Wisconsin
Climate change threatens the viability of wild rice on Wisconsin’s Spur Lake. Tribal leaders and conservationists are working to restore it.
Wisconsin’s Spur Lake in Oneida County was once abundant with wild rice, but two decades ago it all but disappeared. Tribal leaders and conservationists have been working in recent years to restore the grain known as manoomin in the Ojibwe language.
Carly Lapin is the district ecologist for North Central Wisconsin for the Department of Natural Resources’ Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation. A couple of years after she took on that role in 2014, she heard concerns about the decline of wild rice on Spur Lake, a state natural area in Oneida County.
Historically, the site was important to tribal communities in the Mole Lake area who used to travel there for the annual harvest into the 1990s, Lapin said. Today there is hardly any rice on the lake, she said — but she and others from across the state are working to reverse that trend.
In 2019, the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science and some members of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts approached the DNR to create a climate adaptation workshop on Spur Lake.
That became a launching point to consider restoring wild rice under different climate conditions.
Since then, Lapin said the group has worked on removing beaver dams from the outlet creek, sampled the lake to understand the current vegetation and looked into infrastructure improvements. They also hired a contractor to do a hydrologic study of the lake going downstream to understand the history of the site and how it has changed over time.
“One thing I’ve learned is that I really didn’t have a good grasp on how sensitive wild rice or Manoomin is to climate change, and how much stewardship is really required for that species,” she said, as well as “how important it is to all sorts of local people and what sorts of partnerships and collaborations we can form to try and improve conditions and be better stewards for wild rice.”
Climate change, excess rainfall complicates wild rice restoration efforts
Through the contractor’s study, Lapin added, the team gained a better understanding of forces driving the decline in rice, most notably human-caused climate change. Warmer winters have reduced the lake’s ice cover, which means that while some vegetation such as lily pads thrive, other species such as wild rice can’t compete.
Water levels on the lake have risen and are now far higher than wild rice needs to flourish.
Scott Van Egeren, a water resource management specialist with the DNR, called the work an “amazing project” from a cultural, historical and ecological perspective. Wild rice is an important food source to humans and animals including water fowl, geese, swans and ducks.
Yet the unpredictability of climate change also complicates their research efforts.
“We want to understand how much we can restore it, given the constraints that climate change is putting on us at this point. And that may be that it’s hard to do because of changing hydrology,” Van Egeren said.
He said that while there is a 12-year fluctuation in groundwater levels in Wisconsin, even from 2010 to 2020 when water levels would have risen, the amount of wild rice plunged. This year, the water level has waned amid a dry summer, but the wild rice remains sparse, and it wasn’t always that way.
“If you can imagine the field of rice,” he said, “now it’s just a lake covered in lily pads.”
Nathan Podany, the tribal hydrologist for the SokaogonSokaogon Chippewa Community, said no rice harvest on the lake has occurred since about 2003.
“Due to humans moving in and different types of infrastructure severing connections such as roadways, culverts, and then just people living alongside some of these lakes, changing nutrient regimes, jet skis and boards adding wind and wave action that can easily rip up plants,” Podany said, “its extent across the state and region is somewhat limited now.”
He said excess rainfall can also spell trouble, as researchers are seeing brown spot fungal disease more frequently, something that occurs on hot and humid days and can wipe out wild rice.
The site has a rich history.
“I heard stories from elders stating that the last chief would actually shuttle committee members to the lake so they could camp along the side and harvest rice,” Podany said.
Podany said after clearing vegetation and debris, the DNR and Sokaogon Chippewa community prescribed four different circumstances for three different experimental plots on the lake. What became the Spur Lake Working Group purchased rice from Mole Lake and seeded it onto Spur Lake.
Lapin, the DNR ecologist, said this year rice has grown on the plots they seeded, but it’s still early in the project. If successful, their work could inform future DNR projects, but every site is different.
“At this point, everybody’s watching to see what happens,” Lapin said. “We’ll be collecting data for a couple seasons to see what the results are.”
Preview: No.5 Wisconsin meets No.4 UCLA in Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals
No.5 Wisconsin (24-8, 13-7 Big Ten) vs. No.4 UCLA (22-9, 13-7 Big Ten)
Date/Time – Friday, March 14, 1:30 p.m.
Arena – Gainbridge Fieldhouse (18,345)
Watch – Big Ten Network (Guy Haberman, Stephen Bardo, Rick Pizzo)
Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius 106 or 195, stream online on iHeartRadio.
Series – UCLA leads 6-2 (UCLA leads 2-0 in neutral sites)
Last Meeting – UCLA won, 85-83, on January 23, 2025, in Los Angeles
Follow Online: The Badgers’ Den
Twitter: @Badger_Blitz
Betting line: Wisconsin -1.0
Projected Starting Five (Wisconsin)
Player to Watch: On only five shot attempts, Winter posted 18 points in Wisconsin’s Thursday win over Northwestern, matching the second-highest output of his career. Winter drew nine fouls, went a career-best 9-for-10 from the line, and added six rebounds in the 70-63 victory.
Projected Starting Five (UCLA)
Player to watch: Earning third-team All-Big Ten honors, Bilodeau leads UCLA in scoring and three-point shooting percentage (41.2 percent, 35-for-85). He has scored in double figures in 23 of 30 games this year, including scoring 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting earlier this season against the Badgers.
Series Notes
This will be the first postseason matchup between the two schools.
The Bruins have won the last six meetings, including neutral wins in the 1995 Maui Invitational and the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic.
Wisconsin Notes
With 24 wins, this season already equals the 11th-highest win total in Wisconsin history and the third-highest under Greg Gard. Another win would give the Badgers 25 wins for the third time under Gard and the 11th time in the last 22 seasons.
The Badgers are 16-8 against the top two quadrants of the NET rankings, going 6-7 in Quad 1 and 10-1 in Quad 2. UW is one of nine schools with 16+ Quad 1/2 wins.
Wisconsin is 10-5 away from home, including a mark of 6-5 in true road games and 4-0 in neutral site contests. Over the last two seasons, UW is 9-2 in neutral site games. Only two Major Conference teams have a better winning percentage in neutral site games over the last two seasons: Auburn and 2024 National Champion UConn.
Northwestern shot 37.0 percent from the field Thursday, the Badgers’ lowest by an opponent since holding Nebraska to 33.9 percent shooting on Jan. 26. UW is 10-2 this season when holding teams below 40 percent.
The Badgers finished the game with 10 turnovers against the Wildcats, marking the 20th game with 10 or fewer turnovers this season. UW is 16-4 in those games.
UCLA Notes
Through games played on March 11, the Bruins ranked No. 23 in the country in scoring defense (65.1 ppg), No. 17 in turnovers forced per game (15.3), and No. 8 in turnover margin (+4.5).
Through March 11, the Bruins ranked No. 8 in the nation in turnover margin (+4.5), having committed 334 turnovers and forced 474 turnovers by the opposition.
Nine of UCLA’s 10 rotation players have totaled more assists than turnovers through 31 games. Clark (87 assists, 35 turnovers) has recorded a team-best 2.5 assist-turnover ratio. Including Clark, the Bruins have three guards with an assist-turnover ratio better than 2.0-to-1 (Dylan Andrews and Johnson).
Johnson has been named a Big Ten All-Defensive Team selection (one of five), currently ranking sixth in the league in steals per game (1.7 spg, 53 steals in 31 games). Johnson, who hails from Milwaukee, earned Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors as a sophomore in 2023 and junior in 2024.
The Bruins’ bench has outscored the opposition in 22 of 31 games this season (16-6 record in those 22 games). Sophomore Sebastian Mack has played in all 31 games, entering off the bench in 30 games. Mack has averaged 9.8 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 73.8 percent at the free throw stripe.
Prediction
Before Saturday’s clunker against Penn State, Wisconsin’s last poor defensive effort came at Pauley Pavilion against the Bruins. The Badgers shot 51.0 percent from the field, 15-for-30 from three, and 18-for-21 from the line and lost by two. The reasons were simple: the Badgers committed 13 turnovers, saw the Bruins shoot 50.9 percent, and were picked apart by their ball-screen defense against reserves Sebastian Mack and Aday Mara. That latter fact resulted in 23 fouls as the Badgers were out of position and forced to chase and reach.
Mack scored 19 against the Badgers and hasn’t scored more than 14 since. Mara had 22 and also hasn’t scored more than 14 since playing UW. Crowl and Winter have seemed to be consistently outworked by true centers all season. Mara’s on that list with the Michigan combination of Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf, Oregon’s Nate Bittle, Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler, and Penn State’s Yanic Konan Niederhauser. It’s optimistic to say UW has grown in the department, but the performances against Bittle, Kohler, and Niederhauser have come in the last three weeks. However, those three players are better than Mara.
UCLA has won 11 of its last 14 games and is quietly peaking at the right time. However, the Badgers don’t appear to have the same offensive rhythm as they did the last time these two teams met in Westwood. Furthermore, UW’s stellar defensive performance Thursday comes with the caveat that Northwestern was really beat up with injuries. UCLA hung 93 on USC in the season finale to claim the final double bye.
Initially planning to pick Wisconsin based on the Badgers getting their feet under them with their victory over the Wildcats, I feel UW’s offense won’t be able to crack UCLA’s tough defense.
Worgull’s Prediction: UCLA by 6
Record: 25-7 (23-9 ATS)
Points off Prediction: 267 (8.3 per game)
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Wisconsin
Calling all cheese lovers: University of Wisconsin – River Falls now offers a cheesemaking course
From cheddar to swiss, Wisconsin is known for the craft of queso.
Now, University of Wisconsin-River Falls runs a cheesemaking course at its on-campus dairy plant.
“In Wisconsin, the cheese industry. The dairy industry is an over 50 billion dollar industry,” said Michael Orth, Dean of the University’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.
The “gouda” thing, is University of Wisconsin-River Falls is developing those already in or who want to work in that industry with their Cheesemaker’s Short-Course.
“They’re seeing samples of the cheese, they can see it, taste it, smell it,” said Rueben Nilsson, UWRF’s dairy pilot plant manager.
They learn the process, work the equipment, discuss the science and technical aspects of making cheese in a five day course.
The plant is made possible by names like Culver’s, Land O’ Lakes and more that students can actually get that hands-on experiential experience.
“I’m a parm girl,I love parm through and through,” said senior Makenzie Skibbie.
Skibbie has family is in the business and took the course to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
“Wisconsin’s the only one that requires you to have a license to make cheese. So for me, going into these classes, it gives me a head step going into the industry,” Skibbie told WCCO.
“We’re passing on knowledge and raising the bar for the quality of cheese,” Nilsson said.
If you want to try out these cheese that’s produced by students, it’s all available at the on-campus Freddy’s Dairy Bar.
To learn more about the course, visit the university’s website.
Wisconsin Badgers Perfect Class of 2026 Recruiting Class: Version 2.0
Below is the second look at what a perfect recruiting class could look like for Wisconsin in 2026. A perfect class doesn’t necessarily mean landing all the top players UW has offered. It is more realistic than that – it fills needs and gives fans the stars they desperately want. This is the best case scenario with players the Badgers have a legitimate chance with.
Twenty-three scholarship seniors are projected to graduate at the end of the 2025 season, but it’s difficult to project exactly how many spots will open up.
QUARTERBACK (1)
Wisconsin probably needs two quarterbacks in the 2026 class, but the Badgers are operating like one is the goal. Ryan Hopkins, who was in Madison this fall, is expected to visit in this spring and again in late May for an official. UW and Missouri are believed to be the two schools to watch moving forward. Travis Burgess is close behind after a junior-day visit earlier this month.
Others considered: Travis Burgess, Peyton Falzone, Brodie McWhorter
RUNNING BACK (2)
Wisconsin did not sign a running back in 2025, so the class will be a priority in 2026. Amari Latimer is a long-time target for the Badgers, who signed his older brother, cornerback Geimere Latimer, via the transfer portal. He is expected to visit during the last weekend in May. Jamal Rule is a relatively new offer who has already scheduled an official visit with the Badgers.
Others considered: Ryan Estrada, Taariq Denson
WIDE RECEIVERS (4)
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