Earth Day's birthplace

Mornin' readers. This is the Wiscampsin Weekly - the email that gets you in the know on the Wisconsin outdoors in 5 minutes or less. New reader? Subscribe here.

First things first - we want to apologize to everyone for sending out our "winter recap" email last week. Should have known that we'd still be getting snow in mid-April 'cause, well, Wisconsin...

This week's eco-friendly email:

• Earth Day's birthplace 🌎

• How to donate (with our money, not yours) 🙌 

• Keep Wildlife Wild poster contest winners 🖼

• Avian flu affecting midwest birds ❌ 

Earth Day's birthplace

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: In honor of Earth Day this week, for every new subscriber to the Wiscampsin Weekly, we'll donate $2.10 to the Friends of Wisconsin State Parks. Cappin' it at Friday. More details below.

Our favorite holiday is here, folks: Earth Day (4/22).

It's a celebration of the planet that makes all things good and green possible, like cribbage games around the campfire, and sunsets over Lake Michigan, and worms, and hiking to Governor's Point, and leaf hunting in the fall (and also raking said leaves but who cares), and snowshoeing, and canoeing the Wisconsin River, and..

Need we go on?

But it couldn't have been possible without a man named Gaylord Nelson, the father of Earth Day.

A planet in peril

Pretend it's the year 1969. *Queues Bryan Adams.*

Smog covers New York City. Pesticides are pervasive in our fields from pressure on the ag industry to produce food for our booming population. The Cuyahoga River in Ohio starts on fire for the 13th (yes THIRTEENTH) time.

Something has to change.

That's exactly what Gaylord Nelson, the senator from Wisconsin, thought as he witnessed 100,000 barrels of oil spill into the ocean in Santa Barbara. And he finally figured out a way to get the nation's attention.

The Conservation Governor

Governor Gaylord Nelson was a 'Scon through and through. He reveled in our outdoors. Said hi to the bugs. Hugged every dang tree he passed. *not confirmed*

Born in 1916 in Clear Lake, Wisconsin, he really gave a hoot about Wisconsin's environment, so he created reforms that cleaned up waterways, created green jobs, and boosted our recreation economy.

But once elected to the United States Senate in 1962, he struggled for the next seven years to pass any reforms on the national level.

Even on tour with President Kennedy, he couldn't overshadow the desire to talk Cold War and taxes, rather than clear creeks and trees.

It was on the plane that day of the Santa Barbara oil spill that he had his epiphany.

Rather than trying to create change from top-to-bottom, he needed to harness grass roots efforts - like that of the Vietnam protestors on college campuses - to force the environmental crisis into the nation's political scene.

"It organized itself"

After proposing the idea to a small group in Seattle, his idea for a day of 'environmental teach-ins' nine months later spread like wildfire.

He chose April 22nd, as it was between college spring break and finals, and Nelson soon found his office flooded with letters from folks all over excited to take part in Earth Day.

The genius that Nelson was, he and his staff urged people young and old to address environmental issues in their community, empowering localized action all over the country.

And on April 22nd, 1970, over 20 million children, seniors, Liberals, Republicans, environmentalists, conservationists, farmers, scientists, bartenders, beer drinkers, literally any group participated.

The day was coined Earth Day, and it became nationally recognized as a way to unite the nation to tackle our environmental threats.

The Environmental Decade and beyond

Earth Day became such a storied success not only for the actions of millions out in nature, but for what followed in Congress shortly after during the 'Environmental Decade.'

Nelson's manifestation of Earth Day spurred a political domino effect that led to the creation of:

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• Legislation like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Education Act, and others

• And, our favs, the National Hiking Trails and National Scenic Trails Acts

But his contribution to Wisconsin's outdoors is unmatched:

• Outdoor Recreation Acquisition Program, which funded the purchase of 1 million acres of land for parks in Wisconsin.

• Apostle Islands Shoreline establishment

• Protected the St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers

• Made the Forest Crop Law permanent to help conserve our timber

Gaylord Nelson remained chairman of the Wilderness Society till his death in 2005, but his spirit of environmentalism lives on with each and every Earth Day, which over 1 billion people worldwide participate in.

So this is the part where you come in (yes, YOU, sippin' that whole milk). There are a ton of ways to get involved this Earth Day, but here's a few ideas for ya:

• Clean up a river or stream near you

• Attend the Water@UW Symposium

• Quit burning tires, Uncle John!

• Celebrate at Devil's Lake State park with the DNR

• Ride your bike to work

• Get a head start on No Mow May

• About to throw away that dead battery? Don't

It's pretty dang simple, folks. Get outside and do some good!

⭐️ So as we said above, we'll give $2.10 (we were gonna do the full $4.20 in honor of today's holiday, but we'd be dead broke) to Friends of Wisconsin State Parks for every new reader as of Friday morning. We currently have 206 subscribers, so here's your chance to really get some payback on us - I mean, do some good! Start forwarding, folks. 🌲 

Subscribe link here 👇

https://wiscampsin.com/

Hipcamp find of the week ⛺️

Stone Ridge Tiny House where-bouts is at the beginning of the Niagara Escarpment, or as the 'Sconnies call it "The Ledge." Located in Rubicon, couple-two-tree stone throws away from the Ice Age Trail for hiking, Pike Lake for swimming, and Horicon Marsh for birding!

David told us "Really, does anything beat this? I journaled, read, played solitaire and listened to the radio, grilled sausages, went for hikes..." Believe-you-me that's a WI get-away if we've ever heard of one.

Nuts and Seeds 🌰 

🦃 Turkey: It's what's for dinner: The spring turkey season kicks off today, with all 7 management zones in on the action. Check out our turkey hunting edition and take a look at your options for buying a leftover tag to fill your freezer.