By BRIAN LEAHY
of The Gazette
Vacationers looking for a place to camp, visit, fish or hike this summer can tour the Internet before they ever pack their luggage.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources homepage at "www.dnr.state.wi.us" offers a wide range of information ranging from outdoor recreation opportunities to environmental protection efforts in the state.
Looking to camp at a state park and want to take Fido along with you? The state parks and campgrounds section of the outdoor activities category lists which areas allow pets and where they aren't allowed.
Wondering how a fish hatchery operates, but don't know where the closest one is and if it has a visitor center? After a few clicks of a mouse, you'll find the Wild Rose Hatchery on Highway 22 in Waushara County has a visitor center open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. Visitors will find rest rooms and a picnic area.
Operations at the facility include brood stock, hatching and rearing of brown trout, chinook salmon, muskie, northern pike, walleye and lake sturgeon. Sturgeon reared at Wild Rose have been reintroduced into the Stevens Point Flowage.
The homepage has seven main categories -- about the DNR, news and events, outdoor activities, natural resources, environmental protection, kids stuff and Natural Resources Magazine.
Under about the DNR, net surfers can read the department's mission statement, see its organizational chart, find the phone number for an office or employee and read about employment opportunities.
The news and events category has links for the department's weekly statewide press releases, regional and breaking news releases and the weekly state outdoor report. The site also leads to calendars of upcoming seasons, public meetings and hearings, including the state Natural Resources Board agenda.
Outdoor recreationalists will probably want to start with the outdoors activities category. The site subdivides into state parks and campgrounds, hunting, fishing, trapping, boating, all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiling.
Campers can make campsite reservations online. The site also gives campsite, trail and state park fees.
The hunting section has information ranging from a deer harvest summary by deer management unit to results of this spring's ruffed grouse drumming surveys.
Anglers wanting to know if they caught a state record fish and what to do with it can find that knowledge in the fishing section.
Regulations and license information can be found for all sports needing it. The boating, ATV and snowmobiling sites also have accident statistics.
The natural resources category gives information on endangered resources, including the Karner blue butterfly habitat conservation plan and environmental impact statement. Browsers can also download the second draft of the wolf management plan.
Information about state natural areas is also found under the natural resources category.
Portage County has three areas listed as state natural areas -- the Buena Vista Quarry Prairie, Dewey Marsh and Pickerel Lake. Each area has a narrative describing access to the site, its reason for preservation, a description of its natural features and its acreage.
Online maps are planned for each state natural area. So far the three Portage County sites don't have any.
The environmental protection category describes environmental protection efforts in the state, including soil, water and recycling programs.
Kids of all ages and their teachers should stop at the Kids Stuff section.
The category offers EEK!, an electronic environmental education publication for kids grades four through eight. A "know your frogs" link gives excellent information and photographs of several species living in this state. EEK! also has a section for teachers.
Fall is just around the corner. Young hunters and their parents can find information about upcoming hunter education classes throughout the state by browsing through the Kids Stuff page.
Teachers can pick up some valuable environmental education resources in the Project Wild and Project Learning Tree links of the Kids Stuff page.
The Natural Resources Magazine page has information on the current issue of the department's official magazine, plus has search engines for finding items previously published.
By browsing through the DNR's webpage, one can see the broad range of responsibilities the agency has. The examples given above are by no means inclusive of all that can found at the department's site.
Our favorite find at the site was a search under "what's new?" and reading the Chief Warden Tom Harelson's 1998 deer gun season report to DNR Secretary George Meyer. In his lengthy letter, Harelson gave an often entertaining and sometimes scary account of enforcement highlights and lowlights his warden force had last year.