Stand against sweetheart grab of "innocuous" state park land
People and groups calling themselves conservationists and stewards of the people's land and water in Wisconsin must strongly resist state officials tempted to allow the Kohler Co. to obtain a 99-year lease at $1-per-year of 32.5 acres in the popular, pristine Kohler-Andrea State Park along Lake Michigan to fill out a proposed high-end golf course.
The land grab would be on top of allowing Kohler to level, fill and otherwise tear apart a 247-acre nature preserve it owns north of the state land that it says it wants for golf course, buildings, a road, a bridge and other proprietary purposes.
The public needs to rally behind the land's preservation especially because the company in a document discovered through an Open Records request to the DNR said the public acreage sought was "relatively innocuous."
Details, here.
This is one of those defining moments in Wisconsin history and the public's relationship to resources and government.
Do we really respect the land here or does it go to the lowest bidder for the most narrowly-defined purpose?
Do we have an environmental movement anymore?
Will people across the state stand with local residents near Sheboygan who are involved in a David-and-Goliath battle with a powerful corporation, its legendarily powerful board chairman, and probably also the governor and his chamber-of-commerce mentality DNR, too?
Here is the website for the local environmental group in the struggle - - Friends of The Black River Forest - - that is near the proposed golf course.
Irony of ironies that the Black River that runs through the site is already on the state's list of impaired waterways.
Enough is enough:
Reach out, speak up, and lend your support.
The land grab would be on top of allowing Kohler to level, fill and otherwise tear apart a 247-acre nature preserve it owns north of the state land that it says it wants for golf course, buildings, a road, a bridge and other proprietary purposes.
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| This private nature preserve would be converted by its owner, the Kohler Co., into a high-end golf course, supplemented with 32.5 acres of abutting state park land to the left leased for golf course uses for $1 a year for 99 years. |
The public needs to rally behind the land's preservation especially because the company in a document discovered through an Open Records request to the DNR said the public acreage sought was "relatively innocuous."
Details, here.
This is one of those defining moments in Wisconsin history and the public's relationship to resources and government.
Do we really respect the land here or does it go to the lowest bidder for the most narrowly-defined purpose?
Do we have an environmental movement anymore?
Will people across the state stand with local residents near Sheboygan who are involved in a David-and-Goliath battle with a powerful corporation, its legendarily powerful board chairman, and probably also the governor and his chamber-of-commerce mentality DNR, too?
Here is the website for the local environmental group in the struggle - - Friends of The Black River Forest - - that is near the proposed golf course.
Irony of ironies that the Black River that runs through the site is already on the state's list of impaired waterways.
Enough is enough:
Reach out, speak up, and lend your support.
2 comments:
Jim:
Keep fighting ! And check out the taxpayer funded single purpose exit off I43 that DOT constructed for the exclusive benefit of one of Kohlers golf courses.
Yes. I will. Somewhere I have written about it but will go back to it.
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