The Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) is holding a Last Acre Ceremony on October 7th, 2005, for the Northwest ten county project, the only area of the state without a soil survey. The Northwest-10 received cooperative state funding through the Land Information Program (WLIP) in 1999 in order to accelerate soils mapping in the region.
The ceremony will be held in the Lac Courte Oreilles Convention Hall, connected to the LCO Casino just southeast of Hayward, WI. Confirmed guests include Don Fehrenbacher, Ken Lubich and John Hempel, our current and two former State Soil Scientists, as well as Congressman Dave Obey and State Representative Mary Williams. Dave Hvizdak, the Soil Survey Coordinator in Spooner, is handling details for a ceremony that runs from 9:00 a.m. until 12 Noon and includes demonstrations, commentary by local leaders, and an Ojibwe closing ceremony.
This ceremony foreshadows a larger planned ceremony, potentially slated for the State Capitol, in recognition of completed statewide soil mapping that will likely occur in summer, 2006.