Conservation Hall of Fame to induct three
The Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame will induct Gordon Bubolz, Arlen Christenson and Kathleen Falk in its 2022 class.
The three will be enshrined during an April 19 ceremony held virtually, WCHF officials announced Monday. Bubholz (190590) will be inducted posthumously.
The WCHF was established in 1985 to advance the conservation legacy of Wisconsin. One hun- dred members have been inducted since its inception, including Aldo Leopold, John Muir and Gaylord Nelson. The hall is located on the Schmeeckle Reserve on the campus of UW-Stevens Point.
Bubolz, Christenson, 87, and Falk, 70, each earned law degrees at the University of Wisconsin but took different paths to affect conservation in the state.
Bubolz learned to love nature as a child on his family’s farm and later worked in a family insurance business started by his father. He also ran for elected office, serving as a Republican state senator from 1945-53.
While in office he championed the tighter water and air pollution regulations and regional planning on a watershed scale. He also advocated for a 1% state sales tax to be approved for the purchase of wilderness lands and river headwaters.
Bubolz served on the state Conservation Commission and chaired the advisory council of the Department of Resource Development, bodies that provided oversight for the predecessors of the Department of Natural Resources. He also was a member of the Legislature’s Joint Water Resource Committee and co-authored legislation to implement in Wisconsin’s provisions of the federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948.
Although his home and business were in Wisconsin’s “Paper Valley,” he was an outspoken advocate for regulating industrial pollution on the Fox River.
In 1974, Bubolz established and led Natural Areas Preservation lnc. (NAPI), a nonprofit that helped identify and preserve natural areas of ecological significance and educate the public on the value of conservation.
Christenson was born and raised in Amery and, after service in the U.S. Navy, earned a bachelor’s degree at UWRiver Falls (1958) and a law degree at UW-Madison (1960). He joined the law school faculty at UW-Madison in 1963.
Christenson was a highly respected professor who specialized in environmental, land use, local government and administrative law from 1963-2000, when he was granted emeritus status, according to WCHF documents. He is considered the “father” of the state’s Public Intervenor Office, an environmental and public rights protection role created in 1967 as part of the Kellett Commission government reorganization.
“Those who pollute our water and air, dam streams for development, and take other actions that diminish public rights in water and other natural resources usually have a substantial economic stake in the outcome of administrative and court proceedings,” Christenson wrote.
“They are represented by lawyers and experts. In contrast, the beneficiaries of public rights are diffuse, often unorganized, and have only small economic stakes as individuals. Without more legal support, public rights will ordinarily go unrepresented.”
Falk is a native of Waukesha County, where she was influenced by her neighbor, the late Milwaukee Journal outdoor writer Mel Ellis.
After graduating from UW-Madison law school in 1976, Falk worked as codirector and general counsel of Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade (now Clean Wisconsin) and later as Wisconsin assistant attorney general and Public Intervenor.
She successfully litigated and lobbied in many areas of public policy including water, wetlands, mining, farmland protection, public access to streams and the land-use impacts of transportation, according to WCHF documents. She also later served in public office as Dane County executive from 1997-2011.
In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Falk regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Turkey drawing held
The DNR has completed its annual drawing for Wisconsin spring turkey hunting authorizations and mailed out cards to the winners in late December.
Applicants may also check the results on gowild.wi.gov, the agency’s licensing and permitting website.
The 2022 Wisconsin season opens with the youth hunt April 16 and 17; the first of six regular hunting periods starts April 20.
Bonus authorizations will be available for sale in March. As in previous years, Zone 1 tags will be offered first (March 21), followed on subsequent days by Zones 2, 3, 4 and 5 through 7. All remaining authorizations in all zones will be put up for sale on March 26.