Come One Come All to the Burnett County Earth Fair!
The fair is a cooperation between NWRPC’s Recycling Control Commission and the WDNR. It will be held on Saturday, May 17th, from 10 am - 3 pm at the Forts Folle Avoine Historical Park in Danbury. This is a free family event, please click below to view the flyer.
To the left is a photo taken of NWRPC Chairman Doug Finn presenting a joint check from the Douglas County revolving loan fund and Northwest Wisconsin Business Development Corporation revolving loan fund to Doug Stetzer President and CEO for Clearly Superior, Inc. Clearly Superior, Inc. produces a unique thickened water product (AquaCareH2O) that has the potential to attract a nationwide market. AquaCareH2O is designed to improve the quality of life for people suffering from dysphagia, a medical condition that impacts a person’s ability to swallow. Potential patients include people suffering from strokes, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, throat cancer, spinal cord injury and Alzheimer’s disease.
Northwest Regional Planning Commission’s Program Manager John Stroschine,
pictured on the right, presents a Wisconsin Business Innovation Corporation
check for $150,000 to Kleiss Gears, Inc. owners Rod and Georgianne Kleiss,
center and Doug Felsenthal V.P. of Sales and Marketing. Proceeds of the WBIC
loan were used in part to purchase the plastic injection molding press pictured in
the background. Kleiss Gears, Inc., located in the Village of Grantsburg’s
Industrial Park, designs and manufactures plastic gears for the Medical, Automotive
and Defense Industries.
Burnett County Concerned Residents Desperately Needed
Burnett County residents, governmental and municipal leaders, educators and student we need you! The Burnett County Sustainability study-group needs your input and ideas. It is not too late to join; the group meets again on Thursday, March 13 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm at the Siren Village Hall. The group needs more participants to strengthen their conversations about ways to help sustain our natural environment in Burnett County. We need some “Fire Souls” to help spark ideas.
A sustainable community respects its own diversity and accepts responsibility for social, economic and ecological well being of the present and future generations through individual and collective actions. Without more interested participants, this is going to be a challenge.
The idea of the sustainability study-circle is to help you learn about, and live a more sustainable lifestyle. The groups hope is to help communities, schools, congregations, governmental and municipal leaders, citizens and conscious consumers to achieve a more sustainable lifestyle.
The efforts the average consumer makes can create a real difference in terms of reducing our environmental impact, and inspire people to take practical action to create an unstoppable force for sustainability. Together, through collaborative grassroots efforts, we can shift toward more conscious communities, local government, schools, congregations and consumers, but we need your participation to make that happen.
We’ll keep you abreast of our progress through the website www.nwrpc.com. Check out updates on our projects and actions you can take to make a difference. Or call us to share ideas or get involved with our activities and programs.
Ideas the group has already been discussing include: energy conservation, tree plating, rain gardens, community gardens, walking and biking, water quality, local food, clean air and zero waste. Do you have a topic area you’d like to discuss? Join us at our next meeting and share those ideas with others. If you need more information regarding this group, or the Washburn County group, please call or email Jen at 635-2197, or jbarton@nwrpc.com.
John Stroschine, Program Manager for Wisconsin Business Innovation Corporation (right) presents a WBIC Revolving Loan Fund check for $58,500 to Doug and Patty Weihert of Northern Pines Resort. Proceeds of the check along with additional financing from Northwoods CommunityCredit Union of Park Falls and owner equity will be used to construct and furnish five replacement cabins at the resort.
We had a wonderful turnout for our first meeting of over 30 people last Thursday evening at the Washburn County law Enforcement Building! Dorothy Lagerroos of Northland College talked to participants about the idea of using study-circles to learn about the thoughts and ideas of others in our process of learning The Natural Step. She talked about how beneficial this type of learning can be and how well it worked for the groups in Northern Wisconsin. There are currently 3 eco-municipalities in Northern Wisconsin; they are Ashland, Washburn and Bayfield.
After Dorothy spoke to the group, introductions were made by all those present. Rick Schneider and Jen Barton- both of NW Regional Planning Commission will be facilitating the Washburn and Burnett County groups. There were a broad range of those attending. From business owners and County Board Supervisors, to ordinary citizens-this is a well diverse group!
The book, “The Natural Step for Communities” will be the framework used in these groups. Participants will be assigned some reading to be done at home.
Homework: Chapters 1-3 were assigned to be read by the next meeting (Thursday, February 21st).
John Stroschine, Program Manager for Wisconsin Business Innovation Corporation (right) presents a WBIC IRP Revolving Loan Fund check for $100,000 to James Colborn (center) and Knute Pedersen (left) Managing Members of H-Window Company, LLC Ashland. Proceeds of the loan along with additional equity and conventional bank financing will allow the business to research and design a new energy-efficient sliding patio door to compliment H-Window’s Nordic swinging patio door product line. H-Window Company, LLC currently employs 40 Ashland and Bayfield County residents.
An informational article on Data Destruction Services, Inc., also known as D3, was was recently published in the Duluth News Tribune.
Click here to read the News Tribune article posted on the D3 website www.d3services.com.
A video and a brochure are also available on the D3 Website, to give you a better understanding of what D3 is all about.
Limited access to the old website is still available. Home page links are broken, but everything else remains functional.
The url is www.nwrpc.com/index2.htm.
If you need documents from the old website that are no longer available, please don’t hesitate to call us.
(715)635-2197
We thank you for your patience during this transitional period.
Seventh District Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI) announced today that the FY2008 Omnibus Appropriation Bill that Congress has approved includes a $4.92 million federal grant to NW Regional Planning Commission to support efforts towards making Flambeau River Papers in Park Falls, Wisconsin, energy independent so it can remain competitive in the market.
Obey states, “The Park Falls Mill is striving to become entirely independent so it will no longer be subject to the high prices of natural gas and coal that almost put an end to the town’s long tradition of manufacturing pulp and paper. Obey goes on to say, “There are over 300 workers who have a stake in this project and I’m glad we were able to secure these funds to help.”
Pulp and paper has been manufactured in Park Falls since the 1890’s, but last year’s energy costs ran to over $1 million a month, nearly resulting in the permanent shutting of the mill. To reduce the impact of rising energy costs, Flambeau River Papers is working to create a first-of-its-kind facility that will produce paper and energy necessary to run the mill from the same stream of inputs without the use of fossil fuels. The Federal funds are intended to allow the NW Regional Planning Commission to help Flambeau River Papers with the conversion of the mill.
Flambeau River Papers estimates that eliminating natural gas would save the mill between $4 and $5 million per year and eliminating coal would save about $1.2 million, as well as reduce the mill’s fossil fuel carbon output.