Dollars-and-cents/common-sense Q's on Kohler golf course plan

Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality' management of state government has tainted public service, destroyed its mission and turned watchdog agencies into unabashed corporate subsidiaries.

So when the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board at its February 28th meeting in Madison - - agenda item B-3 - -  takes up the plan approved by Walker's corporatized DNR to allow a major Walker donor obtain the state park land he wants for a privately-owned golf course development, will any Board member underscore the body's oversight obligations and add these questions and issues to the discussion?:

*  The Journal Sentinel reported these acreage values for land the golf course wants: 

DNR documents show the deal gives Kohler 4.59 acres on the northern edge of park. The land is valued at $59,700, according to independent appraisals.

Kohler would also get an easement to the main entrance road to the park and other land on which it would build a road leading to a maintenance building. The easement of 1.88 acres is valued $9,400.

Question 1. Is that the best way to appraise the value of those publicly-owned acres and what is its profit-generating value over the project life cycle? 

Question 2. What has been the Wisconsin-taxpayer-subsidized cost in staff time - - principally supplied by a DNR stripped during the Walker years of funds and employees - - to help one privately-owned business plan and open a privately-owned golf course which will be marketed to upscale golfers?

*  The project has been the subject of public employee reviews by the DNR since the spring of 2015, according to a web page put up by the agency that details numerous review stages, including hearings, which the DNR has supervised.

*  And the Natural Resources Board is working towards redoing the master plan for Kohler Andrae State Park to accommodate the proposed golf course, including land transfers, road-building, traffic access, etc. 

But that wasn't really the beginning of what I've called on this blog the DNR's smoothing of the proposal for its eventual permitting and construction.

*  Working your way through the DNR web page, you will find this link to a pdf file containing substantial email traffic among numerous DNR officials and staffers about the project dating to March, 2014 - - including agency review of an earlier Kohler development since abandoned involving the same company and dating to 2011.

On page two, you will see Kurt Thiede, then a DNR manager who is moving to the US EPA regional office in Chicago as Deputy Administrator to his former DNR boss, Cathy Stepp, asking DNR staff for maps and design suggestions for locating a golf course building within the adjoining state park. 

On page 50 of the pdf file, a Kohler representative asks Walker for his assistance obtaining for the project some so-called "innocuous" acreage in the adjoining state park.

No wonder the former Kohler Andrae State Park supervisor said he like a few acres for a hot dog stand there if the DNR wanted to so easily hand over state park land

In 2015, I posted about another known Walker-Kohler contact:

Consider the power imbalances in that battle with the well-connected industrialist and golf course magnate Herbert Kohler:

Kohler is asking the DNR for an easement of 3.8 acres for its golf course operations. The company had sought as much as 20 acres from adjoining Kohler-Andrae State Park. An early version of the course showed that Kohler wanted to build several holes on state park land...

Kohler, a financial supporter of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, spoke with staff from the governor's office, the DNR and the Department of Administration in late April about the easement, Walker's spokeswoman, Jocelyn Webster, said in an email.

"Mr. Kohler raised the issue," Webster said in a separate email.

Between 2009 and 2013, Kohler Co. employees contributed $42,254 to Walker's campaign fund, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks political donations. Nearly all of that amount was directly from Herbert Kohler.

DNR Deputy Secretary Matt Moroney also has "participated in a conceptual meeting with the Kohler Co. on the golf course" that included Herbert Kohler, said DNR spokesman Bill Cosh.

*  Note also that the Wisconsin Department of Administration helped the company quickly win the annexation of the project site to the City of Sheboygan, so add the DOA to the DNR and the National Resources Board to the roll call of state agencies facilitating the project. 

Think about all the hours of public employee time committed by the DNR, the Natural Resources Board, the DOA and the Governor's Office to getting one private business's plan for a privately-owned golf course aimed at upscale users through permitting and construction.

I'll bet the cost in public dollars could have funded some real progress towards perhaps cleaning up some of the many, multiplying waterways added to the impaired list on Walker's watch.

Lakeside golf plan - including state land - advanced in Sheboygan

The City of Sheboygan, having annexed the site in a power move to box out opposition in the neighboring Town of Wilson, gave a preliminary permit approval Tuesday evening which could lead to the construction of an upscale golfing complex in a pristine, heavily-wooded nature preserve on the Lake Michigan shoreline that will also take acreage in the adjoining Kohler Andrae State Park.

Ongoing litigation prevents the immediate use of the permit.

Here are items for your review:

* There is a story about the Sheboygan Plan Commission's Tuesday approval at The Sheboygan Press website. 

* There are years of posts and links at the website of Friends of the Black River Forest, the grassroots organization doing battle for political fairness, conservation, environmental justice and the broad public interest. 

A sample, here

* I have posted about this project often - here, for example - 

Few projects with the exception of Foxconn which have had the blessing of Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality DNR and other taxpayer-funded public agencies - - the AG's office, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board, which is supposed to give independent oversight guidance to the DNR, local officials and annexation officials at the state DOA - - have outweighed the state's disregard for the environment and fair play more than the golf course proposed adjacent to and grabbing acreage inside a popular state park...

Below is information from a September, 2018 summary post:

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I have been reporting on the golf course plan and its opposition by the grassroots organization Friends of the Black River Forest since 2014.

* Here is a more recent item, with a view of some of the actual state park land ticketed for bulldozing and private construction -

* And another post which included sections of the project's environmental impact statement which detailed the harm in store for wetlands, woodlands, dunes, and wildlife habitat.

* More analysis, here.

A further mind-boggling insult is that the Wisconsin DNR remains joined with the developer in a lawsuit that seeks to bar citizens (opponents of the plan have created "Friends of the Black River Forest"- FBRF) from challenging the land: 

DNR and Kohler Company fight residents' right to challenge a state agency's actions

So basically the state - that's the people, you and I - is arguing that the people can be barred from contesting the disposition of public land which is there for the people's use -  than 400,000 annually, according to recent DNR records - and which, in this case, is park land literally within a stone's throw of the people who have filed a legal contest. 

The bigger picture and baffling disappointment is that this entire matter and the way it has been moved along has not been a bigger issue statewide. 

To be clear, this is not an isolated local matter.

What is happening is that taxpayers who have already paid for local and state government operations are with their own time and money trying to force governments to do their most fundamental jobs, and about which there should not be this kind of dismissive and discriminatory second billing to taxpayers:

1. Protecting the people’s rights to water, park land and wildlife - all of which are in the public domain.

2. Providing governance that puts the public interest and opportunities for all people ahead of catering to the already-privileged, as I noted in earlier posts:

...the Natural Resources Board is working towards redoing the master plan for Kohler Andrae State Park to accommodate the proposed golf course, including land transfers, road-building, traffic access, etc. 

But that wasn't really the beginning of what I've called on this blog the DNR's smoothing of the proposal for its eventual permitting and construction. 

*  Working your way through the DNR web page, you will find this link to a pdf file containing substantial email traffic among numerous DNR officials and staffers about the project dating to March, 2014 - - including agency review of an earlier Kohler development since abandoned involving the same company and dating to 2011. 

On page two, you will see Kurt Thiede, then a DNR manager who is moving to the US EPA regional office in Chicago as Deputy Administrator to his former DNR boss, Cathy Stepp, asking DNR staff for maps and design suggestions for locating a golf course building within the adjoining state park. 

On page 50 of the pdf file, a Kohler representative asks Walker for his assistance obtaining for the project some so-called "innocuous" acreage in the adjoining state park. 

No wonder the former Kohler Andrae State Park supervisor said he like a few acres for a hot dog stand there if the DNR wanted to so easily hand over state park land 

In 2015, I posted about another known Walker-Kohler contact: 

Consider the power imbalances in that battle with the well-connected industrialist and golf course magnate Herbert Kohler: 

Kohler is asking the DNR for an easement of 3.8 acres for its golf course operations. The company had sought as much as 20 acres from adjoining Kohler-Andrae State Park. An early version of the course showed that Kohler wanted to build several holes on state park land... 

Kohler, a financial supporter of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, spoke with staff from the governor's office, the DNR and the Department of Administration in late April about the easement, Walker's spokeswoman, Jocelyn Webster, said in an email. 

"Mr. Kohler raised the issue," Webster said in a separate email. 

Between 2009 and 2013, Kohler Co. employees contributed $42,254 to Walker's campaign fund, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks political donations. Nearly all of that amount was directly from Herbert Kohler. 

DNR Deputy Secretary Matt Moroney also has "participated in a conceptual meeting with the Kohler Co. on the golf course" that included Herbert Kohler, said DNR spokesman Bill Cosh. 

*  Note also that the Wisconsin Department of Administration helped the company quickly win the annexation of the project site to the City of Sheboygan, so add the DOA to the DNR and the National Resources Board to the roll call of state agencies facilitating the project. 

Think about all the hours of public employee time committed by the DNR, the Natural Resources Board, the DOA and the Governor's Office to getting one private business's plan for a privately-owned golf course aimed at upscale users through permitting and construction. 

I'll bet the cost in public dollars could have funded some real progress towards perhaps cleaning up some of the many, multiplying waterways added to the impaired list on Walker's watch.

So, ask yourselves - if the Sheboygan construction permit is implemented:

* Which state park is next for disassembling to serve a private business that will provide recreational opportunities which are out of the reach of everyday Wisconsin taxpayers, especially minorities whose incomes lag behind white residents, according to this June, 2020 report? 

Adding one more log into a bonfire of evidence about racial inequity in Wisconsin, the state's economy ranked last in racial equality among all 50 U.S. states, according to a new study of wealth and employment gaps between Black and white residents.

* How many Wisconsin citizens will be locked on the outside looking in while government caters to those who already have a disproportionate share of wealth, power and access to public sector resources and decision-making before people demand fundamental change to the way Wisconsin continues to be run?

* A better way to say it is: how many Wisconsin citizens will it take to grasp what minorities have long had to deal with before fairness and equities are the rule -and not litigated, grudging exceptions like this one that tireless advocacy for transit options forced on government that routinely does not share resources and opportunities equally:

Lawsuit settled: DOT to ease congesting during Zoo Interchange construction

The terms of the settlement were negotiated in court-sponsored mediation. The suit was filed in 2012 by Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope.

Kohler golf course wetland-fill permit reversed

In a great win for Wisconsin wetlands, clean water, native culture and grassroots activism, a state administrative law judge has reversed the issuance of a wetlands-fill permit issued by the DNR, said Friends of the Black River Forest, a group opposed to the project.

The permit is pivotal to the construction of a proposed, high-end golf course on the Lake Michigan coastline on a Kohler-owned nature preserve. 

In the decision, the judge found that the project will require deforesting over half the site and significant regrading, resulting in changes to wetland and site hydrology. He concluded, “the Department’s determination that these adverse impacts will be significant mandate that the permit application must be denied.” 

The judge also found that the DNR lacked sufficient information to conclude that the project would not harm water quality associated with chemical and fertilizer applications, and that some of Kohler’s submitted information was unreliable or incomplete.

The decision could be appealed to the circuit court.

A complete news release about the decision will appear at the bottom of this post.

The potential loss of wetlands has been cited by opponents as a looming threat:

Strong testimony vs. Kohler golf project, park & wetland losses

The golf course proposal would take acreage for a building, road and parking lot within the adjoining Kohler Andrae State Park, strip away much of the project area's forest, cut down important wildlife habitat and even claim rare dunes, as noted by the DNR's site review which I have quoted at length:

Approximately 3.7 acres of wetland would be lost due to filling including impacts to approximately 1.36 acres of Great Lakes ridge and swale wetlands, a wetland type that is considered “imperiled” in Wisconsin. Additional wetland impacts resulting from alterations to wetland hydrology and the influence of increased nutrients could change the wetland type and allow encroachment of invasive species.

Note also that is the third such reversal of an environmentally-damaging Walker-era DNR ruling - - two earlier victories are noted here, here and here - - and this development presaged the grassroots win:

Former DNR employee: Staff pressured to OK Kohler golf course on rare Wisconsin wetlands, park

I'd put up last fall a 21-part series on Walker's horrible environmental record, with this installment devoted just to the golf course project, given its significance both for the area and environmental activism:

Few projects with the exception of Foxconn which have the blessing of Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality DNR and other taxpayer-funded public agencies - - the AG's office, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board, which is supposed to give independent oversight guidance to the DNR, local officials and annexation officials at the state DOA - - have outweighed the state's disregard for the the environment and fair play than the Kohler golf course proposed adjacent to and grabbing acreage inside a popular state park.

I've visited the site, publicized the opposition organized by Friends of the Black River Forest, and written about it often since 2014.

And put it into a larger context often, including, here: 

...the state has 700 impaired waterways by the agency's own count and in 2014 added dozens more to the list; paradoxically, the DNR is currently reviewing whether a major Walker donor can build an 18-hole golf course on 247 acres of forested, wetland-laden land at the edge of Lake Michigan near Sheboygan through which runs The Black River, one of those impaired waterways. 

Opponents of the project's groundwater demands, deforestation, and planned incursion into an adjoining state park recently told the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board - - to which the DNR reports - - that test wells were drilled on the site without permits, among other concerns.

See and hear the opponents' ten-minute presentation beginning at the meeting's 2:21 mark, followed by about five minutes of Q & A.

Here is one early post about the developer's donations to Walker's campaign, and something of a more recent summary, below.

And I try to remind people that the Black River which runs through site's current 247-acre nature preserve, and Lake Michigan literally yards to the east, are public trust waters which the DNR is obligated to manage for the people so they are not lost as public resources, as the State Supreme Court has warned.

New release test:
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March 18, 2019, For Immediate Release Contact Christa Westerberg, 608/251-0101

JUDGE REVERSES KOHLER WETLAND PERMIT

An administrative law judge on Friday reversed a permit granted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to Kohler Co. last year. The permit would have allowed the company to fill nearly four acres of high-quality wetland for a new golf course development in Sheboygan County, on land north of and within Kohler-Andrae State Park.

In reversing the permit, the judge found the standards for issuing the permit had not been met and that DNR lacked sufficient information to grant the permit.

“We are grateful for this decision, which thoroughly addressed the adverse, irreversible impacts of the proposed golf course,” said Mary Faydash, President of Friends of the Black River Forest, Inc. The group filed the petition challenging the permit, which was heard during a five-day evidentiary hearing last year.

“We are definitely delighted,” added Friends member and co-petitioner Claudia Bricks.

In the decision, the judge found that the project will require deforesting over half the site and significant regrading, resulting in changes to wetland and site hydrology. He concluded, “the Department’s determination that these adverse impacts will be significant mandate that the permit application must be denied.”

The judge also found that the DNR lacked sufficient information to conclude that the project would not harm water quality associated with chemical and fertilizer applications, and that some of Kohler’s submitted information was unreliable or incomplete.

Said the judge, “[t]he Department should be making its determinations based on completed plans, not trusting that management plans that will be prepared will adequately protect the groundwater and wetlands. Once the golf course is constructed the adverse impacts will be permanent and irreversible.”

“The golf course would be a major development on an extraordinarily sensitive site,” said Friends attorney Christa Westerberg. “The evidence simply did not support granting a permit in this case.”
P.O. Box 804 Sheboygan, WI 53082 www.friendsblackriverforest.org

The proposed golf course is located on forested property between the Black River and Lake Michigan. It hosts rare ridge and swale and interdunal wetlands and is an important stopover site for migratory birds. The property is susceptible to groundwater contamination due to sand soils and a high groundwater table.

Kohler’s proposal also called for using land in Kohler-Andrae State Park for a golf course entrance road and large maintenance facility. That land is characterized by dunes, wetlands, and forest, and is used by park visitors for hiking and wildlife observation, among other activities.

Said Faydash, “this decision is a victory for all of Wisconsin, particularly the grassroots groups who have worked tirelessly to hold the DNR and developers to Wisconsin conservation law.

It confirms the DNR must issue sound, scientifically-based environmental permits which protect and preserve our air, land and water.” 
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247-acre nature preserve golf course site Steve Back photo.

Emblematic WI environmental outrage worsens

[Updated from 5:29 p.m. Saturday] When it comes to Scott Walker and the Wisconsin environment, what is past is prologue - - is outrageous.

So props to the strong and continuing reporting by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Lee Bergquist about the continuing abuse of the public's rights to enjoy access to their constitutionally-guaranteed resources in Wisconsin.

And a tip of the hat in particular to Bergquist's recent disclosures about wealthy Walker donors pressuring the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for favors on and near state - - public - -  land and waters in Northern Wisconsin:

A footpath on Department of Natural Resources property in Vilas County that a wealthy political supporter of Gov. Scott Walker is trying to buy has been upgraded in recent months without state approval. 

A spokesman for business executive Elizabeth Uihlein acknowledged that workers at her adjoining property may have ventured on to state land and cleaned up the trail slightly, although those who have seen the trail say the improvements were detailed and significant. 

Uihlein, a co-founder of Uline Corp. in Pleasant Prairie, is seeking to buy 1.75 acres along Rest Lake, where the footpath is located. But a tentative deal with the DNR was put on hold last month after critics raised questions about the transaction.

More about the Uihleins, in a Forbes piece, here - - and note also that their family packaging and distribution company recently received approvals from the DNR and other agencies for major floodplain alterations to accommodate expansion on the company's Pleasant Prairie, WI property - - so the world of the DNR should not have been an unknown.

And here is more information about proposed and actual sale of various parcels of public lands during Walker's tenure as Milwaukee County Executive and Governor. 

But back to the current land sales and water issues up North, and the two big takeaways: 

*  That the land deal on Rest Lake was tabled by the DNR's long-standing oversight board after public outcry underscores why that board needs to remain independent, though Walker tried to water it down to a toothless, advisory board through an unsuccessful budget maneuver earlier this year.

*  And you can draw a straight line from this unfolding outrage over special treatment for special people back to one of Walker's earliest actions as Special-Interest-Governor-in-Chief after he was sworn in:

His administrative intervention before an appeal process had been completed to permit the filling of a wetland for a donor/developer to build a building near Lambeau Field - - a move made law by the Legislature.

I'd noted the current Walker/donor case more than once on this blog - - here is an example - - as part of the blog's focus for years on threats to the state's waters and the damage that Scott Walker's "chamber-of-commerce" remake of the DNR is doing to the environment:

A blog posting summary from last year included these items:

There were early signs of Walker's intention to unwind long-standing legal protections that had given Wisconsin a strong and deserved environmental reputation as he handed over resources, like groundwater and wetlands, to people out to make a buck - - even though the State Constitution's Public Trust Doctrine says the waters and their surroundings are commonly-held assets to be guarded by the state as trustee for all the people, not sold, given away or disrespected.

Among the early signs:

*  Walker's very telling claim during the campaign that it was opponent Tom Barrett with the radical environmental agenda. This is what we now know is Walker's pattern - - twisted, even dishonest rhetoric, a flight from transparency despite his boast about it (scrubbed from his website), and all blended with finger-pointing and misdirection verified time and time again by PolitiFact, its few "True" ratings and far greater total of "False" and "Pants on Fire" conclusions when reviewing Walker's remarks.

And for a perfect point of closure: the link to Walker's campaign ad wherein he made the claim about Barrett is now blocked. See this posting. File at #transparencyfail.

*  Walker's very early push for a special bill passed by the Legislature to allow a donor to develop a wetlands near Lambeau Field for an outdoors supply retailer before the DNR had finished its environmental review.

And that was just the beginning.

*  As people living near big dairies are learning: state agencies these days will side with industry against the people even if the result is tainted drinking water:

I'd noted the impact of a recent DNR/Department of Justice tag team decision that intentionally disregards a judge's order limiting the size of a big Kewaunee County dairy operation because of manure-related drinking water pollution.

The ruling's arrogance was yet another regrettable example of how corporate interests in the state have been given control over water rights through Scott Walker's 'chamber-of-commerce mentality,' forcing citizens to spend their time and money fighting the government they support through taxes and fees for land and water quality that should be top public public priorities.

*  As are people at the grassroots on a shoestring trying to save wetlands, the Black River Forest and Kohler-Andrae State Park from private golf course intrusion on a bluff just yards from Lake Michigan.

*  Or in Marathon County, where a million-gallon manure spill into a river produced a DNR fine of $464.

*  Consider the power imbalances in that battle with the well-connected ndustrialist and golf course magnate Herbert Kohler:

Kohler is asking the DNR for an easement of 3.8 acres for its golf course operations. The company had sought as much as 20 acres from adjoining Kohler-Andrae State Park. An early version of the course showed that Kohler wanted to build several holes on state park land...

Kohler, a financial supporter of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, spoke with staff from the governor's office, the DNR and the Department of Administration in late April about the easement, Walker's spokeswoman, Jocelyn Webster, said in an email.

"Mr. Kohler raised the issue," Webster said in a separate email.

Between 2009 and 2013, Kohler Co. employees contributed $42,254 to Walker's campaign fund, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks political donations. Nearly all of that amount was directly from Herbert Kohler.

DNR Deputy Secretary Matt Moroney also has "participated in a conceptual meeting with the Kohler Co. on the golf course" that included Herbert Kohler, said DNR spokesman Bill Cosh.

Never forget that when you read about a body of water in Wisconsin harmed by pollution, especially enabled by weak DNR enforcement - - here's one recent example from Western Wisconsin - -  the water involved is a public resource. There are no private rivers, lakes and streams in Wisconsin, and the water is all connected as it flows to either the Lake Superior, Lake Michigan or Mississippi River watershed.

The state constitution says all the waters of the state are held in trust for all the people of the state, not as a special interest cookie jar the DNR and the Governor and his hand-picked corporate errand boys and girls can open when whim and money are in the air.

Friends of the Black River Forest v. Kohler golf course needs $$

Help save a 247-acre nature preserve being hurriedly annexed to the City of Sheboygan for political reasons... 
 
...and even some land inside the adjoining Lake Michigan gem known as Kohler Andrae State Park from being clear-cut, bulldozed, filled, paved and otherwise 'converted' into a privately-owned high-end golf course.

Here's a message from Friends of the Black River Forest - - a grassroots organization waging a David and Goliath fight against one of the wealthiest people in the state, and big Walker donor, too - - and a link to the groups GoFundMe page:

FBRF has been receiving funding to keep up this fight from all of you who support us with donations and by attending our fundraisers. We are at the point where we need substantial donations to keep up with all the records requests, monitoring the City, and the DNR, (on its push to approve the Kohler Wetland Permit which staffer has determined to be incomplete), the Natural Resources Board (on amending the Kohler Andrae Master Plan for Kohler.)  

WILL YOU HELP US IN SOLICITING SUBSTANTIAL DONATIONS FROM THOSE WHO SUPPORT THE ENVIRONMENT AND ETHICAL GOVERNMENT? 

FBRF is a 501(c) (3) charity.

Help save WI nature preserve, dunes, wetlands along Lake Michigan

Here's fresh information about the June 4-8 hearing won by grassroots activists in Sheboygan who are working hard for you, me and Lake Michigan.

Friends of the Black River Forest will contest the finding in a DNR environmental impact statement which led to the approval of a wetland filling permit for the proposed Kohler golf course in a large, soon-to-be-stripped, flattened and bulldozed wetland-and-forest-and rare dune nature preserve.

And also to contest the outrageous award of public land inside Kohler Andrae State Park by the DNR's oversight board for project access, roads, parking, vehicle storage and maintenance shop operations.

I've long argued that this project should a top priority for conservationists statewide, as it encapsulates so much of what's wrong in Wisconsin these days - - Gov. Walker and the GOP's contempt for the environment, his recasting of the DNR into a defacto Department of Commerce, the reward of partisan, insider-donor-privilege, his diminution of science, wetlands, dismissal of wildlife habitat and disregard for water quality - - and the need in response for citizens to fight for their rights with their own funds against powerful and wealthy special interests and the state and local agencies to which taxpayers have already financed.
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Breaking News

FBRF hearing challenges scheduled!

The hearing on FBRF's legal challenges to the DNR's approval of the Kohler Wetland Fill Permit and the Final DNR Environmental Impact Statement will take place the week of June 4-8, Mead Public Library, Sheboygan.

The hearing will last from Monday through Friday. Times are not established but we can expect to begin at 9:00 and go to 4.p.m or longer.

Friday morning, June 8th, the public will have an opportunity to speak to the issues in our challenges.

Having lots of people attend throughout the week sends a message as to how seriously the residents take the issues of the planned environmental degradation of a rare Lake Michigan coastal ecosystem. Our rights to information, healthy land, air and water have been circumvented and ignored.

FBRF is being charged $2000 to pay for a recorded transcript of the proceedings. We will be paying for expert witnesses and our attorneys. This is why we have gone all out on our You Caring campaign.

Please continue to share our story.

Make a Commitment Today! 

FBRF has filed three legal challenges against the DNR for the agency's

1.Illegal land swap of prime KASP land for insignificant Kohler land 

2. Illegal wetland fill permit approved by the DNR for Kohler

3. Incomplete Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Kohler project.

We have been granted a stay on any action on the golf course project.

Be a supporter of the land, air, and water we all need to live.

We are applying for grants to help with this fight. We need $200,000 to see this through to a victory. Your $10 donation will help us achieve our goals in court.

Please give what you can. All amounts help in this legal fight against the "Giant"

PLEASE SHARE! PLEASE HELP!

TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

All donations are tax deductible. FBRF is a 501 (c) (3) incorporated as a non-profit conservation group. 

View our fundraising campaign at YouCaring. 

Our goal is $200,000 

We need YOU! 

Every dollar makes a difference!

Donate Now!