Skiing at Mt. Ashwabay

Beta and Jim Bodin at Mt. Ashwabay in an earlier era!

As you may know, the BRC was involved in helping acquire funds for the purchase of the Mt Ashwabay Ski hill and the adjacent lands that are used for the nordic ski trails. By the time we are done (with the help of Gov. Doyle, Sen. Jauch and Rep. Sherman) over 1040 acres will have been acquired for public recreation and wildlife habitat on the Ashwabay ridge.

Though we don't have much snow... the Ashwabay Outdoor Educational Foundation has been making snow on the ski hill to build up the base for the downhill ski runs. They also have added 15k of skating trails to the cross-country system. Here is a recent article on the ski hill.

Finally...snow!

We have been getting light snow all day. The brown grass is finally covered with a nice blanket of snow.

Congratulations Sustainable Bayfield!

Great news, another Chequamegon Bay city has adopted the principles of sustainabilty. Last week on 12/13/2006, the City of Bayfield passed a resolution adopting the Natural Step principals of sustainability.

This includes reducing what we take from the earth's crust, reduce the pollutants we emit, protecting the natural systems that provide drinking water and food, and meeting the basic needs for humans all around the world.

Way to go all the Bayfield citizens who worked on the resolution and wrote Earth Care: Choose, Consume Recycle - Living a Sensible Life in Bayfield. You can download it here.

See the Sustainable Bayfield blog.

Lake Levels are the lowest in 80 years

Sioux River Beach 12/19/2006

Winter 2007 Newsletter

Our newsletter will be mailed out on December 14.

If you would like to receive a copy in the mail, please contact the Bayfield Regional Conservancy office at brc@brcland.org and we will add you to the mailing list.

You can become a member by donating to the BRC. Your gift is tax deductible as allowed by law. Your gift supports the protection and preservation of natural areas in the Bayfield region. Every penny stays here!

Pie Cherries

Every July, for only a week or so, cherry pickers would come from hours away to pick pounds of pie cherries from Betzold's Orchard. When you took your buckets to the fruit stand, Viola Betzold would weigh them up and send you down to the pitting machine.

Viola and her husband Gene, grew all kinds of crops for over 50 years: strawberries, rhubarb, apples, pears and cherries. With their children all pursuing other careers, Viola started to think about the future of the land she had lived and worked on for most of her life. Before Gene died in 1999, the couple had begun looking into the possibility of preserving the property as a farm. In December of 2005, The Town of Bayfield Farmland Preservation Program (which BRC administered) purchased the development rights on Betzold's Orchards to keep the land open for farming in the future. I really enjoyed working with Vi through the process and got to know her strong feelings for preserving the land that had such fine soils for growing fruit.

This November Viola passed on. Although her death seems too soon (she should've been able to enjoy retirement) I know that she felt great about making sure the farm was preserved.

Lake Ice

This has been the first week of real winter weather. Bayfield has about 6 inches of snow, and Lake Superior is starting to get ice along the shores.

The fishing boats are still going out every day.