BACK FROM MADISON

GRAY MORNING

URBAN FORESTRY MEETING IN MADISON

Saturday, 9;30 AM.  45 degrees F, wind SSW, light with stronger gusts.  The sky is overcast and looks like it will stay that way today.  The humidity is 83%and the barometer is still down, at 29.55".  The Farmer's Almanac predicts cold and dry weather for the next few days, and it looks like it will miss the mark.

   The trip to Madison was long and uneventful.  We took state Hwy. 13 all the way south from Ashland to I90 in the southern part of the state and went through many small towns, which was picturesque but very slow.  Some of these little communities, like Ogema where we ate lunch, are really charming and might be a great place to live.  Anyway we got to Madison late on Friday, even missing the chance to look for a pheasant with Buddy at Marshfield because it was raining and already getting dark.

   Friday, however, was a fine warm, sunny day in Madison.  The Urban Forestry Council meeting started early and lasted the day.  A highlight was a tour of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory on the UW campus, which is celebrating its 103rd anniversary this year.  I will go into detail regarding their research initiatives tomorrow.

   The Council agenda included very interesting presentations by top officials and scientists and their topics were important enough to take up in subsequent postings.  Suffice it to say for now that the Walker Administration's efforts are finally turning the DNR battleship around, and hopefully that is the case with rest of the state bureaucracy.  It obviously takes years of concentrated effort and adherence to a plan to change entrenched government programs and policies.  Quick fixes based on ideology alone create nothing but chaos. 

   We slept late enough to erase the roadmaps from ours eyes, and now its time to do some chores.