2011 was banner year for Chapter accomplishment

HERITAGE CHAPTER
December 2011
Mine continues to concern many;
Assembly vote may be in January
Pictured here are members of one of the groups formed at the League of
Conservation Voters meeting in Madison, Wisconsin on October 19th. The
group, with Senator Michael Ellis (front left), had an assignment of 3-5 legislators to visit and deliver their message that current mining laws and regulations
should be used to process any future mining proposals and applications.
Latest News
According to the web site WisPolitics, an iron ore mining bill will be
introduced in the Assembly the first week of December. An Assembly
vote on this bill is likely to take place sometime in January. The Senate
Mining Committe continues its work with no bill drafted as yet.
Much has happened since our August North Country Trail News relating
to the huge open pit iron mine that
may be permitted in Iron and Ashland
Counties. Several lobbying efforts
have been made in Madison by various interests and one Assembly Bill
was unveiled and became the subject
of a hearing in the State Capitol in
October.
Among the most interesting of
events included a large gathering of
persons at a lobbying effort October
19th sponsored by the State’s League
of Conservation Voters. Speakers discussed the various aspects of the
mine proposal and legislative efforts to
see it approved. Following that, the
groups then broke up to visit legislators who are key to whether or not
current environmental regulations will
be changed to accommodate the interests of the Gogebic Taconite Company, the proponent of the 4-mile long
open pit mine. The main thrust of the
League’s efforts was to ask legislators
to use current environmental regulations to evaluate any proposal submitted for mining.
A week later, the State Assembly
held a hearing on AB 24 which, ostensibly, wasn’t a ‘mining” bill but which
would make significant changes in
(Continued on page 4)
Volume 17, Number 3
2011 was banner
year for Chapter
accomplishment
Thanks to excellent volunteer turnout and the help of the Brule/St. Croix
Roving Crew, the Chapter had a really
great four additional work events covering August through November. It
added greatly to the accomplishments
of the first four months of the year,
April through July, making 2011 one of
the best years yet for volunteer turnout
and accomplishments..
Chapter President Michael Stafford
says that, “the willingness of volunteers to come forth and our other
Chapter members to support us has
really made 2011 one of our best
years since I’ve been working on the
NCT.” Chapter membership has been
stable and for most work events this
year there were from 6-12 volunteers
coming out to help us maintain our trail
and build new trail.
The August work event was the
exception for volunteer turnout this
year. Joe Kravetz, from Ironwood, was
the sole volunteer August 20 and 21.
He worked alone and cleared deadfalls and ran his weed whacker on the
Uller Trail section east of Weber Lake
County Park and west from Valley
Road . Heavy winds and summer
vegetative growth require maintenance
of the entire trail annually or it will become impassable or indistinguishable
for users.
The turnout in September, for a
joint work weekend with the Chequamegon Chapter was quite large. The
really perfect weather on Saturday,
September 17, encouraged
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2
Chapter finishes off year with four productive weekends
quested to visit the BRWA website at group continued to cut in the trail corri(Continued from page 1)
dor from Copper Falls State Park east18 volunteers to clear and paint-blaze badriverwatershed.org and review
ward while the other group began to
nearly two miles of new North Country their purpose, goals, and work. You
build tread on the portion of the trail
can follow their
running between Casey Sag Road and
involvement in
Upson Lake.
the mining proRegional NCTA Trail Coordinator
posal by accessing their website. for Wisconsin Bill Menke and Bob and
Jane Leedle re-flagged the Copper
Chapter President Mike Staf- Falls eastbound section of the trail just
ford thanked the prior to the weekend which was appreciated greatly by Chapter President
Chequamegon
Chapter for their Mike Stafford. Bill stayed over and
camped with the crew Friday night and
large turnout,
gave a trail tread construction demonhard work and
high enthusiasm stration prior to their departure for the
day’s work.
A full moon
Volunteers including Mike Duchek,
shone
on
the
The food spread is out on the table for the September volunJoe
Kra-vetz, Travis O’Neill, Jon
camping
volunteers to enjoy at the Saturday evening picnic. September
Marifke,
Bob McDonald, Todd McMateers
in
October
was a joint work project with the Chequamegon Chapter.
along with some hon (TMan), Michael Stafford, Nick
Both Chapters have set up one joint event each year for
Thierer, Alicia Truchon, Dale Yerkes,
quite a few of the past years. Work sites are alternated be- of the best
and
Gaylord Yost all turned out for the
weather
of
the
tween each chapter’s work areas.
year. As in Sep- weekend.
Trail being built from Copper Falls
The weather again welcomed our
tember, the volunteers were numerous
State Park east toward the Iron County enough to split into two groups. One
(Continued on page 3)
line. This huge work party split into two
groups. One started in Copper Falls
NCTA Director of Trail Development visits Chapter area
Park and worked east. The other
group started working from near Will
Road and worked west.
The goal was for the two work parties to meet in the middle of the section being constructed. However, a
steady rain on Sunday shortened the
workday but the crew were able to
clear and blaze another half mile of
trail.
As usual, Saturday night brought
forth the evening cookout at the Copper Falls State Park pavilion. A guest
speaker from the Bad River Watershed Association (BRWA) gave an
informative presentation on their studies of water quality in the Bad River
and how to protect it. This study has
Andrea Ketchmark, NCTA’s Director of Trail Development (far right) visited the Heribeen ongoing since 2002.
tage Chapter in November. Andrea has been trying to familiarize herself with the
BRWA Executive Director, Michele
entire 2400 miles of the trail and has been visiting the various chapter and affiliate
Wheeler spoke and appealed to the
areas since she began work with the NCTA. Her visit to the Heritage area included
participation in building a boardwalk and constructing trail tread on the Casey Sag/
volunteers present to sign a petition to
Upson Lake trail segment. Shown with Andrea are two volunteer students (l. to r.
the Wisconsin Legislature to continue
to protect current state water quality by Brytne Greenough and Arhely Bermudez) from Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. A group of six students from the school helped in trail work during the weekkeeping the current applicable laws
end. The warm weather made for a very bug-free enjoyable weekend with plenty of
and regulations. Members are relong views of the surrounding wilderness and hills since forest hardwoods had shed
their leaves.
3
2011 accomplishments
A Heartfelt Thanks
(Continued from page 2)
Chapter volunteers in November and
fully cooperated. The two days couldn’t
have been better and 17 volunteers
took full advantage of their time in the
beautiful north woods. Northland College student volunteers included
Stephanie Apodaca, Arhely Bermudez,
Cassie Brown, Kevin Etlicher, Brytne
Greenough, and Adam Zais. Other
volunteers included Lee Dammann,
Mike Duchek, Joe Kravetz, Travis
O’Neill, Mike Stafford, Nick Thierer,
Dan Willshire, Dale Yerkes, and Gaylord Yost.
Three work crews were put together
for Saturday‘s work. One crew headed
by NCTA Regional Trail Coordinator
Bill Menke worked on the construction
of two boardwalks on the Casey Sag/
Upson Lake segment. The lumber was
delivered on Friday and a portable
generator and bench saw were used to
saw the lumber to the right boardwalk
dimensions. Lumber was stored on the
site for a second boardwalk which will
be built in 2012.
The two other crews worked on
clearing and mowing the trail extensions from Copper Falls State Park.
heading east. Dan Willshire headed
one crew and Travis O’Neill the other.
The Saturday night cookout included
entertainment by Kevin Etlicher and
his acoustic guitar
On Sunday, two crews worked with
one using a GPS to record the trail
corridor east to Stricker Road and the
other mowing and brushing another
new section near the Bad River canyon. And so the 2011 season came to
a close. Hopefully, 2012 will be another banner year.
I wish to thank all of the volunteers who helped make 2011 such a productive year. And a special thank you to Ben Bergey, Superintendent of
CFSP, for letting us park our tool trailer at Copper Falls for the summer
and for letting us camp during our work events, and to Mike Duchek for
letting us store the Chapter trailer and tools at his home for the winter .
More so now than at any time in my 12 years as a member, I can now
envision an unobstructed trail from Copper Falls State Park to the Wisconsin-/Michigan state line, (the entire length of the Heritage Chapter).
This vision wouldn’t have been possible without the consistent help of
our volunteers and our other members throughout the State.
Annual Planning Meeting
February 20 at 7:00 P.M.
Details will be sent to you at a later date.
Wisconsin North Country Trail News
Editor: Gaylord Yost
Mail news copy or questions to
P.O. Box 1013
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1013
Telephones—414-354-8987, 414-355-2842
Email - gaylyost@aol.com
Michael Stafford, President, Heritage Chapter, NCTA
Mining bills will require continued efforts by
public to maintain current environmental laws
As we go to press, we’ve had word
that an Assembly mining bill timeline
will be introduced December 8 with a
public hearing on the 15th. The Senate
Mining Committee continues a more
deliberate approach to draft its Bill. A
vote on the Assembly Bill may possibly
come in January.
We’ve again enclosed a draft letter
for readers to use to request their state
senator or assembly person to support
current mining environmental laws and
regulations and not to pass any legislation that weakens them. We are
hopeful that you will rise to the occasion and communicate again with the
Governor and legislators for their support for strong laws. You can make the
difference.
Chapter’s great photo
trove can be found on-line
A number of great photos of our
volunteers working on the NCT in Iron
and Ashland counties can all be found
at Mike Duchek’s Heritage Chapter
Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/
NCTinWI . NCTA member Todd
McMahon has posted a large number
of excellent photos at the following
link ;
http//sites.google.com/site/isawtman.
You can keep in touch with the activities of the Heritage Chapter members throughout the year by checking
out the Chapter page on the NCTA
web site www.northcountrytrail.org/htg
Kravetz and Willshire win Board’s Chapter award
Joe Kravetz and Dan Willshire, both
long time, loyal, and enthusiastic Chapter supporters, were
awarded the NCTA
Board of Director’s
Chapter/Affiliate Honor
Award in 2011.
Joe Kravetz hails
Joe Krevetz
from Ironwood, Michigan and has been part of the Heritage
Chapter’s volunteers for over 10 years.
Joe has excelled in keeping the trail
cleared and has worked on the trail on
his own time.
Dan Willshire has been making the
320 mile trip from Milwaukee to the
Hurley area for over 10 years. Dan is a
jack of all trades and has, at times, led
crews when the occasion presented itself.
Criteria for the Board
award state that it is
awarded to “an
individual or
Dan Willshire
household who
demonstrates loyalty, commitment
and hard work annually to the local
organization’s chosen activities.”
Chapter President Mike Stafford
thanked both men for their hard work
and commitment and congratulates
them for their well earned awards.
4
Proposed mine continues to preoccupy many people
rock formations threatens the waters
of the Bad River which flows into and
through their reservation to Lake Superior.
Meanwhile, the Iron County Board
of Supervisors passed a resolution in
favor of the DNR receiving the application from GTAC, Co. and permitting
the mine. A large contingent of Iron
County citizens were in Madison early
in November for a lobbying effort of
their own. The group’s thrust was to
convince legislators for the need for
the mine to bring jobs to the Iron
County area. A number of letters to the
editor of the Iron County Miner take
pro and con positions on a prospective
mine.
There continues to be strong pressure applied to the legislators to use
the current environmental regulations
when processing any application for
mines proposed for Wisconsin.
The NCTA position continues to be
that existing environmental laws and
regulations should not be weakened in
A crowd gathered to provide an Assembly Committee with opinions on
order to permit a single company to
Assembly Bill 24, a bill that would change existing regulations relating to
open a large open pit iron mine. We
structures and fill put into lakes, streams and wetlands. Testifying on October urge readers to provide their legisla26th at the hearing were over 300 individuals including Senators and Assem- tors with the same message. For your
bly persons. The hearing was of such interest that it forced the meeting to go convenience the accompanying letter
into the evening hours to provide time for all speakers.
can be addressed and signed .
(Continued from page 1)
the law relating to filling in wetlands,
streams, and lakes and the area, size,
and type of structures that could be
sited in lakes and streams. The bill
would change the current law for the
entire state, making it much easier for
someone with a mining proposal to
obtain permits relating to structures,
wetlands, streams, and lakes.
The hearing drew a very large turnout and testimony from speakers continued into the evening. Many were
opposed to what appeared to be
weakening the current law relating to
wetlands, streams, and lakes.
Also, late in October, the Assembly
Committee for Jobs, Economy, and
Small Business held a hearing in Hurley. This meeting was very well attended and there were a large number
of people speaking in favor of the mine
and the jobs it may bring to the area.
The Bad River Tribe, located at
Odanah, spokesperson was quite em-
phatic about how the Tribe felt about
the mine. It was plain that the Tribe will
be highly critical of any permit that
might be considered for a mine. The
potential for sulfide being found in the
Mine Information Web Sites
The web sites listed below contain additional information on the
proposed open pit mine in Ashland and Iron Counties or can be
used to contact your legislators
http://www.wuwm.com/programs/lake_effect/le_sgmt.php?segmentid=8283
http://www.wiseye.org/ (Search for Mining)
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/132959503.html
http://ashlandcurrent.com/article/11/11/10/penokee-photo-exhibit-opensMonday
https://www.facebook.com/groups/penokeemine/
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/up-pits-offer-perspective-onwisconsin-mine-proposal-e42rvni-133308968.html
http://northcountrytrail.org/htg/penokee.htm
http://www.badriverwatershed.org/
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/article_355dffac-ef9e-11e0-81b0001cc4c03286.html
govgeneral@wisconsin.gov
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/waml/waml.aspx
Dear
Please let me introduce myself. I am a volunteer who travels over 5 hours to give time, energy and
enthusiastic support to developing a wilderness hiking trail through Wisconsin’s remote north
woods. The North Country Trail is America’s longest National Scenic Trail stretching 4,600 miles
from New York to North Dakota, linking 7 states, 10 National Forests and more than 150 public
lands. The NCT provides year-round recreation opportunities as it traverses America’s North
Country. It is twice as long as its sister Appalachian National Scenic Trail in the Eastern part of our
country.
Wisconsin lays claim to the highest percentage of completed North Country Trail. In addition, Wisconsin offers hikers spectacular waterfalls, varied terrain, long vistas, and the ancient Penokee
Mountain range. The North Country Trail is featured on the National Park Service web site along
with Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier and other outstanding National Park tourism attractions. The
North Country Trail has the potential of attracting trail users, hikers, and tourists from all over the
nation and world to Wisconsin just as the famous Appalachian Trail does in the East.
My purpose in writing you today is to let you know that I am aware of the possibility of a mine
stretching 22 miles which may be developed in the close vicinity of the North Country Trail. It
would not be my wish to deny the local people, whom I have gotten to know in my various trips
over the years to work on the trail, a better standard of living. But I also recognize that if the strict
environmental standards now in place are not followed, this region may lose the recreational and
tourist industry that supports the population now. The enthusiastic tourists who are now coming to
capture some of the quiet and peace that the North Woods provides will be greatly affected by any
mine that does not comply with strict environmental regulations. These regulations will hopefully
protect long term tourism economic benefits long after the proposed mine is exhausted and
closed.
I ask that you would do your utmost to ensure that the current rigorous environmental standards
are followed and if that takes two years to study the effects of the mine and issue a permit, so be
it. The destruction that may result from improper and hasty decisions made when ripping into the
earth as a mine will do is forever.
Thank you for taking time to consider my concerns.