How Black Americans Built The National Park System (Hour 2)

Live on location, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Across Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network.

and streaming worldwide on the Cinepedia app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Albaugh here on a special Earth Day edition.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite on Earth Day.

We are live at Governor Nelson State Park on the north side of Madison.

For those watching on the stream, YouTube, Facebook.

Twix, that's the combination of Twix and X Twitter.

All those streaming YouTube as well.

You can see a beautiful shot right now of the Lake Medoda behind us.

Some of the woods here at Governor Nelson State Park.

The rain has cleared off a little bit.

We appreciate that.

And it's going to be a great day here at Governor Nelson State Park.

Mr. Zomers, how are things across the lake in downtown Madison at the World Headquarters?

Sun's starting to come out down there as well, right?

Yeah, it's very similar to yesterday, the last couple of days though, a little bit dreary, but I mean, I'm okay with that.

And the temperature is slowly rising.

It's going to be a great day in the afternoon here for a beautiful Earth Day all across the state of Wisconsin.

Tomorrow is going to be spectacular, they say.

Killer, he joins us every Tuesday now.

We appreciate that.

He has a brand new program.

We're debuting tomorrow with our new lineup on the Civic Media Ready Network.

He'll now be on from six until nine across the Civic Media Ready Network.

Mornings with the aforementioned Pat Krightlow.

Pat, joining us from Lake Wasota in a park.

Is it that cold up there,

Pat?

Like a hoodie.

I got my gloves.

I mean...

I'm looking at you guys there and it was it was perfectly fine in here before but just another beautiful warm spring afternoon here on Lake

Minnesota right?

It's amazing how much weather can change just across the state of Wisconsin.

What is the wind show over there?

It

looks like there should be ice on the lake there.

No, the waves are lapping the shores here.

The beach is a beautiful day here.

Okay, all right.

Pat, it's great to have you along and I appreciate the, I appreciate the shtick that's always appreciated.

We have someone here I know that you're very familiar with as a former state legislator, former state senator a few years ago.

Tia Nelson joins us here at the desk right now.

Of course, she is the daughter of former Wisconsin.

Governor and U.S.

Senator Gaylord Nelson for which this park is named.

Tia, we talked to you last year of ES StreamYard.

I can't tell you what an honor and pleasure it is to have you here at the desk in person.

And what is your family refer to this as?

All right, Papa's Park.

Papa's Park.

Papa's Park.

The grandkids especially.

I think it's fantastic.

You know, Pat, your time in the legislature, you know how important things such as the Noel Nelson, or Noel Nelson stewardship is.

Legislation like that.

During your time in the state Senate, did you ever have a chance to work on these issues directly or were they just not in line during your time in the Senate?

Well, the problem, as I told the story again this morning on our program, was that my time in the legislature coincided with the Great Recession.

that the markets had collapsed, the economy.

We were facing not the $4 billion surplus that they're dealing with now, but a $3 to $6 billion shortfall that we had to make up.

And so there was a lot of pushback on any kind of investment and things like this to the point where

And again, as I've told the story previously, when my legislation passed to name Highway 63, you know, for Gaylord Nelson running from Clear Lake up to Ashland, the only way that they would allow that earmark is if it had zero dollars attached to it to put up any markers.

And nears I know, there are still no markers on that road anywhere in all the years that Republicans have led the legislature ever since.

So I would love to see investment for at least that much

And then so much more into Knowles Nelson and to continue to have a thriving stewardship program in the state.

Yeah.

Are there still no markers to you?

All

right.

You know, I knew that.

Thanks, Pat, for your efforts to honor my father.

I'm grateful to you for that and enjoyed working with you in the legislature.

I knew the highway was designated and I had no idea that there weren't.

I confess, I had no idea that there was no signage of yet.

I think that's something we should, uh, Pat and I, and we can, you know, the, again, our high horses here for what it's worth.

We should, we should gin this up.

You got three hours now, Pat, starting tomorrow.

We can, we can do a campaign for this.

Does Pat, Pat, do you know how to bake?

What about a cookie sale?

I can do

that.

Whatever, whatever it takes would be happy to do that.

So we'll, we can talk about that tomorrow during the three hour extravaganza.

that I'm very much looking forward to.

And then Jane Matineer and Greg Bach will follow from 9 to 11.

And we come find you in the mid-afternoons now, which lets you

sleep

in a little bit more.

I hope you're still going to do your Wednesday 750 appearances

with me.

I will be up and

on your show, yes.

Maybe in your little footy pajamas if you have to wake you up that early.

I'll

be up having coffee.

Pat, before we let you go, you're based up there in the beautiful Chippewa Valley.

It's the 125th anniversary of

Wisconsin State Parks.

Talk just a minute about what this means across the state, but particularly in your neck of the woods for for northern Wisconsin.

So many fantastic Wisconsin State Parks up there.

It all comes back to the word stewardship.

which is is convenient for the program name, but it really is part of Wisconsin's DNA, or at least it was for many until not that terribly long ago.

Stewardship is a is a moral commitment of leaving a place in as good or better condition than you found it.

And it was something that was

And should remain second nature to most of us There are always going to be people that want to you know tear something down because you know one more strip mall is okay or one more golf course is okay And you know those wetlands are just a swamps anyway.

No, they're not we we've learned how much value is in those especially with more flash flooding because of a changing climate and

We just simply have that about us that we we've appreciated our clean water We see what it's like around other parts of the country How much they would give to have the clean water we have here and yet we have threats like never before from PFAS from Industrial runoff from farm runoff from high capacity deep wells and so we led led in the pipes, so we always have to be mindful that

Stewardship is an ongoing thing.

You never take it for granted.

You never take for granted the investments in infrastructure in places like our national parks, like our state parks, like our county parks.

And as long as there are still leading voices like the people that surround you down there, then Wisconsin will continue to be in good hands because we have people that will not ever take stewardship for granted in this state.

Pat, we appreciate your time with us today.

Appreciate your time in the state legislature as a Democrat.

We're going to talk to former Republican State Senator Rob Cole's at the bottom of the hour.

And again, I just feel very strongly that this should be a nonpartisan or at least a bipartisan event here that we all, last time I checked, when we go out in the boat, the fish don't ask which party we belong to in order to bite or the trees don't ask what party you belong to when they give off their oxygen.

So to me, I just think this

This is something that brings Wisconsin together and it's part of what makes Wisconsin great.

We appreciate your time, Pat.

Again, people can tune in to you another additional hour starting tomorrow morning.

So Pat, right?

Little across the network, six until nine.

Thanks, Pat.

Have a wonderful day up there like Minnesota.

Take care.

See you later.

Thanks a lot.

Pat Crite.

Hello, everybody.

Again, joining us at the table right now, Tia Nelson, daughter of former Wisconsin Governor and U.S.

Senator Gaylord Nelson.

We also have at the table as well, Mike Ring.

He is the park manager here at Governor Nelson State Park, and Drew Howick, who is the president.

I say that, right?

Sorry, very good.

I want to make sure I get it right.

The president of the Friends of Governor Nelson State Park, Tia...

Talk just to give us just a moment because you're not just the daughter of a former U.S.

Senator and governor.

You in your own right have worked on environmental issues on the land trust as I get it right in the state of Wisconsin.

You've done so much on your own, but on this day as the daughter, just give us a personal reflection of what it means to be here at this beautiful state park named after your dad and his legacy.

Well, I'm delighted to be here and be on your program.

I'm grateful to Todd for doing the show and I'm happy to be back.

Again, this time in person, I love this park.

I frequently come out here on New Year's Day.

and do some reflections on what I hope and aspire for in the new year.

I try to buy my park sticker and get all of its value for the year.

And there's a sign right behind us with the history and story of my father's life and a timeline of some of the milestones.

I'd like to go over there and look at that.

Usually give him a little kiss.

So it's always a reflective time for me and a time of celebration.

Think about the fact that Papa's original idea, this idea was to have teachers across the country speak to their students and interact and teach with their kids one day on the environment.

was successful beyond his wildest dreams.

20 million people gathered on that day, largest public event in American history at the time.

And I think it's a reminder to all of us of our connection with nature.

And it is also, I think, an important reminder of the power of individual action.

And the fact that you don't always know the outcome Papa couldn't have predicted that Earth Day would be an enduring celebration 55 years after its inception.

And that would delight him.

And so I get a lot of...

satisfaction from that.

Yeah, I'm sure.

Mike Ring, you're the park manager here at Governor Nelson State Park.

You were so kind to come on with us last year and we appreciate you coming back today.

Talk a little bit about this from a park manager standpoint.

125 years of Wisconsin State Parks here and being so close to the city of Madison, you get folks from all over the state, but this is a really well used park.

And I mean that in the best sense.

You have all kinds of folks out here, correct?

Yeah.

Last year we, well,

Since I've been here we've averaged between 300,000 and 355,000 people.

Wow.

Coming to the park.

It is a day use park with a boat launch in the beach area.

I'm the only full-time your own staff that we have here.

And I can't do it alone though.

So I have paid staff and I have a lot of volunteers who help out here and really do the work that I can't.

I can't alone and we can't together.

Talk about a couple of the things that if people want to if they're in that they're listening to us on WMDX in Madison or WRCE and Richland Center Those are easy day events, but people listening all across the state that might come down to Madison for one reason or another I'd encourage them to come out here discover this park talk about some of the things from the beaches to the trails There's something for every it's not just I'll come out and hang out at the beach Yeah, I mean there's all kinds of things to do here.

There is yeah, I mean it's four seasons of fun as well So we have seven miles of hiking trails here in the park through prairies

through Oaks of Ana, through Oak Woodland, traveling next to 2,000 years of burial mounds.

We have the beach area and picnic area, of course.

We have a pet swim area on the other side of the lake for people that your dogs go for a little swim.

I

love

it.

We have, in the wintertime, it turns into cross-country ski trails.

And so we groom the ski trails whenever we can, which hasn't been great this past couple of years to be honest, but we do get four seasons of fun out of them as well.

Very good.

Oh, we're gonna come back and talk about the the Friends group here.

It takes a village as they say, and there's some great friends are supporting Governor Nelson State Park.

Our show rolls on live here from Governor Nelson State Park in Madison, Wisconsin.

sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy sunshine in my

eyes can

make me

cry

Welcome back to the top of all show of the civic media running up.

We're a little John Denver here for an Earth Day for you We are live on location and we're the great state parks in the state of Wisconsin Governor Nelson State Park on the north side of Lake Mendoza here in Dane County and Our park that this is why you want to have a good park manager around those nature because you pointed out one of the birds What was flying around

melted Kingfisher was just flying over here and I haven't seen one of those this spring so

Good to see that they're starting to come back.

Glad to have you along.

Mike Rain, of course, is the Park Manager here at Governor Nelson State Park.

We have Tia Nelson here, so very honored.

She is the daughter of former Governor and U.S.

Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, who, of course, is the founder of Earth Day in which this park is named.

And right now I want to bring on Drew Howick here at the table with us live on location.

He is the President of the Friends of the Governor Nelson State Park.

Howard, thank you so much for our, Drew, but thank

so much for being here and tell us just a little bit about your role as president of the Friends.

Well there's been a group of us anywhere from 5 to 20 that have been showing up once a week for 48 weeks a year on Tuesdays and we've been doing whatever the seasons require.

So right now we're starting to get into invasive

seasons.

We just came off a brush cutting and so on.

You know, we've been doing this for almost 10 years and we had a, I'll put the quote opportunity come up because there's a structure on this property called the Hogan House.

It was built in 1950 and it's the only existing structure, closed structure from Camp Wakanda, Old Brook and Indianola.

Wow.

From the 70s.

It's the only structure that remains.

And one time we were looking at it and Mike says, yeah, I've got to figure out, are we going to take this down or are we going to renovate it?

And we all looked at each other and said, we're going to renovate it.

And Mike says, well, we need money to renovate it.

And this

doesn't fall

into the DNR's priority list.

And I said, OK, well, how do we do it?

And he goes, well, you've got to form a friends group.

I said, OK.

So I brought in a builder and an architect.

We looked at the structure.

They both said, yep, you've got to keep it.

So we formed last summer a 501C3 called the Friends of Governor Nelson State Park.

And we are incorporated.

We're legal.

We have a brochure right here.

Look at this,

right?

My hand's right here.

We'll take a photo of that and put it up on our website.

And so we have been raising funds.

So we just met the first goal of the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund.

And so we matched it.

and we now have the funds to start the renovation project of that hogan house well and our goals to make that a accessible uh... structure where people can come and use it as a warming house a meeting house school kids come together an educational center the vision is evolving but uh... goal one was to start the process

i i just think i love every part part about this because unfortunately

Uh, you know, monies haven't kept up in my opinion on the on the state legislature side and putting money into state parks.

But I think this is just the quintessential Wisconsinite in a group of you say, look, okay, fine.

I mean, we should be doing this another way, but we're not going to let opportunity go by and folks come together and raise money and save part of this history in the state of Wisconsin because once those things are gone, they're gone.

Right, and many of these buildings, if you go back and look at the research of the pictures of Camp Indianola Wakanda and Obrich, they used to be many structures, and people from all over the nation used to come to these different camps.

Some were Y camps, some were religious affiliated camps, and so on.

So this property held three different camps for 20, 30 years, and had structures, but all of those have gone away, except for the one that I mentioned.

Tyler listening to us in Columbia County on WMDX says being north of Madison Nelson State Park is my closest and my favorite park to ride the bike and to enjoy the weather.

It's nice having the park system and it's why my motorcycle also gets a state park sticker.

So how about that?

It doesn't matter how you get here, whether it's a bike or car or canoe or however or kayak across the lake, everybody can come and enjoy this park.

That's right and dogs are welcome.

As long as they're on leash,

Michael will

point out.

You're right.

And what we've noticed is the number of visitors to this park, starting with COVID, of course, really has increased.

And if people want to get involved in either giving or an action, you have a website here called, it's just friends of Gov, G-O-V, Nelson, N-E-L-S-O-N dot O-R-G.

And Mr. Zalmers could put that up on our website there.

Again, it's friends of Gov Nelson dot O-R-G.

Any other things coming up about

three minutes left here before the bottom break.

Any other events you want to plug for the friends?

Well, we have our first annual meeting in May 8th in the town of Westport, and we have Jim Buckholtz, who's a former park supervisor.

He'll be speaking about his visits of all state park.

He just put out a new book, a 400-page tome of all the state parks in

the

state of Wisconsin.

So he'll be speaking.

That's a big event for us.

And then we have the 50th anniversary celebration of this park is on.

I'm looking at Mike July.

It's

in July.

It'll be the it's the 50th anniversary of when the first parcel was purchased

for the

park.

So we're celebrating 50 years this year.

When the state is also celebrating 125 years of state parks.

Yeah.

It's a

big year for us.

Mike, about a minute here.

Any other things that you'd like to make sure we know across statewide about this particular park coming up here in 2025?

We always have a big Earth Day celebration like today.

Getting the governor's office out to do work and to do a lot of things here.

Governor Evers was here earlier.

Yeah.

Him and all the secretary staff were all here.

Yeah, we're always looking for more volunteers.

We're always working for members of our friends group.

We're always looking forward to hire staff and for people to help out here.

It's a wonderful park where we do a lot of teaching and we can hire and teach people to do whatever they want on the land that makes them happy and it's just a really good accessible park.

Tia, of 30 seconds or so, did your dad envision this particular park yet when he was still alive?

No, he didn't.

I was here with him for the ribbon cutting, and I don't remember.

That was 1986, I think, if my shovel is correct.

Yeah, if you're sure.

Well, I had the

ribbon.

Oh, nice, okay.

Renee presented, you know, like it was some royal

piece

of fabric.

It was so sweet of her, the ribbon that came from the ribbon cutting, but he was delighted.

And, you know, the original idea around the outdoor recreation action program, which became Knowles Nelson, was that there'd be

outdoor recreation accessible to everyone across the state and their projects in every corner of the state and that's great for everybody.

Mike Ring Park Manager, Drew Howitz, the president of the Friends Group.

Thank you so much for being here.

We appreciate everything you guys are doing.

Stay with us.

Come back and talk with Tia and former Republican states that are Rob Coles.

He's part of the reason that my sticker is good for an entire year.

We'll come back and talk to them about that.

We're live on location at Governor Nelson State Park on the Pacific media radio network.

When I was a child, my family would travel down to western Kentucky where my parents were born.

And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered.

so many times that my memories are worn and daddy won't you take me back to mulenburg county down by the green welcome back

to the town hall show live on location on this earth day at governor nelson state park here on the north shores of lake madonna in dane county glad to have you along for a special edition i'm joined here at the table by tia nelson's daughter of former wisconsin governor and u.s.

senator gaylord nelson

who founded Earth Day and for which for whom this wonderful state park is named, it really has turned into a beautiful day, Tia.

It sure has.

I'm happy to

be

here.

Yeah, happy to have you here.

Happy to have our next guest as well.

He is a former Republican state senator that represented the greater Green Bay area up until

January, the longest serving Wisconsin state senator in the state Senate, certainly longest serving Republican state senator, and now getting ready to announce the Packers selection of the NFL draft former state Senator Rob Coles, who joins us from our great studios at WGBW.

Senator Coles, thanks for being here.

Well, Todd, I gotta tell you, when I got a call from Tia a few days ago, I thought,

I have to accept this draft.

She drafted me here.

That's the word of the day up here.

We're all a buzz in Green Bay and we're going to have tons of people.

And I just want to say the Packers are pretty darn sustainable.

This is Earth Day.

And it's an honor to be on the show with Tia, who's a classy gal that carries the mission that her father started so well.

It's just great to be on the show with her and thank her and honor her dad on Earth Day.

And it's great that you're at, you know, Governor Nelson Park in the parks.

We got to make our parks vibrant and they've fallen down.

Anybody that's been in a lot of parks.

So that's why stewardship, which funds the parks and many other things, municipal trails and.

All sorts of infrastructure does so many things for outdoor recreation and tourism and bringing people to the state.

It's a critical issue to continue it because the fund is ending and it's a flashpoint in the state budget.

I'm optimistic that it'll get done, but it's important to talk about what this stewardship fund, the Knowles Nelson,

Governor Knowles, a Republican, Governor Nelson years ago, a Democrat.

And that indicated, you know, the bipartisan aspect of this whole fund and what we do for our outdoor recreation resources.

So it's great to be here and emphasize that because it's got to get done.

Yeah.

I'm really grateful to you, Rob, for joining us today and also just want to

Everyone to know what a pleasure it was working across the aisle to get a bunch of important environmental stuff for all Wisconsinites done working together.

I loved our time in the legislature and we did a lot to protect special lands and clean air and clean water and I'm forever grateful to you.

Thank you very much and thank you for

being such a classy person and mentioning that, and I thank you for your ongoing commitment.

A lot of people could just go off into retirement and do nothing, but you're out there working it, and generations have to be reminded.

You know, how do we pay for all this stuff?

And, you know, making it the special state that it is and making it available.

not only to the people that live here, but to tourists and have a wonderful experience.

So thank you for everything you do in regard to that, Tia.

Thank you so much.

The last three minutes should be an example for people who don't get it or don't know or didn't have the privilege that I had to kind of see in behind the curtain how the legislation, how the sausage was made.

This is real, you guys, listening all across the state.

I've known Senator Coles a long time and worked for Dale Schultz in the state Senate, another guy who is a conservation minded guy.

And, and, you know, what you're hearing from Senator Coles is not just because he's here on Earth Day.

He was saying this stuff when he was a Republican state senator.

And Tia, I've known for a long time, forgive me Tia, tell us the official title when you were working for the state, was the land Wisconsin

Trust?

It's an awkward title, which is why you can't remember it.

I was executive secretary to the Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, which

is why

nobody remembers it.

And that's something that Senator Coles knows because I would go up and Senator Coles, you can tell part of this story if you want, but we would go up when Senator Ellis was present in the Senate and used to, Rob Coles used to hang out there, Luther Olson and Dale Schultz, and Mike Ellis would sit there and say,

We have got to take care of Tia.

You wouldn't find anybody that was more of a Republican conserved old school than Mike Ellis, but he was very, very proud to work with you, Tia, and keeping that very important part of our state alive.

Senator Ellis was a great leader and a great friend, and I was proud of our friendship, and he helped advance a lot of good...

causes I, you know, he's sorely missed.

And, you know, when the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund, think about it for a moment.

My father was the originator of an idea that it had a different name, the Outdoor Recreation Acquisition Program, funded by Pennyapak Tax on Cigarettes.

It was some years later, and Papa's governor, it's wildly poppy.

among urban residents, rural residents, Democrats, Republicans, independents, and there was a project for everyone in the state to enjoy the...

places to make Wisconsin so special.

And the program was so wildly popular that the Republican governor who succeeded my father grew, strengthened, and expanded the program, Warren Knowles, which is why it's named after my dad and and Warren Knowles.

And there were two great leaders from

different parties working together to protect the places that make Wisconsin so special.

And Rob has done that, and Ellis did that.

You mentioned Luther Olson.

I have a lot of respect for all of them.

They've really helped do important things to protect nature and public lands from Wisconsin.

Senator Coles, explain from a former state senator's standpoint with the Nelson Nol stewardship fund, what does this actually do for Wisconsinites?

Not just in your former Senate district, but what does this mean for the average Wisconsinite to have this there?

What does it do for them in their real lives?

Well, it helps keep the parks better.

better maintained.

We're talking water infrastructure.

There are a number of bills in recent years that actually supplemented Knowles and Elson because there wasn't enough money to do everything that needed to be done.

As far as water infrastructure, trails, campgrounds, beaches, any of those could be related to some municipal areas also.

They're trying to apply to the fund.

It's a competitive situation.

Typically you've got to have some seed money in there.

So an old Nelson doesn't pay for the whole thing.

It would pay for a significant part of it.

So there's all sorts of wild areas and hunting grounds.

places that people can both hunt and fish that aren't necessarily state parks, state forests.

It's just a whole panorama of things that make our state, I would say, so vibrant and special.

People want to get out and do things.

You know, it's warming up finally.

It's up for you folks in the winter coats there.

You're a little bit cold there today.

We have an incredible number of people at fish credible credible number of people at hunt.

They need places to do that in a growing state It's not 1850 when there were hardly anybody here.

So now we're up to 5.5 million people.

So The importance of of the fun.

It's not just the maintenance part.

It's buying those precious parcels when they come available

So the people of the state and the people that want to visit our state can get in there and recreate in various ways.

Hunt, fish, walk, trails, you name it.

It's such a multifaceted thing and without it, without this resource, we'd be diminished greatly.

So it's really a powerful tool to make things happen with friends groups that want to

do one thing or another.

And I want to applaud all the French groups that help make our state resources so vibrant.

Yeah, I was just gonna mention Robert.

Thanks for talking about the importance of the infrastructure in our public lands.

It's not just our state parks.

It's state forests which are producing timber and helping a critical economic engine in northern Wisconsin.

All those lands open for hunting and fishing.

But here at

Governor Nelson State Park, the boat launch, which gets heavy usage in the summertime here in beautiful Lake Mendota, on the shores of beautiful Lake Mendota, that boat launch was built with money from the stewardship fund.

And so, you know, I read a statistic the other day, there is a stewardship acquired parcel of land.

within a short driving distance of 99% of the citizens of Wisconsin.

And nature-based tourism is a huge economic driver in the state as well.

So it brings in a lot of value beyond the aesthetics and beauty of being in nature, having the opportunity to hunt and fish.

And so on.

We're talking with Tia Nelson, who is the daughter of former Wisconsin Governor and U.S.

Senator Gaylord Nelson here at Governor Nelson State Park on location and former Republican State Senator Rob Coles who joins us from our station WGBW in Green Bay.

Senator Coles, I want to pick up on a couple of things that you started out saying Tia was expanding on them.

Number one, the stewardship fund.

And again, I'm not trying to make this specifically partisan, but I'm trying to address things that I know come up

on a partisan level.

Some people may say, well, you know, this is basically just well, well fair for the environmentalists.

You said it, these are seed monies to start.

And then you have people like we had on earlier, withdrew the president of the friends group here.

They're not getting paid anything.

They're coming out here and supplementing that seed money with volunteer work and raising private money on their own.

So there's a public and private match, which I think is important.

And number two, Senator Coles, you know,

I don't want to be too partisan, but, you know, okay, you might say, well, more Republicans are tending to be hunters out there.

I don't think that's always true, but that's a stereotype out there.

These these monies for stewardship.

Look, if you're a guy or a gal that's a pheasant hunter or a turkey hunter or a deer hunter or a fisherman, these monies help you recreate.

Well, absolutely.

And recreate in parks at certain designated designated times of the year where it's not recommended that you.

that there's deer hunting going on in parts certain times of the year, and so on, whether it's pheasants or whatever the season might be.

So we need to have these parcels available for folks because they're becoming less available.

As the state grows, there's more populations, so open spaces are critical.

I guess we know not everybody supports it.

But when you explain to them all the different things that Knowles Nelson stewardship fund does I think they understand.

Yeah, we want that This is something that that I might do a person might say, you know, it's not just for hikers It's not just for someone cross-country skiing.

Although all these things are important

It's for the hundreds of fishermen.

People need a place to go.

Up in this part of the state, okay, number of those boat launches have been paid for with stewardship money.

How do you get your boat in the water if you're going with someone else?

It's like, you gotta have access points.

So this does that.

This fund does that.

And these things aren't necessarily cheap and they're hard to pay for within municipal budgets oftentimes because they tend to be one time hits.

It's a multifaceted, powerful tool that needs to be funded.

And I'm optimistic that there are people working on this.

Trying to negotiate it, something with the governor.

And I'm hopeful that it happens.

Yeah, I think something can be worked out.

I mean, Ducks Unlimited is a hunting group that's a big advocate of the Noles Nelson Stewardship Fund.

The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation has over 200 chapters of hunters and fishermen.

official women in the state uh... so they're and uh... i it is wildly popular the polling data uh... wisconsin citizens uh... regardless of party affiliation the polling data there's overwhelming support uh... for this funded what it does uh... for the quality life of all the citizens of wisconsin

and and and again dot put to find a point on it but i mean some people might say you know will date of graffs is that's just a lefty thing though they don't need a bit of grass

Governor Nelson State Park in the Taddleball Show live on location on this Earth Day here.

Need to get away.

Get out and as the kids say, touch grass.

No better place to do that than a state park or a state recreation area here.

125 year anniversary of Wisconsin State Parks.

We are proud to be here joined at the desk on location by Tia Nelson, daughter of former Wisconsin governor and US Senator Gaylord Nelson for whom this park is named and joining us from our great station WGBW home of Mino and the mayor in the morning and also of

Shwaba and nightlight in the evening.

It's going to be the Rob Cole's show.

Former state senator Rob Cole joins us from WGPW.

What do you think, Senator?

Maybe we, uh, we bring you on and, uh, you know, talk about sailing.

We can do a sailing segment now.

And again, you're a big sailor.

Yeah.

I'm going to try to do more that I'm, now that I'm not in the legislature and,

um, right?

Rob has spent how many years sailing,

sailing dangerous waters.

and survive barely.

Rob, I didn't know that sailing was such a big part of your identity until I emailed you and what your email address has.

I had a Dora County sailor in it or something like that.

I was like, oh, wow, the

things I don't know about the guy.

Well, Tia, come on up and go sailing with me sometime.

Oh, boy.

Yeah,

I'll do it.

Our mutual friend, my former boss, Dale Schultz, has gone

sailing.

He's been home with me several times.

And Senator Coles refers to Dale as a gillingan.

Okay,

okay.

I think I might have to check with Dale before I accept Rob's invitation, see what the safety factor is.

I don't want to be... No, he's the great

sailor.

Well, I want to bring this up because I had not bought my state park sticker yet today and the machine here is the to do it to physical manually is out of order, but they have this great QR code So I scanned it with my phone I bought my sticker this morning on my phone when I came in and I want to read you this when it came up It says a vehicle emission pass is required for entry goes on and on the 12 month state park and forest vehicle emission pass in

is valid for 12 months from time of purchase with unlimited vehicle entry to all properties on quote and it goes from there.

Now it used to be you buy your sticker and it was just good for the season.

Now I get 12

months

and one of the the main author of this is State Senator Rob Coles.

Rob, tell us a little bit about how this legislation came to pass and getting it signed.

I became aware of it, and my staff, Evan Miller and I, we worked this, and I'm right off hand, I can't remember who our assembly author was, but yeah, if you were at a park, you know, mid-year or a month before the end of the year, and you bought the sticker, it was only good for that time to the end of the year.

Well, that's ridiculous.

With computers, so now when you buy it...

you'll get a whole 12 months from that point.

Now that's where computers help us.

So we think that this will generate more money for the parks, where it's just more convenient and fairer for citizens that somebody that's taking a walk in the winter, they're in a park any time of the year.

They should be able to get the whole 12 months when they buy that sticker not wait till January 1.

It's ridiculous.

So anyhow, so this is something that should have been done a long time ago, but it wasn't for whatever reason.

So now it's there and you know, we want people to be treated fairly.

And we think this will generate more money for the parks too,

right?

I just think it's a great, you know, we hear all the politically sexy headlines of how things fall apart and how Republicans and Democrats are going to each other's throats.

I don't think that success stories like this that actually do something for people's daily lives get enough credit because, you know, my

mom was a single

mom.

my my parents got divorced when when I was like 10 11 and one of the few things that my mom could afford doing uh on the weekends that my sister and I is we went here to govern Nelson State Park we went to uh uh a couple other state parks in southwest to cover dodge in southwest wisconsin uh devil's lake at baraboo you buy a park sticker and and and thanks to your legislation senator coles republican

bipartisan bill, Democratic Governor Tony Evers signs it into law, and you're making it easier for whether it's single parents or families or whomever to come here and enjoy this park, all these parks in Wisconsin, and as you said, generate revenue.

That's a success story, and I think it deserves credit, and I thank you for what you did.

Well, no problem.

I was a public servant, and I still plan on being one.

You know, as time goes by, but it's one of those small pieces of legislation.

That will benefit people now there's

Two minutes left while we have senator Cole still here anything you want to touch on because I again I I'd not try to be too much of this but in today's world Knowing how you guys have worked together all these years.

I saw it and took it for granted and now we just never

Rarely I'll say, hear about this thing.

Your friendship with Senator Coles and other Republicans is real and you've actually been able to do things.

Well, we all see ourselves as public servants, proud public servants.

I'm very honored that next week I'm receiving from the Tommy Thompson, our former Republican governor, who, by the way, acquired more public land.

as governor than my father did, which is remarkable.

He's quite proud of it.

And I'm receiving the Tommy Thompson Distinguished Public Leadership Award.

I'm super proud about

that.

Congratulations.

But there's a lot of us who have worked across the aisle to do the right thing.

And certainly Rob is one of those people.

And when the first earth...

they happened the United States Senate adjourned everyone went back to their districts subsequent to that a Republican president Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency

the

Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act were both passed almost unanimously and so we have a long important history of working together on these issues

Rob Cole state senator Rob Cole's we appreciate you being here you're always welcome thanks for everything you do happy Earth Day to you my friend

happy

Thank

you for being with us, Rob.

Thanks so much.

Come

on back.

Tia's going to stay with us.

Be joined by James Edward Mills.

Talk history of our state parks.

Take your phone calls as well on Civic Media.

Thank you.

Live on location, it's the Todd Alba show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Across

Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app,

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm title ball on location here at Governor Nelson State Park on the North shores of Lake Mendoza in beautiful Dane County.

It is Tuesday, April 22.

It is Earth Day.

And it is a great

day to be a Wisconsinite.

Hello, everybody.

It is now six past the hour of one o'clock.

Welcome into our number two of the big program.

Mr. Zommer is our producer and engineer back across the lake actually in downtown Madison at Civic Media World headquarters.

Zommer is I'm not sure if you talked to Brittany Merleau or who at the weather department, but thank goodness the sun has come out here at Governor Nelson State Park.

It is a beautiful day here for Earth Day.

Yeah, I called up Brittany and asked her to, you know, just turn up the dial a little bit and bring out the sun.

And

she did, I think.

Well, it was a great hour in our first hour.

We appreciate Mike Ring, the park manager here at Governor Nelson State Park, Drew Howitch, who is the president of the Friends Group here at Governor Nelson State Park, and also former Republican State Senator Rob Coles and former Democratic State Senator Pat Crightlow, all for being here to celebrate in this

bipartisan fashion, a part of what makes Wisconsin great.

Have another second great hour on tap as well.

We are joined again here at the desk by just someone who's become a friend and I admire her.

She has been a mentor because

I'm just gonna say this from a personal standpoint, Tia Nelson, daughter of former Wisconsin governor and U.S.

Senator Gaylord Nelson, but in your own right, you've been a leader as a secretary overseeing the Land Trust here in the state of Wisconsin.

You've done a number of things, filmed thropically for this state and as a leader.

And Tia Nelson, I appreciate you being here because whether you knew it or not,

there were a lot of us in staffers in the state legislature who looked up to you in your time there and said you know what you could be tough and passionate without being a jerk and you could reach across the aisle and work with people you might not always agree with to achieve something and I think that is a lesson that so many people in politics on both sides of the aisle need to take

Adhere to it and learn from because you achieve so much of your time.

I just want to thank you for being that type of person

That's really sweet of you Todd.

Well, I you know, that's probably One of the best lessons I learned for my father when he served in the state Senate prior to being elected governor he was a minority leader of four four other Democrats that's a body of 33 senators so

and Melvin Layard, who later became Secretary of Defense under President Richard Nixon, was the majority leader and they were close friends and they argued all the time about ideas but they both showed up for work as dedicated public servants and they collaborated in really critical

ways to make Wisconsin a great state for all of the citizens.

And so that's a really big gift that my father gave me.

And God knows that I needed some of those special skills during some of those days in the legislature.

Absolutely true.

Also a pleasure to be joined this hour at the desk here on location at Governor Nelson State Park by James Edward Mills, who is a freelance journalist, also a fellow of the Nelson Institute there.

James, thank you very much for being here.

We appreciate you and welcome to the show.

Thanks a lot for having me.

It is a beautiful day.

Happy Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day to you.

It's marvelous for Davia here.

Tell us a little bit about, I know that you and Tia are going to be on campus tonight at the University of Wisconsin.

Madison for EarthFest.

Tell us a little bit about what brought you two together.

Yes, well Tia and I have been acquainted and have been friends for a long time.

I am a freelance journalist and independent media producer and I have a focus on focusing on issues of out-to-recreation and environmental conservation with the further specialty in community engagement and social impact as it pertains to how we get more people of different

walks of life into the outdoors.

And the film that we're going to be screening and discussing tonight is called Planet Walker.

And it is the story of Dr. John Francis, who in 1971 witnessed a catastrophic oil spill on the San Francisco Bay.

He was so ins—well,

Inspired is perhaps the wrong word.

He was appalled by this assault on the environment so much so that he decided that he was going to no longer ride in automobiles.

And after having done that for a while, he realized that he was also not making much headway in this issue by arguing about it, so he decided to take a vow of silence.

And for almost 17 years,

He did not utter a word or write in an automobile Wow, and as it happens he actually walked from the from San Francisco to Oregon where he got his undergraduate degree in environmental studies then walked from Oregon to the University of Wisconsin Madison here in in Wisconsin to Get his PhD in environmental studies

you know the

only person to ever get a phd from the university wisconsin without ever speaking

exactly and he and he he's not even fluent in american sign language you know so he literally defended his doctoral thesis through pantomime wow and uh... and in the course of that he went on to walk to anapolis maryland where he became

an expert on the management of oil spells for the US Navy.

And then ultimately became a good will ambassador for the United Nations.

And he broke his vow of silence in 2001 on Earth Day.

And his first words were, thanks for being here.

Wow.

Amazing.

Yeah, and so John and I have actually been good friends for a little while now.

Key and I became acquainted.

He actually gave one of the very first ever TED Talks.

Oh, really?

Yes.

That's fascinating.

In fact, he was in the very first round of TED Fellows when they

Decided that having people talk about their life experiences would be a Great way to engage audiences and his story in particular was very compelling for not having spoken for so long Yeah, but I think perhaps more than anything else his story is really profound in that he has been able to Impact the environmental movement by encouraging people to listen to one another if you take the time to spend time with John he will

embarrass you by how carefully he listens to what you have to say and not having spoken for so long is really good training for that and I think that his primary message when he engages with audiences all over the country and around the world that it's really important that we listen to one another and we share our love and passion for the environment by listening to what other people want and need from that environment and it's by

hoping that we will ultimately treat each other a little bit better through kindness, that we can ultimately make the world a better place for everyone.

And don't need more of that in today's world.

So the film is tonight on campus, seven o'clock, is that

what it is?

Yeah, it's seven o'clock.

And people are

still able to come and enjoy that if they

want the Madison area.

It's registration is free.

Just go to

i believe it is uh... nelson's city i'm not even sure what what it looks like

that you know yeah i

think that if you go over there and i heard that the rest of

wisconsin earthfest uh... it'll be there at seven o'clock tonight uh... that the film was about thirty minutes and then james and i are going to be in conversation uh... with john frances after the film uh... to talk to him a little bit about his experience he's an amazing guy

It's an amazing story, and his message of kindness and listening, I think, is more important than ever today.

Yeah.

And certainly, as we're speaking with James Edward Mills, a freelance journalist and a fellow of the Nelson Institute, and Tia Nelson, daughter of former Wisconsin governor and U.S.

Senator Gaylord Nelson here on Earth Day.

Tia, about four minutes left here before I have to go to break, but I know you talked a little bit about this last year, but people that might not have joined us then.

We hear a lot about Earth Day in the news on this day and leading up to it.

But tell us how this started with your dad and just his inception of this.

And I just think it's fascinating, again, how one person could have an idea.

And here we are 50 years later still celebrating.

Yeah, that is, for me, the most resonant, the coolest sort of gift of reflecting on the Earth Day history is the idea that individual action matters, that you don't always know the outcome of your actions.

In my father's case, he grew up in a small town in northern Wisconsin, Polk County, the town of Clear Lake, and nature was his playground.

deeply influenced his values and who he grew up to be and so when he was governor he launched the program that preceded the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund which we were talking about in the first hour of your program and it was wildly successful

And he made them very popular and he was subsequently elected to the United States Senate, went to Washington DC and found that not many people seemed to care.

And he tried a variety of methods to persuade people to care more about the environment, clean air, clean water, land conservation, what the future relationship of the human species with the rest of the earth would look like to be more sustainable.

And it just fell

from his perspective, it very much fell on deaf ears.

So he flew out to an oil spill to inspect what was the largest oil spill in American history at the time off the coast of Santa Barbara, and he was reading a magazine on the airplane and the way back from that.

It was talking about how teachings on college campuses changed the narrative about the morality of the Vietnam War.

And he had an aha moment, which was I'm going to call for a teach-in on the environment.

He gave a speech in the fall of 1969.

asking teachers to set aside a day to teach on the environment.

Such a simple idea, think of that.

You know, it's just set aside a day and talk about, this is I think really the genius of Earth Day, you might say.

He didn't prescribe what issues people should be talking about.

He invited people in their communities to talk about, do, act, engage in whatever manner felt meaningful.

to them.

And as I mentioned in the first part of your show, it was successful beyond its wildest dreams.

This concept of Teach-In became Earth Day.

Earth Day became a recurring event.

Today is the 55th anniversary, which would be really

a surprise and delight to my father.

Well, I always remember that, you know, because I have to be 55, so... Oh, yeah.

It's just my age, so that's an easy one to remember, although I don't like to always remember my age.

But Earth Day is fantastic.

We're going to come back, talk more with Tia and James, also at the 125th anniversary of our national park system and the history there.

Don't go to where we are live on location.

And Governor Nelson State Park is the Tallulah Ball Show for Tuesday Earth Day on the New Civic Media.

Ready to

work.

I see trees of green Red roses too I see them bloom For me and you And I think to myself What a wonderful world

Welcome back to the Tunnel Ball show on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Satchamo, Louis Armstrong there.

What a wonderful world.

It is a wonderful world, a wonderful day.

Earth Day 2025, the 55th anniversary thereof.

We are live on location at Governor Nelson State Park on the north shores of Lake Mendota here in beautiful Dane County in north side of Madison.

So glad to have you along.

Hopefully you're having a wonderful Tuesday as well.

Here at the desk with us is Tia Nelson, daughter of

former Wisconsin governor and U.S.

Senator Gaylord Nelson, who founded Earth Day and for whom this state park is named.

Also at the desk here on location, James Edward Mills, who is a freelance journalist and fellow of Nelson Institute.

And guys, I have to share a shout out to my colleague and friend, like Jane McNair of McNair on Air, because last year we were out here

And I made the full paw because I just, it was quick and easy.

I had a plastic water bottle with me.

And Jane said, how can you have a plastic water bottle on?

I said, I know, I know.

So she, in her kindness and her pity bought me this wonderful Yeti reusable.

And so now we've traveled all over the state together.

And so, and so thank you, Jane.

I'm, I'm earth day proper this year.

Thanks to you with my reusable Yeti.

We were all, we all have a proper, you know, but.

I think, Tia, that again, you said at last segment that your dad, when he started this 55 years ago, just had this idea, hey, take one day and talk to the kids in your classrooms about Earth Day, but it's just snowballed into this awareness.

And I'm not sure if I talked about this last year or not.

I've had the honor and pleasure of visiting El Salvador to become kind of my second home from a college buddy that I've been there 39 times over 25 plus years.

And what's interesting about it is there's a great beach called Costa del Sol.

And it's on the Pacific Ocean.

I love going there.

I loved it because it was underdeveloped, undeveloped when I first started going.

It's been more construction.

But anyway,

Walking along that beach in those years in the 90s when I was there, you saw a little bit of trash, but not a lot.

The last time I was there in 2019, the amount of plastic straws and bottles and all the crap washing up onto the shores was just sad.

And it makes you, it makes a person like me think from Southwest Wisconsin, wow, a guy that grew up in rural Wisconsin.

ends up living a dream, in my opinion, realizing his dreams of being a U.S.

senator and then a governor and had an idea, and he is bringing awareness and making people do each of our little parts in reusable containers.

Anything, well, what does that do?

Well, everything together, Tia, adds up to a bigger thing.

Reducing single-use plastic is a good entry point for individual action for all of us, and even those plastic containers, probably the water bottle you had last year, congratulations on switching to

a

reusable

bottle.

I'm proud that all three of us bought our own reusable bottles here.

Even very little of that

is actually being recycled, even if you're putting it in the proper recycling container.

There's so many other individual actions, you know, and it's easy to wonder whether they make a difference.

would put forward the philosophy that it makes a difference for two reasons.

One, cumulatively, it does have an impact on the environment, the amount of pollution you're seeing on the beach in El Salvador.

But it's important that we get up in the morning and that we live our values.

And it's a part of how I, you know, guide my life day to day.

My big challenge, I

pretty good at avoiding single-use plastic.

My big challenge, and it's an interesting one, and it's one that has the potential to save people a lot of money, is reducing food waste.

If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world after the United States and China.

So, and I liked garden and I compost my food scraps, but there's something all of us can do to tread more lightly on this earth and it matters.

When I get to the phones, we have Dick standing by in Madison listening on WMDX 855-752-4842.

If you'd like to join us with a question on Earth Day or a remembrance of Governor Nelson or of Earth Day, 855-752-4842.

You can also text us on the Civic Media app.

Dick in Madison, Dick, thanks for calling in.

What do you have to say, Dick?

I had a pleasure of meeting your father at his book signing at Borders Books.

And my daughter was in fifth grade at the time, got the book for her.

And it was an interesting night because my old neighbor happened to be in line.

And it turned out that his father had went to school with your dad.

Oh, nice.

That whole day.

And I'm like, wow, this is just too strange.

Art and I were both.

And he also knew the origins of my daughter's name is Mora.

And he knew more about it than I did.

Yeah, that sounds like that.

Yep.

Thanks, Dick, I appreciate it.

I appreciate you calling in and sharing that.

You know, that has to be cool for you.

There are stories like this all over Wisconsin, people who knew your dad in one capacity or another, but again, the generational impact that he made.

Yes, you know, it's quite, I feel quite fortunate.

I feel very blessed actually.

You know, he was a really good guy.

He wasn't just a dedicated public servant and a strong leader and someone who accomplished a lot in the public world that's recognized.

He was hysterically funny.

And so kind.

humble so I'm really lucky and you know to this day people stop me and tell me some you know fond story or memory either they had or maybe they heard it from their grandfather.

I still get stuff in the mail.

Someone's cleaning out their parents' house after their parents have passed away and they find pictures that the parents have saved or letters or correspondence with my daddy.

He was quite a letter writer and they sent him to me.

It's very, very touching.

I'm enormously

grateful.

a wonderful man, a wonderful public servant, former governor and U.S.

Senator Gaylord Nelson.

Coming up on a break here, give me a little tease.

When we come back, James is going to give us a history lesson and something that I did not know a lot about.

And I think this is an untold story, the history of black Americans and how they helped literally build the U.S.

National Park System.

Talk about that.

Take your phone calls as well.

855-752-4842 and your texts on the civic media

app.

We are live on location of Governor Nelson State Park on this Earth Day 2025 across the civic media radio network.

Pursuing truth wherever if they lead and having fun doing it welcome back the title of all show on the Civic Media Running Network We are on location for this Earth Day 2025 the 55th anniversary of Earth Day We are in Governor Nelson State Park where it's turned out to be an absolutely picture perfect day

Clouds are party.

The sun is here.

Lake Mendota lapping up against the shores.

There are no swimmers yet, but the the beach is almost ready to go.

We are live here on location with Tia Nelson.

She is the daughter of former Wisconsin governor and U. S. Senator Gaylord Nelson for whom this park is named and also join us at the desk on location.

James Edward Mills, a freelance journalist and also a fellow of the Nelson Institute.

They will be appearing on the University.

on some Madison campus tonight at seven o'clock.

You can find out more at earthfest.wisc.edu.

That's earth.

fest.wisc.edu.

Thank you, Mr. Summers for finding that and putting it up on the stream yard there for people watching this on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twix, X, whatever you want to call it.

And also, we'll have that on the on the show notes as well.

And what join us call in give us a call would love to hear your Earth Day thought remembrances of either Governor Nelson or of Earth Day

proper 855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

And you can also text us on the Civic Media app.

If you don't have it, it's easy enough.

Go to your app store on your Apple or Android device.

Type in Civic CIVIC Media.

It'll pop up.

Click on that.

It'll take less than a minute to download.

It is free.

As we say, it's what CBS's Gale King calls.

A deal the civic media app download it today.

Well, she doesn't say that she says that about the the CBS morning app So I assume she'd say about ours as well.

That's why that's why I say that Um guys, I appreciate you both so much being here.

Tia You joined us from Seattle last year.

It's so cool to have you here in person I know it means a lot to you this park, but it really means a lot to me because earlier I said

As a kid that grew up with a single mom most of my life and my sister, we spent time here as kids because it was something that my mom could do for the price of gas to get us here from Richland Center.

But the park sticker, I forget what it was in the 90s.

But still, it's 28 bucks for the year now.

Right?

And again, your father's legacy and this park system, it is something that is accessible.

It doesn't, I shouldn't say it doesn't matter, but it's open to almost every one of all social, economic, racial classes in Wisconsin.

It's for all of us in Wisconsin.

Well, having access to the outdoors is part of who we are.

And as Wisconsinites, over 90% of the citizens of this state live within one mile of a stewardship-acquired property.

This particular park is one of the few urban parks in the state park system.

Here we are.

We can see the capital across Lake Mendota from here.

And it's a regular destination for me and a beautiful example of prairie restoration.

There's an old oak prairie ecosystem, one of my favorites.

And it's right in the back door of the cities, given all kinds of opportunities, whether it's the trails or the boat launch or the beach we're sitting here by.

for the picnic tables we're sitting at.

So there, you know, there's something for, for everybody.

It's, and I'm really proud of

it.

And he should be.

James, I want to talk a little bit about your expertise here, which is our national park system coming up at 125 years next year.

We're 124, but I'm always a little bit ahead.

It seems like, except when I show up for places, I'm late, but on history, am I trying to be ahead?

So I, and I'm a huge, I love the Ken Burns series on our national parks, you know, as a former.

Republican, one of the former Republican presidents I'm proud of is Teddy Roosevelt, who helped to establish and grow the state or the national park system rather.

But tell us a little bit about the park's anniversary coming up at large, 125 years.

But then this is a unique story to me.

The folks that built the park system, there's a whole story here of black Americans who are integral in making sure that we have the system we have today.

Sure.

So I started my career now to recreation, primarily as a sales representative.

And very early on, I realized that there was very few people that looked like me.

There weren't very many African-Americans, people of color, who were engaged and involved in this.

And when I became a journalist, in 2009, I had the honor of actually interviewing Ken Burns in advance.

Did you

really?

Wow.

written several stories on prior to this conversation about the role of people of color in the preservation of public land and i asked him you know point blank you know how are you gonna tell the story of people of color in the role that we played in in creating these amazing places and in this interview he tells me the story of uh... four hundred african-american men uh... members of the u s cavalry called the buffalo soldiers that were uh...

stationed in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks in 1903.

Now, I grew up in California.

I was a rock climbing instructor and a wilderness guide in the Sierras.

I'd been to Yosemite many times.

In fact, my parents, honeymoon in Yosemite.

And I'm hearing this story for the very first time.

Now, here I am in my late 40s.

And I'm thinking that if I hadn't heard this story before, that means that probably millions of people have never heard this story either.

And so I started...

Doing a lot more digging into the history of our national parks and when you take a look at the the long arc You know how it is that we you know got to where we are right now You know shortly after this the American Civil War during the Reconstruction era you had the first seven

African-American members of the U.S.

House of Representatives.

Seven black men, primarily from the south, were part of the U.S.

Congress between 1870 and 1871, and it was during this Congress that the Yellowstone Act was created that dedicated land for the, quote, for the enjoyment and benefit of the people.

And seven black men had the opportunity to vote on that.

And from that, through the expansion of the West, African-Americans were engaged in protecting and patrolling the newly designated park at Yellowstone from Fort Missoula, Montana.

And it was at this time that...

We have the first designation of public land as a federal institution.

Shortly after that, Yosemite becomes a national park.

If you go on through the annals of history, you can take a look at the fact that W. E. B. Du Bois in 1920 visited Grand Canyon.

in a trip that was sponsored by the NAACP.

And he said that, why do not those who are hurt by the world's hardship and made to suffer in the world's wars and battles come to these places and drown themselves in the utter joy of life?

And we have this very beginning of the conversation around how we can

start protecting and preserving our national parks and in the 18 I'm sorry the 1930s during the depression during the time of the Civilian Conservation Corps a unit called Unit 818 so the Civilian Conservation Corps was an integrated but primarily African-American unit that built many of the trails leading down into Kaibab and the

uh... bright angel trail as well as the areas around phantom ranch you know in so when we stop and think about how it is that we have so much public land people of color were actually gauging involved in much of the uh... earliest development but sadly it was you during the administration of

Woodrow Wilson, where we have the first Southern Democrat elected to the U.S.

presidency since Lincoln.

And he brought in much of the Jim Crow segregation in the South into the federal government.

And he succeeded in segregating the U.S.

Army shortly after the onset of World War I, segregated the U.S.

Postal Service, and the newly designated National Park Service in 1916.

Wow.

So the same men who had protected and patrolled Yosemite in 1903 went on to serve with the Harlem Hellfighters in World War I, couldn't come back to civilian life to become national park rangers.

And that would be true until 1953.

Shortly after, well not shortly actually, a little bit after the end of World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt with Mary McLeod Bethune and the Black

the Black Council under FDR, and then Harry Truman desegregated our national parks, and it wasn't until 1963 that you had the active recruitment of national park rangers who are people of color, a man by the name of Bob Stanton, 83 years old today, but he was the very first national park ranger recruited to patrol the park at Grand Teton National Park, not far from Yellowstone.

And he went on to become the very first superintendent of a national park since the great Captain Charles Young was the superintendent of Sequoia National Park in 1903.

And then finally, in 1979, under the auspices of Bill Clinton, he became the first black director of the National Park Service.

And so we have this.

Wonderful story of exploration and conservation, but also adventure.

Shortly after the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1963, Ebony Magazine profiled a climber by the name of Charles Madison Crenshaw.

in seven days after the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, became the first black American to summit Denali National Park in Alaska.

And it was then called Mount McKinley and then it was named Denali under the aegis of...

of Barack Obama in 2016.

So we have a really long heritage that continues to this day.

And I'm really happy to be able to share these stories with folks here in Wisconsin.

I teach a class on much of what I shared with you at the Nelson Institute called Outdoors for All, where we have a lengthy conversation about the long historic narrative of the roles that so many people have played in

Natural resources that are frankly all of ours to enjoy.

We are speaking right now with James Edward Mills and a journalist freelance journalist and fellow at the Nelson Institute and Tia Nelson daughter of former Wisconsin governor and us senator Gaylord Nelson here on Earth Day.

We were at governor Nelson State Park James I'm just mesmerized listening to that history and the fact you just have it all in your head any history like that I just I'm envious of but again and not to get too deep into current day politics, but

I don't know that in my lifetime those stories need to be told more than now.

than now because we're seeing, you know, the current administration wiping away history, particularly history of people of color in this country.

And these stories need to be told over and over and over again to current generations because I just think we're richer for it.

We realize that, you know, I don't want to quote Joe Biden too much, but I mean, we do.

We have come up short in American history, right?

We have left people behind, but you realize that this country may be more than any other.

The melting pot and the rich history, we are

better because of our differences.

Absolutely.

And it's really fascinating to me because much of the history that I just shared with you, I only learned a couple of years ago.

I didn't grow up with this.

I certainly wasn't taught it in school.

I don't read it in books.

That's not part of our popular culture.

But the evidence is all around us that we take the time to look.

When we stop and think about, for example, the Lewis and Clark expedition included a enslaved man by the name of York.

who as a person of color was able to make direct relationships with native people.

And there are many people who suggest that had it not been for him, these white guys from Virginia never would have made it out of Iowa.

I believe

that.

And so it is that part of the narrative.

when the expedition was over, York was remanded back into slavery and was not given his just due.

And it's really not until later in history that we have the opportunity to acknowledge the contributions that someone like him made.

And it just so happens that, and I looked this up very recently, under the Clinton administration again, York was actually posthumously given the rank of sergeant.

as a military expedition, he was the one person who wasn't active military at the time, though he had many of the same responsibilities.

Ironically, the same thing was actually issued to Harriet Tubman.

Just last year, the Maryland National Guard posthumously gave her the rank of one star general.

We're having been the very first woman to execute a military operation in a time of war.

She led the Cumbie River Raid in South Carolina where she personally liberated 700 enslaved people.

Fascinating.

We'll come back, talk more about this with James Edward Mills and Tia Nelson.

Your phone calls, stay with us.

We see you on the lines.

We'll get to those after this.

It's the all ball show on Location Earth Day from Governor Nelson State Park.

You're listening to Cross The Civic Media.

ready to

work.

Welcome back to the Taliban show on the Civic Media already network

Glad to have you along with us here live on location from Governor Nelson State Park at about nine minutes before the hour of two o'clock.

We are here for Earth Day coming up to the top of the hour.

CBS or ABC News, depending upon which of our great stations across the state you're listening to a weather update.

I'll give you the weather update.

It's nice here, at least here in the in the shores of Lake Mendoza.

The sun is out.

It's turning into a beautiful day.

And then our great sports reporter, Mike Clemens, talking about the draft, of course, which is under

this week on Thursday and Friday we'll have reports from Mike and

Other folks as well on the draft and then the Maggie Dawn show every afternoon or at least for today from two until four and later on Pete Schwabba and Nightlight from six until eight I say that about Maggie's show because tomorrow folks if you haven't heard the big switches underway Maggie will move from her current slot till four until six and Zomers and I Zomers and we got things packed and we got two men in a truck and we ready to go we're moving from

our current time slot.

Two hours later, we will follow Tom Hartman every afternoon and be with you starting tomorrow at two o'clock from two until four.

Zomers, have we got the alarm set in the studio?

Wait, we're moving?

No, I'm kidding.

No,

yeah.

So it's going to be a quite low six until eight in the morning, packed quite low mornings.

Then Jane Mattener and Greg Mattener on air from nine until 11.

It's going to be Hartman, Tom Hartman, 11 until two, us two to four, and then Maggie Dawn four until six, followed by Pete Schwabba six until eight.

That's the new lineup that kicks off tomorrow.

Excited about that.

Excited to have our guests here at Governor Nelson State Park.

I'm Howard Mills, journalist, freelance journalist and fellow at the Nelson Institute and Tia Nelson, daughter of the esteemed former Wisconsin governor and U.S.

Senator Gaylord Nelson.

I want to go right to the phone lines, 855-752-4842.

Matt in Middleton, listening on WMDX.

Matt, you've been patient.

We appreciate it.