top of page

A Driftless Park

  • Bryan Stanley
  • 6 days ago
  • 2 min read

We published the 2nd edition of the flagship proposal - "The Becoming of the Driftless Rivers National Park" - updated our website, and published a full-page ad in "National Parks Magazine", which turned out very well. We received many responses to it.


My hopes and dreams of this new park are still intact and I still believe in it. I think we can still achieve it. Ultimately, I think it is the best way to preserve the land and economy of the Driftless Area.


Other land conservancy organizations in the Driftless Area are certainly doing very fine work, but they are preserving the land on a patchwork basis and those lands do not generate any direct income. This part would preserve a major ecosystem and generate significant non-consumptive resource income. This is important. I have been hearing stories that western Wisconsin is one of the worst areas in the country for farm bankruptcies.


In the not-too-distant future all of us will be gone from this work. But, the land will remain and "The Land Remembers". I believe that this will be the best idea for the land, landowners, economy, and our country.


"A civilization thrives when its citizens plant trees in whose shade they will never sit." - Greek proverb.


I read recently about a rancher in Wyoming who was in the forefront of a hostile attack on the creation of Grand Teton National Park. He fought and fought against it. Eventually, the park was created. Within the last few years, the rancher, now in his 80s, admitted to himself and others that he was on the wrong side of history and regretted hsi former actions.


In the creation of this new park, no landowners will be evicted from their land. They will be able to live and work their land much like a reverse mortgage. But, for now, we need to create a consensus for the park among the landowners. Perhaps after an 80% consensus we can start to raise funds and move forward with the logistics of creating the park and set up pensions for landowners who take part. A college professor wrote to me once and said: "You have put into words something I have always felt in my heart - the Driftless Area should be a national park."

 
 
 

Comments

Art, History, Geography, and Culture come together in this new Wisconsin Book!

81DV+nZaQ5L_edited.jpg

Meet the Author

Brian Stanley

Bryan is a soil scientist.  He grew up in the Driftless Area, and eventually earned a bachelor's degree in Natural Resources from UW-Stevens Point.

​

"The cultural aspects of the Driftless Area are fascinating," he notes.  "The significance of the people who have lived here or whose lives have intersected here is historically important and significant to the story of the creation of a national park."

​

Stanley is donating all profits from the book to establish a new park in Crawford County which lies in the heart of the Driftless Area.

​

DID YOU KNOW THAT...

  • Prairie du Chien is Wisconsin's second oldest community.  Green Bay was the first - both areas were established by the French.

​​

  • The first (and only), President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, was a U.S. Army officer stationed at Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien.

​​

  • The term, "Driftless Area" means that no glacial drift is found in this region of deep valleys and high hills.

​​

  • Petroglyphs are rock engravings or sculptures while pictographs are drawings done with charcoal, paint, or other materials.

​​

  • To create a new National Park, the proposed area must be deemed nationally significant in at least one of these three areas:

    1. Natural​

    2. Historical

    3. High Recreation Potential

The Driftless Area has all three!​

​

To purchase your spectacular Wisconsin book today, click here or you can contact Bryan at bryan@driftlessrivers.org

bottom of page