The Extra is WXPR’s daily news podcast. Get the news you need to stay informed about your local community – all in six minutes or less. Available weekdays by 1 p.m. Subscribe, listen and support local public radio.
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On the second Tuesday of every month, we hear from our contributors in the field. Susan Knight and Gretchen Gerrish both work for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Limnology at Trout Lake Station. Scott Bowe is the Director of Kemp Natural Resources Station.
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We turn back the clock with local historians to find out what life in the Northwoods used to be like. This is part of an initiative by WXPR to tell the history and culture of northern Wisconsin.
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Local features from the Northwoods of Wisconsin. As reported by WXPR 91.7. Catch the entire archive in addition to daily news stories at https://www.wxpr.org/topic/local-features.
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Student mental health, emergency veterinary care shortage, algae bloom problems
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By John Burton
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In this month's installment of Field Notes, Scott Bowe of Kemp Station discusses thermally modified wood, a chemical free way to preserve wood for outdoor use.By Scott Bowe
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Few people know that the Northwoods was once exposed to intense radiation for scientific research amid fears of nuclear war. Fifty-one years ago, a site near Rhinelander, Wisconsin, was developed to study radiation’s effects on northern forest ecosystems, known as the Enterprise Radiation Forest Project.…
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Back to school shots, Oneida County ATV death, book challenges
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By John Burton
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Poverty simulation to raise awareness, new firetruck at CWA, upgrading rural roads
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By John Burton
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No November referendum on Pine Crest, judge won't change Lincoln Hills limits, tool to check water quality
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By John Burton
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Mining resolution rejected, Minocqua traffic death, Wisconsin Rapids police shooting
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By John Burton
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Cranberry harvest projected to be lower, deer management unit review, health task force findings
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By John Burton
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Langlade County health fair, wake boats and invasive species, senior voting priorities
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By John Burton
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Miss Czech-Slovak from the Northwoods, Weinbrenner Shoes development, Line 5 opposition
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By John Burton
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Youth prison discipline debate, Park Falls medical improvements, LDF roads
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7:37
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By John Burton
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Voters reject constitutional amendments, Minocqua funding referendum passes, voters share views at polls
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By John Burton
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Primary election day, housing challenges for the disabled, 15 years since Kayla Berg disappeared
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By John Burton
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Possible vote on Pine Crest future, environmental group speaks on referendum questions, kids and backpacks
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By John Burton
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Referendum questions, Merrill house fire, child support system
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By John Burton
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Post on panhandling raises questions, Presidential campaign in Wisconsin, boosting northern Michigan economy
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By John Burton
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Youth prison concerns, road improvements, Minocqua referendum question
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By John Burton
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Airport improvements, Besse Forest Products closes three facilities, Merrill fire
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By John Burton
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Lincoln County Clerk primary, stopping bird flu, income inequality
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By John Burton
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Flambeau-Rama begins, Merrill housing development, disabled voting
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By John Burton
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Fighting food insecurity, fatal St. Germain crash, student mental health
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By John Burton
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Ballot drop boxes, boarding school injustice, Wisconsin Valley Fair
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6:50
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By John Burton
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Whenever talk turns to military tanks in the Northwoods, one story still echoes through the forest: the time a mighty tank was swallowed by the infamous McNaughton Swamp, some 65 years ago.By Kerry Bloedorn
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Salamanders, newts and mudpuppies are amphibians, and they are all salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts or mudpuppies.By Susan Knight
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“Massive Human Bones and Indian Relics Unearthed near Pelican Lake” read a Rhinelander New North newspaper headline on July 28th , 1908. The sensationalist commentary that followed was all the “proof” the unidentified writer needed to confirm that giant people once lived and were buried in the vicinity of Pelican Lake, Wisconsin.…
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In Wisconsin, opening fishing applies to certain species of fish such as walleye, trout, largemouth bass, and northern pike. However, this season opener does not apply to panfish, which are open year-round. Panfish include species such as bluegill, crappie, sunfish, and yellow perch.By Scott Bowe
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Northern Wisconsin: A Handbook for the Home Seeker
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In the fall of 1895, a team from the University of Wisconsin school of agriculture, including Dean William A. Henry, Madison photographer Harvey J. Perkins, and others, traveled to every county north of a line drawn from Green Bay to Hudson. They compiled information and photographs from cutover lands, and already existing farms, in an attempt to s…
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Fifty-one years ago, the United States left Vietnam on March 29th, 1973, after 8 years of fighting. The conflict left a lasting impact on our country, including the Northwoods, where it forever changed the lives of the service members involved and their families. This is one of those stories.By Kerry Bloedorn
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There are many kinds of record keeping that scientists use to recapture recent and ancient historyBy Susan Knight
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One of the oldest frame buildings in Rhinelander: The Martin Flat
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Kids corner Pizza in Rhinelander is located in one of the oldest frame buildings in downtown Rhinelander. Kerry Bloedorn – Northwoods Historian, shares the history of that building, The Martin Flat, on this installment of A Northwoods Moment in History on WXPRBy Kerry Bloedorn
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Apple cultivars brought as seed from Europe were spread along Native American trade routes, as well as being cultivated on colonial farms. By the mid 1800s, United States apples nursery catalogues sold 350 of the "best" cultivars, showing the proliferation of new North American cultivars by the 19th century.…
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In 1926, Three Lakes Wisconsin held a winter sports carnival on a big hill at what is now Camp Luther, and on the ice of Range Line Lake below. A number of winter sporting events were organized, including toboggan races, hockey games, and Wisconsin’s first ever snowmobile race.By Kerry Bloedorn
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Open lakes, no snow, and sweatshirt weather was the scene this December in Vilas County. Much to the chagrin of ice anglers and cross country skiers, El Nino has taken hold and has had many implications for the local people, economy, and ecosystems.By Gretchen Gerrish
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Booze Operation Busted Up in St. Germain in 1930
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Prohibition began in 1920, banning all sales of alcoholic beverages, as defined by the Volstead Act. The quiet Northwood’s of Wisconsin became a haven for big city black market liquor production and smuggling.By Kerry Bloedorn
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The Common Watersnake, Nerodia sipedon, is common throughout much of eastern North America. Our local subspecies, the Northern Watersnake, is common throughout much of Wisconsin.By Susan Knight
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In the weeks leading up to Christmas 1944, Americans were tuned into newspaper headlines about a German offensive in the Ardenne forest of Belgium between Germany and France. One young soldier from Pelican Lake, would earn a bronze star in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge.By Kerry Bloedorn
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There are many exotic plants and animals that we don’t consider to be pests. Corn is native to Mexico, soybeans are native to Asia, tulips are native to Europe. Most of our domesticated animals are exotic with domestic cattle originating in Asia. Many of these plants and animals are exotic but not extremely invasive. They have become part of ecosys…
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One of the many construction projects in Rhinelander that was completed this year was a water main repair, causing the closure of the Phillip Street Bridge, located behind the Rhinelander Paper Mill. This bridge has collapsed not once, but twice in its history.By Kerry Bloedorn
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At the end of the famous book, Tarzan of the apes swoops in to rescue his beloved Jane Porter in the Northern Forests of Wisconsin. This part in the closing chapters of the book never made it into the dozen film adaptations produced over the decades, which is why most Northwoods folk aren’t quite familiar with that part of the adventure.…
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What do the Gulf Stream and a Northern Lake Have in Common?
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Global warming may also be affecting a global water circulation system abbreviated AMOC that includes the Gulf Stream, that river of ocean water that moves warm tropical water north along the east coast of North America before veering off toward Europe.By Susan Knight
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With the return of school comes the return of Friday Night Football.One of the biggest rivalries in the Northwoods is between Rhinelander and Antigo.Local historian and director of the Pioneer Park Historical Complex Kerry Bloedorn shares the story of the Bell Game in this episode of A Northwoods Moment in History.…
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Today, Rhinelander seems like an unlikely place for a presidential hopeful to campaign, but at one time, it was a must stop on the road to the Whitehouse. So it was during a campaign tour in 1959 for a young Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. Learn about his visit on A Northwoods Moment in History…
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Gardening in the Northwoods can be challenging. Long winters, short summers, and our many whitetail deer friends all conspire against us. In recent years, we have one more pest to deal with, the Japanese beetle.By Scott Bowe
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Joseph Steinwand and his original Wisconsin cheese
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As the famous dairy state of the U.S., cheese is no doubt a staple in Wisconsin. As such it seems only fit that we have an official state cheese. Efforts by law makers in recent years have pushed to make Colby cheese the official state cheese.By Sydney Kuckkan
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The Northwoods has seen its fair share of extreme weather, from blizzards to tornados, but one storm on Independence Day in 1977 swept across the region with such ferocity, it is still remembered vividly today.By Kerry Bloedorn
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Spiny water fleas are aquatic arthropods called zooplankton. Zooplankton are small shrimp-like creatures, and most of them survive by eating phytoplankton, the microscopic photosynthetic algae at the bottom of the food chain in lakes.By Susan Knight
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The Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport has been fielding planes at its current location just west of Rhinelander since the early 40s. But Rhinelander’s aeronautical history goes all the way back to a flight that occurred in 1912.By Kerry Bloedorn
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Black Tuesday: The Day the Northwoods Went Up in Flames
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One day in 1986, dubbed Black Tuesday, went down in History as the most wildland fires fought in a single day in Northern Wisconsin. By the end of that Tuesday, 64 fires would burn hundreds of acres.By Kerry Bloedorn
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Rivers and Lakes are beginning to open up in the Northwoods. During the logging boom in Northern Wisconsin, that meant it was time to start the river drive. Moving tens of thousands of logs by water to sawmill towns was a deadly business. And so it was on the first log drive north of Grandfather Falls on the Wisconsin River, 165 years ago.…
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By the end of last month, northern Wisconsin had already reached the ‘severe or ‘very severe’ annual winter index thresholds set by the Wisconsin DNR for the first time since 2013By Gretchen Gerrish
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