Two reasons to celebrate a solid court ruling overturning a decision by the DNR to allow snowmobiles in Blue Mound State Park:
* The court sent the DNR, and any other state which might be listening, a strong message that the state cannot allow public property to be abused by so-called incompatible uses, especially when the agency is overlooking its own guidelines and the expressed will of the people who registered objections through the state's established methods.
In short, a victory for democratic procedure.
* The ruling should give her to people in the Town of Wilson along Lake Michigan who are fighting the planned expansion of a privately-owned golf course into acreage in Kohler Andrae State Park - - and are being dissed and dismissed through coordinated pro-developer actions by the DNR, its oversight body - - the Natural Resources Board - - and the State Department of Administration, whose Scott Walker-directed managers approved a quickie annexation to move the golf course site from the Town of Wilson to the City of Sheboygan to mute and disenfranchise the opponents.
The golf course site is a 247-acre, lakeshore-hugging, heavily-wooded nature preserve - -
- - that is bisected by The Black River and is loaded with wetlands, rare dunes, native peoples' artifacts.
It abuts Kohler Andrae State Park, one of Wisconsin's most popular publicly-owned hiking, camping and shoreline destinations.
I'm not an attorney, but I see in the Blue Mound State Park win some good news for the golf course opponents as they struggle to keep the project from grabbing state park land and also stopping several state agencies from ignoring the wishes of the project's neighbors and environmentally-minded citizens statewide.
Does handing over Kohler Andrae State Park land to a golf course developer for the construction of a maintenance building, parking lot and some access road-building boost the golf course's revenues and owner's wealth sound to you like a compatible use for public park land?
Stay tuned, and if you are interested, check out the website or Facebook page of the Friends of the Black River Forest for legal, fund-raising and other pertinent updates.
* The court sent the DNR, and any other state which might be listening, a strong message that the state cannot allow public property to be abused by so-called incompatible uses, especially when the agency is overlooking its own guidelines and the expressed will of the people who registered objections through the state's established methods.
In short, a victory for democratic procedure.
* The ruling should give her to people in the Town of Wilson along Lake Michigan who are fighting the planned expansion of a privately-owned golf course into acreage in Kohler Andrae State Park - - and are being dissed and dismissed through coordinated pro-developer actions by the DNR, its oversight body - - the Natural Resources Board - - and the State Department of Administration, whose Scott Walker-directed managers approved a quickie annexation to move the golf course site from the Town of Wilson to the City of Sheboygan to mute and disenfranchise the opponents.
The golf course site is a 247-acre, lakeshore-hugging, heavily-wooded nature preserve - -
- - that is bisected by The Black River and is loaded with wetlands, rare dunes, native peoples' artifacts.
It abuts Kohler Andrae State Park, one of Wisconsin's most popular publicly-owned hiking, camping and shoreline destinations.
I'm not an attorney, but I see in the Blue Mound State Park win some good news for the golf course opponents as they struggle to keep the project from grabbing state park land and also stopping several state agencies from ignoring the wishes of the project's neighbors and environmentally-minded citizens statewide.
Does handing over Kohler Andrae State Park land to a golf course developer for the construction of a maintenance building, parking lot and some access road-building boost the golf course's revenues and owner's wealth sound to you like a compatible use for public park land?
Stay tuned, and if you are interested, check out the website or Facebook page of the Friends of the Black River Forest for legal, fund-raising and other pertinent updates.