Watershed Moments Archives » Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance

Watershed Moments: Keeping the River Moving Forward

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:00:51 +0000

For Luke Vandenberg, caring about water didn't begin with a dramatic moment on a riverbank or a lesson in a classroom. It started with growing up on the Fox River. "As a child, we played along the riverbanks with my buddies and fished and recreated," he said. "I got into kayaking and boating during [...]

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Watershed Moments: Turning Research Into a Regional Movement

Jim Wickersham — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 20:50:40 +0000

This article is Part 2 of a four-part series exploring the history and evolution of the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance. By 1994, the organization that began as a research initiative had entered a new phase. With much of the foundational study work complete, the focus shifted from defining problems to implementing solutions. Reflecting this transition, [...]

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Watershed Moments: The River Remembers What We Leave Behind

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance — Fri, 22 May 2026 18:16:26 +0000

A story from the 2026 Fox-Wolf Watershed Cleanup Every spring, the Fox-Wolf Watershed comes back into focus. Not because the creeks, streams, and rivers reawaken for the year, but because the people who depend on them show up to prove they still care. This year, more than 1,800 volunteers turned out across 80 sites [...]

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Watershed Moments: Fox-Wolf Before It Was Official

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:27:53 +0000

This year marks 35 years since the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance was incorporated in 1991. But the organization’s story begins two years earlier, in 1989, when Jack Day and a group of community leaders began meeting to address growing concerns about the Fox and Wolf rivers, Lake Winnebago, and the Bay of Green Bay. The [...]

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Watershed Moments: What He Couldn’t Paddle Past

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 22:05:03 +0000

Randall Volmer doesn’t just spend time near water. He studies it. Since retiring in 2020, he’s been out most days with a camera, watching how light shifts and deciding when to wait and when to click. “I think it’s therapeutic for me,” he said. “It sort of just sort of calms me and relaxes [...]

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Watershed Moments: From Farm Field to Future Habitat

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:25:52 +0000

Scott and Shelly Christie didn’t set out to restore a field. When they bought their place in Waushara County in 2010, the plan was practical. The farmhouse could hold office space for Shelly’s landscaping business. The open ground could store equipment. And like a lot of rural properties, part of the acreage could be [...]

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Watershed Moments: Chasing frogs, Choosing water

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:11:55 +0000

Rachel grew up chasing frogs in the low, wet corner of her family’s farm in Waupaca County. Her family called it “the swamp.” To Rachel, it was a place for tadpoles, muddy boots, and watching water that felt alive. Her farm sits in the Fox-Wolf watershed, where rain and snowmelt eventually flow into the [...]

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Watershed Moments: Waders, footballs, and a stream worth keeping

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 18:00:39 +0000

Some mornings, the small stream her class monitored sounded less like a science lab and more like a playground. Teenagers in chest waders shuffled into the water, trying not to splash each other. A football arced over a shallow stretch near the far bank. Someone shouted they had seen a frog, hands spread wide [...]

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When Water Became the Work

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 17:10:35 +0000

After nearly five decades in public service, Chuck Farrey has seen the full range of county work. Town board nights. County board debates. Budget cycles that come and go. “You start out naive,” he said. “But you meet a lot of good people.” For most of those years, water quality was just one concern [...]

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Pauline’s Butterfly Effect, with Beetles

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 20:47:52 +0000

Pauline McCleary has been caring for water her whole life, long before she was raising beetles in the kiddie pools in her backyard. Raised on a farm with a spring-fed well, she learned early that water wasn’t just something that came from a tap. “If it goes in the lake, you’ll drink it later,” [...]

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