Category Archives: Green & Gold

Upstream flood control pays off in Milwaukee watershed

This year’s heart-breaking floods in central Europe and big swaths of the United States point to how far-sighted conservationists have been in their work along the Milwaukee River and its three tributaries in Washington and Ozaukee Counties. For decades they … Read the rest

Can we keep the Great Lakes great?

Last Friday at UW-Whitewater the Joint Finance Committee heard a pitch for about $10 million in the budget for the University of Wisconsin System over the next two years to create a fresh water collaborative across all 13 UW campuses. … Read the rest

Green Wave continues to Sweep Across Wisconsin

The concept of a Green and Gold Wisconsin is alive and well. That’s dual support for policies that promote economic prosperity on the one hand and environmental improvements on the other. Contrary to right-wing doctrine, they are not at odds. … Read the rest

Massive birds decline can be reversed

Shawn Graff has spent his life in preservation and conservation – first of historic Wisconsin mansions and museums, then of precious lands in the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan watersheds. His latest cause is to reverse a major decline in … Read the rest

Big initiatives launched to save Great Lakes

Of all the issues facing Wisconsin, protection of our challenged fresh water assets has to be right at the top. So, the concept forwarded by the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents to create a Freshwater Collaborative that encompasses the … Read the rest

Calling all UW scientists to save the perch

It is a perpetual puzzlement that the major conservation issues facing Wisconsin seldom animate leaders of our political parties. The latest to draw a lack of response from either party is development of “a yellow perch desert” in Lake Michigan. … Read the rest

Bats, fellow mammals, are our friends

If you should meet a bat, thank a fellow mammal. He or she ate 4500 insects yesterday, including a banquet of mosquitoes. If you don’t see one, worry about it. Better yet, do something about it. The sad facts are … Read the rest

Land trust army leads despite political vacuum

Even as conservation issues go unaddressed in the national and Wisconsin political campaigns this fall, the beat goes on at the ground level through an army of volunteers to land trusts. They never rest in the short term, and they … Read the rest

50 stunning years under DNR; 50 more?

As the Department of Natural Resources turns 50, it’s appropriate to take note of the remarkable environmental and conservation progress since its birth, while remaining mindful of the need for enlightened governance and balance between the use of our natural … Read the rest

Conservation challenges fade from public agenda

Journalist Dan Egan, the foremost chronicler of the challenges to the Great Lakes, just reported that two more invasive micro-species have been found in the lakes. The story is on the inside pages of the Milwaukee JournalSentinel. More than 180 … Read the rest