(upbeat music)
- Hello and welcome to In Wisconsin.
I'm Patti Lo.
Each week, we bring you stories about the people
and issues in our state.
This week, the mysterious power of therapeutic
horseback riding and the amazing relief it brings
to a woman with Huntington's disease.
Meet this family, one of hundreds seeking
refuge for more, who have all found that refuge
when a Wisconsin community opened its arms.
And follow the trail of some of the best bird watching
in the states.
We'll have all that plus a walk through one
of our Wooded State Natural areas in Wisconsin.
- Major funding for In Wisconsin is provided
by the people of a lion's energy,
who bring safe, reliable, and environmentally friendly energy
to keep homes, neighborhoods, and life in Wisconsin
running smoothly.
A lion's energy, offering energy-saving ideas on the web.
- We begin this week by taking a look
at a brand new state treasure.
It's a trail, statewide in scope, stunningly beautiful,
and a moneymaker, a big moneymaker.
Producer Joanne Garrett introduces us
to the great Wisconsin birding and nature trail.
- It's here.
All the plans are now in motion.
The word is out.
About a wonderful trail that's blazed its way into Wisconsin.
A trail based on feathers.
And flight.
A trail that offers some of the best wildlife watching
in the world.
The name of our wildlife trail is the great Wisconsin
birding and nature trail.
Susan foot Martin of the DNR is the coordinator of the trail
and the project's creative push.
She's a perfect fit, equal parts bird fan and marketing
and the way it is.
That's right, marketing.
- I think that one of the things that we really want to do
through this project is to show the value of the natural world
that surrounds us and that we often take for granted.
- There's money on the wing.
Birdwatching is big business.
- Birds are estimated to spend anywhere from
100 to $140 per day, per person.
- Mark Dahlberg is the village president of
Grantsburg in Bernette County.
- Which is less than 10 miles away from a mecca of migration.
Cracks matters state wildlife area.
30,000 acres filled with birds that in turn
attracts over 100,000 birders every year.
- People like to come and watch birds and they will spend money.
They'll spend money on souvenirs.
They'll spend money on hotels, food, gasoline,
convenience stores and maybe even have a glass of wine.
- The birds bring them in and 100,000 visitors at $100 a day.
Well, it adds up.
- You can hurt that in the king room or to
clean the whole thing.
- Which is why Lisa Habey who manages the best
Western hotel in Siren, which is about 12 miles from
Cracks as the crow flies, was there in force.
- For the grand opening of phase one of the trail at
Cracks Meadows headquarters in spring of 2004, there
was a ribbon cutting.
- It's done.
[applause]
- And an unexpected and well received flyover.
[applause]
- The bird's eye, the northern loop of the bird trail, is done.
- 83 different sites in the 18 northernmost counties.
Selected by input from local communities, they call the best
in birding and nature sites.
These 83 sites of the trail can be found on the DNR
website or printed maps.
If you build it, they will come.
- That is the fervent wish of the local
supporters of the trail.
People likely say Habey.
- We thrive on tourism up here.
- And people will travel to see their birds.
Just how far they'll travel was brought home to
Habey when a rare owl was spotted in Burnett County.
- And people are flying in from Virginia in New
York and, you know, Texas, just to see this owl so they
can check it off their list.
You know, and that's when I really thought, gosh,
you know, these people are really excited about,
you know, seeing their birds.
So obviously we should be excited and welcoming them with
open arms because, you know, it's only gonna help us.
So I think the sky's really the limit.
- The sky's the limit.
Because Wisconsin is so limitless in different
terrains, 15,000 lakes, 30,000 miles of rivers and
streams, including the Mississippi flyway, used
by so many migrating birds.
- Wisconsin has more than 400 birds that use the
state as their home for various parts of their lives.
- Wisconsin is well placed to take advantage
of a trend nationwide.
The number of birders is soaring.
- While I'm viewing across the nation is a growing phenomena,
and in Wisconsin we are actually considered the
third largest destination state for wildlife viewing.
The first place state is Virginia, followed by Minnesota,
and Wisconsin and Alaska are tied for third
place in destinations for wildlife viewings.
You know, why do people travel to Alaska?
It's not to golf.
They go there for one reason and that's to see the wildlife.
And so, you know, we're tied with them.
So that says a lot about us.
Foot Martin sees a huge future for marketing
Wisconsin's wildlife.
- There is a business in nature and that there is an
economic component which has really been kind of ignored.
If you want to get a sense of what bird-based
business has already accomplished in the state.
Check out Eagle Days in Sock Prairie, a weekend
event held every January.
Eagle's congregate, mass here, every winter because of the
open water below the dam.
The Eagles come, the birders come, of all
sizes and abilities.
- Can you see him?
- No.
- All right, when you look through here,
he's pretty much the right center where
you're going to look.
You'll see just, it looks like just a little
white bump out there.
- I don't see it.
- See if you move it or not.
Well, that would explain it.
No, he flew away.
The birds bring him in.
Leslie McFarland of the Sock Prairie Chamber of Commerce.
We're expecting 10,000 bull days.
- All these people equal money.
In 1993, Sock Prairie commissioned a study to
find out exactly how much money the birds brought in.
Well, the Eagles need generally, we considered
mid-December to mid-Fifth.
So in that two and a half three month span, it was $800,000.
Now that was like $93, $94.
So our best guess today is it's over a million
dollars with a revenue.
- The value of wildlife.
- Yeah, she just come down into the water.
Hold the fish up.
- In today's world, money talks.
And we have to assign a value now to the things
that we really care about in order to save them.
And if we can show that there's economic value in
wildlife, people will pay to come and see these things.
They won't pay to come and see development.
They won't come to see urban sprawl.
They have that already.
What they are looking for is the wilderness experiences
that only states like Wisconsin have to offer them.
And they can find it on the great Wisconsin,
birding and nature trail.
The second loop of the trail, the Mississippi
Chippewa Rivers Bird Trail, goes through 13 counties and
will be inaugurated on June 5th.
The DNR expects to complete the entire great Wisconsin birding
and nature trail in 2008.
For more information about the trail, including
a free map and guide, log on to our website at
www.wpt.org/inwisconsin.
[Music]
We turn now to a story international in scope.
Wisconsin is experiencing the largest influx of mung
refugees since the 1980s.
The refugees are some of the 15,000 people who
have been living in a makeshift camp in Thailand
since the end of the Vietnam War.
The camp in Thailand will soon close and hundreds of its
residents are headed for Wasau.
Some have already arrived.
Reporter Art Hackett has been following this
story since last summer.
Wasau has been through this before, but in the
early 1980s, families came over one or two at a time
over a period of years.
In 2004, over 400 new refugees
were to arrive within the space of six months.
And while the first refugees had been living
in organized camps run by aid organizations, the new
arrivals were coming from an unofficial settlement
that sprang up on the grounds of a monastery.
Shortly before the new wave families were to arrive,
social service workers gathered to hear a woman
from Madison who had visited the camp in Thailand.
You're talking about 10, 15 years of untreated symptoms.
You're talking about 10, 15 years of like not being
recognized as a refugee camp.
Therefore not receiving assistance for food, shelter,
um, health care, education.
10 days later, the first of the new wave of families arrived.
Finally, the big moment arrived as Juryang, his
wife Milo, and their three children were greeted
by hundreds of open arms.
Juryang knew about Wasau because his brother
and sister lived there.
But Juryang says he found out he was bound for
Wisconsin only three months before he left Thailand.
Before we started the registration process,
they didn't tell us that we're coming here.
They said we would go to another camp in Laos.
They did not mention about coming to America
until all the paperwork was done.
Then, some people were unsure, some
people were so scared, some people were escaping.
If Juryang was dealing with uncertainty, so were
some people in Wasau.
We didn't know exactly what we needed for the summer.
Neil Anderson directs English as a second language program
for the Wasau school district.
One of the families was interviewed by the
newspaper. The newspapers said that they wanted to
start language classes.
We said, "Well, this is the end of July,
beginning of August.
We don't really have a lot.
Our summer school program is over."
Between a Friday and a Tuesday, the district
was able to assemble volunteers to at least start
acclimating parents and children.
Morning. I'm a school bus driver from the bus company.
Each of you will be writing the bus now by yourself.
We have childcare and little activities for the very youngest
as well as dividing the adults into ability levels and
groupings to find their niche and find what
they need to work on.
This is many.
They were very, very eager to start learning
that English language.
One of the exciting things about America is that
there are assistance programs for refugees.
America is much better than living in Thailand where
there is no school to attend for children and for us,
helping us to become educated, to improve your
country. We're happy.
The children will attend Jones Elementary.
The week before classes start,
teachers are opening boxes of interactive tablets
that talk in Hmong and several other languages.
How many things do you have?
Total after they all get here, it will be about 25.
But right now to start off with a highlight of five students.
The new residents are arriving just as refugees who arrived
as children in the 1980s are graduating with
teaching degrees.
I remember my first day of second grade.
Very scared.
I didn't know what to do.
My teacher was very nice and she gave me
a tour of the school and helped me.
But I just remember being pretty quiet and
nervous and just wondering what it's going to be like.
If the schools have changed for the better, the system
for supporting the new arrivals while they adapt
may have changed for the worse.
When Blung Moor arrived in the 1980s, the AFDC
program provided long-term cash assistance.
Benefits were adjusted upward for larger
families. Moor works with the Mung community at the Marathon
County Job Center under the current W2 program.
The new law is five or six in the family.
Younging get a little bit over $600 plus
plus ten.
Yes, we are worried.
We are worried that if we can't find jobs, we have no money.
But overall, Ma Lawre says she's happy to be here.
Over there, the air is very smoky and
polluted with gasoline.
It smells really bad.
Over here, wherever you go, you
will not see pollution.
Even though there are lots of cars here, you can't
see pollution.
That makes you want to live over here.
And she's looking forward to winter.
Over there, it's very hot.
Wherever you go, it's too hot.
Here, they said it is very hot, but it's not as hot
as over there.
I want to live in a cold place and see
the snow.
Seven months later, Jerry Yang and his family have
moved to a different house.
He's eager to show a home video taken the night
before at a school concert.
Ma Lawre says she was worried her son's performance
wouldn't go well, but it did.
When he came home, I asked him, "How is his school?"
But he didn't tell me anything.
The teacher called to ask us to come hear him
sing, and I thought maybe he wasn't brave enough to perform.
I was afraid when he is on the stage, he would be too
shy, and he couldn't do it, but he did very well.
Asked about the snow, Jerry Yang answers in English.
He still doesn't have a permanent job.
As part of W-2, he has a community
service job in the kitchen for the county's
Meals on Wheels program.
Right now, he's looking for a permanent job, but
he has applied for a couple of companies and no one
called him yet.
One thing to be concerned is that whether
doing community service job, they don't have much time to
take English-language classes.
My applications may not have been filled out correctly,
and that's probably why they're not accepting me.
But I'm not sure.
Plua Hurr is a case manager with Lutheran Social
Services. She assisted us with the translations
for the story.
She says the biggest relief is that a housing
shortage never materialized.
They're worried that there are so many people coming
to Wasa, they're going to be able to find housing,
and I think everybody found a house with no problems.
Because of problems with tuberculosis testing at the camp
in Thailand, the pace of the arrivals has slowed.
At the end of 2004, only about two-thirds
of the 427 refugees expected in Marathon County had arrived.
The rest are expected to trickle in throughout 2005.
The Paws has allowed social service agencies
to catch up with such things as job placements.
"I think right now I think a little bit of a little bit and
we've placed a number of people on the jobs, about seven in
Marathon County who are a full-time job right now."
Some of the new arrivals work at Wasa Box Company.
Jerry Yang's older brother, Wang Su, got hired there.
Sometimes jobs are available, but people can't get to them.
"Come into a city like Wasa, everywhere you go you need a car
to go unless it's a very short distance."
"My boys and girls, I'm glad you're here."
But the thing Jerry Yang and Mahler wanted most, an
education for the three children, that's going well.
At Jones Elementary there are now two classrooms of
children in what is known as the newcomer program.
"See more?"
Most of my students know how to say their
letters and say the sounds, and some of them are
reading right now so it's going well.
"You?" Yeh-Hur says the biggest problem
is reminding the children that when you go out in a Wisconsin
winter, you have to bundle up.
"We'd like to thank Chutau of Madison for
additional assistance with translations
for this segment."
People often ask us, "How do we find our story
ideas for in Wisconsin?"
The truth is, ideas come from all over, including
from you.
That's how we heard about what's featured
in our next story.
"Theorpeutic horseback riding has
been around for years, but experts still aren't
sure why it works.
We were introduced to it by
a woman we first met in connection with a medical
breakthrough. She told us her special riding sessions are a
highlight of her difficult life, so Frederica Freiberg
decided to take a new look at this unique therapy.
We first met Bonnie Miller at home, where she and
her family work hard to keep their spirits up in
the face of her debilitating Huntington's disease.
But she told us about something that sets her free,
if just once each week, for just one hour.
Bonnie Miller rides horseback
and the faster the better.
She says her involuntary movements mostly stop when
the horse breaks into a trot.
Not even her rotti instructor can explain it.
"I'm not sure if we know exactly why this happens,
but it must be the movement of the horse, the impact with the
muscles and the nerve activity.
It just settles her down."
Bonnie Miller says it goes beyond that.
"I have a joy, I have a joy, and I'll keep my eyes on it.
I know I'll have a sense of freedom."
"I don't know, I don't know, in the old west."
Bonnie's not alone in her unbridled joy on horseback.
Everyone we met that travels this pretty country road
to the Avalon Therapeutica Questrian Center feels
much the same.
"I very often wind up crying
though, coming or leaving because it's just, I
can't believe that these people are here for me,
and I never thought I'd be able to ride again."
Sandy Pocowsky suffers from scoliosis.
When her illness struck, she could
barely walk unassisted, much less ride, until she
discovered therapeutic riding.
"I think it's lengthening the muscles
in my legs and my back, and it's keeping me able
to move more fluid."
Sandy and Bonnie and others like CJ are among nearly
100 disabled riders at this alternative therapy
center. "Horuses have a natural gate, the closest
to a human.
When you ride a horse and whether it's
our riders or even ourselves, you get the same three planes of
motion in your hips and pelvis, you do when you're walking.
So horses literally can give you the same type of exercise.
Also, it helps with posture, it helps with tremendously balance,
coordination, so you have a natural tool to give you
a therapeutic experience."
That natural tool is the horse, and avalanches are special.
The one-bonding rides used to be a
vaulting horse.
The kind circus riders do flips
and jumpson.
Others were formerly polo or trail horses.
All of them are used to being around people, and then some.
"We look for obviously quiet, you know, quietness week.
We have what we call bomb proof, where you can
make a lot of noise around the arn't gonna spook, and then
we run them through a training program, and we'll use walls and
hula hoops and, you know, crackle paper and things to make
noise to see how they react."
Though the horses are highly trained, plenty of human helpers
keep the riders on course.
In all, 70 volunteers, team as horse leaders and sidewalkers,
holding straps on specially made vests to secure the
riders. "There's something about watching these people become
so, uh, their smiles even though they're hurting,
they're still happy, and they accomplish things."
The smiles break out on horseback in every session,
but none melt the hearts of volunteers and instructors
like those of the children.
"Who said I'm your shirt?
"Sassy." "Is that the horse you're riding right now?"
"Who's that?"
The majority of riders at avalan are children.
The Dmitco sisters are regular.
Three of the four have a physical disability, but
their dispositions are as sweet as their smiles,
and on horseback they hardly notice that they're
doing physical therapy.
"I just was amazed by what I saw out here.
The first lesson that I watched was a little
down syndrome boy.
He was probably about three years
old, and he was doing some stretches on the horse,
and I knew that these were not really comfortable
stretches, because with my work as an nurse,
I take kids to therapy, and I watch them cry while
they're being stretched.
And this little boy has a smile on his face."
People who work and volunteer here don't know
who gets more out of the experience.
The providers or their special riders,
the rewards on both sides seem so great.
"Walk on Johnny."
"Thank God that they got this
boy for all of us."
At Avalan's Riding Center, it costs $40 per therapeutic
session. In some cases, insurance covers the cost.
In Wisconsin, there are 15 therapeutic riding
centers accredited by the North American Riding for
the Handicapped Association.
You can find more information by logging onto
our website at www.wpt.org/inwisconsin.
And that's our program for this
week. Thanks for joining us.
We leave you with a walk through McGilvra Woods as state
natural area in Sock County.
For Inwisconsin, I'm Patti Lowe.
See you next time.
[Music]
Major funding for Inwisconsin is provided by the people of
Alliance Energy, who bring safe, reliable and environmentally
friendly energy to keep homes, neighborhoods,
and life in Wisconsin running smoothly.
Alliance Energy, offering energy-saving
ideas on the web.
[Music]