Community
FAIR MAPS COALITION
Please register your interest in participating in the
2022 FMC Activists' Strategy & Planning Meeting in Wausau on Saturday, January 14.
Rib Mountain Snowshoe Hikes
Hello to Friends of Rib Mountain State Park!
After two winters where we could not hold snowshoe hikes, it's finally HAPPENING again. We will be hosting two candlelight snowshoe hikes, one on Saturday, January 7, and the other on Saturday, February 4, from 5-7 p.m. Won't it be great to again be hosting them from the Friends Gathering Space! Lots of room, fireplace inside, campfire outside, heated restrooms, and smiling faces. What more could anyone want! And we have a great time hosting these fabulous hikes on our beautiful mountain in our very own Park!
As ...
MLK Celebration in Wausau
NAOMI is excited to be involved with the 2023 Martin Luther King (MLK) celebration, as well as the events being planned for Black History Month in February. But first the MLK Celebration. We are partnering with LPRC Diversity Consulting Services, LLC (La’Tanya Campbell) and other community organizations to celebrate and raise awareness of historical contributions made by Americans of African descent. This year’s theme is “Why it still matters.” The event will take place at the UWSP in Wausau, starting at 5:30 pm on 1/16/23. Food will be catered by ...
Mining Updates
You have seen many mining articles here in Middle Wisconsin this year with the Reef Deposit in the Town of Easton, just below the Eau Claire Dells and in Taylor County there is the Bend Deposit. We continue to encourage you to join our efforts on protecting the water. The following website will always have the most current information.
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Mines/Projects.html
You can click on the various tabs under Recent and Potential metallic Mining Projects in Wisconsin to learn more.
There are Notices of Intent to Drill on both the Reef and the ...
A Water Protectors Christmas
Who would ever have thought that the passion and the dream of one couple would evolve into a strong, and beautiful coalition of water protectors. The Coalition to Save the Menominee River, some of you may know it as "The Back Forty Mine." Today was a time for friendships, and good food. Along with everything else, we have a talented group of musicians. It was our honor to present Dale and Lea Jane with a plaque for their dedication and hard work.
Hot Evaluation
Let’s look at the results generated from the first 6 months of the latest version of Wausau’s Homeless Outreach Team (HOT), presented to the City’s Public Health and Safety Committee recently.
This is based on their assumption there are 30-50 unhoused Wausonians.
20 have been engaged with by their outreach specialist.
Of those twenty, four have been “successfully housed”.
That would mean 25% of the people engaged with found a place while only 13% of all unhoused did, using the number 30.
There is no mention of the number of engageme...
What Children (and Everyone Else) Need to Read
What Children (and Everyone Else) Need to Read
Join us Tuesday, December 13 at 6 PM for In Your Own Backyard. We will watch a Ted Talk and discuss Book banning. Recently book banning affected the Marathon County Public Library.
Children’s author, Donna Jo Napoli, has received over 23 book awards most notably from the Parents’ Choice Silver Honor for her book “North” and “The King of Mulberry Street”. She was the keynote speaker in November, 2011, at the United Nations “Awake Not Sleeping” program which honored the collection of feminist fairy ...
Knock it Off With the Greenwashing
I must commend the many people who are stepping up to the plate in Marathon County with concerns about their drinking water. Recently Green Light Metals has again tried to put themselves in the forefront saying they are here for the green economy. Marathon County residents are too smart to be “green-washed.”
The Inflation Reduction Act itself is not a cure-all for bad mining practices of the past. I only hope the IRA monies will go for education and technology. Let’s try to learn better and less invasive techniques for mining, not hand out subsidies to mining ...
Leave Rib Mountain Alone
In 2018, 5,000 signatures were collected to oppose the proposed Granite Peak ski hill expansion on Rib Mountain State Park. Did someone not hear the voice of the people?
Fast-forward to now, 2022, the DNR released the Rib Mountain State Park Master Plan Revision, allowing an additional 100 acres for the ski hill expansion.
Rib Mountain, without a doubt, is one of Wisconsin’s most precious resources. It is a gem – a wonder – and it is right in our backyard. Rather than preserving and protecting the very fragile natural environment that exists on this ...
Happy 10-Year Anniversary Middle Wisconsin
As we move toward the end of another year, I find myself reflecting…..
I received the greatest phone call one night. It was my activist buddy Matt. I hadn’t heard from him in a year or so. Times and causes change, people change interests, people move. This was a flood of memories for both of us from Act 10 to the early days of Middle Wisconsin. Matt, his wife, Jen, and I go way back. There was a trip to the Penokees once with nothing but a bag of honey crisp apples. To this day, those were without a doubt the best apples I ever ate. We talked about everything ...