This Weeks Articles for 5/6/2025 ...

All new 2025 Travel & Visitor Guide

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The 78th Alice in Dairyland Finals will take place between May 15 and 17, with events in Gays Mills on Friday and the final program at the Prairie du Chien Area Performing Arts Center on Saturday. The winner will begin their term as Alice on July 7.

2025 Alice in Dairyland
Showcase & Finale
May 15 & 17
Crawford County

• Stoddard - Village Hall
• Genoa - Zzip Stop
• DeSoto - Pronto Station
• Ferryville - Ferryville Cheese & More
• Lynxville - Dawg House
• Seneca - Greener’s Corner and Johnson’s One Stop
• Mt. Sterling - Kickapoo Orchard West & Finders Keepers

Compared with the steep bluffs of the Driftless region or the north woods` towering pines, you may not think of wetlands as Wisconsin`s most spectacular landscape.

But these transitional places where land and water meet are vital for people, animals and the health of the state`s beloved lakes and rivers. They provide wildlife habitat, improve water quality, store carbon and act like sponges to soak up extra water during floods.

They also can be impressive in their own right.

• Wetlands are places where land and water meet. They provide wildlife habitat, improve water quality, store carbon and slow water down during floods.
  
  
• Wisconsin has about six million acres of wetlands, including six Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance, which are home to rare plants and animals.

All around Wisconsin, there are rivers and creeks swollen with rainfall. Flowering bushes and rocky outcroppings adorn their banks and rapids whorl in the muddy waters. There are songbirds and small mammals. And there are people, making their way downstream in kayaks and canoes. 

Spring is one the best times to be on the water, said paddling fanatics Darren Bush and Timothy Bauer....

...“There certainly is a palpable spring fever that takes hold this time of year,” Bauer said. In addition to their love of the sport, Bush is owner of Rutabaga Paddlesports in Madison and Bauer is author of “Canoeing & Kayaking South Central Wisconsin: 60 Paddling Adventures Within 60 Miles of Madison,” with another guidebook forthcoming. Bauer also contributes to the blog Miles Paddled....

...The place now known as Wisconsin has a rich history of wild-rice harvesting dating back thousands of years with the Menominee, the original people of the area who called themselves “People of the Wild Rice.” Wild rice, or manoomin, is also closely associated with Ojibwe tribes who arrived in Wisconsin hundreds of years ago in search of “food that grows on water.”...