John Kozlowicz
Staff Writer

At the Wood County, WI Park and Forestry Committee meeting held January 7, 2004 in Wisconsin Rapids, members of the Committee and citizens concerned with the  park’s long range future agreed that the schedule put forward by Schreiber/Anderson Associates, Inc (SAA) the consulting firm retained to help study the site was too aggressive and needed to be reconsidered.  Noting that all entire planned site visits, workshops and meetings are scheduled to end prior to June 2004, with the final plan scheduled to be presented to the Wood County Board on June 15^th, Committee Chairman Lance Pliml stated, “they’re going to have to slow down.”  Pliml and others were also concerned that one of the meetings appeared to be scheduled with the purpose “of telling us what we already know.”

With funding provided by Wood County, the Ho-Chunk Nation, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and “The Friends of Powers Bluff,” a local group concerned with preserving the site’s ecology and unique plant life, SAA was hired to promote better decisions that would help protect both the documented, historic Native American presence and the natural treasures at the same, while at the same time allowing the park to serve as a winter recreation area.  SAA Project Manager Ann Freiwald stated the major goal of the project “is to help develop a shared view for the future of the park.”

Noting that the first phase of the project called for a site visit on January 20^th, with a final review of the plan due on May15th, retired UW-Stevens Point professor, Robert Freckmann believes that not visiting the site during the plant growing season in May, “is missing all the issues.”  Some of the plants and flowers at the site are rare in North America and Freckmann stressed that to properly understand the significance of the site, “they need to see the plant growth.”  Another “Friends” member, Gene Bymers, added that unless a site visit is scheduled when there’s snow on the ground and people using the hill have vehicles in the parking lot, a proper evaluation of the park’s traffic couldn’t be made.  Ho-Chunk Nation member, Nettie Kingsley is concerned that the short timetable “is maybe doing the Native Americans an injustice.”  She too, would like the process lengthened.

Discussions about the site’s history and plant life have been ongoing for nearly three years and while everyone is anxious for SAA to move forward they are concerned that the short timetable could lead to recommendations being made to the County Board without SAA having full knowledge of the site.  Pliml and others would like to see SAA see the park during all four seasons but would concede to having SAA present their final plan in October.  SAA had planned an initial Planning Workshop on February 10^th but following the discussion, Parks Administrator Ron Arendt stated he would contact Freiwald with concerns about the timetable.