Wisconsin
Smith: Commission’s decision on solar farm likely dims future of prairie chickens in Wisconsin
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Prairie chicken booms and dances at Paul J. Olson Wildlife Area
Prairie chickens boom and dance on a lek at Paul J. Olson Wildlife Area near Wisconsin Rapids. Video from 2022
The plight of the greater prairie chicken in Wisconsin appears set to take a turn for the worse.
As a longtime advocate for the native bird, that’s a hard statement for me to write.
And although it does include assumptions and uncertainties, species experts say it’s the logical conclusion.
On Jan. 16 the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin issued a final decision approving plans for a solar farm adjacent to Buena Vista State Wildlife Area, a public property home to most of the state’s threatened prairie chickens.
The project as designed by Vista Sands Solar will be the state’s largest solar farm, generating up to 1,315 megawatts and covering at least 7,110 acres, or more than 10 square miles, in the Village of Plover and Towns of Grant, Plover, and Buena Vista in Portage County.
As the climate warms and our energy demands increase, the project got wide support for its potential to add substantial solar power to the grid.
However it was strongly opposed in the conservation community for its planned location and potential risks to prairie chickens.
The prairie chicken requires large grasslands, a rare habitat in 21st century Wisconsin. The vast majority of native prairie in the state has been converted to agricultural fields or other human developments.
And as the grasslands have declined so have the prairie chickens and dozens of other species dependent on the habitat. In 2024 the Department of Natural Resources counted just 288 male prairie chickens on 37 leks, also known as booming grounds or breeding sites, in the state.
All were on four state-owned properties in central Wisconsin, with 73% of the birds on Buena Vista.
Since prairie chickens have called a “bird of avoidance” due to their aversion for trees, buildings and overhead structures, the prospect of thousands of solar panels on land adjacent to the state’s largest remaining population of prairie chickens raised alarms among wildlife conservationists.
The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation led the charge and, largely through the efforts of George Meyer, a lawyer, former Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and former WWF executive director, intervened in the process.
The WWF forced the PSC and DNR to perform an Environmental Impact Statement on the proposal.
The process played out over the last 10 months or so, including multiple reports, legal proceedings and public hearings.
The WWF asked for the solar project to be no closer than one-half mile from the grasslands and one mile from any lek.
Concerns identified through the EIS led Vista Sands to modify several aspects, including removal of most overhead transmission lines.
And though the developer offered other concessions, including funding positions for two researchers at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and donating $2.1 million to help the DNR implement the state’s prairie chicken management plan, it largely dug its heels in on the location. As designed, it will be closer to Buena Vista than WWF recommended.
The PSC agreed with the company’s arguments and voted 3-0 in favor of the modified plan in December. The decision was finalized in the Jan. 16 written announcement.
Supporters of the project have said no study exists showing negative effects of a solar farm on prairie chickens. That is true.
Absence of a study, however, is simply that.
Peter Ziegler of Slinger, past president of the Society of Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus, Ltd. (Greater Prairie Chicken Society), said past experiences with the species indicates development so close to Buena Vista would likely push prairie chickens only one way – closer to their end in Wisconsin.
The WWF has 30 days to file an appeal to the PSC decision. Meyer said the organization is considering its options.
“The big issue is the distance the solar arrays are from the grasslands and the leks,” Meyer said. “It’s tough because we need more clean energy but we took this on to try to help keep as much undisturbed habitat as possible for the prairie chickens. We’re studying it and will make a decision (on a potential appeal) in the next couple weeks.”
No matter the outcome, everyone who loves prairie chickens owes the WWF and Meyer a thanks for their efforts in this case.
And If you haven’t seen prairie chickens dance on a lek, make plans to do so. It’s one of the greatest wonders of Wisconsin wildlife.
Milwaukee County parks to host kid’s ice fishing clinics
Free ice fishing clinics for youth will be offered Saturday at four Milwaukee County parks.
The events will be led by members of local fishing clubs who will teach participants to ice fish and stay safe while enjoying the activity. Instruction will begin indoors with lessons on ice safety, fish identification, knot tying, proper equipment use and other fishing techniques. Fishing equipment is available to borrow, but attendees are asked to bring their own if possible.
Clinics begin on the hour from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The events are for youth ages 15 and under; children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult.
The locations are: Dineen Park, 6901 W. Vienna Ave., Milwaukee, clinic run by members of Inner City Sportsmen Club; Greenfield Park, 2028 S. 124th St., West Allis, run by Milwaukee Great Lakes Sports Fishermen; McCarty Park, 8214 W. Cleveland Ave., West Allis, run by Southside Sportsmen’s Club; and Scout Lake, 5902 W. Loomis Rd., Greendale, run by Walleyes Unlimited.
The clinics are sponsored by the Wisconsin Council of Sport Fishing Organizations, Hunger Task Force, Milwaukee County Parks and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Attendees don’t have to register but advance notice is appreciated for groups larger than 20. For more information, contact DNR fisheries biologist Laura Schmidt at Laura.Schmidt@wisconsin.gov or (414) 416-0591.
Urban Ecology Center reopens Washington Park branch
The Urban Ecology Center will hold a ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday to celebrate the reopening of its facility in Washington Park in Milwaukee.
The UEC’s Washington Park branch was established in 2007 and its building has been undergoing extensive renovations for the last 18 months. The updated facility will allow the organization to double the number of people it reaches, including more early childhood education programs, according to UEC.
Following remarks at the 10 a.m. ceremony, UEC staff will host its annual Winterfest from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The public is invited for both events, which are free.
The UEC’s Washington Park branch is at 1859 N. 40th Street, Milwaukee.
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Wisconsin
Wisconsin Inspire Skating headed to National Championship
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MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The 2025 U.S. Synchronized Staking Championships are this Saturday in Colorado Springs and a local team is one of the 98 teams competing.
Wisconsin Inspire Intermediate Synchronized Skating team will represent the state at intermediate Nationals, after they placed second at sectionals.
Last season, Inspire took fourth at Nationals and return a majority of skaters this season. The skaters are from Beaver Dam, Madison and Milwaukee-areas. Due to limited rink availability, Inspire travels between all three cities to practice.
Seventeen-year-old Cameron Johnson has competed at nationals four times. He gets into a flow state while competing.
“I black out during performances, but you enter this sort of like flow state where everything is kind of happening in the moment,” Johnson said. “Moments come and go, but you know you’re present within each one and in those types of moments and those types of areas, it really it’s just such a great experience. And it’s just, it just comes right out and it’s really fun to dance and do choreography.”
Coach Megan Roquet added what an honor it is to represent the state at nationals.
“We’ve heard so much from other members of the skating community how honoured they are to have us going, the nationals representing Wisconsin and the Madison-area and southwest Wisconsin as a whole,” Roquet said. “So we know we’ve got a lot of people support, which always helps us and it’s it’s an honor.”
Wisconsin Inspire will compete on Saturday.
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Copyright 2025 WMTV. All rights reserved.
Wisconsin
How more than 300 members of Immanuel Lutheran made the dream of a new church a reality
Reporter Caitlin Shuda, a lifelong member of Immanuel Lutheran, shares how volunteers have been working for decades to build a new church in the community.
WISCONSIN RAPIDS − Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors and see all the people who spent the last few decades planning and preparing for our newly-built Immanuel Lutheran Church.
As a lifelong member, I remember people talking about building a new church for most of my life.
In our new church, we won’t have these stairs to climb. So-and-so would be able to worship again in a more accessible building. In our new church, we’ll have more space, and we could expand this class or community event. Someday, we won’t need these nets and tennis rackets to catch bats flying overhead during the sermon.
Conversations and discussions around member and community needs became a little more tangible when we purchased land in 2007, and those conversations and discussions continued for the next 16 years. There were disappointments and frustrations. There were also revelations and breakthroughs.
The latest plans started rolling the last few years as we worked through designs for an event center and church. Those discussions evolved into action as we broke ground in July 2023, then moved from Eighth Street to our Mission Center in August 2024 while windows, organ pipes, repurposed pews and other items were moved and secured at the new site. Now, Immanuel has opened at 1517 24th St. S., bringing to life the vision of the last few generations across the last few decades.
Every time I walk into the new church, whether to rehearse with the choir, get some practice time in on the organ or to help set up chairs for worship, my heart expands. I take in the glow from the stained-glass windows, the height of the organ pipes, the thoughtfully refurbished altar, the notes that hang in the air at the end of a song. I see home. I see pieces of so many people I love who put so much of their hearts and souls into this space.
I spent the last week ahead of the church’s official opening talking with members of the church who have been working for decades to make this dream a reality. Here’s what they had to say.
‘Our members have been dreaming about this space for 30 years’
About 250 members of Immanuel were involved in the planning stages, from teenagers to the oldest generations, offering suggestions and requests of what they wanted to see in a building, said Jonathan Blum, Immanuel’s facility administrator. When it came to the construction phase, more than 300 members actively helped in some shape or form, he said.
Rev. Tim Ritter, Immanuel’s senior pastor, said while previous rounds of building plans included a few renderings and smaller building committees, Immanuel took a different approach this time, holding listening sessions to learn what members wanted, essentially making the entire congregation part of the building committee.
“Our members have been dreaming about this space for 30 years,” Ritter said.
The longer Immanuel waited to build, the clearer it became to members that between space, accessibility and the state of the building, it was time for a new home.
Dennis Hall, a member of Immanuel, said he has been involved since the day he and his wife, Patty, joined almost 49 years ago, often with maintenance needs. He said a new church means a new beginning for Immanuel with something fresh, without needing to worry about the steps, fixing the elevator, making sure the boiler is running, and every other issue on his checklist at the old church building.
‘It’s a labor of love’
As construction began, Immanuel organized several volunteer groups to help on site, Blum said. About 60 people made lunch for construction crews every two weeks. About 70 members helped clean at the work sites and completed buildings. Other members have been around regularly to help with whatever needed to be done, some almost daily, with some spending more than 20 hours on any given week to help, Blum said.
Cyndi Knorr, a lifelong member, said she initially got involved with the group that fed the builders once construction started, and she joined the cleaning crew. The timing of construction allowed Knorr to be more involved, since she’s retired and has more time to volunteer.
Timing worked out well for Nell and John Slinkman, too, now retired members who joined Immanuel in the early 1980s. They helped design the coffee area and lead the committee that fed the builders. Nell Slinkman was on a committee focusing on accessibility, and John Slinkman was on a committee that repurposed wood from the pews and he helped put the baseboards in the sanctuary.
Hall said he was part of every planning group Immanuel organized, starting with the first planning group 30 years ago, as well as the second one that followed. He served as a liaison for the third and said this effort was Immanuel’s fourth shot. This time, he shared his thoughts and expertise on blueprint designs early on, and he helped dismantle and install various parts of the church.
“It’s a labor of love, that’s what it is,” Hall said.
Blum said Immanuel has been encouraging members to get involved with a sense of ownership, and this project has shown how members took that to heart, sharing what they wanted in a new building, rolling up their sleeves and helping make it happen. Blum said everything moved so quickly, and it was often hard to keep up with all of the work done by volunteers.
“Before you even had the next task ready, you had people willing and waiting to help,” he said.
Blum said one of the most visible pieces of member involvement involves the cross at the front of the sanctuary. He said Immanuel planned to use wood from trees that had been on the property to build a cross, but those plans fell through. He turned to Hall for any ideas.
Hall said Blum asked him if he could build a cross for the front of the church, and since he had a lot of barn beams in his own barn that various people have given him over the years, he had plenty of options. He ultimately dug up a barn beam that was more than 100 years old that someone had donated to him about five years ago. All it took was a bit of cleaning up and a few coats of varnish, Hall said, and Immanuel had its new cross.
“The fingerprints of our congregation are all over this place,” Ritter said.
‘It’s being a part of something bigger than me’
Hall said he has been awestruck many times throughout the project, especially as it approached its official opening. He has been at the building almost every day in the last three weeks leading up to the opening, and every time he came in, there was something new. The completion of the church building means Immanuel is finally home, he said.
A few days before the church officially opened its new doors, Jerry Herman sat in the church’s welcome area and looked around at the space. He said he had been so focused on the work up to that point that it was nice to stop and look at how far the project has come. Herman said it felt like just yesterday members were gathered out in the middle of an empty field on a hot summer day, breaking ground for the project, and now the official opening was on the horizon. The thought of the last couple of years made Herman feel a sense of pride, community and ownership.
“It’s being a part of something bigger than me,” he said.
Nell Slinkman said the greatest part of the project has been the idea of leaving a legacy behind not only for her family, but for the church and community for generations to come.
Immanuel not only built a new sanctuary for worship, but it built a new building for the community. Blum said the entire plan for the property on 24th Street centered around community and welcoming everyone.
Hall said the entire project was created with community in mind, and he hopes they come in to see it.
“There’s an open door whenever they want to come in,” Hall said. “We built it for them.”
Contact Caitlin at cshuda@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @CaitlinShuda.
Wisconsin
Packers invite Wisconsin schools to apply for ‘Taste of the Draft’ nutrition grants – Clone
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GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – As part of the first-ever philanthropic culinary ‘Taste of the Draft’ event, held in conjunction with the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin schools are invited to apply for a Taste of the Draft School Nutrition Grant.
The grants are aimed at enhancing student access to nutritious school meals, which include milk, fruit, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein. The grants will provide meal distribution equipment for up to 90 schools across the state, in recognition of the 90th NFL Draft.
Recipient schools will have the opportunity to choose from three specialized equipment packages designed to meet their unique needs, ensuring that students have increased access to healthy meals throughout the school day.
Schools are encouraged to apply now through March 4 at tasteofdraft.genyouthnow.org.
Set for the eve of NFL Draft, Wednesday, April 23, at Schreiber Foods headquarters in downtown Green Bay, Taste of the Draft will showcase an extraordinary blend of Wisconsin cuisine, culinary traditions and supper club culture.
Net proceeds raised through Taste of the Draft will benefit national nonprofit GENYOUth’s efforts to tackle student hunger in Wisconsin in collaboration with the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. Nearly half of Wisconsin students qualify for free or reduced priced school meals based on household income, and 1 in 6 Wisconsin children lives in food insecurity.
Taste of the Draft 2025 is the first event of its kind in conjunction with the Draft, modeled after the popular Taste of the NFL event held each year during Super Bowl weekend. To learn more about Taste of the Draft, please visit tasteofthenfl.com/taste-of-the-draft-2025.
Copyright 2025 WBAY. All rights reserved.
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