Counties of Wisconsin; 31; Crawford County

In 16 73 Marquette in Joliet discovered the Mississippi River at Prairie du Sheen. It was there on a spring day that county residents and University of Wisconsin Extension staff met to talk about today's. County of Wisconsin. Can tack on a proper accounting for each station and I guess today I have a Teen Tech who is a leader in a coma for it. And Jeanne you've been doing. I'm a little bit biased and you know crap and then I'm there for a ticket to this year. Could you tell us about some of the crap that you've been teaching the various foreach groups have been doing working with the material and putting them together and making time to find another way or did they. Take tiny pieces of paper

to find that you know. We were corn have braided rug. We do painting on canvas and I do I'll be 19 and we're going to imagine here Jane how we live in southwest Wisconsin and I have. Just Daria historic place. Perhaps you think some of these cracks are going around a long time ago. Oh yeah. Some of these my great grandmother's. Others the older people in this area I'm sure have been the. Proper counties around all the counties and the state proper county and Brown County have the creation of being through all this. And we do have quite a few historic sites in this area as you know and maybe you like to mention several of them. One of our most famous is our Bill of earth which is the home of Hercules which is from millionaire in Wisconsin. We have our medic human

thing and. One. Thing the. Investigation through from me. I believe it's not Dr. moment isn't that right. Yes. And then we the French town cemetery and we have the British boy grew up on the Hill. There are surely many more and although I think interests around here are the many many Indian Mound efforts that we have here in the southwest Wisconsin and Iowa by continually TV that the four age groups are now working on. And that is our drama festival. Perhaps you could tell us about the play that your club put and put on and how it pertained to buy from your Loria three year run in the back play with toys and comedy play. It was actually a hearth in Paul Revere's that was starting to play and would break in a different part from kind of the funny things

with the things with that. Kid where the different parts of Mrs. Hancock. Paul Revere and Nat his apprentice. Many different ones clobbering. I think Barack Obama was a real real fine and right along with this now the four age groups and our community groups will be working on a series of programs that we will be putting on TV and I know that the foreach members are very enthusiastic about seeing themselves on TV and will have some of them used to call numbers and some of the common numbers that pertain to buy from €10 home economist Mary nian and Ruth Johnson discussed an important nutritional program do you want to explain just what it stands for. If the nutrition education educational program

there is in collaboration with the university but its going to prepare it for the program. Now who works in the afternoon program here in Crawford County. Right now we have my program existed working throughout Crawford County myself this deficit then and of course were under the guidance of you the homie Grant. Why you being a function of the pH of the program assistance which work in the county. The program assistance thing an area usually in the area where they live to call any family that is interested in becoming a better homemaker. And we do dad possibly working with limited income family. Just what do the program assistants teach their families or help them to learn. They want to teach them to have a better diet a more balanced that and sometimes they even become involved in a lot of the few other aspects of

nutrition but our diet is the main purpose of the program. A better diet. Well then how do the program assistance. Find a families to work with or go about seeking out these families they are creating in the beginning and then they are given a leaflet made up by our county they can go out and leave that and go on doors knocking on door to door and sometimes we do hear we've heard from other county agencies. Then how many families in the cracker County area approximately are in the active program right now we have approximately 100000 leads in Crawford County in the active program we have been involved in it for almost six years. And word of this six year period we have worked with over 500 families in our county and for each program assistant and I stated we do have five in the county about how many families will a program that didn't work with one at one time we

track an average of 20 families per se but we do have one who lives in the city of pretty Sheen and she can handle up as high as 35 to 40 families. And again maybe one in a rural area with a lot of training will be able to only handle 15 families. But we have an average of 20 families. Do you feel that the families in Crawford County gained from this are happening again from him. Yes we feel that Crabtree County has definitely gained from this program and we have sent our report in and we find out that over a six month period of homemakers beauty habits their identity have improved. Then what happened after the family was there and I think that having proved it and continue on with the program or Yet they are worked with until that gets to the point where they feel the homemaker has learned and will be able to carry on the theater to have a better

menu then they are graduated. We keep them informed on the latest happenings as part of the tradition going. But they are no longer a member of our program do they get any active material your way or monthly or anything. Yes our county has a monthly newsletter that go without That is called the nutrition news which is put up there and with with the help of our program assistant in there we keep them up on the latest information as far as they're concerned. And of course we do include a few new recipes and Surekha. Fight if the dietary needs to have a family help to improve family life. Oh yeah I think it definitely into the family life because with a better diet we are bound to feel better right. OK what about you. Do we have anything for you in the afternoon I work with.

Yes we have to heat in that county that work with you throughout the year. They have been accepted very well in the school and are asked to come back and we do have a very involved program that we know during the month of June and of course this is in cooperation with our voyage and you've aged and we do work together you very well with them with him as well as the PD and volunteers in Crawford County there is an interesting effort in the area of land use and planning the first step is to ascertain the present resources and uses vendor across the county resource agent. And with me today is Lucy Baker the Crawford County cartographer. Inventory of resources no matter what category they're involved with to determine what if there is an important part of almost anything within our daily lives. This involves just taking time to

just inventory everything you have had in the past and bringing it up to present. This also applies to our land use practices. These do change very constantly and it's important to have the latest information available here in Crawford County agriculture is very important. We do have kind of a special County here it's very rugged topography. Many of the farms of the actual farmland only occupies a certain percentage of the entire acreage. So they are faced with different problems than they are in different parts of the state. Recreational land because of the beautiful colony and also the rugged topography is becoming more important and more and more land it being converted to recreation and other uses. We also have an increase in out-of County purchase of land. And these are increasing and causing changes in land use also. Recently this need has been assessed by the county and in an effort to

bring an update to exactly what we do have. The county decided that the current inventory of all of our land uses was an important part. So with that in mind they did hire a county cartographer which is Lucy Baker and she's with me here to explain exactly what the program is. First of all to see. As far as land use mapping. Exactly what physical processes do you go through to do this. Well to begin a match. I started with a basement again one township which is supplied by the Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission. Then I began a process of manuscript ing where I use a pantograph which allows me to transfer the information from aerial photographs which is what we're using for all the information on these land use maps. To transfer this information to the base man. However the problem is. That the aerial

photograph is three times too large. So the pantograph helps me reproduce the forest field boundaries at three times the west scale. Which. Cuts down on my work a good deal and gives a very accurate map. As to field farm boundaries. And after this then my map is completely produced in pencil. And all the areas on the map all the forested areas the woodland areas craft areas and. Pasture. Are. Identified on the map with my drafting pencil along with all the farm homes and all the residential homes in the area. Then the second process of creating a map as is the drafting process whereby I take my drafting pad and go Are all the lines on the map that had been previously done in pencil so that when the map is finished all the farm homes all are as eventually

areas and all the forest boundaries are put in. And then after that the finished map with its key is sent to the printer and that will be reproduced for public distribution. Even with the current or most current air photos available to copy from. Oh there still are changes since the reproduction of the aerial photo and its distribution to get more current than that. Do you actually go out and verify what you see on the aerial photo. Well yes I do Wayne a lot of the problem. Because these aerial photographs are fairly recent They were taken in August of this previous year. A lot of the homes are hidden underneath trees and especially along a river frontage where the cottages are. I can't see exactly how many colleges there are sitting along there so I do go out in the county for that. And also the unincorporated villages have to

draw on building by a building so therefore I do travel a lot in Lubbock County to such villages as Seneca and out to Mount Zion and Petersburg environ and all the small towns and make up a small sketch of the town so that when I do make an inset map of that town on the land use map that it will be accurate and useful. When you're a work here now you cover quite a few different categories as far as land use. Are there any particular important ones that you feel are unique to Crawford County as far as land uses here. Well I think that perhaps most counties share the tilde acreage of the forest but the thing that's unique about Crawford County because of its very rugged terrain is the abundance of woodland. And while drawing in this one land on the maps very interesting land use patterns show

up. Whereby. The ridge roads support a great number of farm homes and along the ridge roads and any given township you can see how many farm homes are along there the Goodrich silence killed off on either side like fingers extending down either side of the ridge where the forest is usually the slope land. Where it's just too Steve and too rocky to plow. And then in the bottom lands one can see a very small sliver of land and in some townships this might be tobacco and others the farmers mostly grow corn and alfalfa down in this small area. With this wealth of information on land use is basically the most current land use. We're actually building up a base word from which we can expand in the future. Now that we do have or will have in the very near future the basic work of what we have this hard land uses within the next few years possibly every

two or three years we can update is Anshu exactly by acreage in each category just where the changes are taking place and perhaps get some sort of a handle on why they are taking place. What areas are most affected and this is very important in planning on any scale. Once you know what you have how fast is changing and in what direction you can plan for it. So this is a very important part of land use mapping that conversation led to the following observations. Here in Crawford County we're very blessed with water resources. We have the Mississippi River which is very important to our county. It provides. Good transportation network would also provide endless hours of recreation we have fishing hunting areas much of the river bottom use of federal and state hunting areas and refuges. It is very important not only to the economy of

Crawford County but also to its makeup also. In addition we have the Wisconsin River which forms another border of our county. It enters the Mississippi River right at the apex of the colony and then we also have a another famous River which is becoming more famous in various aspects. And thats the Kickapoo. The Kickapoo is one of the most winding rivers in the state. Its not the nation its becoming very famous not only because of the Kickapoo Dam project which is a controversial issue and which we wont get into but because of the recreational aspect. The Kickapoo River is very famous. As I stated because of the winding aspect it has a definite appeal for canoeing here in Crawford County. We have an annual event early October it called 3C weekend which stands for canoeing camping and Colorado mom. We try to do a ranges during the very peak of

our fall color and then we have it open to all canoeists do so daily event as far as canoeing is concerned we start at a point in the northern part of the county stop for lunch somewhere along the way and come down to where the crow intersects with the Wisconsin River. This is a very popular undertaking. Almost entirely for out-of-state people. And right now we have as of this last year we had one hundred and forty some participants and the interest is increasing every year. So as far as our water resources we are blessed considerably and we do have a lot of potential. As far as lakes are concerned we only have what's considered one lake it's actually a backwater of the Mississippi and that's gree more lake. We are having problems with sedimentation here and this is currently under the lake management and renewal project and efforts are being made to study this to see what can be done.

So people are concerned about our water resources. Not only recreation wise but how it affects your entire life. Development along the water is a natural thing that has occurred probably since the first man came in contact with the water. As I said it provides transportation This is one aspect it's always looked at and it naturally provides a basic element of water which man cannot live without. And we do have the other aspects of hunting fishing etc.. So ever since man came in contact with the water it is wanted to stay close to it. This does not actually create problems for the closer you are to water the more apt you are to be influenced by it and you also exert your influence on that body of water also. As I stated we have to have our borders on the county bordered by the Mississippi and Wisconsin and development has increased here because of the people wanting to live here both permanently and also as seasonal homes. And if in some

instances it does create problems of having Marcelle here to explain some of them. As far as of zoning problems here in Crawford County we do have a flood plain zoning ordinance which affects the unincorporated areas of the county. Perhaps you could tell us Marcel what kind of problems do arise because of excess development on our waterways. Will the greatest problem on the one of most concern of course is the problem of waste disposal in these areas particularly when we get down into the actual flood way of the Mississippi. As of right now we haven't had too much difficulty with the Wisconsin River and hopefully in the future this can be abated by the current study and it's being made on creating a wild river area for the Wisconsin River. So our major concern is the Mississippi where a considerable amount of development has occurred in the past. And which is has come under my

control in just within the last few months. Part of the problem of course with this dream or lake which Wayne mentioned is that some of it is caused by human waste being discharged into it now. This is seems to be a problem all over the state and particularly still here because we rely so much upon these resources for tourism. We are beginning to control it all and we are coming up with new ideas which will allow people to pull their trailers in or even to. Put up structures so that they can use it without creating disturbances to the environment and so that possibly we can you. Higher density and get more you saw out of it. Crawford County is basically agriculture even in our incorporated

areas we don't have too much industry mostly small industries here in Grady shene the county seat of 3M is the biggest employer. Do you see any problems in the future. Now our county is right now is just a little over 15000. It is growing slowly. Now do you see any problems with the industry coming in with new people coming in and building homes. Well apparently we do have. Quite a bit of room for homes. The soils are good here and we have the. This area between the Mississippi River and the bluffs on which prairie sheet is located with a fairly good sized area which would be suitable for development I really don't see any any extreme problems involved in future development here.

All right here you mention basically the bottom line between the river and the blowout. This is usually pretty good soil for septic systems. We do have a distinct problem on top of some of our blocks. We do have a problem not only in shallow soil which can't allow septic systems but these blocks are ideal as far as the Seanie places. Many people buying land from out of the area don't realize the limitations on septic system placement and will buy a piece of property without checking into it. Now does this create a problem or can you see increased problems in the future. I can see in the future there could be problems particularly in the area of the scenic properties of this land. We have. You have pretty good control of feel of the septic system so that

hopefully we can keep people from putting them on shallow soils or on this very steep slopes which as you said are quite prevalent. However the county is in the process of drawing up a plan which. May in the future help to abate this and actually keep the values of this property up. OK as far as changing land ownership right now we have. Quite a few people from out of the county buying land in the area. The land ownership is changing much of this land is being bought not only is speculation but perhaps retirement homes for people that live out of the area and are planning to retire and either move back or move into the area for the first time. Now some of these people are buying the land that are farms right now. The farms are either being farmed on a rental basis or perhaps being placed into idle situation for a while.

Do you see any change in this as far as having to require perhaps severe limitations on development over the amount of development that can occur in a certain place or certain situation you have for these areas. It. Could cause problems particularly when out of state people come in and sometimes although they should not do it they buy it possibly sight unseen and then they come and want to do some building on it. This is a problem that I am sure will be more in the future. As of now we know most people are buying for the future and I'm sure that in a few years when they come to retire and make there and build their structure they're going to find that they're going to run into trouble. As I said earlier there are or we are working on Alternet and the state is involved in this in getting new.

Means of providing for. Waste disposal and for building structures. One system which has been proposed is called an alternate system for waste disposal which. Will allow virtually. For a contractor to build. A septic system. Seepage bit. You can do this on areas where bedrock is close to the surface or where we have. Extremely high ground water which would be in floodplain areas. This is. At least one solution the possible solution where where no other is is available. OK this would probably in effect open up land for development that isn't available right now because of the soil limitation. This is probably good in many aspects but it's also a situation which you have to look ahead to be able to develop properly and restrictions such

as septic systems soil permeability. These are intended not to discourage development but to allow it to proceed in accordance not only with the community but also with the environment in mind. This all would have to be looked at right now even though Crawford County is relatively undeveloped compared to many of the other counties in the state. We are also then at a stage right now where we can look ahead and plan for the future. We are very left with a county that has an abundance of water resources abundant land. Of Forestry wildlife farming areas. But to look ahead with more people coming in we have to also plan ahead. An appreciation and concern for the land and its use has been evident in many of these

programs on the counties of Wisconsin. Produced a WHV radio service of the University of Wisconsin Extension.