Controversial paved trail/bridge up north on 1/24 env. agenda

You may remember that Elizabeth Uihlein, a major Walker/Trump/GOP mover-shaker-and-donor who lives in Illinois, closed a deal with the DNR for Manitowish Waters

shoreline land up north that had arisen in controversy:

In 2015, her plan to buy frontage from the DNR on Rest Lake that would give her residential complex direct access to the lake came under fire. The Natural Resources Board tabled the sale in September 2015 after critics raised questions about why the DNR would sell lake frontage.

Others questioned whether Uihlein was getting special treatment. Uihlein ultimately got the land. In July, the DNR announced a land swap that gave the agency nearly 43 acres and 2,100 feet of frontage on Mann Lake, also in Vilas County, that Uihlein and her husband purchased to facilitate the deal.

She also favored the construction of a paved bike path and bridge in the area - - a plan that also raised a controversy, so the DNR side-tracked it.

A key supporter of the project is Elizabeth Uihlein...through a spokesman, she said she did not have any direct involvement in the project. Still, Uihlein has said she will help to pay for the trail and she has made it clear to local officials that she expects the trail to be built.

Now the bridge and biking path project is on an already crowded and consequential January 24th meeting agenda - - which the DNR helped put together with and for its oversight arm, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board - - as item 5.B.3.

The item, which includes a sign-off recommendation from DNr Secretary Dan Meyer, calls for the acceptance donations to pay for the bike path and bridge.