FOPPI Blog

America's National Wildlife Refuges need your voice. The President's FY2027 budget proposal would reduce funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System from approximately $522 million to $417 million. The Refuge Association is urging Congress to instead provide $761 million for the National Wildlife Refuge System Operations and Maintenance account to ensure refuges can continue protecting wildlife, restoring habitat, and serving the public. Taking action is quick and easy. S

In January of 1915 George E. Fox wrote an in-depth article in the Wisconsin Archeologist, he wrote: ‘On Plum Island, about the harbor at the northern end, is another village site, according to inhabitants of Washington Island. This is the one reported to the Society by Mr. G.A. West. Two other reports of early Indian cultivation from this vicinity are recorded in “A Record of Wisconsin Antiquities,” p. 320. One refers to cultivation on Plum Island.’ He also notes that ‘

Like many folks, my parents honeymooned at the Niagara Falls; probably not thinking one iota about the significance of this natural wonder. It probably didn't cross their mind that the Falls is part of the greater Niagara Escarpment that begins near Rochester, New York and continues as far south as Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, where I live. Truthfully, up until recently, I didn't think it was all that important either -- I thought of it as just another tourist trap. But, on

As what usually happens to me, I was searching for something else and found a box of photos of the early Plum Island years that I'd forgotten about. The box had photos of the original eagles' nest that was along the trail, the first Lady's Slipper I'd ever seen, the Dwarf Lake Iris, volunteers that have moved on, and those who still capture the magic that Plum Island has to offer. These photos are ancient ... taken on an old film camera ... the kind of pictures that you hope