By ERIC ZINGLER | Kendall
In years past, some miners would carry a caged canary into their mine. If the canary looked sick or died, it meant dangerous gases and to get out fast! Unless we have a breakthrough that keeps gravel trucks from crossing the Elroy-Sparta Trail and electronic gates from stopping riders, the canary has died, and the Wilton Township Board should pull the quarry plug fast.
Many reasons have been given to justify not allowing electronic gates or anything else related to the quarry controversy to block ridership on the Elroy-Sparta Trail. One more is that blocking trail ridership opens a political Pandora’s box, dragging our trail in a statewide controversy. We don’t need that. Here’s a peak in that box.
If you are a vacationer using your smartphone or tablet to search for information about the trail, you probably will pick up the Wisconsin DNR website, which has lots of information about the trail and its condition. If you browse DNR topics, you might be shocked to find an interactive map listing 229 frac mine areas and facilities, with most in the regional neighborhood of the trail: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/ISMMap.html. You will also probably find contrasting sites promoting tourism in our area supported in part by our tax dollars through tourism grants: driftless.com promoting the Kickapoo region and surrounding area, driftlessdestinations.com courting motorcycle tours, and discoverwisconsin.com and http://www.driftlessnotes.com/ promoting regional businesses and attractions. Additionally, there is even www.glaciallakewisconsin.org promoting eco-tourism in the Necedah area. What a mixed message between sand mining and tourism! From the tourists’ perspective, what is the vision for this area? What is the state promoting? More importantly, what do people say about the Elroy-Sparta Trail?
We don’t want them to read, “Blocked by gravel trucks”! That totally undermines the message these tourism sites are trying to sell.
Mining in Wisconsin is nothing new. Native Americans mined copper thousands of years ago. But let’s get our message straight. A mixed message of pastoral beauty and gravel trucks blocking riders diminishes our tax-dollar impact for tourism, associates us with controversy and escalates the Wilton quarry issue to a legislative and land-use level, requiring a response from state leaders if local leaders can’t produce a win-win solution.
Oct. 21 is coming up fast, and the canary doesn’t look so good.
