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05/20/2009 - 4:45 p.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory 
These are amazing times we live in. Just since I graduated from college (dating myself here) I have seen the way we connect and communicate change dramatically. Who would have thought that computers would be a regular part of our life, let alone little phones that we can carry around with us? The impact of this hit me recently as I was re-connected with an old High School friend through Facebook. We were talking about how we would have never lost touch or re-connected sooner if we had the means to communicate or find people like we do today. Gone are the days that once you lost touch with someone it was very difficult to track them down. How people interact, get information and stay connected are all things I think about daily in my job as the Public Affairs Officer for the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF). The “old” ways to spread the news about something happening on the Forest as well engaging the public are quickly changing. When I recently attended a... |
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04/18/2009 - 2:53 p.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory
April showers bring spring flowers, or not. It has been another very dry spring in northern Wisconsin. The woods are crunchy and the fire danger is extremely high. This has me thinking a lot about water. Living in an area that is surrounded by lakes, rivers and streams can make one forget that water is a scarce resource and it needs to be protected and conserved. When we lived in Utah I was hired as the Water Conservation and Education Coordinator for the state. Being young and pretty naïve, I had no idea what I was getting into. Water “out west” is like gold and very politically charged. Add to that the fact that Utah is the second driest state and using the most water per person. I learned a lot! One of the things that hit me was how hard it was to teach not only children but adults that water is a non-renewable resource. We (so far) can’t make new water. I think that is even harder to understand living in an area surrounded by what seems like unlimited wat... |
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01/07/2009 - 1:10 p.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory
Welcome to the New Year! I for one am looking forward to 2009 and the positive changes this and the upcoming years will bring. As I reflect what the changing of the year means for the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF) I look to the Chief of the Forest Service’s emphasis areas. "The Forest Service has always risen to the great conservation challenges of our time and with this in mind" said Abigail Kimbell, Chief of the Forest Service, "three themes in particular that have stood out: climate change, water issues, and the loss of a connection to nature, especially for kids.” In my column of January 2008 I talked about the emphasis of getting kids connected to nature. This January I will focus on the emphasis of climate change. I will not be addressing the argument of if climate change is fact or fiction; I will leave that to others to do. Instead I am focusing on how the Forest Service and the CNNF are approaching the topic. Yes, it is a complicated topic to... |
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11/05/2008 - 11:00 a.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory
I have been remiss in writing my monthly column. The excuse for my absence has to do with a rather large project called the Travel Management Project (TMP). Just a warning to readers: this column will include lots of acronyms! If you travel on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF) I hope you will read on to learn more. When I got to the CNNF two years ago one of the first things I worked on was our initial outreach efforts in regards to this project. Here is what it means and why you may care. In 2005 the Chief of the Forest Service, Dale Bosworth, announced that the agency would be addressing the unmanaged motorized recreation that is a result ever-growing use of motorized vehicles on National Forests. There are more and more people in the world and more and more ways to travel using a wide range of vehicles. The results of these things have been evident across the nation and here on the only National Forest in Wisconsin: the CNNF. As I have mentioned in ... |
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07/31/2008 - 10:00 a.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory
Putting your name on the list as available to go on a fire assignment is such and strange yet exciting feeling. Once your name is on the list you may be called any minute, or it can take days. My call came as my family and I were at church. As my phone vibrated I slipped out of the pew to see where and when I would be going. Brian the dispatcher answered my “hello” with, “When can you be at the airport?” After we hung up he began arranging my travel and I began making the list of all the things to remember to bring on my 14-day assignment. As expected, I was called to assist as a Fire Information Officer in California. The state had been hit with about 1,700 fires with one lightning storm. I was to leave in 24 hours and head to a fire called the Soda fire north of Sacramento. Sunday night I got a call from the dispatch in California saying I was re-directed to a fire at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area near Redding. After checking maps and weather I quickly realized ... |
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05/24/2008 - 9:30 a.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory
I filled my tank this morning. What a painful experience that has become! As I paid the cashier we both shook our heads in unison. She just muttered, “I know, I know.” As I drove away I decided to try and think of the positive aspects of higher gas prices. One is people seem to be thinking a lot more about when and where they drive. As a direct result, the number of car accidents is the lowest it has been in more than 50 years. I have also noticed many people are trading in gas-guzzling cars for smaller more fuel-efficient vehicles, and bike sales are at a record high. As my mind tossed around these positives I started thinking about my family’s summer travel plans. Our favorite summertime activity is camping. The kind of camping we do now is a bit different than in the days when my husband and I would carry all we needed on our backs for seven- to 10-day backpack trips. With two small kids, we are for the time being, relegated to car camping. For a couple who used... |
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03/30/2008 - 12:00 p.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory
Last year a co-worker and I attended training in the mountains of Washington State. As we drove the winding roads near Mount Saint Helens we got our first glimpse of an elk herd. “WOW! Look at that!” I had forgotten what it was like to see elk as a regular part of the landscape.
Now imagine driving along a highway in northern Wisconsin and seeing an 800-pound elk (Cervus elaphus) munching away on grass. It is possible on the Great Divide District of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF). Elk were very much a part of Wisconsin, prior to their eradication by the late 1860s. The highest density of elk lived in the southern parts of the state, but records show they inhabited at least 50 of the state’s 72 counties. In 1989 the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) was directed to look into the idea of re-introducing elk, moose and caribou. It was determined that elk would hav... [Read More] |
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03/05/2008 - 2:45 p.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory
In 1996 my husband Joel and I lived in a small town in southern Oregon called Gold Hill (population 1,000). Gold Hill was a typical “logging” community where many of the people who lived in the area relied on the timber industry as a way of life.
In those days Joel and I were still seasonal employees. I was a Wilderness Ranger for the Rogue River National Forest and he was a Spotted Owl Survey Biologist for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). When we did laundry at the local laundry mat we had to hide our uniforms. Keep in mind in this part of the country one of the most common bumper stickers read, “I love Spotted Owls--Fried!” People in around those parts knew exactly who the Forest Service and BLM were. The contrast of those days of not really telling people who we worked for to now, trying to explain to people who the Forest Service and Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF) ... [Read More] |
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01/04/2008 - 12:45 p.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory
One day last winter I returned home from work to find the house empty. I looked out the back window to see my husband (an ecologist) and then 5-year-old son, Bridger, and his 3-year-old sister, Sage, pulling a sled into the backyard from the woods.
What was that on the sled? I strained my eyes to get a better view. Yep, as I thought: it was a deer carcass. The kids ran into the house over-flowing with joy about the new addition to the backyard. “We are going to leave it in the snow and watch the scavengers eat it. We may even get a bald eagle in the yard!” Well, I thought to myself, our kids do not suffer from “nature deficit disorder.” For those of you who have not heard the term “nature deficit disorder,” here is bit of background on what it means. It is a term coined by author Richard Louv in his 2005 book “Last Child in the Woods.” The term refers to the tr... [Read More] |
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12/04/2007 - 3:00 p.m. CST -- by Suzanne Flory
Above my desk I keep a picture of me taken 11 years ago. It was taken when I was a seasonal Wilderness Ranger for the Rogue River National Forest in southern Oregon. In it I am standing in deep snow holding the reins of my horse and pack team. I am smiling, but I remember that three-day backcountry trip as the closest I ever came to being hypothermic.
Now, as I am chained to my computer--or, as I would label myself, an “office slug”--it gives me comfort to know there are still plenty of Forest Service folks out there day after day, rain or shine, working in the “field.” In my mind, these are the people who get the work done. What do Forest Service employees on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF) do all winter? The winter is actually just as busy as the short summer months, and it turns out it is a perfect and often preferred time to accomplish a lot of field work. [Read More] |
