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EDUCATING ADVOCATING LITIGATING
TO PRESERVE LAKE MICHIGAN'S KOHLER ANDRAE ECOSYSTEM AND 
OUR COMMON RESOURCES

Our journey  began in 2011 with challenges to our Town of Wilson in Sheboygan County, the Wisconsin DNR and the Kohler Company to prevent the destruction of an ecologically significant stretch of the Lake Michigan coast. Kohler Company intended to clearcut its 247 acres along Lake Michigan's shore to build its 5th golf course in Sheboygan County.

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We were successful in having the incomplete DNR issued Wetland Fill Permit revoked in 2019.

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 Today, because of an annexation arranged by the Kohler Company and the City of Sheboygan, the City has jurisdiction over the Kohler land, rather than the adjacent Town of Wilson, and has the authority  to permit development there.

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today's challenge

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Our new challenge is to engage

the people of Sheboygan in creating a broader vision for the future of this city--one that measures progress by more than development.

We envision a Sheboygan that:

  • Puts quality of life at the center of community decisions

  • protects public health and safety

  • safeguards our water, air, trees, wetlands and shoreline

  • Treats Lake Michigan as a shared resource and a shared responsibility​

 

DECISIONS SHOULD BE WORTHY OF THE PLACE WE LIVE AND THE GENERATIONS WHO WILL INHERIT IT.

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Protecting our planet begins where we are.  Friends is working today  to educate a City's leadership,  its residents and stakeholders about the mandate for stewardship of our land, our air,  and our water.

 

Heading 5
Rare Lake Michigan Dunes, Forest, Wetlands,  Migratory Bird Route, Native American burial grounds threatened by a City's Development Centered planning model.

2013 brought neighbors in the Black River Forest area of Wilson, Wisconsin together to raise concerns  over a Kohler Company proposed championship golf course which would result in a catastrophic removal and ongoing pollution of the ecological elements that define our Lake Michigan lakeshore. The Company owns 247 acres of forest, dunes and wetlands adjacent to Kohler Andrae State Park. While asking Governor Scott Walker to expedite their project the company stated it wanted several acres of the adjacent Kohler Andrae State Park land easements through the park to reach its land. We wanted to make sure that the impacts would be studied diligently with transparency and that a billionaire and a Wisconsin resident be accountable to the same rule of law. Yes, this sounds naive and has been a David and Goliath battle.  Our journey has been long, challenging the DNR on the environmental passes it continues to give violating the mission of this agency to protect the common resources of Wisconsin. and our state gem Kohler Andrae State Park.


 

© Copyright Friends of the Black River Forest. 2014 - 2022.

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