portion of the Devil's River.
Sales of the art will continue to support LNRP’s We All Live on the Water Campaign. Please consider the purchase of one of the paintings as they are auctioned in the upcoming months.
Fred Depies Joins LNRP Board of Directors
The Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership is happy to welcome Fred Depies to our Board.
Fred brings experience related to agriculture and local food systems as well as good business sense. From 1974 to 1999, Fred was a small business owner in Northeast Wisconsin operating a floor covering store, a health and fitness store, and as a motel owner/operator. In 2000, Fred moved to the Ariens Company in Brillion Wisconsin where he was a model shop parts expediter. Fred retired from Ariens in 2007.
Fred got involved in agriculture beginning in 2001 when he organized a Sustainable Farm Fair. He helped organize the second fair in 2003. From 2003, Fred has been producing the Farm Fresh Atlas of Eastern Wisconsin which lists producers and processors that practice sustainable agriculture.
In
2004, Fred was appointed the Calumet County Representative to Glacierland
RC&D Coordinating Council where he still retains his seat. In the
same year, he began coordinating the annual Fall Food and Energy Fest
at the Ledge View Nature Center.
In the last two year, Fred has been a Technical Service and Education Provider for Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) grant. He also has been the project manager for GLCI research projects on Fish Foliar Spray and Compost Tea. He has started NEW Food, a regional food development organization, and the Sheboygan Area Local Food Alliance (SALFA). Finally, in April 2008, Fred was appointed to Wisconsin’s Buy Local Buy Wisconsin Legislative Advisory Committee.
LNRP is very excited to have Fred as part of our Board!
LNRP and Dominion Select Champions of Conservation
The Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership and Dominion, owner of the Kewaunee Power Plant, hosted the Fall 2008 Lakeshore Champions of Conservation Awards Ceremony on Thursday, December 4, 2008 at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc.
The environmental award program honors the outstanding achievements of groups, programs, organizations, businesses or individuals in a wide range of environmental initiatives throughout Northeastern Wisconsin. The award seeks to pay tribute to those that have demonstrated a commitment to environmental excellence, leadership, and accomplishment in their respective fields.
The Fall 2008 Champion of Champions was awarded posthumously to Helen
Dicke-Krivacek. Helen was one of the founders of Woodland Dunes Nature
Center in Two Rivers. She helped develop fundraising materials and
individually raised funds resulting in the first land purchase. Helen served
on the Ways and Means Committee, oversaw car washes, bake sales and countless
other fundraisers. Helen was one of the first volunteer Teacher- Naturalists,
a member of the education committee, and until very recently, the Secretary
for the Board of Directors. Helen also fostered conservation efforts
in other Manitowoc County conservation organizations: Conservation Education,
Inc, the Cool City Garden Club, and the Girl Scouts. She helped protect
the exceptional flora of Cherney Maribel Caves County Park. In 1989,
Helen was named Environmental Educator of the Year by the Manitowoc County
Land Conservation Committee and was a recipient of the Rahr Diamond Award
given by the Isaac Walton League.
Dave Pozorski was selected as the Water Resources Champion. Dave organized the Silver Lake Park Citizen Advisory committee in Manitowoc County to design a master plan to restore Silver Lake Park. He single-handedly raised over $150,000 for the effort and encouraged the county and city to provide representation on this committee that included a very diverse cross-section of the public.
Lyn Brouchoud, a Board Member at Woodland Dunes, accepted the award for Helen Dicke-Krivacek from Kevin Davison of Dominion.
Each award recipient received a recognition plaque. As the Champion of Champions, Helen was also honored with a donation of $2,000. Her family chose to donate the funds to the Woodland Dunes Nature Center that plans to build a “nature-based” play area for young children at the center. The staff of Woodland Dunes will be working with UW Madison on the overall design.
By sponsoring these awards, LNRP and Dominion, hope to encourage our communities to emulate the achievements of the successful nominees, thereby promoting innovative environmental efforts and enhancing the quality of life in the Lakeshore Basin.
League of Conservation Voters Define Priorities for 2009 - 2010
Each legislative session, the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters holds listening sessions throughout the State to develop four key conservation priorities. And since 2005, the League has sponsored a Conservation Lobby Day that has now grown to become a very strong voice and was attended by over 500 concerned citizens last year. This year’s lobby day is scheduled for February 25th in Madison.
In 2009-2010, the conservation community will be fighting to make sure:
- Wisconsin manages groundwater resources to protect drinking water supplies, lakes, streams, and wetlands.
- Wisconsin addresses the threats of global warming through clean, renewable energy jobs and energy conservation.
- Wisconsin returns to an Independent DNR Secretary and a timely appointment of Natural Resource Board members.
- Wisconsin protects drinking water supplies by making sure we safely spread agricultural, municipal, and industrial waste.
The League was very successful in addressing the 2007-2008 conservation priorities.
Great Lakes Protection: Even though the rest of the country didn't think Wisconsin could do it, the Governor signed the Great Lakes Compact into law in May 2008, permanently protecting the Great Lakes from water diversions. The Great Lakes Compact was signed by President Bush this past fall, thereby sealing the deal between the 8 Great Lakes states. Much of the credit goes to the 700+ citizens that attended Conservation Lobby Day in 2007 & 2008 to stress the importance of the Compact to their legislators, and the 5000+ citizens that contacted their legislators through postcards, emails, and phone calls!
Land Protection: The 2007-2008 State Budget guaranteed that the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund would be reauthorized for another decade and would receive $86 million a year to purchase land. At Conservation Lobby Day in February, over 430 citizens from across Wisconsin met in Madison to ask for a dramatic increase over the current level of $60 million per year. This victory secures land preservation dollars that will help balance the increasing demands of development.
Renewable Energy Loan and Grant Program Creation: The 2007-2008 State
Budget created the Renewable Energy Grants and Loans program dedicated
to investing in Wisconsin's renewable energy technologies. The budget
provides $22 million to fund these grants. This is a component of a
larger energy framework discussed at Conservation Lobby Day-citizens
encouraged legislators to position Wisconsin as an energy leader through
smart energy use and innovative energy generation.
We’ll be sharing extracts of the League’s Issue Briefs in the upcoming
newsletters. We begin by looking at groundwater in this issue.
Preserve Groundwater: Wisconsin's Buried Treasure (adapted from Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters Priority Briefs)
The water stored in the ground beneath our feet supports industries, communities, and businesses and is the origin for springs, rivers, lakes and wetlands throughout the state. How we manage this precious resource affects every one of us, from the drinking water that comes out of the tap, to our major industries such as beer brewing, cheese making, paper making, agriculture and tourism. Our lives and livelihoods as well as the fish, wildlife and many recreational attributes of our waterways are equally dependent on abundant groundwater.
But increasing demands for groundwater place our supplies and valued natural resources at risk. Seventy percent of Wisconsin residents and 97% of Wisconsin communities depend upon groundwater to meet their day to day needs, but in some regions of the state, water is being pumped out of the ground faster than it can be replenished by rain and snow melt, limiting how communities can grow and prosper.
Current law fails to consider the impacts of groundwater withdrawals on 99% of the state's lakes, 92% of rivers and streams, and 100% of wetlands. Numerous rivers and lakes around the state are seriously compromised by excessive pumping by municipal and irrigation wells. The Little Plover River, a trout stream in Central Wisconsin, ran dry in the summers of 2006 and 2007. Reduced groundwater supplies disrupt entire ecosystems, reducing habitat for important plants, insects and animals at all levels of the food chain. Fishing, hunting, trapping, boating and the myriad recreational opportunities essential to our quality of life and multi-billion dollar tourism industry are all at risk when groundwater resources are depleted.
Wisconsin’s buried treasure belongs to all of us, but overuse by some affects us all. Nothing is more critical to the future of this state and its citizens than the protection of our groundwater supplies, but the current law is not up to the task. Comprehensive management of groundwater resources will ensure responsible and equitable use of water resources and balance the competing demands for drinking water, agricultural and industrial uses while protecting our natural environment.
Connecting Partners Across the Basin - Send us your Events- We'll help spread the word!
In each issue of The Source we will list a calendar for all basin river groups and organizations to share their resources, upcoming events, work parties, seminars and meeting times. If you would like to participate and be featured in the newsletter events calendar, please send a list of your events to us by email. We are also interested in hearing about field seasons, projects - and happenings along the lakeshore- you are welcome to submit articles, anecdotes or send along information about your group for the "Featured Organizations" section. Please list the county of the event and send any website links and other contact information readers may need to jim@lnrp.org
The Nature Center celebrated its grand opening in March of 1987. Located
within the Brillion Marsh Wildlife Area, owned by the State of Wisconsin
and managed by the Department of Natural Resources, the Brillion Nature
Center is a privately funded, non-profit organization and operated by
a volunteer Board of Directors.