In Wisconsin

In Wisconsin #908

Wisconsin Public Television

Transcript: In Wisconsin #908

Original Airdate: 24 November 2010

Patty Loew:

Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to “In Wisconsin.” I’m Frederica Freyberg in for Patty Loew. This week, a closer look at Camp Madison and how it made history at the University of Wisconsin arboretum.

Man:

It’s an incredible undertaking, and it was one that had never happened before.

Patty Loew:

Plus, Hmong refugees bridge a generation gap with food, especially when it comes to Thanksgiving.

Woman:

And they go, well, this chicken is so big. How do we cook this chicken?

Patty Loew:

And do you know this man?

Man:

He’s been described as being a geologist, a botanist.

Patty Loew:

Increase Lapham is considered to be Wisconsin’s first great scientist. Find out why next on “In Wisconsin.”

Announcer:

Major funding for “In Wisconsin” is provided by the people of Alliant Energy who bring safe, reliable and environmentally friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin running smoothly. Alliant Energy, we’re on for you. And Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery Specialists of Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, a veterinary team working with pet owners and family veterinarians providing care for oral disease and dental problems of small companion animals.

Patty Loew:

If you’re looking to walk off that Thanksgiving meal tomorrow, we know just the place. It’s one of the more amazing pieces of conservation history in our state, and it can be found in the center of our capitol city. As “In Wisconsin” reporter Jo Garrett shows you, this place is the vision of famed Wisconsin conservationist Aldo Leopold and hundreds of young men who were part of what was called Camp Madison.

Bob Moore:

CCC stands for the Civilian Conservation Corps. They were an outdoor conservation project, part of President Roosevelt’s relief effort. It was the simplest form of relief effort for young folks. Every camp had a company of men made up of about 200. This one became Camp Madison.

Jo Garrett:

Bob Moore is an author and historian based in Verona who will soon publish a book about the CCC in Wisconsin. According to Moore, Camp Madison, based here at the University of Wisconsin arboretum in the heart of our state capitol, is unlike any CCC camp anywhere.

Bob Moore:

The CCC in the arboretum was such a special situation. It was such a special case that existed nowhere else in America.

Jo Garrett:

There were other CCC camps in urban areas. There was one in Milwaukee. And the enrollees at Camp Madison did build those iconic structures so well-known, the trails and shelters. But Camp Madison also had a special mission, unique in the country. They built this.

Jo Garrett:

A 60-acre tall grass prairie.

Bob Moore:

It’s an incredible undertaking, and it was one that had never happened before.

Jo Garrett:

Never before had a prairie been restored in the United States. First time. And it happened at a critical time for two very important reasons.

Bob Moore:

Number one, most of Wisconsin was plowed and there wasn’t much left and it would be easy to lose the rest of it in the ensuing years. And, number two, you had the manpower to do it. In 1935 the CCC boys came along and that was their saving grace.

Jo Garrett:

This restoration of the land that would come to be known as Curtis Prairie was a dream of Aldo Leopold, the first director of the arboretum.

Bob Moore:

When the arboretum was dedicated in 1934, Aldo Leopold was here. He was on the faculty at the time of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At the dedication he said, you know what would be nice, is to have a sample of Dane County back when our ancestors were here in the 1840s. Those CCC kids were the ones that could go and get it done. They’d get in the trucks, drive out of camp and go looking for native plants. These kids are young teenagers. They don’t know what a native plant is.

Jo Garrett:

This is when the faculty of the nearby university, people like Leopold and Ted Sperry, pictured here, proved critical. They found the plants.

Bob Moore:

Many of those sites were along the Wisconsin River in the Prairie du Sac area, in the lower Wisconsin River area, close to the river on rocky ledges where it’s not farmable really but the native plants can still hang on. The university staff would find these places. The CCC did the work. They made it happen. We’re in a supply building.

Jo Garrett:

And some of the building the CCC’ers lived in, worked in, survived.

Bob Moore:

We’re in one of the last remaining barracks buildings that the CCCs lived in here in the arboretum. There were ten buildings just like this one. This is where the young men stayed. This is where they had their bunks. You can kind of use your imagination I suppose to think about rows of beds behind me, foot lockers, very much like an army barracks.

Jo Garrett:

The arboretum still uses these buildings for classes, offices, seed storage. They are another precious legacy of Camp Madison.

Bob Moore:

It’s very unusual to have surviving CCC barracks buildings here or anywhere in the United States. There’s a lot of CC work that’s out there, but the actual camp itself, where you can actually see the buildings, that’s highly unusual.

Jo Garrett:

Hundreds of young men passed through here, 200 at a time. The minimum enrollment was six months. The maximum, two years. Camp Madison opened in 1935 and it was one of the last of the CCC camps in the country to close when it was decommissioned in 1941.

Bob Moore:

It was a fun adventure time for them. They worked eight hours, but they had time off in the evenings.

Jo Garrett:

They made music together. They played sports together. They even put a parade float together. These young men learned to work together.

Bob Moore:

Many of these young kids had never been away from home. They’d never been in a communal setting before, never had to live with other people before, never had to get along with other people before and they had to do that in the CCCs.

Jo Garrett:

In 1939 a uniform was specially commissioned for the corps.

Bob Moore:

This is the dress hat for the new CCC. It’s a forest green with an emblem as you see signifying the CCC. It was a badge of honor when they were walking down the streets of Madison in their dress CCC uniforms.

Jo Garrett:

Honor and hard work. The CCC’ers never made much money.

Bob Moore:

The pay was $30 a month. The interesting thing about all that is, when they walked up to that pay table, they weren’t handed $30. They were handed $5 for a month’s work. Now, what happened to the other $25? The other $25, when they went into the CCC, they had to sign a form, the other $25 went home to the folks. Leopold said, besides restoring Dane County to the way it used to be, this is going to be an education center. They’re going to put something here that other people are going to see day after day and year after year.

Jo Garrett:

There is a rock overlooking Curtis Prairie inscribed with this dedication. In time of despair, they recreated a piece of the past to make hope for the future.

Patty Loew:

And that future continues to be full of opportunity. The University of Wisconsin arboretum is celebrating 75 years of innovative research.

Man:

We’ve got nearly two square miles, 1200 acres, right in the middle of a medium-size city.

Patty Loew:

And a world class collection of restored ecosystems.

Woman:

It’s a special place. It’s where the arboretum began.

Patty Loew:

The UW arboretum now faces an environmental quandary scientists are trying to solve. To learn more, join us for Landscape Legacy, an “In Wisconsin” special on the UW arboretum. It airs next Thursday at 7:00 right here on Wisconsin Public Television. November is deer hunting season. It’s an annual ritual woven into the cultural and economic fabric of our state. But in recent years there has been a growing concern by some hunters that the deer herd has been decimated by predators. This week, a look at how the DNR is responding to those concerns with a massive field research project unlike any other in Wisconsin.

Patty Loew:

The man with the so-called H antenna is Chris Jakes, research scientist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Chris Jakes:

Most of my graduate training was with big game research.

Patty Loew:

Jakes’s experience with big game animals will soon be put to use with Wisconsin’s whitetail deer. The animal is a state icon, source of commerce, source of controversy, hunting prize and now the subject of two gigantic research projects brought about in part by the concerns of hunters. The first is called the big buck study. It’s a five-year project that will address this question.

Chris Jakes:

What is the percentage of bucks that die annually by way of hunting?

Patty Loew:

At the same time, the DNR will conduct a shorter three-year study on fawns to answer this concern.

Chris Jakes:

How many fawns are getting killed by the various predators and at what rate across northern and east central Wisconsin? We’ve got expanding wolf populations and there’s evidence that suggests that our black bear population is also greater than we previously thought. We’ve got coyotes, bobcats. Were trying to better understand the impacts that all of these predators are having on fawn survival.

Patty Loew:

Two studies on the whitetail make for one gigantic effort.

Chris Jakes:

It’s the biggest in the history of Wisconsin. The buck study is a $1.5 million research project. We want to capture 90 animals or 60 bucks annually over two study areas for four years and radio collar those animals. In addition to those, we want to capture an additional 100 bucks annually per study area and ear tag those individuals. We’ll likely be capturing up to 4,000 or 5,000 animals over the life of this study, so a big, big effort.

Patty Loew:

They plan to stick to two study sites, one near Clam Lake, the other in central Wisconsin, Shawano, Waupaca, Outagamie counties, large areas, and they have many collaborators, including individuals.

Chris Jakes:

We’ve got over 200 of our hunters now who have signed up as official research volunteers to help us out.

Patty Loew:

Still, they need more.

Chris Jakes:

We especially need help with capturing animals. I mean, that’s a long-term proposition. We’re going to be out there for ten weeks every day of the field season.

Patty Loew:

If you like tracking animals, this volunteer opportunity could be highly interesting, with some unusual visuals.

Chris Jakes:

We’re going to be deploying helicopters with net guns. We’ll also follow up with ground trapping efforts. Rocket nets, just a big net that is propelled by rocket canisters we’ll shoot over the tops of animals.

Patty Loew:

Capture, track, collar.

Chris Jakes:

This is what we’ll be fitting on the fawns. This is kind of an expansion break-away radio collar.

Patty Loew:

There are many parts of these research projects that experts say play to the skills of hunters of all ages.

Chris Jakes:

We’d love to have all of these volunteers, if they have kids, bring the kids out, you know. The youth is our future and we want to get our youth hunters excited about this. A lot of hunters have voiced concern that they’re not listened to and their input is not valued. This is a way to involve hunters directly in the field research alongside of us. And that’s exactly what we want to do.

Patty Loew:

For more information on how you can volunteer for this DNR deer research study, go to our website at wpt.org/inwisconsin. There are additional interviews with Chris Jakes about the project and what hunters should do if they come across a deer with a radio collar. Well, the DNR will need Wisconsin residents to help with this study. These citizen scientists can take inspiration in the story of a man by the name of Increase Lapham. He’s considered Wisconsin’s first scientist. Lapham was self-taught, but his scientific work in botany, forestry and meteorology still has an influence today 200 years after his birth. “In Wisconsin” reporter Andy Soth takes you on a quest looking for Lapham’s legacy. And that journey starts in the Wisconsin Dells.

Andy Soth:

Not far from downtown Wisconsin Dells, you’ll find Taylor’s Glen. On this fall day you’ll find two history buffs on a mission.

Man:

Take a look at this and see what you think.

Man:

That’s definitely the location. It’s a matter of obviously where the light and shadow is.

Andy Soth:

They’re looking for the setting of a 19th century photograph, a picture with personal meaning for each of them. It was taken by HH Bennett, whose stereoscopic views of the Dells made it known the world over. Bennett’s great granddaughter, Debra Jean Kinder, hopes to retake the picture.

Debra Jean Kinder:

So many people come here to see the waterparks. But I’m sad that people are missing out on the natural beauty.

Rob Nurre:

Bennett, he was working here. That would have been 1865.

Andy Soth:

Historian Rob Nurre will portray the subject of the photograph, a person hes long been fascinated with. That’s Increase Allen Lapham, examining the geology of Taylor’s Glen. No one in Wisconsin’s early history had a broader appreciation of the wonders of the state than Lapham.

Rob Nurre:

He’s been described as a universal genius, a botanist, a geologist, a meteorologist. It’s really hard to come up with a handle for what this man was.

Andy Soth:

He was a self-taught civil engineer when he came to Wisconsin to build a canal in 1836, a dozen years before statehood. The canal was never built. But with his curious mind, Lapham never lacked for things to do.

Rob Nurre:

He is one of the first people who have now come west of Lake Michigan who has an interest and skill in collecting biological material.

Andy Soth:

Upon his arrival, Lapham immediately began documenting local plants.

Theodore Cochrane:

This probably is the first scientific publication to have been issued west of the Great Lakes.

Andy Soth:

Lapham published a list of the plants of Milwaukee and later donated thousands of specimens to what became the UW herbarium, a library of plants.

Theodore Cochrane:

These dried plant specimens are a series of examples of nature’s bounty.

Andy Soth:

The herbarium today holds more than a million samples for botanical research. Lapham brought the same scientific approach to documenting a unique feature of the southern Wisconsin landscape. Effigy mounds constructed centuries before his arrival. Former state archeologist Bob Birmingham points out some intact effigy mounds in Madison.

Bob Birmingham:

Head, leg and then another leg here, body coming across here and then terminating in a very long tail.

Harry Whitehorse:

And I’d like to present a model of this effigy tree for our Ho-Chunk nation.

Andy Soth:

It’s part of a set of mounds recently rededicated with the addition of a bronze sculpture by Ho-Chunk artist Harry Whitehorse. The fact that these mounds remain intact and the recognized connection they hold with contemporary Ho-Chunk owes a lot to Lapham.

Bob Birmingham:

Like the mounds, native people have persisted.

Andy Soth:

PhD candidate Libby Tronnes has been studying how effigy mounds have been interpreted over time.

Libby Tronnes:

People are very curious about these mounds, so people are inventing stories that they were built by people from Atlanta, the ten lost tribes, the Greeks were here, Alexander the Great was here. Kind of the forefront of solving the mystery of who done it. He’s rejecting the prevailing notion that there’s a lost, more advanced race. The most obvious conclusion is, actually, theyre the contemporary native tribes.

Jay Toth:

It’s a way to reach across the past and touch your ancestors and at the same time look ahead to the future.

Libby Tronnes:

It’s actually almost 40 years later that the Smithsonian makes that same declaration. So a bit ahead of his time there.

Andy Soth:

Ahead of his time also describes Lapham’s understanding of forestry.

Rob Nurre:

There are some people who have before this time said there is an unending supply of wood in northern Wisconsin. There is no way we will ever for thousands of years ever have enough demand that we would need the wood from northern Wisconsin. But clearly Lapham realized that isn’t the case.

Andy Soth:

In 1967 Lapham offered a report for the Wisconsin legislature.

Rob Nurre:

It’s entitled The Disastrous Effect of the Destruction of Forest Trees.

Andy Soth:

Despite the title’s dire warning, the forest disappeared.

Rob Nurre:

And we end up cutting off northern Wisconsin, the great cut as it’s eventually referred to.

Andy Soth:

Lapham had better luck influencing the government when it came to the weather. This is the view from what today is called Lapham Peak. Not far away on another rise sits this massive radar installation, part of the National Weather Service office near Sullivan.

Steve Brueske:

A lot of people consider him the father of the weather service.

Andy Soth:

Meteorologist in charge Steve Brueske keeps a portrait of Lapham on his office wall.

Steve Brueske:

I think he’d be stunned when he’d look at something like this radar up here or see the computers that we have.

Andy Soth:

But he wouldn’t be stunned by the work being done by today’s National Weather Service, an agency he helped found and direct.

Rob Nurre:

Looking at that weather map that we see on television, he is the one that really created the system that we still rely on today.

Andy Soth:

They say everyone talks about the weather. But Increase Lapham actually did something about it. His original motivation was to warn Great Lakes ships of coming foul weather.

Steve Brueske:

Our primary mission is to protect lives and property by issuing warnings. The mission is the same today.

Andy Soth:

On Lapham Peak, one of the many plaques in his honor, remembers Lapham as an eminent scientist and useful citizen. In predicting weather and preserving the natural and archeological treasures of Wisconsin, Lapham’s self-taught science served the public. An influence that can still be seen when you look for Lapham.

Patty Loew:

That report about Increase Lapham kicks off a new initiative here at Wisconsin Public Television called Quest. It’s a project that will delve into issues about Wisconsin’s environment. For more information go to questwisconsin.org. That website will also give you more information about Increase Lapham and other citizen scientists. Well, it’s estimated that more than 47,000 Hmong live in Wisconsin and some are recent immigrants. The transition to a new culture and customs can be difficult, especially when it comes to Thanksgiving. On that note, Bao Thao Vang came up with a recipe for success involving good food that’s good for you in Appleton.

Liz Koerner:

Bao Thao Vang has a job that keeps her on the move. She covers three counties in the Fox Valley teaching nutrition to the large Hmong community in this area.

Bao Thao Vang:

A lot of the Hmong people now have high blood pressure and diabetes.

Liz Koerner:

One place where Thao Vang teaches is Appleton North High School. Here she lets teens know not only how to make healthy meals, but how to make connections with their elders.

Bao Thao Vang:

When I teach the younger Hmong, I told them, that this is what you’re eating in this country, but your in-laws or your parents, they like the Hmong food, so you can make this into Hmong food too.

Liz Koerner:

One of the recipes they’re learning to make is for Hmong rice cake, a dessert most of them eat at home.

Girl:

I have eaten it before, but this is my first time to make it.

Liz Koerner:

Bao also goes out to educate the elder Hmong. They gather for classes sponsored by Lutheran Social Services at the Thompson community center in Appleton. She gives this group the same advice as the teens, but in reverse.

Bao Thao Vang:

For the elder I will make them American food and say, this is your children, your grandchildren, when they go to school, these are the food that they eat.

Liz Koerner:

Bao is in a good position to understand both the elders in her community from Laos and the generations of Hmong growing up here. That’s because she was born in Laos and at the age of eight came to America.

Bao Thao Vang:

My first day in school, when the teacher talked, you just hear the s sound, so it’s really difficult. I go, how am I going to learn this language?

Liz Koerner:

It’s her memories of learning a new language and culture that she calls on when teaching the elders about good nutrition. For them, even shopping for groceries is a challenge.

Bao Thao Vang:

For our Hmong people, when they go there, they don’t take canned food or boxed food because they — it’s not that they don’t like it. It’s that they don’t know how to cook.

Liz Koerner:

In addition to her in-person education efforts, Bao hosts a Hmong-language cable show on television. It’s called “Bridging Hmong American” and presents a wide range of helpful ideas. The most popular show so far tackles the topic of turkeys.

Bao Thao Vang:

People come to me and say, we saw your show on the turkey and it’s good.

Liz Koerner:

She says the turkey show came about because new immigrants were confused when offered a gift basket with a raw Thanksgiving turkey.

Bao Thao Vang:

And they go, well, this chicken is so big. How do we cook this chicken? Sometimes they are cut up and boil it like a chicken.

Liz Koerner:

With her media exposure and many nutrition classes, Bao continues to spread the word about the health benefits that come from eating nutritious food. That and a sympathetic ear make her a valuable resource to both young and old in the Hmong community.

Bao Thao Vang:

I listen to them and try to be a person that they can go to if they have any question about anything.

Patty Loew:

Repeats of the show “Bridging Hmong American” still air in the Fox Valley, but new production has been cancelled. To find a link, log on to our website at wpt.org/inwisconsin. An extensive list of programs in the Hmong language is available through the Appleton public library. As we mentioned earlier, “In Wisconsin” will not be seen next Thursday, so we can bring you the US arboretum special called Landscape Legacy. “In Wisconsin” will return after the new year, with these new reports.

Jo Garrett:

This is “In Wisconsin” reporter Jo Garrett, and I’m breaking the rules, sneaking a taste.

Jo Garrett:

On an one of a kind nature trail devoted to wild edibles. There’s only one in the country and it’s in Wisconsin.

Art Hackett:

I’m Art Hackett near Arlington, where researchers are looking for the right combination of crops if Wisconsin’s future climate is different than the one today.

Liz Koerner:

I’m “In Wisconsin” reporter Liz Koerner. This newly renovated building houses a museum that’s so unique it’s already attracting visitors from around the world. They offer hands-on lessons at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum in Spooner.

Patty Loew:

Join us when “In Wisconsin” returns Thursday, January 6, at our new time, 7:30, right here on Wisconsin Public Television. Until then, you can follow what we’re working on with our interactive blog called the Producers Journal. It’s updated each week by the journalists who work in front of and behind-the-scenes on “In Wisconsin.” We hope you’ll check out the Producers Journal at wpt.org/inwisconsin. Finally this week, travel to Douglas County, where white pines have been standing tall for generations to see. Have a great week in Wisconsin and we’ll see you back here January 6.

Announcer:

Major funding for “In Wisconsin” is provided by the people of Alliant Energy who bring safe,

reliable and environmentally friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin

running smoothly. Alliant Energy, we’re on for you. And Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery

Specialists of Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, a veterinary team working with pet owners

and family veterinarians providing care for oral disease and dental problems of small companion

animals.