Southern Kettle Moraine Land Purchase Approved by DNR Board

By John Berge

The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recommended, and the DNR Board approved, the purchase of 100 acres of property in Waukesha County to connect two blocks of state land in the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest. Purchase price for this land was listed as $569,913. It is one of six blocks of land the DNR wants to purchase this year across the state covering 1,000 acres and costing about $2.5 million from the Stewardship Fund.

Purchase of the land was not a done deal at the time this article was submitted since the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee has indicated that it wants to review at least one of these six blocks of land. At least two members of the Committee objected to one or more of the projects. Without objection from the Committee, stewardship purchases are automatically approved 14 days after the DNR Board approves.

The objection may involve one of the other purchases or, as is frequently the case, may only be an effort of Finance Committee members to receive more information from the DNR.

While this purchase would not be in the Southeast Gateway Group area, it would be in the area that the Sierra Club's Environmental Public Education Campaign (EPEC) has been working on to increase the continuity of the Kettle Moraine State Forest around the Ice Age Trail and fit into the Sierra Club's Anti-Sprawl Campaign. Rosemary Wehnes, who has been working on this Campaign will be our speaker at our General Meeting on November 15 and will be able to bring us up to date at that time.

Calendar:

October 6: Highway 38 Clean-up. Meet at Bob and Betty Gericke's house, 3927 North Lane, just off Highway 38 north of Highway K, at 9:00 a.m. for issuance of equipment and assignment of territory. A pot-luck lunch follows. We were short a few people last time so let's show up this time with sufficient numbers and enthusiasm. Call John or Lila Berge (262) 633-8455 with any questions you might have.

October 11: SEGG Executive Committee Meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, corner of Durand Avenue and Pritchard Drive in Racine. All SEGG meetings, both general and ExCom, are open to all.

October 12-14: John Muir Chapter Annual Meeting at Camp Helen Brachman near Waupaca, Wisconsin. See the September/October Muir View for registration form, deadlines, map and details.

October 18: General Meeting of the Southeast Gateway Group at Messiah Lutheran Church, corner of Durand Avenue and Pritchard Drive in Racine, starting at 7:00 p.m. Allison Werner will speak on the recently formed Watershed Initiative Network (WIN). See the article on page four for more information.

November 1: Deadline for the December/January issue of the Southeast Sierran.

November 8: Southeast Gateway Group Executive Committee Meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, corner of Durand Avenue and Pritchard Drive in Racine. 

November 15: General Meeting of the Southeast Gateway Group. Speaker: Rosemary Wehnes, Conservation Organizer working in the southeast Wisconsin area under a Sierra Club Environmental Public Education Campaign grant. She will be talking on what has been accomplished this year and what needs to be done. Place: Kenosha Northside Library, 1500 27th Avenue. Time: 7:00 p.m.

November 15: Deadline for submission of ballots for the SEGG ExCom. Bring Ballots to the regular meeting detailed above or mail as instructed on ballot before this date.

December 8: John Muir Chapter Executive Committee in Baraboo, WI.

December 13: Southeast Gateway Group Executive Committee Meeting, 7:00 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, corner of Durand Avenue and Pritchard Drive in Racine. This meeting is for both the newly elected ExCom members as well as those serving in the year 2001.

December 20: This month's General Meeting is our Holiday Party with a pot-luck supper, a "lighter" program, special awards and a report from the student winner of our 2001 Green Award.

January 19: Annual Planning Day (delayed a week in order to avoid a conflict with the John Muir Chapter Executive Committee meeting on January 12). All active and would-be-active members of the Southeast Gateway Group are invited to attend part or all of this event in which we try to schedule the events for the coming year.


From Your Legislative Watchdog:

The Bush Administration is fulfilling its campaign pledges to generous corporations and doing everything possible to destroy the safeguards against environmental damage. Breaking his campaign promise, the President is allowing industry to continue to spew the same amount of carbon dioxide into the air and arsenic into our drinking water. 

Bush refuses to cooperate in the global effort to combat global warming for which he is roundly criticized by almost all developed nations who are trying their best to establish regulations such as the Kyoto Accord to reduce emissions. We, the selfish Americans (no other word is realistic) continue to pollute to support our industry and our lives of greedy self-indulgence.

No doubt we ourselves will escape the worst consequences of global warming, but do we care nothing for the world we are leaving our children and grandchildren a world devoid of ancient forests (no, tree farms are no substitute), where coral reefs are almost all dead, and the ocean is over fished and overexploited with no regard, for example, for the welfare of those intelligent creatures, the whales? We are willing to disrupt their peace and their system of communication with a worldwide underwater system of noise in the name of military defense against submarines. What submarines?

And now the holy of holies, the last bastion of totally unspoiled wilderness, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), is under attack for a few gallons of oil. No, no drilling can be allowed here if the ANWR is to retain its pristine character.

By the way, our congressman, Paul Ryan, voted to open a portion of the ANWR to oil exploration. He also voted for the tax rebate to pay for which Bush had to dip many billions of dollars into the Social Security surplus. What happened to Ryan's promises re the "lock box" for Social Security funds?

If up to now you have resolved to keep out of dirty politics and not be politically active to protect what you value, maybe it's time to rethink that pattern of life before it is too late forever.


From the Chair: Population

By Nita Larsen

"Population and the Urban Future" is the theme of World Population Awareness Week (WPAW), to be held October 21Ð27.

Coordinated by the Population Institute, WPAW is an annual educational campaign designed to create public awareness of rapid world population growth, the detrimental effects they have on the planet and its inhabitants, and the urgent action needed to change this situation.

The week will focus on the stresses placed on urban dwellers by burgeoning population, especially in developing countries.

Within five years, half of the world's 5.1 billion people will live in urban areas, and by 2030, it is projected to increase to 60 percent of the world's human numbers.

Rapid urban migration is a looming problem in the 21st century. With increasing numbers of people moving to urban areas in search of a better life, cities, particularly in developing countries, are unable to meet their basic needs of shelter, water, food, health care and education, according to a report from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

from "POPLINE" by Mahin Karim


Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network 

The Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Project (WIN )is a not-for-profit watershed-based effort which awards grants to projects within its watershed. 
WIN's Vision: 

Foster the Root-Pike and adjacent Lake Michigan watersheds where the integrity of the land, water, and air resources are protected and enhanced, while maintaining the strength and sustainability of the regional economy, and contributing to the health and social well being of all community members. 
WIN's Mission: 

To protect, restore, and sustain the ecosystem in the watersheds through the funding and facilitation of a regional network locally-initiated projects.

Submitted projects are assigned to an appropriate Task Group. The Task Groups review each project, with the applicant, to assure a quality project is the result. Projects need to accomplish WIN's mission and vision and support the objectives of our Task Groups.

WIN's four Task Groups are: 1) Agricultural and Urban Pollution Prevention; 2) Communication and Education; 3) Land-use and Protection; 4) Water Resources.

WIN is also in need of more volunteers that have an interest in reviewing projects with other Task Group members. Volunteers serve on at least one Task Group and are also a part of the Resource Group (all four Task Groups). The Resource Group meets twice a year (April and November) to determine which projects are recommended for funding. The Task Groups meet once a month, on average. 

For more information about WIN or grant materials contact: Allison Werner, 2043 Green Street, Racine, WI 53402, (262) 638-0482, fax (262) 638-0454, e-mail: rootpikewin@yahoo.com