on Wisconsin Life...
>> When they build the nest
they don't make it convenient
for the climber.
>> When a hat-lover marries a
hat-maker, we open up
this place.
>> I'd rather be out on the
water than anywhere.
It's a real privilege to work
with this collection of
lighthouses.
>> The best thing
that I've ever seen.
That's so amazing
I have to do it.
It's kind of that feeling.
?
>> Funding for Wisconsin Life
is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Bremer Bank,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
the L.E. Phillips
Family Foundation,
and Friends of
Wisconsin Public Television.
>> I'm Mike Meyer.
I'm a research scientist
for the DNR, and this is
my Wisconsin Life.
>> On water or land
foraging the forest
with curiosity
Mike Meyer is at home
in northern Wisconsin.
>> I grew up in the area
and I know how rare eagles
once were.
>> As a research scientist with
the Department of Natural
Resources, Mike has come
in contact with hundreds
of eagles.
>> About 520.
It's at least that many now.
Probably closer to 600.
>> When his research began in
the 1990's most northwoods
visitors would have been
happy to see just one eagle.
>> In the days when we
first started this work
it was still a rarity
for folks to see an eagle
while they were up here.
Now you can be on Main Street
in Minocqua eating an ice cream
cone and we have eagles that'll
fly right over town.
>> This past year Mike and a
team of experts were
on a mission to study the health
of Wisconsin's bald eagle
population.
>> We're down here at the boat
landing, we'll be straight
across the lake to a point,
where it's in an aspen tree.
We're going to 25 nests
in Vilas, Oneida County and up
on the Lake Superior shoreline
to band bald eagle nestlings.
>> It's no easy feat to reach an
eagles nest in white pines that
can grow 100 feet straight up
in what's described as
a supercanopy tree.
>> When they build the nest
they don't make it convenient
for the climber.
>> Each tree is a different
high-wire act.
>> He's got to find a way
around the edge of the nest
but still stay attached to
the tree.
>> Getting around a nest that
can be four to five feet in
diameter can present a unique
and sometimes dangerous
encounter.
>> We just noticed a factor
that is going to make this
a little more difficult.
>> Through the pine branches
Mike can see the eaglets
wildly flapping its wings.
>> It's probably a seven
or eight-week-old chick,
which gives us a little pause,
we call them jumpers,
it can leave the nest
before they should.
So he will be careful getting
up there so that he doesn't
spook the bird and cause it to
prematurely try to fly.
>> This birds-eye view shows
just how close to the edge the
baby bald eagles are periously
perched, and they're still
not quite old enough to soar.
>> It had pretty good
flight feathers.
>> Flight feathers that can
catch a gust of wind
and blow the young eagles
out of the nest.
[wind howling]
These are tense moments for
the team.
The climber works with caution
and care.
>> This bird is almost
ready to fly.
This bird is at least two weeks
to three weeks older than the
other birds we've sampled.
[wind howling]
>> Well, they're a fearless
animal.
That comes across as you're
handling even the youngsters.
>> Fully grown at just six weeks
their beak and talons already
pose a serious threat
even if the climber wears
protective gloves.
[wind howling]
The adult eagles are always
nearby.
>> Folks are always anticipating
that we'll answer by saying
that they're harassing the
climber and diving into the
nest, but that's not the case.
>> At this nest,
an eagle circles overhead
in a holding pattern,
but never swoops in
to intervene.
>> They'll make noise and
perch nearby,
but they rarely if ever
will even enter the nest
while the climber is there.
>> The eaglets are bagged and
then carefully lowered to the
ground.
Then the research team goes to
work in a makeshift outdoor lab.
>> We collect the blood
samples so that we can
analyze their exposure to
enviromental contaminants
like PCB's and pesticides.
Back in the early 1990's
we were in the process of
de-listing bald eagles.
The Great Lakes bald eagles
in Wisconsin and Michigan
had very high levels of
contaminants.
In areas like this,
in northern Wisconsin they had
very low levels.
Now we're back 25 years later
to see how the chemical levels
have changed in the
Great Lakes areas and here
in Vilas county.
We already know that on
the Great Lakes, particularly
on Lake Superior and the
Green Bay/Lake Michigan
shoreline, the levels of
PCB's and DDT have dropped about
50% to 80%.
We take a feather sample
to assess their mercury
exposure too.
So we have 11ccs here.
We'll measure the
primary feather length.
241 on the eighth primary.
The size of the foot
helps us determine what
gender it is.
The females are much larger
than the male, so we measure
the length of the foot pad.
So now, Brian is going
to band this bird.
And this is a unique
US Fish and Wildlife Service
metal band to helps us identify
the bird if it's found again
in the future.
>> That's perfect!
>> I think we got everything
on this one.
>> This one's done.
She can go back home.
>> Okay Dan, you can bring
the first one up.
>> There's your buddy.
Hey, Sis, how're you doin'?
>> When we first sampled
the eagles in Wisconsin in
1990 there was about 400 pair
total in the state.
There's now at least 1,400,
so it's almost quadrupled
in number.
For us in the conservation world
a good news story.
We have population that was
once endangered.
I think we've cleaned up
the environment for eagles
to the point now where
they can pretty much take it
from here.
?
>> I'm Kate McLaughlin.
>>I'm John McLaughlin.
>> Together: And this is
our Wisconsin Life.
>> It's the last thing you put
on, but it's the first thing
people see.
>> Hats are sculptures that we
just choose to wear, and that
really signify personality.
>> We're the
Brass Rooster Hat Company.
We are traditional hatters here
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Milwaukee hasn't had a hatter
in over 15 years.
I made my first hat when I was a
junior in high school.
My husband was always a hat guy.
He had been wearing hats ever
since he found his
grandfather's.
>> When a hat-lover marries a
hat-maker, she makes the
hat-lover into a hat-maker.
And we open up this place.
>> What we started seeing was in
media, in film,
in entertainment, in print,
hats wear coming back in vogue.
>> We saw the need, and we're
stepping up, because people
want them.
We know the quality of what used
to be made.
That's what we're making
right here.
When you make something by hand
it takes a little piece of you
with it.
It's got that extra bit of care
that's given to it.
If you want something that's
extremely high-quality, it's
always made by hand, because
we're better than any machine
will ever be.
To me it's being able to
continue something that was
almost lost.
It's like saving an endangered
animal.
>> Every piece of equipment we
find is golden to us because the
equipment has become so rare.
Our line of hats is two-fold.
We have our Stand-Out which is
the more contemporary side.
Our Look Shape are the hats in
our line that are all taken from
real traditional styling of
men's hats.
>> With every hat that I make
it's a sense of pride.
It's art that somebody gets to
use every day.
>> There's the term called
cock of the walk.
When men leave the hat store
wearing their hat they've got a
strut, they've got a movement
about them.
>> This country used to make
great things and we can make
great things again.
This country was built by small
companies that were husbands and
wives, and brothers and friends
that knew that they could make
something that was fantastic.
>> The most natural thing for
our progression is to go from
making custom hats to presenting
and designing a line of hats
that we are so proud of,
of being American-made,
of continuing a hat craft.
>> Every cent that we've made,
every hour that we've spent in
here, we've put into this shop
because we believe it's
worthwhile, we believe it's
something that we can pass on to
our kids.
And we believe it's a craft
worth saving.
?
>> Still to come on
Wisconsin Life...
Author Benjamin Percy shares his
story of moving to Wisconsin
with his wife and describes how
he sometimes found life here
a bit unusual.
>> Wisconsinites are proud.
So proud that a stranger once
high-fived me in the frozen
pizza aisle for wearing a
Packers sweatshirt.
>> Find out how Benjamin came to
love his adopted state-in-law
later, on Wisconsin Life.
?
>> My name is Adam Winrich
[whips cracking]
And this is my Wisconsin Life.
?
>> Against the dark and quiet
night cuts the light of fire
and the crack of a whip.
This is the work of
Adam Winrich,
hero of the western plains,
known in these parts
as 'The Whip Man!'
?
At least, that's how you MIGHT
imagine someone who earns
a living by cracking a whip.
But if you're looking for
someone less melodramatic
and more Midwestern,
you might want to meet
Wisconsin's own
Adam Winrich.
>> I'm from Fall Creek,
Wisconsin, and I make
my living as a Whip Cracker.
>> That's right, Adam is a
professional whip cracker.
>> This first whip I have
here is know as
the Australian Bullock whip.
That's bullock as in
Sandra Bullock,
used to control teams of oxen.
So you have a long handle that
can be used as a prod
and a long thong, or whip part,
that can reach all the way out
[whip cracks]
to the animals at the front of
the team.
[whip cracks]
To keep their heads down and
into the yolk.
This is one of the loudest
whips I have,
and here's how loud it can be.
[whip cracks]
>> As you can tell,
Adam doesn't just crack
his whip, he puts on
a show.
>> Here's a fancier move with
the Australian Bullock whip
known as Hassett's Four Corners.
[whip cracking]
>> Adam didn't get interested
in whip cracking
from working on the range,
his inspiration came
from old movies.
>> I got started with
whip cracking when I was
nine years old after
I saw Indiana Jones.
?
And then I stuck with it for
a number of years.
[whip cracking]
When I started to learn
whip cracking, all I could
really do was watch the movies.
I watched the
Man from Snowy River, and
I had the idea, 'All right, you
swing the whip up and
you bring it down.'
That's what I saw the guy on
Man from Snowy River do,
so I just tried copying that.
I'd watch my shadow on
the ground.
And I'd say, 'Bring it up,
bring it down.'
And then, for Christmas
one year, I got a movie,
VHS tape called
The Art of The Bullwhip,
which showed a bunch of
different tricks by a bunch
of different artists.
So I tried copying them, and
from there I got some more
instructional tapes,
instructional DVDs.
Finally, when I started doing
whip cracking full-time,
I was able to go to a few
conventions.
[whip cracking]
I always enjoyed doing it.
Always liked showing off for
friends and family and stuff.
I did a few speeches in
high school with the whips
and would scare the
crap out of my teachers.
>> In college, Adam studied
math and physics,
but the whips kept pulling
him back.
>> I think it was 2006,
I was doing some community
theater in Eau Claire,
and they had me crack whips.
Some other people in the show
said, 'Hey, we're putting on
a Renaissance Festival
in Chippewa Falls,
you should put together a show
and come too.'
So that first year, 2006,
I just did the one festival,
and then the next year
I met some more performers
and they said 'You're doing some
good stuff now, you should try
to get into other festivals.'
So 2007, I came to the
Bristol Renaissance Fair
and auditioned, and I also
went to one in Michigan.
And it kind of snowballed
from there.
>> You show us a quick
demonstration right there.
>> In the years since,
Adam has performed bigger
and better tricks
on big stages and small screens.
>> I've been on a few
Guinness World Records
TV shows.
I've been to Italy once,
I went to Milan and set a
record for most soda cans
cut in half with a whip
in three minutes.
The show I've been on the most
has been filmed in China.
There, they've had me go for a
record of most candles put out
in a minute with a whip.
>> Even with those records
under his belt,
Adam says there's still
something about the whip that
keeps him aiming for more.
>> I think for any hobby,
what keeps you going
for years and years
is that whatever it is about,
you look at it, or you watch
someone do it or you do it
yourself, and you feel
like 'that's the coolest thing
that there is.
I think that's the best thing
that I've ever seen.
That's so amazing
I have to do it.'
It's kind of that feeling.
[whip cracks]
?
>> I'm Dave Cooper, and this
is my Wisconsin Life.
?
>> I'm a cultural resource
specialist, basically a
combination of a historian and
an archaeologist.
I work for the
National Parks Service,
here at Apostle Islands
National Lakeshore.
I grew up over in Door County,
and grew up around
lighthouses and shipwrecks
and that sort of thing.
So I became really fascinated by
the maritime history of
the Great Lakes as a little kid,
and was playing around on
shallow shipwrecks with a mask
and snorkel I'd got from the
Ace Hardware when I was
10 years old.
And we had a number of
lighthouses there as well.
So I developed a pretty early
interest in maritime history.
I ended up working for the
Wisconsin Historical Society as
a maritime archaeologist,
studying shipwrecks and started
doing work up in the Apostles on
a number of our local wrecks.
It got me pretty interested in
the Apostles.
Some of the local parks
service people that I was
working with said, hey, are
you interested in working
for the Parks Service as
a ranger and as a cultural
resource specialist.
And it took some years and turns
in the road, sort of thing,
before I eventually found my way
back here to Apostles.
There's 22 islands,
it's a group of islands in
Northern Wisconsin
on Lake Superior.
It's kind of a funnel for
shipping moving up and down
Lake Superior, particularly
iron ore, timber.
The lighthouses were meant to
basically guide the ships in and
out of the islands and through
the islands.
Our first light was built
in 1856.
Raspberry Light here was built
a few years later, 1862.
Most of these stations were
automated somewhere between the
1920s and the 1940s.
We had some money provided to us
by Congress for restoring
a number of the lights
in the park.
One of the first projects
that we'd had some years ago was
here at Raspberry Light.
This was done in 2005 to 2007.
We had a major overhaul on the
light itself, the main building,
including new roof, foundation.
The interior was rehabbed.
Subsequent to that, we received
a special appropriation from
Congress for working on the
remaining five light stations.
So that includes Michigan Island
Light and Devil's Island Light.
It will also include work at
Outer Light, Sand Light and
LaPointe Light, which is on
Long Island.
So ultimately, we'll have some
work done at all six stations.
And then we have exhibits that
are going to be put in telling
the story of the light, and also
telling the stories of all
the Apostles Lights.
Detective work is a good way
to describe it.
We had what's called a historic
structures report done for all
the lights, and it's basically a
top-to-bottom survey by a team
that includes architects,
historians and archaeologists
and cultural landscape
specialists, looking at
basically all the facets of the
station: the condition of the
building, the history of the
buildings, how they were used,
modified over the years, also
the condition of the grounds.
There's all kinds of things out
on these grounds from where they
played croquet to where the
gardens were to where the
keepers' kids may have scratched
their initials on the rocks
you know a hundred years ago
down below.
We're hoping to wrap up most of
it this season.
There's a few things that we may
want to squeeze in next year
if we can.
But the goal is to get
everything wrapped up this year.
There's a romance to the
stations, you know, they're
these silent sentinels sitting
on these bluffs overlooking the
ocean or the lakes.
They're in a very scenic
location, and people will want
to come and visit these
stations.
In many cases, folks who come to
visit are grandchildren of
people who actually lived here,
great-grandchildren.
So this is tied up, in some
cases, with family history.
Some people are just interested
in the whole maritime story of
Lake Superior, for example.
Well, I love being outside
and I love being on the lake.
I'd rather be out on the water
than anywhere.
It's a real privilege to work
with this collection of
lighthouses.
It's an interesting group of
people, interesting skill sets,
interesting stories, you know,
beautiful places to work.
What's there not to love?
?
>> I'm Benjamin Percy, and this
is my Wisconsin Life.
>> There was a time, more than
ten years ago, when Wisconsin
meant nothing to me.
I knew it as name on a map, but
otherwise, the state, and the
upper Midwest, were an empty
room in my mind.
I remember when I first
actively thought about it
as a place.
At the time I was working at
Glacier National Park with my
then girlfriend, now wife.
The sun was setting, haloing the
jagged mountains, and we were
sprawled out on a blanket,
drinking wine and talking about
our future.
She wanted to travel, but
eventually move back home.
She said this in a questioning
way, as if testing my openness
to the idea.
There began her campaign.
She did her very best.
Timing my first visit in
the fall when the trees were
ablaze and the cornfields
golden.
Slipping me an editorial in
defense of Wisconsin clipped
from the Eau Claire Leader-
Telegram.
Tuning into Packers games
and cheering wildly.
Teaching me how to
play euchre.
Introducing me to Scandinavian
delicacies like lefsa
and rommegrot.
I resisted at first.
I refused to call casseroles
hot dishes .
I cringed every time someone
called lunch dinner or dinner
supper .
But then I moved to Milwaukee,
and later to Stevens Point.
I was never so aware of
Wisconsin's awesomeness until I
moved to Iowa, where I lived for
four years before escaping,
starved for trees and desperate
for a vista.
In Iowa, I needed only to look
at the gear people wore.
In Wisconsin, people wear
green and gold,
but in Iowa, I saw Vikings,
Chiefs, Bears, the jerseys
as diverse as the window display
at a mall sports shop.
Iowans look elsewhere for
somethinto root for.
Whereas Wisconsinites are proud.
So proud that a stranger once
high-fived me in the frozen
pizza aisle for wearing a
Packers sweatshirt.
For me, this captures the spirit
of the state.
Wisconsin is proud.
There is so much to
high-five about.
Beer!
Bratwurst!
Polka!
Snowmobiling!
Cabins!
Fishing!
In Iowa, there is nothing to
high-five about.
I married into Wisconsin.
I cheer on the Packers.
I drink Spotted Cow.
I make lefsa and krumkake
every Christmas.
I dream of a cabin on
Madeline Island.
This is my state-in-law,
and I have come to love it as
dearly as my birthplace.
I straddle two territories,
one foot on the West Coast,
the other the Northwoods,
a capital M, capital W,
Mid-Westerner.
?
>> We want to know, what's your
Wisconsin Life?
This week Bret from New Glarus
shares pictures from a trip with
family and friends on the
Milwaukee Urban Water Trail.
You can share pitcures and video
of your Wisconsin Life
by sending them to
wisconsinlife@wpt.org.
>> Funding for Wisconsin Life
is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Bremer Bank,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
the L.E. Phillips
Family Foundation,
and Friends of
Wisconsin Public Television.