MADISON - Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials plan to ask their board for permission to tighten restrictions on firewood movement.
Current DNR rules prohibit people from bringing firewood onto state property that isn't certified as treated for disease, came from outside the state or came from further than 25 miles away.
DNR foresters now want to amend those rules to ban firewood from further than 10 miles away and lift the out-of-state prohibition.
They say the 10-mile boundary will slow the spread of invasive species such as the emerald ash borer and make the out-of-state ban unnecessary.
DNR officials plan to ask the Natural Resources Board at an Oct. 24 meeting in Madison for permission to draft the new regulations.
(Copyright 2012 Associated Press - All Rights Reserved)
Indoor soccer tournament raises money for high school soccer teams
Submitted: 03/08/2014
EAGLE RIVER - Soccer players may need to wait for the snow on their fields to melt. But they know cabin fever is starting to set in, and it's the perfect time to capitalize on it.
The 7th annual Cabin Fever Indoor Soccer Tournament kicked off today at Northland Pines High School. The event raises money for the school’s boy's and girl's soccer teams.
"This was an opportunity to have an indoor soccer program so the kids can do something in the winter," says tournament director Steve Gilbert. "There was a need for a fundraiser so we thought why not have a tournament. There are other tournaments in the region, why not have one here with this tremendous facility that we have here at Pines."
Nearly 100 5th through 8th graders played in the co-ed soccer matches. Their participation makes it possible for the team to buy new equipment.
"It allows us to buy things that maybe the school can't afford to buy for them, so different types of warm-ups, equipment out on the field," says Gilbert. "One time we bought a camera for them so we could film their games. So it's going to good causes."
TOMAHAWK - A few days of warm temperatures can make winter feel like it was long ago.
The warm break isn't long enough to stop pipes from freezing.
That's why many Northwoods cities want people to continue running their water.
Tomahawk and Rhinelander still want people to run a pencil stream of water 24/7.
That's to prevent pipes from freezing.
"Air temperature has nothing to do with the ground temperature. Typically we have five to six feet of frost on a bad winter," said Tomahawk Public Works director, Mike Tolvstad.
VILAS COUNTY - More people today use maps on their phones when traveling, but some people still like those paper maps.
The Vilas County GIS just made 15 maps of the area. They give people the option to download and print them at home. A map of Boulder Junction even won an award at the 27th annual Wisconsin land Information Association conference in Middleton.
“There was a lot of interest in creating a portable, easy to use map atlas that responders, town crew, delivery entities, could take out in the field with them and find any address point any road name any water body,” says Rebecca Nordine, Vilas County GIS Specialist. “Something that they could bring out along out in the field with them.”
The atlases will give people an easier way of looking up addresses across Vilas County.
“We do offer up online mapping and that's great but if you get into an area where there's no cell phone or no internet service you'll need something a map or paper map to fall back on,” says Nordine.
Each atlas will be updated at the beginning of the year.
To download a copy of the atlases for FREE you can visit: http://vcgis.co.vilas.wi.us/vcom/.
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