Producer's Journal - Conservation

Waukesha Water Diversion

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:09:00 -0500

For those of you who haven't heard, a meeting is being held in Chicago tonight to discuss Waukesha's proposal to divert water from Lake Michigan. This is the first request to divert water outside the Great Lakes Basin since the Great Lakes Compact Council formed in 2008. Making a final decision involves quite a bit of research and the involvement of several states. On top of the many people directly involved in the process, many citizens and groups like The Alliance for the Great Lakes are also weighing in and expressing their concerns. Almost everyone involved shares similar concerns:

What negative effects could each option have on the environment?
Are there any better alternatives available that would provide radium free water?
How will the results of this proposal influence future requests for Great Lakes Water?

If you'd like a little more history on this ongoing issue, check out a report done by Art Hackett back in November called Waukesha Water.

Rivers Run Through It

Wed, 05 May 2010 15:08:00 -0500

"Now that I've had a taste of it I don't wonder why you love boating." Rosie Sayer to Charlie Allnut Rosie, is of course, Katherine Hepburn's character and the great Humphrey Bogart played Charlie Allnut. The movie is "The African Queen", one of the best "boating" adventures ever. We know a bit about boating here, living as we do in such a watery state: two Great Lakes, one Mississippi River, and 15,000 + lakes (Take that Minnesota! You of the 10,000 lake brag. We leave you in the dust.) One of the most wonderful of our watery statistics is that Wisconsin has some 30,000 miles of rivers and streams. And many are "boatable". Here's the thing, last year videographer Frank Boll, sound recordist Brad Wray and yours truly had two wonderful boating adventures, on these stories about the Brunsweiler River and the Totagatic River. I'm scouting around for some other river stories, I may have one lined up for the Mink River. What's happening river-wise where you live? Is there a story that could be found through a "boating adventure"?? Let me know!

John Muir in the New World

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:30:00 -0500

As In Wisconsin first reported back in August 2009. The PBS series American Masters will air a documentary about Wisconsin's own John Muir. (Father of the National Park System) A freelance producer and crew where shooting on the former Muir property in Marquette County (Fountain Lake Farm) last fall for the upcoming documentary called, "John Muir in the New World." The documentary is in editing right now and will be ready to air on Earth Day in mid-April 2011 right here on Wisconsin Public Television. For more information about the documentary and to hear from the series producer you can watch our web extras. Also, only on the web you can learn about Muir's strict religious upbringing, the biggest threats to the Muir property today and find out what the current landowner would say if he ever met John Muir. For more on John Muir's legacy and the Wisconsin man who's walking in his footsteps you can watch our In Wisconsin report about the former Muir property. Click here to watch!

Long Way from Home

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:30:00 -0500

This photo is a production still from a recent trip to what we call "The Southern Front". We've been following the problems faced by our state's migratory songbirds in a series of reports for In Wisconsin. For example, check out the first and second installments in the bird strike series that details the problem of window collisions which kills millions of migrating songbirds every year. Early this February, we travelled to the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica to document critical efforts to conserve these birds on their wintering grounds. If these birds aren't protected in Central and South America, all of our efforts are for naught. This shoot was funded through the generous help of a Wisconsin non-profit, the Stry Foundation. Next week I'll describe what we shot and what it means to our upcoming hour-long documentary, "Our Birds". The crew, parked in that big ole rainforest tree, consists of sound recordist Kerman Eckes, producer Jo Garrett, and videographer Frank Boll. More next week!

Threat to Bats

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:11:00 -0500

I've got a story on In Wisconsin this week on February 25, at 7pm, about bats and a deadly epidemic called "White Nose Syndrome". This newly emerging disease is devastating bat populations in the Northeastern U.S. and it's predicted to be heading our way. I've done a variety of stories on bats for the program, as has my fellow reporter, Liz Koerner. Every story can open a reporter's eyes to new perspectives, new understandings. The big takeaway for me from these bat shoots is a new appreciation of the researchers' hard work and dedication. These people give a new meaning to the term "the midnight shift". Of course, their midnight shift is a second shift since they work long into the night on-site with the bats and daytime hours are spent catching up with the myriad of work that must take place during the day. There is a shot in this week's story on "White Nose Syndrome" that sums it up for me: two researchers arrive at a truck that serves as a makeshift research station, their arms are full of paper bags and each bag holds a live bat to be weighed and processed as part of the research. Other researchers are standing by to help in this process. It is tough, physical work: data collection late at night and these folks have nose-dived into it in an effort to save Wisconsin's bat populations. Check it out!

Pine Marten Progress Report

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:32:00 -0500

That's MartEns, not Martins They're little and tough. The animal in question is the pine marten, a member of the weasel family, and an animal that is barely hanging on here in Wisconsin. Why this animal fails to thrive has researchers puzzled since this predator is doing well in neighboring states. What gives? Why has the pine marten population fared so poorly? We produced our first story on pine martens many seasons ago. This Thursday, February 18, at 7 pm we give you an update on an mission to boost the animal's numbers through a new re-introduction effort. It's been fascinating for me to see this new three year re-into/research project grow from idea to actuality. It's a huge team effort and as one of our interview subjects said, "there's no manual out there that tells you how to re-introduce martens to Wisconsin". Science seldom runs in a straight line and the twists and turns of this project are compelling. AND I promise you a really cool photo of a mom marten. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tune in!

Deer Discussions In Wisconsin

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:23:00 -0500

I'm working on a segment for Here and Now for Friday, 12/18, on what Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources should do about deer management. This year's hunt saw a 29 percent drop in the number of deer killed. Many hunters believe this is the result of the DNR going too far in controlling deer populations in the past. The committees covering this in the Assembly and Senate have scheduled a hearing about this on Thursday, 12/17. We'll be there. Because of those concerns, the Natural Resources Board dropped the controversial 'Earn A Buck' rules this year (requiring a hunter to shoot an antler-less deer first) in all deer management units outside the zones where Chronic Wasting Disease is considered endemic. Here's a question for which I want to track down an answer: Do they do things differently in Minnesota or Michigan? If you have thoughts on this, please feel free to e-mail me at art.hackett@wpt.org. This is my first attempt at crowd sourcing on this blog. We'll see what happens.

Catch Those Carp!

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:31:00 -0500

Many of you have been following the progress (if you want to call it that) of Asian carp up the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The big fish are fugitives from southern catfish farms and fishermen and environmental agencies are concerned about what will happen if they make it into the Great Lakes. The canal draws water from Lake Michigan so there's a direct connection. The Corps of Engineers had installed an electrified barrier near Lockport, Illinois to try and keep the fish out of the Great Lakes, but DNA tests released two weeks ago, show the invasive species has made it past the "fence." This week the Illinois DNR will be treating a six mile stretch of the canal with Rotenone to poison all the fish in that section. The goal is to catch any that might have slipped past. Researchers would like to come up with some actual specimens to back up the DNA tests, but they admit finding them among hundreds of thousands of other floating fish will be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. We'll be there to document the activity for this week's Here and Now program and hopefully for an expanded report later on. I'd also like to mention that I've entered the brave new world of Twitter. I'll keep you posted on what's going on around the news and public affairs unit.

The Rest of the Story

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:56:00 -0500

One of the limitations of storytelling on television is that there just isn't enough time to say everything you'd like to say about the interesting people we feature. My story in this week's edition of In Wisconsin is a good example. It's a humorous look at the autumn adventures of a father-son duo in Platteville. We focused only on their nut picking which is a weekend and after hours way to make a little extra money. The rest of the story about Roger Lange a.k.a. "the Dad" is that, in order to make ends meet, he works a full time job with the County AND serves as a local EMT. So, when he's nut picking, he's usually wearing his pager, ready to zoom off to an emergency. Now, if we were doing a documentary about Roger, who knows what else we might find out about this busy, busy man.

Waukesha Water Woes

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:42:00 -0500

I'm in the process of sifting through nearly a decade of studies on the scientific and economic issues behind plans to divert water from Lake Michigan to replace radium contaminated water in the City of Waukesha's wells. We're talking about hundreds of pages of reports by geologists and engineers. It's been interesting to see how Lake Michigan water and alternative solutions have jumped back and forth in terms of their desirability over that time. It's like watching the BCS Bowl rankings. The difference is that the BCS controversy gets settled the first week in January (at least until the next season) but Waukesha's "water wars" go on and on. The Waukesha City Council this week is expected to begin formal discussions with Milwaukee, Oak Creek, and Racine to see which would be the best source of treated Lake Michigan water. The council is supposed to make a decision on applying for a diversion permit in early January (about the time of the BCS/Rose Bowl game). But as we said, the diversion discussions are only beginning.

Environmental Journalism Conference

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0500

I spent most of last week at the 19th Annual Society of Environmental Journalists Conference here in Madison. I sat in on presentations about green jobs, water shortages, and over population and heard Vice President Al Gore's perspective on the upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen (see Andy Soth's post below). The list of ideas and issues generated by this conference seems endless: are Wisconsin's tech schools training enough workers for new green jobs?, how can we convince people in a Great Lakes state that catastrophic water shortages in India will hit us where we live?, and the need to communicate how over population and the warming of the planet will deliver a one-two punch. I also went on a field trip to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison where scientists are studying a long list of animal diseases like: white-nose syndrome in bats, avian influenza, chronic wasting disease in deer, and sylvatic plague in black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs (and yes they pass it on to other species). Their mission is to "apply scientific findings to manage and prevent disease outbreaks... in free-ranging wildlife." It was a fascinating tour which included an autopsy of a fox that probably had rabies.

Wild Rivers, Wild Weather

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:59:00 -0500

Well, here's the update on our watery tale. Last week we were rained out of a scheduled shoot on the Totagatic River in Northern Wisconsin. Much woe. As you might recall, the Totagatic is one of Wisconsin's two new "Wild" rivers. (The other newly designated river is the Brunsweiler in Ashland County) It's been 44 years since Wisconsin has had a new "wild" river. The Totagatic and the Brunsweiler join the Pike, the Pine, and the Popple for a grand total of five state wild rivers.) Rain, rain, go away. It's a task to get all the elements in place to shoot an In Wisconsin report: crew, camera, van, and in this case, 5 wonderful folks who were willing to hop in canoes and kayaks to paddle the river and take time out for interviews. Add to this bubbling stew, the press of time: (fall color, fall color, fall color, I SO want fall color for this report) AND the wish for decent weather (I'll take cloudy, just please oh please, don't rain again!) and you get a sense of the juggling act that is television production. If one plate falls, you're done for. It looked like the weather plate was gonna tumble. Earlier in the week the forecast was not just for rain but for snow showers! AUGH! This forecast then morphed into actual snow. Well, I thought, that's going to be an interesting look. Can we do it? Will it be too wet to shoot???? Well, good news. The weather plate stayed in the air. We slipped through a rare window of opportunity last week for just the duration of our four hour shoot. Sunshine, all four hours. No snow. Or snow showers. The Totagatic glowed with gorgeous fall colors. At one point, our videographer Frank Boll turned to me and said, "Everywhere I point the camera there's a beautiful shot". And here's the last bit of wonderfulness. After a summer of drought, we expected that the flow in the Totagatic would be miniscule. We were warned to bring rubber boots and expect to yank the boats over low spots. Well, apparently, the rain that drove us back home the previous week supplied enough flow in the Totagatic that we floated effortlessly. Nary a snag, the entire way. By the way, the Totagatic is stunning. A wonderful gift. Watch for our report on the Wild Rivers after the New Year on In Wisconsin.

Wild Rivers

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:15:00 -0500

Another variant on the world of water for me this week. 2009 has been big year for Wild Rivers in Wisconsin. The state has designated two new wild rivers. This doesn't happen every day, in fact the last time Wisconsin designed any new wild rivers was 44 years ago. (Can you name the three previous wild rivers? I'll spill at the end of the post.) Later this week I'll travel north to shoot a report on those two new wild rivers: the Brunsweiler and the Totogatic. The Totogatic is a river of many faces: two different spellings and five different pronunciations. The Totogatic also travels through five different counties. In the meantime, here's a look at a video postcard that will air in an upcoming show on a place called Meyers Falls. It's located on the Pine River, which is one of Wisconsin's other three wild rivers. So, the other three wild rivers? The Pine, the Popple, and the Pike. Here's wishing for clear skies.

Water Woes

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:03:00 -0500

This week I head to central Wisconsin to check out a number of lakes that are drying up. Some of it's due to the drought that's hit the northern two thirds of the state. But these lakes are so called "seepage lakes." They're filled from groundwater. As irrigation wells have been drilled around them, the water table drops, and so do the lake levels. The same is true in the case of the Little Plover River near Stevens Point. That trout stream was mentioned in a documentary I did nine years ago, called Water Rich, Water Poor. The Little Plover has run dry the past three summers and is kept flowing only with well water artificially discharged into the stream. Central Wisconsin is a central focus in discussions over whether the legislature should modify the state's groundwater laws. Currently, the DNR can deny a high capacity well permit only if it affects a municipal well or certain protected water bodies such as trout streams. There's no protection for recreational lakes such as those we'll be visiting in Waushara County. Also, just a quick reminder. In Wisconsin returns for an all new season this Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Television.

Hydro-Power On The Mississippi

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:26:00 -0500

One report in progress right now is a followup on a story I did way back in 1982. (I started here in March of 1980.) The Corps of Engineers had been offering hydro-electric power licenses for the Locks and Dams on the Mississippi River. A Wisconsin utility was applying for some of the licenses but nothing ever came of it. The economics just weren't that good. There's a lot of water in the Big Miss but it doesn't drop very far between pools. That limits the amount of power that can be generated. But it turns out a hydro plant was developed at one of the dams. And, thanks to improved technology (and interest in green energy), still more may be on the way. I had a chance to visit one of the installations last week. You'll get to see the pictures on In Wisconsin this fall.