Northeast Wisconsin Preserve Gets Grant To Clean ‘Fish Boil’ Pollution

fl michael mcdonough - fish boil

Friday, July 31, 2015

A 1,600-acre nature preserve in Door County is getting money for plantings to help filter decades-old pollution. The Ridges Sanctuary in Bailey’s Harbor has a new visitor center on the grounds of what used to be a restaurant.

The eatery hosted traditional Door County fish boils that involved using kerosene to light kettles on fire. The site is just yards from the shores of Lake Michigan. And according to Ridges’ Assistant Director Judy Drew, the kerosene seeped into the lake.

“The restaurant was here for several decades and you know fish boils are a popular thing in Door County,” said Drew. “And I think as restaurants have become aware of this there are ways you can prevent that from happening. And many of the restaurants have implemented those procedures.”

Drew said the sanctuary is planting rain gardens to filter all sorts of pollutants before water runs off into the lake. The Ridges’ grant is $75,000. It’s part of a nearly $2 million grant from the Fund for Lake Michigan.

A press release described the fund as a, “private foundation … crafted out of a legal settlement related to construction of the coal-fired power plant in Oak Creek, the Fund receives $4 million annually from the plant owners including We Energies, WPPI Energy and Madison Gas and Electric.”

By Patty Murray

About Mike Neuman

Identical twin; Long-time advocate of protection of our environment; Married; Father to three sons; Grandfather to one granddaughter; Born and raised in Wisconsin; Graduate of University of Wisconsin; post graduate degrees in agricultural economics and Water Resources Management fro UWMadison; Former School Crossing Guard for City of Madison; Bike to Work for 31 years with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Retired from DNR in 2007; Biked to school crossing guard site 2 X daily for 7 years retiring in 2019; in addition to being an advocate of safeguarding our environment, I am also an advocate for humane treatment of animal, children, and people in need of financial resource for humane living. I am presently a Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Madison, Wisconsin. I oppose all long (>500 miles) distance travel (via fossil fuel burning) for nonessential purposes and all ownership of more than one home. I am opposed to militarism in any form particularly for the purpose of monetary gain. I am a Strong believer in people everywhere having the right to speak their minds openly, without any fear of reprisal, regarding any concerns; especially against those in authority who are not acting for the public good?in a timely fashion and in all countries of the world not just the U S.. My identical twin, Pat, died in June 2009. He was fired from his job with the National Weather Service despite having a long and successful career as a flood forecaster with the Kansas City National Weather Service. He took a new position in the Midwest Regional Office in Minneapolis. Unfortunately, Pat’s work for the NWS went sour after he began to see the evidence for concern about rising global temperatures shortly after relocating to Minneapolis, and how they appeared to effect of flooding on the Red River that flows out of Canada before entering the U.S. in North Dakota. . Pat and I conversed on a regular basis with other scientists on the Yahoo Group named “Climate Concern “ and by personal email. The NWS denied his recommendation to give his public presentation o n his research at the “Minneapolis Mall of America” in February 2000, which deeply affected h,im. I will h He strongly believed the information ought be shared with the public to which I concurred. That was the beginning of the vendetta against my brother, Patrick J. Neuman, for speaking strongly of the obligations the federal government was responsible for accurately informing the citizenry. A way great similar response to my raising the issue of too many greenhouse gases being emitted by drivers of vehicles on Wisconsin highway system, my immediate supervisors directed: “that neither global warming, climate change nor the long term impacts upon the natural resources of Wisconsin from expansion of the state highway system were to be any part of my job requirements, and that I must not communicate, nor in a memorandum to all the bureau, shall any person who works in the same bureau I do communicate with me, neither verbally on the phone, by email.

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