- Welcome to "In Wisconsin." I'm Patty Loew.
This week, she was shot down in Vietnam twice
and that's only the beginning.
- They wouldn't teach her as a girl, so she thought,
"Well, all right then, I'll be a boy."
- We'll bring you DJ's amazing story.
Plus, this great northern forest
is a tribute to the advice of Chief Oshkosh.
- When you reach the end of the reservation,
turn and cut from the setting sun to the rising sun,
and the trees will last forever.
- It's the Menominee way of forestry conservation.
And a new Wisconsin park unlike any other.
It's edible. Well, sort of.
- They're very good. - You should try one, Frank.
- Those reports next on "In Wisconsin."
- Major funding for "In Wisconsin" is provided by:
the people of Alliant Energy, who bring safe, reliable
and environmentally friendly energy to keep homes,
neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin running smoothly.
Alliant Energy, we're on for you.
And Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery Specialists
of Milwaukee, Oshkosh and Minneapolis
a veterinary team working with pet owners
and family veterinarians providing care for oral disease
and dental problems of small companion animals.
- We begin this week with a rather remarkable report
about a woman who had claimed she is anything but remarkable.
Her name is Dorothy Douglas.
DJ to her friends, and she has earned
their respect and admiration.
DJ had it rough as a child, sometimes living on the streets.
But she became a nurse, a UW professor,
and was shot down in combat.
That's only the beginning.
Wait until you hear the rest of her
amazing life story "In Wisconsin."
- DJ, real name Dorothy Douglas, was born in 1927.
DJ Douglas was many things, many faceted,
both in what she did and who she was.
- The person who perhaps knew DJ the best
is her partner of 35 years, Rory Ward.
- She was, in her later years
a professor in medical schools, Connecticut, Iowa,
here in the School of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin.
- DJ and her brother spent five years in a makeshift orphanage
at a St. Louis railway station.
- They were essentially taken care of by a guy
in the railway station
who was taking care of several other kids.
At that time, he dressed everybody alike.
- I think what is unique about DJ's story is that
a male mentor, thankfully a kind male mentor,
is dressing the girls as boys
in order for the little girls to be safe.
- He also socialized them as boys, how to act,
how to talk, so that it went along with their clothing.
- As an adventurous adolescent, DJ witnessed
a plane crash and decided flying was to be her passion.
- At that time was civilian pilot training airports.
That was a program instituted in the late '30s by Roosevelt
to increase civilian pilots.
- She realized she could not learn to fly as a girl.
They wouldn't teach her as a girl,
so she thought all right then I'll be a boy.
- In 1943 at the age of 15,
after being rejected at a training field for being a girl,
DJ changed clothes and tactics and as a boy
marched into a mess hall with cadets.
- Her adaptability shone through in her becoming a boy
for what she wanted to do.
That's why she became a boy, in order to fly.
- Because what I know of DJ is she would do whatever
was necessary to do the work that she wanted to do.
That was her primary motivation.
- That started a love affair with flying
that lasted almost 70 years.
- She called herself Sam Douglas at first.
- The commander of the base, Captain Tom Hartman,
taught young Sam Douglas how to fly Steermans
in just three to four days.
- Her rank increased in the civilian pilot training program.
- After the war, Hartman asked his protege
to perform in his flying circus.
DJ starred as the young boy in short pants,
who did kid-like stunts in the air.
- She would pull the power, of course,
and that would make the engine sputter,
do slips across the field.
And the patter on the ground was,
"Here comes that kid." "Where is that kid?"
"He's gone again. I bet he's lost."
And then, "No, he's in the wrong field."
"Oh, here he comes again."
They'd build it up so she would come in
and slip sideways, side slips, forward slip, and land it.
Oh, they build up-- It was a show.
- In the 1950s,
the Society of Catholic Medical Missionaries needed pilots.
DJ flew for them in the states
and they put her through nursing school.
DJ flew as an army crew chief in Vietnam
and was shot down twice.
- Do you remember the game show To Tell the Truth?
- Announcer: What is your name, please? DJ: My name is --
She was on To Tell the Truth
with two other people dressed the same,
and nobody successfully guessed
that she was the Lieutenant Commander
in the Navy and a black belt in Judo.
- DJ again wanted to further her education.
She wrote and won a DOT grant to study
for-profit, private ambulance services.
- She found in private services there were really no standards.
- Ambulance services were unregulated enterprises,
and sometimes had strong ties to organized crime.
DJ's research and dissertation resulted in
standardized care and regulated services.
- DJ came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison
as a professor, this time in the School of Nursing,
with a joint appointment to the hospitals.
- A Madison woman was one of the heroes last week
when the pilot of a single engine plane died
while in flight and a passenger
had to land the plane at an Illinois airport.
- I was up in the air, 3,500 feet, I believe.
- Enter Dorothy Douglas of Madison.
A professor at the UW School of Nursing and a flight instructor...
- Rory remembers flying with DJ
and hearing the Mayday signal over the radio.
- We were in the air at the same time, stayed in the air,
and she offered her assistance.
- Our job was to get sort of behind them,
get to one side of 'em, and monitor the flight,
and try to help out the controller who was bringing them down.
- So, flying in a small Cessna 152,
Dorothy Douglas trailed behind the non-pilot
who was in a more powerful and sophisticated plane.
And, on the ground was the control tower.
It was pilot training via the radio.
- Now aim for the runway. Go down now.
You're doing great. - Hallelujah! We made it!
- You just had your first solo.
- She was meticulous, but spontaneous.
Once things were researched and referenced in her head,
she wanted to go do it.
- Even with little formal education before college,
DJ managed to earn five advanced degrees.
- She was so brave and so smart at such a young age,
and then found a mentor to help her, thankfully.
But it did seem to set the pattern for her life.
- She had the right personality, the right background,
the right history for making real contribution
in the community in any number of ways.
- I'm sure that wherever she is,
she's teaching someone to fly...
(audience laughs and applauds)
- A young Sam Douglas punched holes in the sky,
so DJ's dreams could soar to new heights in a man's world.
- DJ died one year ago on February 10,
as a result of complications of Alzheimer's.
Her legacy lives on in the many lives she's mentored
over the years, a remarkable pioneering woman.
That report was produced by videographer Wendy Woodard
and narrated by Laurie Gorman.
In life, there are hunters and gatherers.
And through the years, we have become less of both.
Now, there is a new park you can visit that's edible.
"In Wisconsin" reporter Jo Garrett says it's best
to visit in warmer weather, but here in the middle of winter
it has us longing for a taste of summer in Price County.
- This is a typical northern hardwood forest in Price County.
Not the first place that comes to mind when mulling
over grocery shopping or thinking about dining al fresco.
- This is mid-August right now, so a peak time for blackberries.
- Unless you are a forager.
As good as blackberries usually are.
A forager of what are called wild edibles.
The man enjoying those wild blackberries
is forager Sam Thayer.
- Partridge berry, this is common
in all of northern Wisconsin.
It tastes like a chunk of apple, the size of a pea.
- Previously the only way to access Thayer's
vast fields of knowledge was to join one of his classes
or check out one of his two books on wild edibles.
But that's changed. - This is a smartweed.
It's not really a food, but it's a seasoning.
Called smartweed because it can burn your skin,
but it's hot like a pepper.
- Thayer has teamed up
with his father-in-law, Dan Price.
- Feel it yet? - I feel it. (chuckles)
- Price owns a campground that's been in his family
for nearly 50 years. Holiday Hills Camping.
- Ooh! It's getting hotter.
It's getting real hot.
- They came up with a hot idea, smoking.
- It's so hot, that if you take your finger and rub it on it,
now lick your finger, it's like oh, it is hot!
- Together they've made something new.
It winds through a half mile of Price's land,
the first ever, as far as they know,
nature trail based on wild edibles.
There is nothing like it in the U.S.
It's called the Standish Price Wild Food Interpretive Trail,
after Dan Price's dad, who loved this land
and worked hard to hold onto it.
That a person could make a meal of the plants
on the land was amazing news to Dan Price.
- I had no clue. I was just stunned, actually, when Sam
and I walked through this and started numbering everything.
I was astounded how much stuff is out here
that a fellow could eat.
- Thayer has set stakes on 118 plants.
This is his dream trail.
- When I was a teenager, I loved nature trails.
And any time I would go camping at a state park,
I'm just, where is the interpretive trail.
So, I tried to create the trail
that would have got me really excited,
like a long trail with a lot of plants, you know,
because it's great learning from a book,
but it is so nice to just have the plant marked,
the real thing, and it's so much easier
to imprint on that than on a picture.
- There is a guidebook that matches the markers.
You can walk and imprint at your own pace.
- It's your schedule. You could identify plants
for two hours in the morning and then go fishing.
Or, whatever you want to do.
And that's the way I learned.
- We set down the trail with Thayer in late August,
which brings up another reason to visit often.
Different menus in different seasons.
- Here we have ripe choke cherries.
This is one of the more common edible fruits
in northern Wisconsin and important wildlife food.
Some people like choke cherries.
Some people like black cherries.
Some people don't know the difference.
Black cherries are a much larger tree,
but these are good choke cherries, actually.
- It's important to note
you shouldn't do what we're doing.
The trail is meant to teach people
how to ID edible plants.
It is not a smorgasbord.
- Very astringent, but that's more of a problem --
They're good. - There very good. - You should try one, Frank.
But, this does illustrate how great wild edibles can be.
- Basswood spring bean salad with some wild leaf greens is excellent.
- So, who does Thayer envision coming here
to learn how to ID plants?
- There is a survivalist crowd.
There are cooks and chefs that come out.
There are a lot of people preparing for disaster.
But I think people should learn it because it's fun.
That's why I do it. - Food connects.
- You don't forget what you taste and smell.
And when you are familiar with something, you love it.
- Consider marker number one.
- The first marker on the whole trail was a sugar maple.
Most people forget that maple syrup is actually a wild food.
This is kind of the maple syrup capital of Wisconsin. Price County is.
A lot of people don't realize that.
- Who can ever forget maples and maple syrup?
Which is the wonderful surprise in marker 27.
Fire up the waffle maker.
- This is a white birch.
Most people know this tree, but a lot of people
don't know it makes a delicious syrup.
Birch syrup is not commercially made in the Midwest,
but it is commercially made in Europe and in Alaska.
The sap starts to run just after maple sap runs.
The sap is less sweet but produces a lot more sap.
Because it takes even more boiling than maple syrup,
it's even more expensive.
- In addition to edibles, Thayer also includes some plants
that aren't for dinner, but he feels are important to know.
- This is maple leaf viburnum.
I like to include plants like this that are often overlooked,
just because they're interesting to learn.
It has beautiful fall foliage.
- The trail also includes more than just forest food.
It winds by Hultman Lake,
where a whole different menu waits to be ID'd.
- The last seven plants on the trail
are not really on the trail.
They're plants that can be easily seen by taking a
canoe or boat here into the wetlands or the lake.
- So, grab a canoe and check out the cattails.
- Cattails have several edible parts.
- And the bulrushes.
- The base of the plant is edible in early summer.
The tips of the growing rhizomes are also edible.
They're kind of sweet and mildly flavored.
- And way up beyond the bulrushes are 115 and 116.
Both water lilies.
- The white water lily is not edible,
but the yellow water lily was actually a staple food
for natives of parts of the Pacific Northwest.
And thousands of years ago, was a staple food in England.
- The Standish Price Trail even offers examples of good eating,
from what are called disturbed habitats,
those with remnants of human habitation.
A delight to me. I have this stuff in my yard.
- This is Aegopodium podagraria, also called Bishop's weed or Goutweed.
And it's commonly planted for landscaping but used to be
commonly planted as a vegetable by the settlers in Europe.
It's still quite a popular vegetable in France.
It actually makes a delicious soup base.
Somewhat celery-like in flavor.
- It's just like celery.
- We can be spoiled by how easy food is to access
and forget what it meant to our ancestors.
People become attached to plants they eat,
and when we eat a landscape,
we love and protect that landscape.
They're actually a delicious nut.
- Bon appetit.
- If you'd like to learn more about
the Standish Price Trail or Sam Thayer's books,
just go to our website wpt.org
and click on "In Wisconsin."
You'll find this report
along with additional links and information.
Foraging for food in rural or forested areas
seems like a natural.
After all, isn't that where food grows?
Well, not everyone is content to forage in the wild.
And while you have to wait until warmer weather arrives,
here is a small sampling of edible items
found on an urban tour led by Chicago's Nancy Klem,
in the heart of Madison.
- Start walking.
I'm always looking at transitions in landscapes
where there is hills, and there's collections,
at the base of buildings, particularly stone buildings,
because there's a lot of minerals in stones
and there's a lot of things that will collect
as the precipitation runs off the stone.
There'll be certain communities of plants.
One of the plants I want to show you is right here.
This is malva sylvestris or mallow. It's a great green.
In Mexico, they'll eat this, and make tacos with this.
They'll cream this and add
a little bit of really, really young cheese,
and then reduce it with some garlic,
and use it for tacos.
They're delicious.
- I do a lot of traveling.
so it's really nice to be able to find
your own food or medicine, while you're traveling
rather than have to constantly add to your luggage,
and then have to travel home with extra things.
- This one we'll see tons more of
is Chenopodium album, wild spinach or lamb's quarters.
Wild spinach is pretty indistinguishable
from regular spinach, particularly when it's cooked.
It has a much higher Vitamin A, higher protein content,
and fresh has a huge amount of Vitamin C.
- I'm really big into kind of the local food movement
and getting really connected to where we live via food.
- This is wild ginger.
This is something you can dig up
and use as stand-in for ginger.
Another two pretty good base plants
for just more greens for cooking.
This is wild amaranth.
It's a great green full of protein.
You can stir-fry it, cook it in a casserole,
or eat it green.
And this is smart weed.
There's a lot of things that serve as general basis of salad.
- 150 years ago, humans knew all of this,
just-- It was passed down.
And I want to close the loop back up
and regain the information.
- Just be aware of where you're picking your urban forage.
Automotive and animal pollution
can make some plants unedible.
For centuries, Native Americans have foraged
for food in our state.
The cultures teach tribal members
how to live off the land.
And the same is true when it comes to sustaining forests.
"In Wisconsin" reporter Andy Soth shows you how
that has translated into more than a century of success
at a paper mill in Menominee county.
*
- The secret to running a successful sawmill
lies in making the most of every log.
For starters, each piece of timber is assessed on arrival.
A calculation is made of how much quality wood
a log can produce.
Each log is tracked as it travels through the mill
and the percentage yield of the day's run
posted for all to see.
But that's not the only message on the board.
- Maehnow - Pematesonon - Yopeh.
In the Menominee language, that means have a nice day.
- It's in the Menominee language,
because this is the Menominee Reservation.
The sawmill is owned and has been operated
by Menominee Tribal Enterprises for 100 years.
- The butcher blocks are made from Menominee forest wood...
- An anniversary celebrated in October 2008.
*
That means for a century MTE has provided
a paycheck for Menominee mill workers,
a way of life for Menominee lumberman
and an economic base for the Menominee community.
But what may be most remarkable
about Menominee Tribal Enterprises 100 years
is that the mill remains surrounded by trees.
The entire reservation is one of the most densely
forested parts of Wisconsin.
There are more trees today than before the mill was built.
- At that time, we had 1.3 billion feet
of timber on our reservation.
We now have over 1.7 billion feet.
- Many companies credit a founder
or CEO for their success.
At MET, it's Chief Oshkosh, who in the 19th century
advised cutting selectively and sustainably,
moving slowly from east to west.
- When you reach the end of the reservation turn
and cut from the setting sun to the rising sun,
and the trees will last forever.
- And they have lasted.
When the other great forests of northern Wisconsin
were stripped bare, this forest remained.
But not because it had been left alone.
- At first glance it looks
like a forest that hasn't been managed.
It's anything but that. It's a managed forest.
- Marshall Pecore knows.
He's managed the forest for years.
His staff determines the time to harvest each tree
and tells the loggers how it should be done.
- The things that we do is intelligent tinkering.
We don't have all the answers.
But one of the important things of tinkering,
is keep all the pieces.
We're trying to keep all the pieces
of the forest together.
- The sum of all those pieces is more than simply timber for the mill.
- The other thing they get is, well,
we just saw a couple guys ahead of us going fishing.
Pretty unique place for fishing.
Just scenic drives for the tribal members.
But it is part of their ancestral lands.
And I think seeing the forest and seeing it held intact,
I think has enabled the Menominee
to maintain their cultural identity.
- An identity expressed in simple ways,
like have a nice day in the Menominee language.
Or more grand like when the mill
was honored at the annual powwow.
- It was built in 1908.
It's quite an achievement.
This is only the first 100 years.
(Pow wow beat of the drum)
- The mill has also been honored with a trophy case worth
of national awards for its green business practices.
And visitors from all over the world
come to study their methods.
But what may be hardest to teach, as Marshall Pecore says,
that the forest is the Menominee people.
- I think that the forest is kind of the body.
The water can be viewed as the blood
going through the veins,
so I think there is that relationship.
I think most Menominee's feel that in their hearts.
(Pow wow beat of the drum)
- For the Menominee Nation, the uncertainties
of climate change complicate their goal
of thinking seven generations ahead
to sustain forest health.
For more information go to QuestWisconsin.org.
As part of our Quest environmental reporting project
with the Educational Communications Board,
you can see how climate change could
impact the Menominee forest in a report they call Forestry.
Next week, the impact of climate change
on a famous winter event.
It's one of the reports we're working on for
the next edition of "In Wisconsin."
North America's largest cross-country ski race
happens in Wisconsin.
- Some events are bigger than simply a ski event
from here to there.
- It faces a colossal threat from climate change.
You'll see why in our
Quest environmental reporting project.
- I'm "In Wisconsin" reporter Liz Koerner.
This newly renovated building houses a museum
that's so unique it's already attracting
visitors from around the world.
But, it's not just about the past.
They also offer hands-on lessons here
at the Wisconsin Canoe Heritage Museum in Spooner.
- Those reports and Michael Perry's humorous essay.
- We don't burn a lot of white pine.
It's fun to watch burn, but it goes real fast.
It's kind of like burning firecrackers.
- See what happens when the calendar
and the dwindling wood pile meet.
- Call it what you like, a Stormy Kromer, a Kromer domer,
or a Yooper hat. It's Northwoods chic.
- I can't imagine this hat will ever go out of style.
- I'm "In Wisconsin" reporter Jo Garrett,
and I'll bring you the history of this hat.
- Those reports next Thursday at 7:30 pm,
right here on Wisconsin Public Television.
If you're online this week, we invite you to
take a look at our interactive blog
called the Producer's Journal.
It's updated each weekday by the people who work
in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
You'll find out in advance about special projects
and the places we've been.
It's all in the Producer's Journal at wpt.org.
Just click on "In Wisconsin" and look for this picture.
Grab your Stormy Kromer.
You'll need it for our final video this week,
as we bring you winter
at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum.
It's a 1200-acre wonderland located
a stone's throw from the heart of downtown Madison.
Have a great week "In Wisconsin."
*
- Major funding for "In Wisconsin" is provided by:
the people of Alliant Energy, who bring safe, reliable
and environmentally friendly energy to keep homes,
neighborhoods and life in Wisconsin running smoothly.
Alliant Energy, we're on for you.
And Animal Dentistry and Oral Surgery Specialists
of Milwaukee, Oshkosh and Minneapolis,
a veterinary team working with pet owners
and family veterinarians providing care for oral disease
and dental problems of small companion animals.