(upbeat music)
- Hello everyone, welcome to our summer season
of In Wisconsin.
I'm Patty Low.
For the next three months, we'll travel to our beautiful
state parks to bring you some of our favorite stories.
Today, we're at Whitefish Dune State Park in Door County.
We'll show you more of this lovely park a little later
in a video postcard.
But first, discover how Douglas County landowners
along the brule are preserving the river's rustic scenery.
- It's so much a part of me, my blood flows like the river does.
When it comes to the current immigration debate,
have our attitudes toward immigrants here in Wisconsin
really changed much in the last two decades?
- I don't think they're doing the right thing
that all these people come in and sponge on us.
- Well, what happened to all the people
that came a hundred years ago?
Somehow those people managed to find jobs
in the near-to-the-work force.
I don't see why the same thing couldn't happen today.
- And this woman's life has been forever changed
by a deadly neurological disease,
but she's even more concerned about the health of her sons.
- Just 'cause we have a risk of getting it,
doesn't mean that we're going to.
And if we are, we shouldn't give up.
We should just keep on trying.
- That's coming up next 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.
UW Health, providing specialty in primary care
for all ages throughout Wisconsin.
Information on UW Health Physicians and Clinics
and on University of Wisconsin Hospital
is available on the web.
Wisconsin's Technical Colleges, providing local education
for the crucial occupations essential to our communities.
Wisconsin's Technical Colleges, Communities First.
- It's a brain disorder that usually strikes in middle age
and for which there is no cure.
It's Huntington's disease.
Bonnie Miller of O'Connor, Milwaukee,
is one of 30,000 Americans, more than 500 here in Wisconsin,
with this debilitating disease.
And as she watches her own symptoms progress,
she keeps an eye out on the health of her children
and on promising research coming out
of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- 14-year-old Ted and 12-year-old Andy Miller
can't ever seem to put their books down.
They inherited their love of reading from their mother,
a librarian.
But the boys are also in line to inherit something else.
(door slams)
The boys have a 50% chance of inheriting
their mother's Huntington's disease.
Still in her 40s, Bonnie Miller is in mid-stage
of the progressively degenerative brain disorder.
She has trouble speaking and with involuntary movements.
She watched her own mother die of it.
Still, she has framed what she calls Bonnie's creed
that says, "Hold on, be strong, never give up.
Don't forget the pleasures of life."
- Is that hard to hold to your creed?
- Hmm, some kind.
They have the honor of some kind.
- These photos were taken before Bonnie was diagnosed
with Huntington's in 1999.
Since then, her oldest son Dan, now in his early 20s,
has tested positive.
The younger boys have not yet been tested,
but they say their mother is teaching them a lot
about persevering.
- Yes, we are.
We are learning each from her and she is holding out strong.
And I think that's a positive example
on what we should be like if we get H.D.
- Just 'cause we have a risk of getting it,
doesn't mean that we're going to.
And if we are, we shouldn't give up.
We should just keep on trying.
- If the next generation does test positive for Huntington's,
onset is usually at about the same age
as the parent who had it.
- And for these guys, it's 30 years.
So I have high hopes that they're not ever
going to have to go through the same thing
that their mother has.
- And those hopes have been raised,
some, by new research going on in Madison.
- So Marcus, how far are these?
Why is it going to be Huntington's disease?
- In the lab at the UW Pharmacy Department,
scientists have made what's being called
an amazing discovery.
- It was like complete protection
by the transplant itself.
And I still, it still just makes me quiver a little bit
to think about, you know, that it actually worked that well.
Professor Jeff Johnson and his team
are getting national attention for their research breakthrough.
What they found and isolated was a naturally occurring substance
that protects brain cells from dying
when exposed to toxins, toxins that mimic the effects
of brain cell death in Huntington's patients.
They transplanted cells with the protective substance
into the brains of mice.
Then they exposed the mice to toxins that kill neurons.
The result was that the side of the mouse's brain
that was not injected with the protective substance
literally developed a hole, which shows up as a
white mass in X-ray and represents dead brain cells,
like what happens in degenerative brain disease.
The stunning result was that the side that was transplanted
with cells containing the protective substance
showed no cell death, like a healthy young brain.
Johnson says it may be possible within the
next three to five years to transplant protective
cells into the human brain to prevent disease
from ever occurring.
He is also working on developing a pill to do the same thing.
Hey, if we can get drugs or molecules
that will get into the brain and activate this system,
we can't have significant impacts on these chronic
neurodegenerative diseases.
Johnson says he hopes to have a pill ready for testing in humans
in two to four years, even sooner than the
medically riskier cell transplant procedure.
This kind of breakthrough represents Bonnie
Miller's greatest hope for her children.
Yeah, maybe I have my generation,
but no, I might not survive.
With this, all these drugs, they have so much more
opportunities for hope for the future.
It should help us if they get it right,
and it gives me more hope that I won't be infected.
And hope is eternal.
Dr. Jeff Johnson is collaborating with the chief of
neurology at Cornell University trying to replicate those
lab mice, results in humans.
Bonnie still struggles with the disease,
but her family is hanging in there.
The National Huntington's Association Convention
is happening in Milwaukee this weekend,
and you can find details on our website at www.org/inwisconsin.
Bonnie's husband, Tom, will be a speaker at the convention.
He's going to talk about how families can access
services for later stage Huntington's patients.
State parks like this one at Whitefish Dunes
preserve Wisconsin's natural areas for future
generations to enjoy.
Well, property owners along the Brule River in Douglas
County also hope to maintain the wild and rustic character
of their river by taking part in another preservation effort.
My grandmother bought our place in 1949.
I spend every summer of my life up here growing up.
It was here from the first week of June until Labor Day weekend.
It's so much a part of me.
My blood flows like the river does.
The river is the Wabrule in Douglas County,
commonly called the Brule.
It starts near Solon Springs and flows north into Lake Superior.
The canoeist and landowner is Bill Rogers of Superior,
a third-generation Brule River fan who summers
here as much as he can.
It's just a real treasure.
The beauty and the bounty of the Brule has drawn
people in for over a century.
We've had five presidents that have been on the river.
The most notable one was Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
They could go anywhere in the world.
Why did they end up here on the Brule River?
There was something about this river and the feeling that the
river was the most beautiful.
The river was the most beautiful.
There was something about this river and the feeling that
brought these people here.
I don't know if there are many rivers that you can
say that five presidents have spent time on it.
It's pretty special.
It's special in large measure because of what surrounds it.
The river is a rarity in the state.
This particular stretch of the river because it was privately
owned the turn of the century was spared the Lager's axe.
Everything else surrounding this section of the river was cut.
When they cut, they cut everything.
They cut up millions of bored feet of lumber.
Then they left.
Unfortunately, this section was spared.
These beautiful old white pines and norways
are the last remnants.
Tourists came and stayed and built beautiful
lodges and boat houses.
It hasn't changed.
The windows are still the same.
The masonry fireplace, the screen porch, the log exterior,
they hadn't changed at all.
This particular lodge we're going by right now
must be in the fourth generation, fifth generation.
That lodge hasn't changed.
Flowers change every year.
The lodge has not changed.
It's an unparalleled view of natural beauty
and historic charm.
In the 80s, it was a view in peril.
Development threat.
In response, a group of brewery river landowners,
including Rogers' mother, worked with their local land
trust, the Nature Conservancy.
Together, the landowners each got a conservation easement on
their brewery river property.
What's a conservation easement?
Vicki Elkin, the director of Gathering Waters, a
statewide consortium of land trusts, explains.
A conservation easement is a legal agreement.
It's a binding legal agreement that a landowner enters
into voluntarily with a land trust or a government agency.
And then it runs with the land.
It's attached to the deed.
So all future landowners know that this conservation easement
is attached to the land.
The goal is to protect the land.
But the exact terms of the easement can vary widely.
In the case of the brewery river property owners, for
example, some easements allow for the taking of firewood.
Some don't.
The one that Bill Rogers' mom signed was fairly conservative.
She signed a contract that stated that she had to
maintain the property as it is.
That she could not add anything she couldn't put
any more structures up.
She couldn't take any wood off.
She had to preserve this property just the way it
was the day she signed it.
The overarching goal of the easements was to protect this
view up and down the river.
The view of the river from the river.
It's protects the view from the sense that I can't
open up the property to give myself a better view.
So I'm restricted.
I can't do anything about it.
The dead trees fall into the river.
We're supposed to leave them there because it provides
habitat for the trout.
So I'm restricted as to what I can do and can't do.
And I think that's great.
If you go to any of the lakes in the area and you see where
people from an urban area come up and bought some property,
and they'll make a lawn right down to the water frontage.
I mean, they'll turn it into this manicured lawn
which does nothing for any kind of wildlife.
And this protects it.
This tries to keep the setting the way it was and
the way it'll always be.
The result?
You're looking at it.
Nearly 90% of the privately held property on the upper brule,
nearly 5,000 acres, is protected by conservation easements.
The rest is in state forest.
The result is available to anyone with a canoe.
Views like this, most people don't get a
chance to experience.
They're seeing something that hasn't changed since
the turn of the century.
I mean, these trees, these beautiful trees, where
can you go to see this?
Even though this is private property, we're sharing
it with them because they have access to the river
and they have a right to it.
So it's a wonderful experience for them to see what an easement
can do and what the property owners are trying to do.
Welcome home.
Hello. What an easement can do.
Easements vary.
In some cases, a landowner can receive
payment for their conservation easement from a land trust
or a government agency.
In the case of the Brough River property owners, they
donated their easements.
Most landowners are motivated by love for their land.
That's why they do these deals.
But they also receive tax benefits if they donate
this conservation easement.
So they receive income tax deductions.
The value of the easement is
taken off their state.
So their state taxes will go down for their children.
And then also they receive some property tax relief
for doing the easement.
But perhaps the most important relief that easements offer
is of a different kind.
It's a nice fish.
It's the future generations.
And as a family gets bigger, you'll have some siblings
that maybe don't have the same relationship with the river.
Maybe they're in a dash for cash and they need some money.
So then you start selling off pieces or you start adding more
houses to it and it changes.
You can go to bed at night and know that the next generation is
going to get up in the morning and see the same thing you do.
You see the light coming through.
They're going to hear the wind.
They're going to see the herons out here.
And it's not going to get bigger, busier.
It's just a time that we'll never change.
There are more than 50 active land trusts in Wisconsin.
Collectively they protect and manage more than 135,000 acres.
We thought it would be interesting this summer to
take a look back at some of the reports Wisconsin
Public Television has done over the past 30 years or so.
It gives us an opportunity to take a look at what's
changed and what hasn't.
We call it Wisconsin Retro and this week's comes from 1983.
The topic, immigration, the 20 year old viewpoints, not
as dated as you might think.
I'm pleased to meet you.
The flag of the United States of America and the
Republic for which it stands.
The main thing I want to say is for America and for the
America. Thank you for the let me live this beautiful country.
I don't think you're doing the right thing letting
all these people come in and sponge our nerves.
One national undercut individual.
And today I feel that America is the best
country in the whole world.
And I feel so happy to be in America.
Thank you very much.
We have people starving of our own.
I think it's about time we took care of our own.
We're delivering injustice for all.
Thank you.
The bottom line now and I think is a lot of confusion.
We don't really know what is going on with immigration.
We used to know what was going on with immigration.
It was simple.
They came by boat arriving in waves at
the Golden Door, guided by a beacon hand providing what we
called a worldwide welcome.
Now by newerships they continue to come.
Bypassing Lady Liberty, but not her message.
We came here regionally because of the martial law in our
country for the Philippines.
It's a great country and you cannot begin to experience
the freedom outside of our countries as you can experience
here in the United States.
Actually my reason is probably no different than
the reasons of those millions of people who have come
in this country before me.
If the reasons remain unchanged the numbers haven't.
The 1970s saw the biggest influx of
foreignborns since the 1920s.
In 1980 alone over 800,000 arrived, the largest single
year figure since 1914 when immigration reached its peak.
Most arrived unnoticed while others like the Cubans of 1980
arrived more dramatically.
[Music]
They arrived in what was called a "Freedom Flotilla."
There are arrival sparked more fear
than patriotism among Americans.
There are cool reception points to a kind of split
personality we have when it comes to immigration.
Amar Steeckin teaches the history of immigration at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
We do have the image of the statue of Liberty, the
acceptance of immigrants, but consistently through
our history that's been coupled with probably a
very popular resistance to the idea of any party.
We, in a sense, accept those who have come already and
we forget the problems that their arrival created and the
hostility that they encountered.
And we emphasize the benefits of their presence and at the
same time when you're asked, will you want more immigration
and most people say that?
Increasing, we'll let more people in?
No way.
Too many people here already.
No. Why not?
Because we have enough immigrants.
No, we've got enough people here.
To a certain extent, we're faced with a renewal of an
historic problem is that is, what do you do when a group
of culturally different people arrive in the society?
It's not a problem that we never faced before.
We've faced it on several occasions,
but it's coming up now again.
It is coming up now again because the majority of the
new immigrants are no longer coming from Europe.
Since 1965, when reform put an
end to the infamous Asian exclusion provisions and
other inequities of past laws, immigration has changed.
Fewer people are coming from cultural backgrounds
familiar to most Americans.
More and more are arriving from countries traditionally
not well represented in our ethnic terrain.
In Milwaukee, a city settled by large numbers of Germans
and Poles, this new trend is evident.
The new immigrants are in a word more visible.
Milwaukee's International Institute, Pam Kavitone, helps
new immigrants get re-settled.
The biggest problem that most immigrants in general
face is the relationship with the community as a whole.
Those who come into a community where there is a
network set up to help new immigrants are the lucky ones.
Polish immigrants coming to Milwaukee are at an
advantage as compared to say Cambodian immigrants.
But international education circles, where
is the mother and father?
Do they speak English?
Are you the interpreter for them?
That's the second problem.
The English language isn't learned in two or three months
or even in the semester or even in a year, especially for people
who pass the age where learning a foreign language is easy.
For some people, it's never easy.
The fact that there, that some groups of immigrants are of
a different color makes it of course more difficult for them.
I don't think that's anything that's easily solved in
any short period of time.
Something that they don't understand when they arrive.
We're faced with a new problem, I would say, in
that we never had a problem with our borders before.
We always had the idea that you could control immigration.
You could tell people not to come.
You could throw them out of Ellis Island.
You could block them at the consulates in Europe.
Now there's a real question as to even if we want
to stop immigration, can we stop immigration?
And would you raise your right hand?
I would argue you and each of you hereby declare an oath that
you absolutely and entirely renounce and of your all
allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate
state or sovereignty of whom or of which you appear to have
been a subject or citizen.
What happened to all the people that came 100 years ago?
What were the jobs then?
I don't know how those people managed to find jobs
in any of the workforce.
I don't see why the same thing couldn't happen today.
You will support and defend the Constitution and the
laws in the United States of America against all
enemies foreign and domestic.
That's how we all got started, isn't it?
If this be your oath, we say I do.
We see the life of jobs.
This is a great country.
You've turned around and everybody is from a
lonely country.
It's not like in Mexico we are all Mexican here.
Turn around and take this ban here in Japanese and Russian,
all of them.
It's great.
[Music]
The International Institute of Wisconsin is still very much
in business and now provides extensive services to refugees.
That's our program for this week.
Join us next time when the former leader of the
Lacta Flambo tribe remembers some of Northern Wisconsin's
most turbulent times.
Some of those landings sort of felt like some
of those war chiefs.
That's next time.
We leave you now with more beautiful scenery
from Whitefish Dune State Park.
For in Wisconsin, I'm Patty Lo.
See you next time.
[Music]
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. UW Health, providing specialty and primary care for
all ages throughout Wisconsin.
Information on UW Health, Physicians and Clinics and on
University of Wisconsin Hospital is available on the web.
Wisconsin's Technical Colleges, providing the people of
Wisconsin with the knowledge and skills they'll need
for the economy of tomorrow.
Wisconsin's Technical Colleges, Communities First.
[Music]