Driftless Rivers National Park, could it happen? (Madison, Stevens Point: buy, DMV)

[JoshB]

CD Members,
I remember reading in the Wisconsin State Journal about a inmate at Mendota Mental Hospital is Madison. I remember reading the article with awe. I was amazed that this guy had such a great idea. He is a 1977 U.W Stevens Point graduate, his name, Bryan J. Stanley. He spent six years writing and researching the book. It contains 280 pages.

You can read the full article @
WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL (http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/205874 - broken link)

I'm just amazed. I haven't read his book yet. I plan on purchasing it.

Here is the link to the book, and tons of info on the driftless area in Wisconsin.
Driftless Rivers National Park

So my question is, what do you think about turning Crawford County into a National Park? I personally think it would complete Wisconsin. I think that the area that Mr. Stanley writes about could use this much needed publicity. That and Wisconsin currently has no National Parks. Wouldn't it be cool to travel to a park that is in our own state? Maybe the DMV could make license plates directed towards the park? So many economic ideas.

What do you think? Also if anyone has read this book please let me know.

A fact, That the Driftless Rivers National Park could generate $316.46 million dollars in direct/indirect spending annually and create up to 5000 jobs in the end.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by JoshB

CD Members,
I remember reading in the Wisconsin State Journal about a inmate at Mendota Mental Hospital is Madison. I remember reading the article with awe. I was amazed that this guy had such a great idea. He is a 1977 U.W Stevens Point graduate, his name, Bryan J. Stanley. He spent six years writing and researching the book. It contains 280 pages.

You can read the full article @
WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL (http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/205874 - broken link)

I'm just amazed. I haven't read his book yet. I plan on purchasing it.

Here is the link to the book, and tons of info on the driftless area in Wisconsin.
Driftless Rivers National Park

So my question is, what do you think about turning Crawford County into a National Park? I personally think it would complete Wisconsin. I think that the area that Mr. Stanley writes about could use this much needed publicity. That and Wisconsin currently has no National Parks. Wouldn't it be cool to travel to a park that is in our own state? Maybe the DMV could make license plates directed towards the park? So many economic ideas.

What do you think? Also if anyone has read this book please let me know.

A fact, That the Driftless Rivers National Park could generate $316.46 million dollars in direct/indirect spending annually and create up to 5000 jobs in the end.

It sounds interesting. That area of SW Wisconsin could use a little economic boost, and the surrounding scenery in the bluff country is quite amazing. A Midwest state with a National Park, eh?

[Drover]

Well there are national forests in Wisconsin, and I'm not sure how that's terribly different from a national park.

I should think the 16,000 residents of Crawford County should have some input about whether their entire county gets turned into a national park...

[JoshB]

Drover, here's the thing. Crawford county is the second poorest county in Wisconsin. There is so many benefits to the people who live there. They can sell there land and see it turn into a place where families can make memories, and people can become more educated on Wisconsin's history. Crawford county doesn't boast much for a population either. I know that someone on the county board there said the county should consider this.

Just Imagine.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by JoshB

Drover, here's the thing. Crawford county is the second poorest county in Wisconsin. There is so many benefits to the people who live there. They can sell there land and see it turn into a place where families can make memories, and people can become more educated on Wisconsin's history. Crawford county doesn't boast much for a population either. I know that someone on the county board there said the county should consider this.

Just Imagine.

Personal property rights issues will obviously be an issue. I would not want to be forced to sell my land if I lived there either. Also, one would have to use GIS Data Sets to map out the most rural areas of the county that have the absolute lowest population density. The larger towns would likely stand to benefit, such as Prairie du Chien.
True, Wisconsin does have some great National Forest areas, but many of those were developed after large tracts of forestland were cut in the early part of the 20th century.
Vernon County has similar economic issues compared with Crawford County, but the demographics indicate a much higher percentage of the population in Vernon under age 18 compared with Crawford County. Both areas have out-migration of younger people, but Vernon County is ganing population.

[escapetacoma]

Originally Posted by Drover

Well there are national forests in Wisconsin, and I'm not sure how that's terribly different from a national park.

It's a HUGE difference.

The amount of regulation in national forests is minimal to non-existent, in national parks it's a major thing. In some ways it's as though national parks are removed from the state - they're a jurisdiction all their own under direct control of the Department of the Interior. National forests are for the most part, at least back west, treated as federally subsidized timber farms for private interests, national parks are strictly off limits. You can travel through national forests without even really noticing it, national parks almost always have fees for entering. In Washington, state highway 410 runs through a corner of Mt Rainier national park and, while you don't need to pay a fee to use that portion, the park service has severely limited what can be transported on the state highway.

All of this may sound like I'm against national parks - nothing could be further from the truth. I feel that there are places that deserve the sorts of protections that you can only reliably get by this sort of designation - barring another James Watt I've never been to the area being discussed so I don't know if it really deserves that sort of protection (FWIW, I think the North Cascades park in Washington is a bit of political sillyness but Mt Rainier is a national treasure and needed to be preserved.)

Having lived most of my life in either Washington (three national parks) or Montana (two) I've had the chance to spend a lot of time in them. They can be amazing refuges from homanities blights on the world, though they aren't all as pristine as Olympic National Park or as spectacular as Mt Rainier and Yellowstone.

[Steve-o]

Id love to see a National Park erected up there. Not only would it help create more jobs, but it would save some land from development.

[60-minutes-II]

Also can someone provide some pictures?

[JoshB]

Originally Posted by 60-minutes-II

Also can someone provide some pictures?

If you want pictures then you should check out Driftless Rivers National Park there is pictures on the main page.

[hckplyers]

I believe the state would be a better choice for being the caretaker.
National Parks are becoming less user friendly all the time. Camping areas are getting cut backs and not kept up.
Get on some camping forums and read up on the National Park System.
If there was so much money to be made don't you think the governments would have jumped on the band wagon.
Eventually a developer will buy up a bunch of land and build a planned community.Sad but true. Lets just hope that the state has some good land use laws to control and get the developers to use the land wisely.
Lets not build right on the water to maintain that natural look and avoid flooding fiascos that we the tax payers have to help bail out.
Plenty of boat landings for public use and parks.
No high rise anything. Blending of the hardscapes and landscapes.
It is truly a beautiful area, quiet, peaceful, remote. The remote thing is the killer. As much as we all want the first three things we also want to be closer to the things we have become accustomed to. It will be some time before anything happens, but those of you that live there, guard it carefully.