Wisconsin is getting a new national wildlife refuge

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Wisconsin is getting a new national wildlife refuge. U-S Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced in Milwaukee yesterday that the proposed Hackmatack Refuge has been authorized along the Wisconsin-Illinois border. The refuge has been studied for the last two years. It will create up to 11-thousand acres of recreational space and wildlife habitat that seeks to protect several threatened species. Supporters of the refuge say the land has some of the last remaining tamarack trees in southern Wisconsin. The U-S Fish-and-Wildlife Service will coordinate the new refuge, by buying land easements from those willing to sell. Area landowners will not be forced to sell their properties. Fifty-four square miles were originally under consideration in Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties – plus Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois. When the study first began, officials said they would ask Congress for 45-milllion-dollars to establish the refuge – which will become one of 550 such nature areas nationwide. The Hackmatack Refuge will become official once the first land is purchased for it.

Tags: outdoors, wisconsin