Past programs and links
In Wisconsin Transcript #000625    Airdate: 03/20/2008
[Captioning made possible by U.S. Department of Education]
  Cheese Championship
Every two years, the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association holds the World Cheese Championships. In Wisconsin Producer Art Hackett visits two cheese plants with winning records in past competitions to see what is involved in picking entries. What is it that makes a Championship Cheese? Find out!

related links
Roth Kase Cheese
Decatur Dairy
Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association
Click Here to Watch Cheese Championships (Real Media)
Click Here to Watch Cheese Championships (Windows Media)
  Dental Care
Back in 2003 ‘In Wisconsin’ looked into the lack of access to dental care for low-income residents. We featured a clinic in Ladysmith, in the northwestern part of the state, which was treating patients from 37 counties. They traveled many miles to this clinic because, either they had no insurance or they couldn’t find a dentist willing to take Medicaid or Badgercare closer to their home.


In updating this story we found the situation has gotten worse. But the state is spending money in an effort to alleviate the problem. This report looks at an innovative attempt to get school age children into a dental chair.

related links
Columbia St. Mary's
UW School of Medicine and Public Health--Office of Rural Health
Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association
American Dental Association
Click Here to Watch Dental Care (Real Media)
Click Here to Watch Dental Care (Windows Media)
  Rudolph Lake Land Trust
Wisconsin's Northwoods are under increasing pressure from developers.
Land prices are soaring and some fear that what makes the North so
wonderful may be lost. So imagine the surprise when a tourist couple
from Chicago plays a major role in saving a 325 acre parcel from
development in Vilas County.

What did they do? And how might it prove to be a model for other
communities in Wisconsin? Join us for this story, part of IN WISCONSIN
continuing series on the role of land trusts in our state.

related links
The Nature Conservancy
Click Here to Watch Land Trust (Windows Media)
Click Here to Watch Land Trust (Real Media)
  Racine Light House Postcard
Scenic glimpses of a striking Light House in Racine.

  Updates on Recent Stories
Producer Art Hackett brings recent updates on two Wisconsin stories. This year, In Wisconsin did a story on ATV in the state. Recently, Board members were presented with the stakeholder's report on establishing All Terrain Vehicle trails in the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest in Iron, and Vilas and Oneida Counties.


The report concluded that finding locations that don't involve wetlands or streams would be "extremely challenging". Creating all 67 miles of trails similar to these could cost as much as nine and a half million dollars.


In other news, Chronic Wasting Disease in Deer, a stakeholder's group recommended an end to the extended hunting seasons in areas where CWD infected deer had been found. The extended seasons were part of a plan to eradicate all deer in infested areas.

related links
Watch Past Report on ATV Trails- Real 07:52
Watch Past Report on ATV Trails- Windows 07:52
Watch Past Report on CDW- Real 09:42
Watch Past Report on CDW- Windows 09:42
Read the CWD Advisory Group Report
Watch Updates- Real 02:00
Watch Updates- Windows 02:00
Read the DNR's Stakeholder Report on ATVs

Bissen:
We all know that here in Wisconsin, cheese is big business. And creating world class cheese is very serious business. Reporter Art Hackett threw on a hairnet and spent time with two Wisconsin cheesemakers who recently competed in a world competition for best in show bragging rights.
Art Hackett:
People in Wisconsin's cheese industry take the World Cheese Championships, which happen every two years in the spring, very seriously.

Jim Natzke:
It's an important contest for us. It is kind of like the Academy Awards of the cheese industry.

Hackett:
Jim Natzke doesn't wear his pride on his sleeve, it's on his back.

Hackett:
It would be a big deal if you won.

Natzke:
It would be huge.

Hackett:
15 miles to the east near Brodhead is another cheese plant that even identifies itself as the home of championship cheeses.

Steve Stettler:
I ordered this baby 17 years and never won. 99 was the first year I won.

Hackett:
Steve is the Master Cheesemaker at Decatur Dairy.

Hackett:
How old are these, typically?

Stettler:
I can't tell you that, it's a secret.

Hackett:
Cheesemakers are so into this competition, it took some talking to- to convince these gentlemen to let us in on what can only be called the secrets to picking a championship cheese. At Roth kase in Monroe, we were led into a chilled basement storeroom filled with thousands of rounds. Roth Kase will enter a number of categories, but we'll be talking about Gruyere, a hard yellow cheese native to Switzerland. Just as dairy cattle are judged on the fullness of their udders and the height of their hind quarters, these dairy products will first be judged for their shape.

Natzke:
It will not affect the flavor but it creates something that the judges can find wrong with your cheese that they'll mark you down for.

Hackett:
Natzke has pulled individual cheeses that have appearance flaws that would rule out their being entered. These can be sampled for taste. Each one is marked with a batch date.

Natzke:
Each batch we do is about 130 wheels. So, if we find one that can tastes good. We can always find one that looks good in that batch.

Hackett:
The sample wheels have numerous marks showing that someone has been following their progress.

Natzke:
This one has been plugged a few times. When you first pull that plug out what you want to do is look for things, pin holes. You see a few eyes, Gruyere can have a few small eyes in it. It's not considered a defect.

Hackett:
Finally the taste.

Natzke:
It is a clean flavor. No bitter aftertaste. It passes all those tests. The final thing we look for is something that's wow. If I had to say anything about this cheese, I don't get wow out of it. I have one more here. A July 17th. A week older than the other one.

Hackett:
This is sharper still.

Natzke:
A friend of mine once told me a good piece of cheese when you get done eating it you're hungry for another one. This one kind of leaves you hungry and coming back for more.

Stettler:
We've got Muenster, I believe there is a Havarti with peppercorn in there somewhere.

Hackett:
Decatur’s cheese varieties aren’t aged as long as the Gruyere. The rest of these batches went to a deli long ago. On a set of shelves, Stettler has set aside what he hopes will be the winning loaves for the competition.

Stettler:
We have these two yet. I don't know if I'll enter these or not. Those are experimental Havartis.

Hackett:
He carries the loaves to tables in the next room. He's looking for pairs of even height with the wrapping perfectly square. Contestants have to hit a moving target. Cheese is a living thing. The processes which create it and give it flavor will continue up until the time it is judged.

Stettler:
I would assume by the time the contest comes around it will be sealed up totally with the aging.

Hackett:
He pulls a loaf with a crease in it to slice for a taste sample.

Stettler:
This is my good luck Swiss knife. You have to have one of them. Pretty smooth in your mouth.

Hackett:
Uh-huh.

Stettler:
And the flavor is really clean.

Hackett:
And these cheesemakers aren't just competing against each other or other factories in Wisconsin.

Natzke:
We've seen in the last few years just the number of entries explode and a lot of those new entries are coming from outside the united states. Particularly the traditional cheese making countries, France, Switzerland, Germany.

Hackett:
Yes, there are a lot of entries. The loaf of Muenster and the wheel of Gruyere from Green County, Wisconsin are among over 1900 entries shipped to Madison for the World Cheese Championship.

Judge:
1701.

Hackett:
Over a period of three days they are plugged and sliced by the judges. There are more white coats than you'd see at a convention of internists. Among the best in class winners, Decatur Dairy's loaf of Muenster.

Stettler:
This was a big one. It's good for the co-op. We have a dairy co-op, 72 farms. This is really good for them.

Hackett:
But it is still sort of like making the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Championship. Everyone's ultimate goal is the Final Four and then the championship.
John Umhoefer:
Here we have the world champion cheese for 2008. It is class 26, the Gruyere.

Hackett:
Could it be? Could this be Roth Kase's entry? Alas, no.

Umhoefer:
From Switzerland made by Michael Speicher in Switzerland.

Hackett:
Still, Roth Kase’s Jim Natzke had a victory to celebrate.

Natzke:
We’re really excited because we won first place in the smear ripened hard cheese category.

Hackett:
Which refers to an American developed cheese similar to Gruyere but with a different flavor.

Natzke:
I can't ever remember having a class winner in this contest, the US contest of course just doesn't have as many entries and somehow there is a little more prestige, a lot more prestige. We're competing with the Europeans.

Hackett:
Yes, you are. The three top cheeses came from Switzerland and Italy. It is Wisconsin against the world.

Bissen:
You may wonder what happens to all of that cheese from the competition? Well, it gets auctioned off. And before you pull out your checkbook, consider this. Many of those wheels of cheese go for thousands of dollars.


Bissen:
You may find it hard to believe, but a trip to the dentist could save your life. Last year a 12-year-old homeless boy in Washington DC died because a tooth infection spread to his brain. That's just one example of the serious health problems that can develop due to a lack of dental care. Something many low income families in Wisconsin are struggling to find. That's because a growing number of dentists say they can't afford to treat Medicaid and BadgerCare patients. Back in 2003 we brought you a report about this problem. Now five years later, producer Liz Koerner investigates whether or not solutions have been found.

Liz Koerner:
Today second grader Imya Gregory is making a visit to the dentist. She didn't have far to go because her dentist has set up shop in her school, Oliver Wendell Holmes Elementary School in Milwaukee. The dental clinic is temporarily set up in a classroom dubbed the “Smart Smiles” lab. The innovative program is state funded and is one of about two dozen that travel across Wisconsin.

Warren LeMay:
The cost of the full set up like that, it’s around $8,000 to $10,000 per set-up. So it's fairly cost effective and we can go into pretty much any type of a school-based setting and bring the services right to the children.

Koerner:
This program at the school today is sponsored by Columbia/Saint Mary's Hospital and the goal is prevention. The dentist starts with a quick exam to determine problem areas. Then a dental hygienist and assistant take over. They clean the children's teeth, do fluoride treatments and apply a sealant when needed. They also offer encouragement to kids who may never have been in this position before.

Hygienist:
You need to get the tooth dirt off so you don't get cavities.

Prenger:
I frequently see children similar to the case in Washington where the child died because of an abscess. I've seen children with their eyes closed with large facial swelling. Children who regularly go to sleep at night with tooth pain. There is a huge need here.

Bill Solberg:
70% of our kids are in BadgerCare, medical assistance. We're able to see in the area of 2,500 to 3,000 kids with these two teams. The challenge is that in Milwaukee Public Schools it's in the area of 80,000 to 90,000 kids.

Koerner:
This program also benefits from the $200,000 spent by the State in 2006 for dental sealants that are applied in settings like this school. According to Wisconsin Dental Association President, Dr. Monica Hebl, this type of in-school preventive care doesn't solve the main problem. Access to a dentist for follow-up treatment like fillings or extractions.

Monica Hebl:
It makes it difficult. Even if the student or child is seen in the school. They can't access the care for further treatment. Have we really done them a service and really solved the problem? I don't believe so.

Koerner:
The Dental Association says access to dental care is not just a Milwaukee issue but a problem across the state. We first covered this issue back in 2003 when we visited Ladysmith Dental Center, which was operating out of temporary quarters. At that time they saw low income patients who traveled from 37 Wisconsin counties. Since then the situation has gotten worse. Patients now travel from 47 counties.

Greg Nycz:
People don't come from that distance unless they're in pain and there is no other alternative closer to home.

Koerner:
The clinic is one of a number of community health centers that provide dental care to families covered by Medicaid and BadgerCare. They also provide services on a sliding fee scale for the uninsured. Recently, centers like these received more than $4 million in state funding to expand existing clinics and add new facilities in places like Iron River, Park Falls and Darlington. The centers are members of the Wisconsin Primary Healthcare Association.

Stephanie Harrison:
People are still driving far too far to get to see a dentist. The health centers are certainly building capacity but again we really recognize that we're a contributor to the solution and we're looking at really collaborative ways to engage more people so people don't have to travel as far.

Koerner:
As an example, the Wisconsin Primary Healthcare Association collaborated with the University of Wisconsin's Office of Rural Health to hire a dental recruiter. Marsha Siik has been beating the bushes to find dentists willing to work in these public health centers for the last three years.

Marsha Siik:
The first year we had five placements, the second year we had ten. Now we have six to date. We have 21 placements throughout the state. Most -- these are all in rural and/or under-served areas.

Koerner:
While they're finding dentists to work at the community health centers, the pool of dentists from which to recruit is on a downward slide. But according to Dr. Hebl, the problem promises to get worse.

Hebl:
Now the baby boomer generation is hitting so that's a big group of dentists that will retire.

Koerner:
Not only are there fewer practicing dentists, every year fewer private dentists are willing to treat Medicaid patients. The State Department of Health and Family Services' most recent records from 2006 show that only about 36% of dentists in Wisconsin got certified to treat Medicaid patients. Dr. Hebl says it all comes down to the bottom line.

Hebl:
We're all small business owners and so when you take a Medicaid patient and you are reimbursed at 40 cents on the dollar and your office overhead the things to pay your lights and staff not even including the dentist's salary is about 65 cents on the dollar it gets very difficult to have a large portion of your practice be Medicaid.

Koerner:
There was a proposal in the most recent state budget that would have increased the Medicaid reimbursement rate to dentists but the legislature dropped it.

Hebl:
If we're going to promise care to people, then we need to fund that care.

Koerner:
Providing access to dental care for low income families has proven to be an illusive goal for state officials and others who want to solve this healthcare crisis. And while there are a number of stopgap measures in place, the riddle of how to provide better access is waiting to be solved.

LeMay:
I don't think there is a single solution to this. This is a huge, complex issue not only in Wisconsin, but across the country.

Bissen:
Governor Jim Doyle earmarked $8.8 million in the current state budget to increase access to dental care. The goal is to come up with a delivery model that better serves low income residents. However, plans for spending that money are now on hold until lawmakers can come to an agreement on how to deal with the current state budget deficit.


Bissen:
We’ve reported in the past on the many types of land trusts in Wisconsin. These are private non-profits that protect and manage more than 200,000 acres in our state. This next report produced by Joanne Garrett shows another way a land trust can balance conservation with development. It involves a pristine wilderness in the Northwoods and a pair of tourists from Chicago.

Joanne Garrett:
This is a story that takes place up north, way north. It's the story of one woman's wishes for her land and how, no kidding, some tourists from Chicago made it happen. The story starts here in the Catherine Wolter Wilderness Area, an immense treasure trove full of lakes a few miles from the U.P. and owned by the Nature Conservancy. Matt Dallman is the Director of Conservation for the Nature Conservancy.

Matt Dallman:
This is 2,189 acres with 15 lakes. It has a majority of the habitat types typical from northern Wisconsin from young aspen to maple to hemlock and yellow birch forest. You can come to this property and pretty much see what northern Wisconsin is all about. It's a place to get away from the Minocqua-type of area where you have busy waters and busy streets.

Garrett:
Here quiet reigns. The catherine Wolter Wilderness Area is undeveloped, wild and accessible. This place isn't locked away. Visitors are welcome.

Dallman:
It's open to the public. We think for people to enjoy and want to protect the northwoods they need to be able to get out and touch it. The public has the ability to hunt and fish out here and will have the ability to hunt and fish here forever.

Garrett:
The public can thank the woman in the photo, Catherine Wolter.

Derek Kresser:
It’s funny because growing up I always thought every grandma had 3800 acres.

Garrett:
She has passed on. This is her grandson, Derek Kresser. He lives in the family homestead.

Kresser:
This is Rudolph Lake. This has been the one constant in my life. My grandmother and grandfather had this since 1942. My grandfather, because he was born and raised in Germany during a time where people could not own property, which is my understanding, so when he came to the States one of his big goals in life was to own a piece of property. Because he liked to hunt, fish and be outdoors it all came together to what motivated him to own what he eventually owned here.

Garrett:
Catherine and her husband Fred came here as tourists from Milwaukee in 1938. They loved it. They moved north in 1942 and had the resources from a manufacturing company in Milwaukee to keep adding on bit by bit to their home here until they had acquired 3800 acres. Fred died in an accident here in 1960. Catherine stayed on.

Kresser:
She just loved the wilderness. She loved to hunt and she loved to fish. I think it was just very important and in her heart that that's something she had to do, you know, with this property. Just preserve it.

Garrett:
And she did. In 2000 she made this extraordinary gift. She sold these nearly 2200 acres that make up the Catherine Wolter Wilderness area to the Nature Conservancy for a million dollars less than the appraised value. It became a corner stone of a long term plan to protect the north that the conservancy calls the Border Lakes Conservation Area.

Dallman:
Our project here is focused on what we call linkages or connective corridors. Our work is really trying to piece together these large ownerships that remain to the Ottawa National Forest in the north, to the Northern Highlands to the south. The Ottawa National Forest is about 1.2 million acres of land. Northern Highland is our largest state forest, 240,000 acres. Great wildlife habitat and great for species to move from point a to b.

Garrett:
An animal highway from the Ottawa to the Northern Highland. A green hallway patched together through conservation easements or land purchases. It is a great plan but it faces a considerable obstacle.

Kresser:
In the last five years most places have doubled, if not tripled in value.

Garrett:
Land prices are soaring. Catherine Wolter passed away in 2001. Through her inheritance the family acquired this 322 acre parcel here on Rudolph Lake and adjoining the wilderness area. They loved it. The place was full of memories. But they couldn't afford to hang onto it.

Kresser:
The biggest single thing was the property taxes.

Garrett:
Catherine Wolter had specified in her will that the Nature Conservancy should have the right of first refusal after the family if the property ever came up for sale. The organization had just made a big purchase. They couldn't swing it. Plan b.

Kresser:
There was an offer on the table from a developer that would have put 24 lake lots and approximately 20 more back lots. We were looking at somewhere between 40 and 50 total lots on this parcel. So it would have been chock full of development otherwise. And, you know, in my heart I didn't want to see that happen because I knew that grandma didn't want to see that happen, either.

Garrett:
Subdivision was the plan but the plot turns. Enter some tourists from Chicago. Jeff Johnson and Jody Sterret.

Jody Sterret:
We had the privilege of coming up here a few years back and fell in love with it. The eagles and the loons and the small lake, just fell in love with the Northwoods. It's just beautiful.

Jeff Johnson:
I think it's one of the great hidden secrets of the great places in the United States. It's so pretty up here.

Garrett:
Not unlike Catherine and Fred Wolter, this Illinois couple wanted to buy land here and they had some resources. They were in search of a larger parcel. They saw this one but assumed after some research that the deal with the developer was going forward. But maybe not. Next chapter.

Sterret:
We knew the nature conservancy had a last look at it. And so we thought let's go to Madison and talk to the people at the Nature Conservancy. If this is gone maybe they have other pieces where we could be involved and get to understand how these trusts work and how these large tracts are being protected.

Garret:
Sparked and Jody and Jeff's interest, the Conservancy decided for the first time ever in Wisconsin to employ a program often used by other land trusts in the Us. It's called the conservation Buyer Program. Here is how it works. A land trust, in this case the Nature Conservancy buys a property and holds it long enough to attach a conservation easement to it. In this case, development was limited to just three houses on this entire parcel. Once the easement is on the deed, the land trust immediately offers the property for sale. Now with the easement attached. Jody and Jeff were among the bidders and they won. The property was protected.

Dallman:
We know that we won't have 50 lots right next door to the Catherine Wolter Wilderness Area.

Garrett:
It's protected. Because it's now in private hands it is not open to the public. One could argue that the best outcome would have been for the nature conservancy or the state to own this property so they could provide access and everyone in the state could enjoy it. Still, in a time of tight dollars, the conservation buyer program served the purpose of protecting the land. The land in the Rudolph Lake parcel and the land in the Catherine Wolter Wilderness Area.

Kresser:
To have it saved was the most important thing.

Garrett:
The conservation buyer program, another tool in land use. To balance protection and development. A tool first used in the northwoods, a place in peril because it's so deeply loved.

Dallman:
It really is being loved to death. At the same time, the people like the Johnsons who love it so much are also the ones able to come back and help us protect the property. I think that that model, I hope, can then be replicated at other places.

Sterret:
The two of us said it's our turn, what can we do at our level? We just feel lucky to be here.


That's our show for this week. We leave you with a look at the historic Wind Ooint Lighthouse in Racine which first turned on its light in 1880 using a kerosene lamp. For "In Wisconsin" I'm Kathy Bissen. See you next time.


 
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