BOSCOBEL - The Boscobel Woman’s Club recently held a Jail and Bail inspired fundraiser July 5. We are proud that the participants raised a total of $3,213.88. Participants included: Brenda Kalish, Theresa Braudt, Summer Olson, Robin Conley, Lacie Rutherford, Meghan Mueller, Leah Granzow, Michelle Farrell, Lisa Wallin-Kapinus and Angela O’Brien. With funds raised the club was able to make monetary donations to the following area projects: Boscobel Beautification, Boscobel Free Clinic, FOCUS, Boscobel Depot, Boscobel Hospital Foundation, Free Hearing Clinic, Boscobel EMS, Boscobel Education Foundation, and the Food Pantry.

In conjunction with the 150th celebration, The Boscobel Woman’s Club held a bake sale in honor of our dearly departed president and friend; Ms Peggy Baumeister on Wednesday July 5th at the Boscobel Depot grounds. Thank you to all who donated funds for sweet treats.

The Boscobel Women’s Club was organized in 1957. The club meets monthly from September to May. Members have undertaken many projects including establishing a library in 1906, beginning with a bookshelf and donated books; promoting the “beautification” of Boscobel, planting flowers around town, and sponsoring art shows. They also worked to spearhead plans, fund, and build the Veteran’s Memorial Garden.

Members have also participated in roadside cleanup, are sponsors of the Helen Ma Adams Art contest, and for many years have donated to Operation Smile for persons with cleft deformities. Just recently members sewed “little dresses for Africa,” made a donation to Sleep in Heavenly Peace-Grant County Chapter, so that children can have beds, and donated money for “birthday books” at the elementary school.

The club has a designated donation at each meeting such as school supplies and personal care items to enrich the lives of others. Members donate money or food to the local pantry and have specific items for Thanksgiving dinners, including turkeys. Each May, members host a “tea” for the graduating high school senior English scholar girls.

GRANT COUNTY - Imagine the feeling a child would get the moment he or she gets home from school and there is a brand new bed waiting for him or her.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) has a mission: “no kid sleeps on the floor in our town.”

The reaction SHP gets from children is priceless. There are hugs given, sometimes tears of happiness, and lots of gratitude. Most of the children don’t want to get out of the bed they just received.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace began in Idaho. The Grant County chapter is two years old. The core team of seven — cofounder and volunteer coordinator Leon Neuheisel, bed inventory coordinator Brad Biddick, cofounder and community liaison Hap Daus, building coordinators Frank Steck and Chuck Smet, communications coordinator Sarah Imobersteg and finance coordinator Hannah Coder. The chapter has delivered almost 300 beds, including mattress, pillow, twin sheet and quilt or blanket, to Grant County children.

Neuheisel read about SHP in a newspaper and could not shake the idea that he had a comfortable place to lay his head at night, but there were children who did not have that simple luxury. He then banded together some friends and colleagues. With the help of many volunteers, two years and more than 275 beds to Grant County children later, SHP is trying to keep up with the demand. Beds are going out as fast as SHP can build them.

SHP receives referrals for children ages 3 to 17 from educators, school counselors, daycare providers, social services, family members, or a Facebook request from a needy family. A social worker vets the requests to ensure that beds are going to families in need.

Once the family has been verified with a delivery appointment confirmed, the child will receive a delivery. In most cases takes about a week.

“There are beds and bedding that are kept on hand so we can make a quick turnaround for our local children,” said Daus. “I would love to share the mission of SHP. If you or your local organization would like a presentation” call 608-215-8915.

The bed is just the first step in helping our local children. A good night’s sleep is imperative in the development of children and adolescents. A research team led by Dr. Ze Wang of the University of Maryland, along with the National Institutes of Health, set out to determine how lack of sleep affects brain structure along with daily functions. The results of the study appeared in Lancet Child & Adolescent Health July 29. The research found that children in the insufficient-sleep group had more mental health and behavioral challenges than those who got sufficient sleep.

Providing beds is more than a place to sleep. It will allow children to be more successful in their daily lives and do their best in the classroom. Any of the core team members will be happy to answer questions and chat about SHP. Without  the help of their spouses and many community volunteers they would not be able to keep up with the demand. Local businesses have now stepped up to allow their employees to donate their time during working hours to help with construction.

Bedding donations can be dropped off at Mound City Bank’s main office in Platteville. All items must be new and unused. SHP accepts pillows, twin size sheet sets and twin size blankets or quilts. For questions about bedding or if you want to make quilts or blankets (60 to 64 inches wide and 84 to 89 inches long) contact bedding coordinator Madge Neuheisel, 608-642-0337.

SHP’s primary expenses are lumber and mattresses. Monetary donations can be sent to Sleep in Heavenly Peace–Wisconsin Grant County, P.O. Box 607, Platteville, WI 53818.

DRIFTLESS - With summer upon us, you might be thinking about a trip to the library to pick up some beach reading. But did you know you could also get, well, the beach itself?

That’s because some libraries are letting patrons check out a day pass to the state park of their choice. The program is called—surprise!—Check Out Wisconsin Parks At Your Library, and it’s designed to help folks get out and experience Wisconsin’s extensive state park system.

Area libraries participating in the program include Gays Mills, Soldiers Grove, Dodgeville and Prairie du Chien. But each library will be rolling out the program a little differently, as the funding sources for the park passes varies.

Funding explained

The program began as a small pilot last year and is a collaboration between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Wisconsin Library Association, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

For this year’s expanded program, the organizations pulled funding together from a variety of sources to underwrite the cost of the day passes. To distribute the passes throughout the state, the DNR held a lottery, and 84 libraries received the free passes.

The Gays Mills and Dodgeville libraries were among those 84. Gays Mills librarian David Gibbs reported that the program is up and running at that location. Staff at Dodgeville explained that the program there will launch in August, to allow the librarians to focus on their pre-existing summer programming.

To participate, you must go to the library and present your library card. The day passes can only be used on a vehicle with Wisconsin plates.

In addition to the subsidized program, the DNR gave libraries the thumbs up to purchase day passes out their individual budgets to offer to patrons. The Soldiers Grove and Prairie du Chien libraries were among the 62 libraries that did so.

For libraries that paid out of pocket, the distribution of passes isn’t a straightforward first-come first served.

“We bought 10 of them and we’re still deciding exactly how we’re going to hand them out,” said Sarah DiPodiva, director of the Soldiers Grove library. She’ll be rolling out the program in the next few weeks. Prairie du Chien is on the same schedule, and will likely use some type of lottery system to distribute the passes fairly.

Multi-media

In Gays Mills, Gibbs said the park pass program is only the latest attempt to make sure the library is relevant to the needs of local residents. The library hosts author talks and story hours, works with the North Crawford School District on children’s programming, and has an instrument lending library.

On Saturday, June 3, the library is hosting an “instrument petting zoo” to give people a chance to try the instruments first-hand. The event will include an open mic and musical performances by local musicians, and it takes place at 1 p.m. at the Old Oak Inn, Soldiers Grove.

“We’re always exploring ways of reaching people and building community outside of just circulating books and movies,” Gibbs explained.

ORION - About 15 minutes east of Boscobel you’ll find the small town or Orion—the first village in Richland County, and site of the original county courthouse.

Today, you’d be forgiven for missing it: a few modest houses along the Wisconsin River, and a boat landing which once served a ferryboat service to Muscoda, across the river.

But the folks who live there have a strong sense of neighborhood pride, centered on an institution that had its start nine years ago: The Red Cedar Café.

You won’t find the café listed in any business directories; it’s a strictly word of mouth and, as they say, “hyperlocal” affair. During the summer months, very Saturday morning, since 2014, residents of south Orion gather at the home of Bob and Jan Hirschy for coffee, baked goods, and neighborly conversation.

One of these conversations recently turned toward local government and civics.

“We don’t require our students to take classes on civics, which I think is regrettable,” explained March Schweitzer, a Red Cedar regular. “We decided it was important for people to be more educated in civics, and so my husband decided to see if we could get together a group of friends who would write articles about government and the Constitution and that sort of thing,” she said.

That group evolved into about a dozen residents of Orion and Almar Acres who are contributing a new occasional feature in the Dial. We’re calling it “We the People,” and it’s a series of short articles designed to break down the details of how, exactly, our systems of government work.

“The articles are not partisan at all, and they represent different walks of life,” said Canada Killam, another member of the group. “The only common cause is that, you know—this is a great country to be, and we risk losing that if we don’t remember that and put some effort back into it.”

We’re sharing the first “We the People” article from Orion in this week’s edition, and we welcome your thoughts and comments.

We The People

Wisconsin is one of only eight states that do not require the teaching of civics in high school. This is the first in a series of articles presenting some of the topics that would be covered in a high school civics or government class. This one explains the three branches of government.

In the U.S., the Constitution establishes three branches of government: legislative, executive and judiciary. The legislative branch includes the Senate and the House of Representatives and makes laws. The executive branch, which includes the President and all the cabinet and other agencies, enforces the laws. The judiciary branch, the Supreme Court and lower courts, interprets the laws.

Almost every state mirrors the federal model, and in Wisconsin the legislative branch consists of the Senate and the Assembly, the executive branch consists of the Governor and the administrative agencies, and the Judiciary consists of the Supreme Court and lower courts. Counties and municipalities generally do not follow the three-branch system. The powers of these three branches will be described in a later column.

The purpose for having three branches is to make sure no single branch has too much power, through what are called checks and balances. For example, the President can veto measures passed by Congress; the Congress can impeach the President; and the Supreme Court can pronounce a law or an executive action to be unconstitutional.

The U.S. in its 1787 Constitution was the first nation to create three branches, an idea that had been proposed 40 years earlier by the French philosopher Montesquieu.

BOSCOBEL - The Boscobel Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Banquet was held on Saturday, January 28.  This is the meeting of the entire membership where the activities of the past year are reviewed, future projects are presented, there is a featured presentation, present and retiring directors of the board are recognized, the membership votes for new directors and the Citizen of the Year recipient was announced.  

New directors elected to the board were:  Herb Blake, Gene Freymiller, Vern Wienke, and Jake Bacon.  They will join current directors, Wendy Baker, Leah Granzow, Bernadine Mezera,  Lacie Swanson, and Lorraine Connely-Brindley.  Outgoing directors were:  Tonia Vial, Lori Reid, Teesha Bacon and Judy Dayton.

The banquet’s featured speakers were Tom, Katrina and Boston Jones.  They are members of the Sesquicentennial Committee who have been diligently working for well over a year planning activities and events to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the initial charter of the city of Boscobel.

The 2022 Citizen of the Year was awarded to Jo Sommers.  Please see the attached nomination letter that was read by the 2021 Citizen of the Year, Joel Leonard at the presentation.

Citizen of the Year

Nomination

When we were growing up, because of our big families and the need for our parents to work just as hard at home as their day jobs, volunteerism was never something families did. It was all we could do to take care of all the mouths within the confines of our own families.

Some of our community members, though, stepped outside of the box of their house/family, and reached out to make a difference in the lives of our community, and for that, our lives are better. These great examples -like Kempert Krogen, Nick Nice, Donovan Nelson, Jim Thiele they were great people, weren’t they? And while they were the ones who attended the meetings, their wives were just as important as they took up the slack at home as their husbands were volunteering, attending meetings, and making a difference right here in Boscobel.

Volunteering isn’t for the faint of heart, but it sure is rewarding. And things don’t improve if we all stay within the confines of our house. Whatever it is that makes you passionate, go DO it, because there are only a set number of days you have left in your life that will impact the lives of those that follow. You’ve already made a huge impact on the people within your house. Now is the time to go out and be that mentor that you admired from a distance as a kid, the mentor that didn’t even know others were watching them. ASPIRE to INSPIRE others.

The person that is our Citizen of the year was stolen from a nearby community in the mid- 80s...and we aren’t giving her back! She was a great daughter to her mom and dad, who she cared for and loved right up until the day she lost them. She was born the middle child, with a brother and a sister. She married a local boy on April 23rd, and it snowed that day...because we all thought her husband would never get married!

Our citizen of the year works at Boscobel schools as a paraprofessional for our kids that need her help. She knows every kid by name, and is the perfect balance of kindness yet strength and stability, giving a hand up to kids that need her love.

Jo is a mentor to all of us, old and young. She knows the whole community by first names, steps up and takes on big and small tasks, and quietly goes about this, never asking for any recognition. She just does whatever it takes out of love for our community. I have never heard Jo utter a bad word about anyone. She doesn’t judge the paths that others choose to take.

She loves you unconditionally, always.

I have worked with Jo for years, as she took on the position as the Wisconsin River Trail Organization’s treasurer, and, when volunteers became short of hand, she stepped up and has been the quiet strength this past year, moving mountains when the rest of us have not had the time or energy to get something accomplished, never saying no-but instead, saying, what can I do to help. She has been our positive and upbeat backbone to our organization. I don’t know what we would have done, especially this last year, without her.

When the tornado devastated the area, we saw leadership erupt from this community and a sense of family among friends. Driving up to help with the fundraiser, who are the first people we see, early in the morning behind the scenes, making sure that everything went well? Jo and Craig Sommers.

The empty stocking events is manned by assistance of a few others within the community, but Jo goes above and beyond to make the event a huge success. Jo moves from one event to another, and Craig is right there-RIGHT THERE-to help in any way needed. Quietly, they try hard to improve every life they come into contact with. My life, your life, your family’s lives.

The amount of work it takes to put on ONE event is hard enough with a sparse number of people, making the effort daunting, but the loving arms that go around our community from Jo is what makes our community a home- a Sommers circle of love.

LOWER WISCONSIN RIVERWAY - Each year the Friends of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway (FLOW) honors individuals who provide great service in the Lower Wisconsin Riverway with ‘Riverway Champion Awards.’ This year, at their Annual Membership Meeting held Saturday, Jan. 20, FLOW conferred two awards.

Those two awards were for ‘2022 Riverway Champion,’ and ‘2022 Youth Riverway Champion.’ The youth award was not conferred in 2020 and 2021 due to restrictions in activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Riverway Champion award was given to FLOW member John Jensen. The Youth Riverway Champion award was given to Spring Green high school student Skyla Sutcliffe.

John Jensen

John Jensen has been an active member of FLOW for the last seven years, serving on the FLOW board for six of those years. According to FLOW president Timm Zumm, “John is more of a hands-on guy who’d rather be out doing that sitting in a meeting – he says he’s the Riverway Grunt.”

Jensen originally chose to become involved with FLOW as a way to give back to his community and to develop connections with other like-minded folks.

“It's nice working with FLOW because it is selfless work,” Jensen explained. “That’s a big deal to me.”

Jensen’s two biggest accomplishments as a FLOW volunteer include the placement of a total of 14 ‘Kids Don’t Float’ life vest kiosks at boat landings up and down the Riverway, design of the FLOW website, and creation of the FLOW ‘paddle planner.’

“I helped build and install the very first ‘Kids Don’t Float’ kiosk, designed by a Taliesin architect, in 2016,” Jensen remembered. “Since then, I have helped build and install thirteen more.”

The kiosks provide free loaner life vests to Riverway paddlers, and is a program undertaken in cooperation with Wisconsin DNR. Each week during the paddling season, FLOW volunteer Dave Krueger makes the 140-mile round trip to ensure the kiosks are fully stocked with life vests.

“We’ll never know how many lives the life vest kiosks may have saved,” Jensen observed.

Jensen also re-designed the FLOW website, https://www.wisconsinriverfriends.org/, to its current attractive and informative version. Visitors to the website can learn more about FLOW and the Lower Wisconsin Riverway, find links to river flow data, results of research conducted by the FLOW Science Committee, information about businesses in the Riveway that support FLOW or provide services to recreational users, Riverway safety information and tools, education and outreach programs, a Riverway map and more.

Perhaps the most useful feature on the website is the ‘paddle planner,’ a feature designed to allow those interested in paddling on the Lower Wisconsin River to plan their trip. Jensen volunteered his time to create this tool, which is invaluable to those seeking recreational opportunities as well as those whose role is to answer questions and guide visitors.

“I got inspired to create the ‘paddle planner’ when my wife wanted to go out on the river for a paddle, and said she only wanted to be out there for two hours,” Jensen said. “So I looked at the DNR's Lower Wisconsin River Trails Map, and had to decipher from what landing to what landing would be about a two-hour paddle.”

 According to Jensen, the paddle planner is basically taking the information from the DNR's Lower Wisconsin River Trails Map and arranging it so recreational users can easily see and choose where they want to paddle based on the amount of time they want to paddle.

In receiving this award, Jensen is in good company. At the annual meeting, he was joined by five past recipients of the award – those individuals were Science Committee member Dave Marshall, Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board (LWSRB) executive director Mark Cupp, FLOW Science Committee member Ron Grasshof, FLOW member Ned Hodson, and FLOW president Timm Zumm.

In 2020, the award was conferred on DNR Warden Dave Youngquist, and in 2021, the award went to FLOW Science Committee member John Lyons. Neither man was present at the meeting.

Skyla Sutcliffe

Spring Green highschool student Skyla Sutcliffe was awarded the ‘2022 Youth Riverway Champion’ award for her work supporting FLOW’s outreach and education activities.

Sutcliffe was unable to attend the annual meeting to accept her award, due to an illness. FLOW president Timm Zumm spoke glowingly of Sutcliffe’s passion for the Riverway, and her volunteer efforts in 2022.

“Skyla brought the youthful energy FLOW needs into her work helping to support ‘Flo the Paddlefish’ at parades up and down the Riverway, and at various FLOW events,” Zumm said. “She also worked to organize outings for youth in the Riverway, for example youth hikes at the Spring Green Nature Preserve.”

LOWER WISCONSIN RIVERWAY - Almost 30 board members, members and interested citizens gathered at Grandma Mary’s Café in Arena on Saturday, Jan. 20 for the Friends of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway (FLOW) Annual Meeting.

FLOW members affirmed the 2023 board of directors, heard reports from the Science Committee, and presentations from a Wisconsin DNR Conservation Warden, a film maker who had filmed a short movie on the Wisconsin River last summer, and from Mark Cupp, executive director of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board (LWSRB).

FLOW Bylaws state that the board may be composed of up to nine board members, but do not require that there be nine. With two resignations of board members that served in 2022, that left six board members who expressed interest in continuing to serve in 2023.

At the meeting, FLOW members affirmed Timm Zumm, Dave Marshall, Patrick Michaels, Sherry Holly, Dave Krueger and Allyson Scoien as the 2023 board. Board members Susan Graham and Jennie Lanzendorf had resigned from the board prior to the annual meeting.

Science Committee

Dave Marshall provided the Science Committee report as chair Jean Unmuth was unable to attend the meeting. Marshall told the members about the Borrow Pit Study the committee had undertaken in 2022, funded by a $600 grant from Dane County. That study tested water quality in a man-made lake along Highway 78 in Dane County, and surveyed aquatic plants and fish.

“Our study established that the water in the lake is “nearly pristine,” and reflects land use on Black Hawk Ridge, which supplies clean groundwater to the lake,” Marshall said. “By contrast, the water quality in various oxbow lakes up and down the Lower Wisconsin River, where changes in agricultural practices on the sand terraces along the river since about 2008 has resulted in high levels of nitrate and phosphorous in the groundwater supplying the those lakes.”

 Marshall said this heavy load of nutrients has resulted in those lakes being clogged with duckweed and filamentous algae, deoxygenated, and has imperiled fish species that previously thrived there such as the Starhead Top Minnow and Lake Chubsucker.

“By comparison, the borrow pit lake did not have excessive populations of duckweed and filamentous algae, and is home to thriving populations of six native fish species as well as Starhead Top Minnows that were stocked there by the Science Committee,” Marshall said.

Marshall detailed that levels of nitrate in the borrow pit lake had been documented at 1.6 parts-per-million (ppm), which is a level well below the health standard for drinking water of 10 ppm. By contrast, he said, an average of nitrate results from various oxbow lakes documented nitrate levels of 13.6 ppm.

Marshall also reported that the Science Committee had undertaken a new Conservation Aquaculture Project in 2022, gathering Lake Chubsuckers and raising them in a permitted pond on Marshall’s property. Their goal will be to stock the fish from the pond in the Wisconsin River above the Prairie du Sac Dam, where water quality in the oxbow lakes is better due to less intensive agricultural land use in that part of the river.

One member of the audience asked what could be done about the high levels of nitrate being delivered into the oxbow lakes by polluted groundwater?

“There is no standard for nitrate in surface water in Wisconsin, but Wisconsin DNR is currently engaged in a rulemaking process to develop one,” FLOW member Ron Grasshof explained. “Another positive development in 2022 was the approval by the Wisconsin State Legislature of the ‘Nitrogen Optimization Study,’ which invites producers to use grant funds to try different approaches for the most efficient use of nitrogen on their land, and measure the results.”

Riverway safety

WDNR Conservation Warden Al Erickson, who operates out of the Dodgeville Field Office and covers the western half of Iowa County, expressed his appreciation for FLOW’s support of public safety on the Riverway through development of the Riverway Text Alert feature.

To sign up, send a text to 77295 with the word ‘RIVERWAY’ in the message. The subscriber can stop the service at any time by sending a text to 77295 with the word ‘STOP.’

“Timm Zumm is a very valuable resource for public safety on the Lower Wisconsin River, both for his personal responses to safety incidents but also his network of people up and down the Riverway,” Erickson said.

Erickson explained that Sheriff’s Departments along the Riverway are also adopting text messaging into other public safety features such as using a text message to allow dispatch offices to link with the cell phone of an individual involved in a public safety incident on the river to determine their exact location and assess the situation remotely. He pointed out that there is also an app available for smart phones, ‘What Three Words,’ that can be downloaded and used by citizens to help public safety workers respond to emergencies on the river.

Film on the river

Ben Fritz is a filmmaker from the Madison area who filmed a short movie on the Lower Wisconsin River in the summer of 2022, with extensive assistance from Zumm.

“From my youth, I always wanted to be involved in making movies,” Fritz told the group. “After doing a stint in the movie business in California, I’ve returned to Wisconsin and now work with youth in film making.”

The movie Fritz and his crew filmed on the Wisconsin River last summer, ‘Up River,’ will be released in 2023, and local residents will be notified about when and where they will be able to view it. Fritz said that Zumm appears briefly in the movie, playing a WDNR Conservation Warden.

Fritz showed members present at the meeting a brief trailer of the movie, and described the theme as “two unlikely boat mates find commonality and brotherhood on the river.”

Riverway highlights

Mark Cupp, executive director of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board (LWSRB) addressed attendees at the meeting, highlighting “things to know” about the Riverway.

Cupp pointed out that two current and one former members of the LWSRB were present at the meeting. Current members included Gigi LaBudde, president, and Dan Hilberry, the representative from Richland County. Former members present included former LWSRB president Gerry Dorscheid.

Cupp reported that the project to have the State of Wisconsin purchase the Wintergreen Resort in 2022, using Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program funds, had suffered many setbacks, especially resistance from Wisconsin DNR.

“The Shifflet family, which owns the property, is still holding out hope the deal could be negotiated but can’t hold onto the property indefinitely,” Cupp said. “With recent changes in Natural Resources Board membership and leadership at WDNR, I believe that one more try is worth the time.”

 Cupp also reported on various Wisconsin Department of Transportation projects coming up in the Riverway, and said that LWSRB is involved in vetting the plans for the projects.

Those projects include replacement of the Highway 130 bridge across the river at Lone Rock, planned for 2023 into 2024; a major project on Highway 60 between Gotham and Muscoda, expected to close that stretch of highway for 1-2 years, planned for 2024-2025; and replacement of the County T bridge over the river at Blue River, planned for 2027-2028.

Cupp reported that he is involved with a planned celebration of the 350th Anniversary of the Marquette & Joliet Voyage of Discovery in Prairie du Chien. He said there will be a fundraising event, the ‘Fete du Voyageur,’ at the Dousman House on February 18, with the larger event planned for June 16-18.

Cupp listed items where FLOW member advocacy could be helpful in 2023. Those include encouraging state legislators to increase funding for the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program and fully fund conservation staffing for county conservation departments, and also advocating for clean water initiatives in the state.

GAYS MILLS - Opening day for the new Gays Mills office of Driftless Development, Inc., was Friday, Jan. 6. Carol Roth was in her office in the Showen Building, and reported having had a “steady stream” of visitors throughout the day.

“The Gays Mills office will be open on Tuesdays and Fridays,” Roth said. “Your best bet, before stopping in, is to call and make an appointment – otherwise I may be meeting with another client or holding a meeting offsite.”

Carol Roth can be reached at 608-279-2293 or by e-mail at driflessdevelopment.carol@gmail.com.

“Driftless Development receives funding both from the City of Prairie du Chien as well as from Crawford County,” Roth explained. “So it is an important part of our mandate to ensure that the whole county is benefiting from what we have to offer. That’s why we decided to open this office in the northern part of the county.”

Roth said that Driftless Development has a strong connection with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), and also lots of connections to other partners like Couleecap and Wisconsin Business Initiative. She said that WEDC has taken a strong interest in Crawford County, and a representative visits Driftless Development about once per month.

“We can help with writing and evaluating a business plan, as well as with connection to resources that can help to make your plan a reality,” Roth said.

Roth shared that plans are already in the works for business development and promotion projects that will benefit the northern part of Crawford County. She specifically cited projects involving the Gays Mills apple orchards, housing development and projects related to medical services.

Roth also touts the work of Driftless Development in Prairie du Chien with the Blackhawk Junction project.