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| 9/1/2009 8:26:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Wisconsin Department of Tourism secretary Kelli A. Trumble, State Sen. Jim Holperin (D-12), property owners Mary and Joe Hovel, and Gov. Jim Doyle gathered in Land O’ Lakes on Aug. 23 to announce the $2,096,000 Stewardship Fund purchase of 1,103 acres of forest lands from the Hovel family’s Conover-based Partners in Forestry Landowner Cooperative. The tract will be added to the holdings of the 232,000-acre Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest. |
| | Steve Petersen, superintendent, Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest | "It (acquisition of the 1,103-acre Hovel tract) is a valuable addition to the [Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest] property. It provides an important linkage to the public lands in the U.P. and it allows us to manage more on a landscape scale in larger blocks with less fragmentation. It protects the land and keeps it open to the public forever."
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Doyle announces ARRA funding for Rhinelander infrastructure projects
Stewardship Fund purchases 1,103-acre Land O’ Lakes tract for NH-AL expansion
Traveling across the Northwoods on his seventh annual "Up North Tour," Gov. Jim Doyle and his Cabinet entourage announced a number of major investments with far-reaching impacts for the regional economy.
The eight-day Aug. 19-26 Up North Tour was part of an ongoing annual effort by Doyle, a lifelong Lakeland area vacationer, to promote Wisconsin tourism, announce major state investments in local communities and bring Madison-based state government to Wisconsin's far-flung northern counties.
Doyle was joined in his travels by 12 Cabinet members, including Corrections secretary Rick Raemisch, Tourism secretary Kelli Trumble, Commerce secretary Richard "Dick" Leinenkugel, Workforce Development secretary Roberta Gassman, Transportation secretary Frank Busalacchi, Administration secretary Michael Morgan, Health Services secretary Karen Timberlake, Children and Family Services secretary Reggie Bicha, Department of Natural Resources secretary Matt Frank, Regulation and Licensing secretary Celia Jackson, Public Service Commission chair Eric Callisto and Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) secretary Antonio Riley.
Following their Aug. 19-23 tour of Vilas and Oneida counties, Doyle and his entourage traveled to Aug. 24-26 engagements in Butternut, Clam Lake, Cable, Washburn, Ashland, Delta, Superior, Barron, Bayfield and Hayward.
Rhinelander infrastructure
projects announced
Joined by Department of Commerce secretary Richard "Dick" Leinenkugel, Doyle made an Aug. 19 stop at the Rhinelander Fire Department, where he announced $33 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) economic stimulus funds to improve the city's infrastructure.
The city of Rhinelander will receive around $27.5 million for a new state-of-the-art water treatment plant and about $5.4 million for a new force main. Half of the $32,912,624 in funding comes from ARRA economic stimulus funds, with the other half provided by the state.
The new wastewater treatment plant facility will help accommodate population growth, address flood flows from peak storm events, meet new water quality standards and address deficiencies at the current plant. The new facility is expected to cut phosphorus discharge into the Wisconsin River by more than 70 percent and helps meet ARRA requirements that 20 percent of economic stimulus funds be spent on "green" projects. The new wastewater treatment plant will significantly reduce energy consumption and will recover heat from the wastewater treatment process to warm buildings.
The new force main will function as a biological treatment system and reduce the need for chemical additives.
The city of Rhinelander is also receiving $460,000 for the Rhinelander Fire Department's planned $910,000 fire station addition for ambulance services.
The project is one of 15 community projects receiving ARRA-funded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding from a $17,600,706 package the state has received to support economic and community development around the state.
The infrastructure projects are expected to create jobs for Rhinelander area construction and plumbing workers.
"I'm happy to be here in Rhinelander to announce major investments in the water system that will create local jobs and benefit local water infrastructure needs," Doyle said. "I'm also pleased to announce that with the help of the Recovery Act, the Rhinelander fire station will be constructing a new addition that will allow them to provide ambulance services to people in need in this community. These important projects, made possible through the Recovery Act, will help revitalize the local economy and benefit future generations."
Doyle thanked U.S. Rep. David R. Obey (D-7), of Wausau, for his Congressional leadership on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
"Because of Congressman Obey's leadership, Wisconsin is able to continue to expand investments in long-term economic growth in communities across Wisconsin," Doyle said.
Doyle stops at Conover, Lac du Flambeau
Doyle traveled to Conover on Aug. 20 to tour a section of U.S. Hwy. 45 that is being improved with ARRA economic stimulus grant monies. The project encompasses the repaving of Hwy. 45 north from Hwy. K to the Michigan state line.
On Aug. 21, Doyle traveled to Lac du Flambeau, where he and Cabinet members convened the third annual Governor's Tribal Luncheon to discuss Northwoods tribal issues with regional tribal and community leaders in a closed-to-the-public meeting.
"It's an opportunity to hear what the concerns are, what the issues are...," Doyle said. "It's an opportunity for tribal leaders to meet with Cabinet secretaries and talk. It's an opportunity to meet and talk and work out things before they come big problems."
Doyle said efforts at building open lines of communication between Madison and the state's various tribes have led to better relations between tribal and state leaders.
"I'm very proud of what we've accomplished in the last six years," Doyle said. "We have, I think, as good a relationship between state government and tribal governments as we've ever had in this state. I think the tribal leaders would agree with that ... If you think back to where we were 15 years ago or something, we've come a long way. To me, that's very important. Occasionally, the state and the tribes will have a difference of opinion and occasionally it will end up in court and all of that. But we all, I think, are really focused on how do make sure kids get a good education, how do we make sure we have an economy that is producing jobs ... to go work and make a decent living, how do we make sure people have health care in this state ... I think there's just a lot of common issues that we need to work together on."
Stewardship Fund purchase announced for NH-AL expansion
Doyle and Tourism secretary Kelli Trumble traveled to Land O' Lakes on Aug. 23 for a Sunday morning press conference announcing the $2,096,000 Stewardship Fund purchase of 1,103 acres of sustainably-managed diverse forest lands along the Ontonagon River and Palmer Lake, expanding the 232,000-acre Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest (NH-AL).
"The Stewardship Fund has been the single most important tool that we've had to preserve the Northwoods...," Doyle said, noting many paper company holdings are currently in the process of being subdivided and sold. "We have to do everything we can to try to keep big [land] holdings undeveloped as working forests where people can go and enjoy life ... We've done that very successfully and this is another major purchase that will help us with that."
Acquired at the cost of $1,900 per acre, the Land O' Lakes tract borders the Ottawa National Forest. The parcel is located six miles west of Hwy. M on Hwy. B. The section of the Ontonagon River passing through the tract is categorized as a trout stream.
"The Northern Highlands State Forest is one of the real treasures of Wisconsin and I am pleased ... to announce the purchase of valuable river frontage along a trout stream," Doyle said. "The Stewardship Fund is vital to protecting our great natural resources, from urban parks to untouched forests, and we are working hard to make sure everyone in Wisconsin can enjoy the outdoors."
Joe Hovel, spokesman for the Conover-based Partners in Forestry Landowner Cooperative, praised the land sale.
"The addition of these lands to the [Northern Highland-American Legion] State Forest preserves vital fish and wildlife habitat, protects a portion of the headwaters of the Ontonagon River, and creates a continuous habitat corridor through linkages of adjoining large forested blocks," said Hovel, who has owned and actively managed the Land O' Lakes parcel with his family since 1990. "The new addition contributes to the ecological stability of the Northwoods, with its high degree of biodiversity representing a number of different forest types and wetlands housing numerous plant and animal species, including Wisconsin's largest balsam fir. This purchase also offers great recreational potential to Wisconsin's residents and visitors, with opportunities for mountain biking, hiking, birding, hunting and fishing. This transaction fits well with the goals for conservation we had envisioned for this parcel and allows our family to pursue another equally important conservation project in the region. Anyone who knows me well is aware of my passion for protecting working forest lands and the multitude of benefits they provide to society."
Wisconsin's most-utilized Department of Natural Resources (DNR) property and one of the state's most popular destinations, the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest hosts over two million visitors annually at its various facilities in Vilas, Oneida and Iron counties.
NH-AL superintendent Steve Petersen said the tract is a good fit for the state forest.
The Hovel tract encompasses unimproved woodland split by Hwy. B in Land O' Lakes. Topography varies from rolling to level, with about 75 percent of the tract's 1,103 acres classified as upland woodland and 25 percent consisting of lowlands and surface water.
The property has a diversified forest cover of mainly mixed northern hardwoods, as well as pine, spruce, aspen, birch and scattered collections of swamp conifers and hardwoods.
The NH-AL borders the Hovel tract to the south, including portions of the Ontonagon River. The property is bordered to the north by Wisconsin Board of Commissioners land, which has frontage on Palmer Lake. The acquisition creates a corridor of public ownership that connects to Palmer Lake and almost touches the Wisconsin-Michigan state line and the Ottawa National Forest, an identified goal of the NH-AL State Forest Master Plan.
The tract fits well with the goals and objectives of the NH-AL's master plan, with the parcel becoming part of the Winegar Moraines Forest Production Management Area. The tract is slated for forestry management and public recreation.
Master Plan long-term objectives are to maintain and enhance existing stands of northern hardwoods to increase the age diversity, health and vigor of the forest. Other goals include the maintenance of early successional forest types where they occur and maintaining a diversity of forested and unforested wetlands.
Short term objectives for the tract include: active management on all forested types; development of forest types for a diversity of ages and stand sizes for aspen, white birch and northern hardwoods; and the retention and encouragement of yellow birch, white pine and hardwood components on aspen-dominated sites and areas where they presently exist.
"It's a valuable addition to the property," Petersen said of the 1,103-acre Hovel tract. "It provides an important linkage to the public lands in the U.P. and it allows us to manage more on a landscape scale in larger blocks with less fragmentation. It protects the land and keeps it open to the public forever."
Eric Johnson can be reached at ejohnson@lakelandtimes.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Saturday, September 05, 2009
Article comment by:
Clare Colella
Though I now live in California I was delighted to read this article and am grateful to Joe and Mary Hovel. I knew Joe and his family in Sun Prairie many years ago.
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