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| Peninsula Pulse |
Impressive journal for a region where people go for romantic trips, honeymoons and visits from around the country to get away to stunning northern forests and streams jutting into Lake Michigan.
Door County is what Aldo Leopold had in mind when he said, "The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land."
Surly, Wisconsin wants to protect areas such as Door County, Bayfield and Ashland counties, Wood and Adams counties, and the abundant fresh water and forests in general.
No. Not while Scott Walker is governor.
Concentrated Agricultural Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are proliferating in Wisconsin, and they are a catastrophic threat to the environment, having already inflicted damage around the state.
Scott Walker is silent, he won't protect our water, Walker gets paid by the polluters to run interference. His administration policy is more production for CAFOs, less protection for people.
Scott Walker worked to make it possible for foreign investors to buy farm land and lease it.
The Republican Attorney General issued an advisory opinion that foreign ownership of Wisconsin agriculture and forestry is legal for tracts 640 acres and less.
Attorney General Van Hollen quietly issued his announcement the Friday before Christmas.
Wisconsin is for sale to the highest foreign bidder with 640-acre lots for CAFOs.
Big Ag is polluting waters so badly that in one Wisconsin county, Kewaunee, a child cannot wash out a cut in the summer with water from the faucet because of the pathogens from CAFOs have made the water undrinkable and unsafe.
Many still in parts of Brown County will only drink bottled water.
Turns out it's terribly unhealthy to vector liquid cow manure into aquifers and surface waters.
And if the proposed Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) massive open pit mine is allowed, "toxic residue will literally flow into the clean waters of northern Wisconsin," notes the New York Times last summer, but Scott Walker's campaigns were well-paid.
Adams County resident, Don Ystad, notes Wisconsin counties are fighting back against the polluters.
Writes Ystad in an email:
An ad appeared in last week's shopper inviting residents to attend a meeting being held by the Adams County Planning and Zoning Committee at the Adams County Community Center on January 13th at 7:00 PM to discuss the possibility of creating a county forestry zoning district. It's called a public informational hearing for gathering information and public input only. Anyone interested is invited to attend, participate and provide input.
Adams County ranks 16th in tourism within our state, largely because of access to quality hunting,fishing and water sports. As large scale agriculture and mineral-based industries expand in Wisconsin, much of the forestland is being clear cut and converted to cropland or sand mining. Not only would this change the complexion of our Adams County environment, it reduces the habitat for wildlife, reduces hunting land for sportsmen, and opens us up for environmental damage caused by increasing high cap wells and fertilizer and waste runoff. I would hope that a forest zoning district would establish a balance that protects our resource.
Many of you moved here for the same reasons I did; to live in a clean, natural environment with access to woods, water and recreation. Please attend this meeting on the 13th, share your thoughts, and encourage Adams County to protect our wonderful forest environment.
Today in Bayfield County, there is a public hearing on the massive proposed swine CAFO.
That a CAFO is even contemplated in this pristine region is absurd.
Construction of the Reicks View "Family Farm" LLC CAFO has already begun.
Want to know what a swine CAFO looks like?
Have a look. From North Carolina, owned by China:
And unless we stop this 560-acre CAFO coming to Bayfield County, it is available for sale to China.
By the way, China doesn't care so very much about pollution; clean and safe water won't be a priority once China gets a foothold in Wisconsin.
Thank you, Scott Walker.
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