Environmental Advocacy Organizations

Wisconsin's Green Fire

https://wigreenfire.org/
Wisconsin’s Green Fire supports the conservation legacy of Wisconsin  by promoting science-based management of Wisconsin’s natural resources.  Voices for Conservation was established in 2017 in response to  recent developments at the state and national level that threaten  science-based practices and long-term vision in natural resources  management. Once regarded as a national leader in conservation,  Wisconsin’s proud tradition of dedicated stewardship of its land,  waters, and wildlife has been severely compromised. A new organization,  Wisconsin’s Green Fire: Voices for Conservation (WGF), now seeks to  reclaim that tradition of leadership for a new generation, providing the  research that will help preserve the state’s clean water, clean air,  and healthy ecosystems.

Gathering Waters Conservancy

http://gatheringwaters.org/

The  mission of Gathering Waters Wisconsin’s Alliance for Land Trusts' is to  help land trusts, landowners and communities protect the places that  make Wisconsin special. The organization helps protect Wisconsin’s  special places and grow healthy, vibrant communities by strengthening  Wisconsin’s land trusts.

    Gathering Waters strengthens Wisconsin’s land trusts by advocating for  funding and policies that support land conservation and fostering a  community of practice that promotes land trust excellence and  advancement.

     GW notes that the value of this work can be measured in the thousands  of jobs and billions of dollars generated annually through tourism,  outdoor recreation, forestry and agriculture; residents have cleaner air  and water because of protected wetlands and forests; plants and animals  are more resilient to changing conditions; and outdoor places and  adventures are available close to home, accessible to people from all  walks of life, ages and interests.

Science on Tap Minocqua

http://www.scienceontapminocqua.org/


This monthly series hosted by Minacqua Brewery provides a forum where the  public engages experts in an informal, two-way conversation about  important issues of the day.  Speakers provide 15 or 20-minutes of  opening remarks, then the floor is opened for questions, letting the  audience join the conversation. The result is a dynamic, engaging  community gathering. Archived Videos can be accessed here. 


Just one example:  In April 2019 Patrick Goggin of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin-Extension Lakes gave an informative presentation on how to create shoreland plantings that provide food and cover habitat for aquatic life, curb shoreland erosion and provide a buffer in which wildlife can flourish. 

Wisconsin Shoreline Initiative

http://wisconsinshoreland.org

   The Wisconsin Shoreland Initiative was formed by lake associations in  the fall of 2015 to organize a response to the attack on our lakes and  rivers by legislative amendment to the state budget. That amendment  ended years of informed, data driven regulation through local control of  riparian property. This group raises funds to take legal action against  the State for its violation of the Wisconsin Public Trust Doctrine. Learn more.

River Alliance of Wisconsin

https://www.wisconsinrivers.org


Core Principles: to pursue clean water for all with passion and determination; to be a credible voice on water policy and public engagement; to hold public agencies accountable to safeguard water; to believe in the power of grassroots action and engage people in activities to inspire water stewardship.

Citizens Against the Back Forty Mine

https://www.facebook.com/pg/nobackfortymine/about/?ref=page_internal


Concerned citizens who are fighting a proposed open pit sulfide mine  that's planned for the banks of the Menominee River, the river that forms the border between Michigan and Wisconsin.

Featured book of 2019

Oneida County author Ted J. Rulseh  shares his love and knowledge about our beloved freshwater lakes. The  editor and publisher of several books on the Great Lakes region, he is  the author of On the Pond: Lake Michigan Reflections, and writes the  newspaper column "The Lake Where You Live" for the River News of Rhinelander, Wisconsin.


"Your  lake is an intertwining world," Rulseh says. "It's in the water, in the  sand, gravel, rocks, and muck of the bottom; it's on the surface and in  the air above; it is along the shoreline—a belt of land incredibly rich  in life. Just as important is what you can’t see: the physical,  biological, and chemical processes that determine, for example, how many  and what kinds of fish live in the lake, which plants grow there and  how profusely, the color and clarity of the water, and how soon the ice  forms in winter and melts in spring.


"I’m not a lake scientist," Rulseh continues, "just  someone who loves lakes, cares about them deeply, and has studied them  in high school and college courses, in books and magazines and online  sources, and through personal experiences. I grew up in Two Rivers,  Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Michigan, but I found inland lakes more  captivating than the big lake, more accessible and inviting, especially  those in the northern regions. The fascination took hold from the first  time my family vacationed in a rustic lakefront cabin in the big woods  of Upper Michigan, back when I was nine years old.


"I now live on Birch  Lake," he says, "180 acres of water, deepest point 27 feet, in the glacial lake  country of north central Wisconsin. No doubt you have enjoyed lakes in  many of the same ways. Now I invite you to look deeper at the forces  that shape lakes and the life that abounds in them.


"I hope this book helps you know your lake more intimately, and come to love and  appreciate it even more than you do today."


A Lakeside Companion is published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

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