Wisconsin Public Television and
Biodiversity Project
Team Up for Great Lakes Programming In Wisconsin
MADISON, Wis.
(September 12, 2006) Are the Great Lakes
ready for prime-time? The Madison, Wisconsin-based Biodiversity Project and
Wisconsin Public Television think so. The two groups are teaming up for a
special series of broadcasts about Wisconsin’s
connection to the Great Lakes. The broadcasts
will appear as a regular series of segments on the 2006-2007 season of
Wisconsin Public Television’s award-winning, weekly news magazine program
In Wisconsin with Patty Loew.
“Our greatest challenge is letting people know that the lakes
need our help now,” noted Jeffrey Potter, coordinator of Biodiversity
Project’s Great Lakes Forever program, “that’s why we are so
excited about this partnership.” Great Lakes Forever is a three-year old
public education program that includes educational signage in Wisconsin State
Parks, radio and print awareness ads in Wisconsin and Chicago, educational beer
coasters, and a Web site – www.greatlakesforever.org
– where Wisconsinites can learn more about the lakes, threats to their
health, and ways they can get personally involved.
“People in Wisconsin are proud of the Great Lakes and feel a
strong personal responsibility to protect them,” Potter continued,
“but the Lakes are so huge and have played such an important role in
defining our region’s identity and history, that sometimes it’s
hard to believe they’re vulnerable.” As part of the project,
Biodiversity Project will facilitate Wisconsin Public Television outreach needs
for program research and production and develop a publicity campaign for the
broadcasts – including special “learn more about it” Great
Lakes Forever Web pages, related media outreach, and program promotions to draw
the largest audience possible.
“This was a natural partnership for us,” noted Christine
Sloan-Miller, In Wisconsin Series
Producer. “In Wisconsin
spotlights intriguing stories about people, places and issues that are
distinctly Wisconsin,” Bissen continued. “The Great
Lakes are a global treasure, right in our backyard. They are so
important to our quality of life, we hope these broadcasts will cause people to
reconsider their relationship with the lakes,” she concluded. The program
segments, which are funded in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Coastal
Management Program, will focus on Wisconsin’s
historical, cultural, economic and environmental relationship with the
world’s largest freshwater lakes.
According to Potter, the broadcasts will also help demystify some
complicated Great Lakes issues.
“Pollution is closing our beaches and contaminating our fish,”
Potter said. “Invasive species and irresponsible development are
threatening the survival of our native wildlife. And private interests are
pushing to actually buy and sell Great Lakes
water for a profit. These are scary issues, but there are solutions. These In Wisconsin broadcasts will profile
Wisconsinites who are working every day to make a difference for the lakes and
their communities,” he concluded.
In Wisconsin airs
on Thursday nights at 7:00 pm on most Wisconsin
public television stations. This week’s episode includes a segment on
the Apostle Islands Management Plan, Wisconsin’s
only National Park. Find out what special concerns and problems the Apostle
Islands National Lakeshore faces in the future and how the citizens of Wisconsin can play a
role.
To learn more about how you can help protect the Great
Lakes, visit the Great Lakes Forever website – www.greatlakesforever.org.
###
Great Lakes Forever is a program of Biodiversity Project.
Biodiversity Project advocates for biodiversity by designing and implementing
innovative communication strategies that build and motivate a broad
constituency to protect the environmental resources that support biological
diversity and life itself. A national organization based in Madison, Wisconsin,
the Biodiversity Project has worked with leaders in policy, advocacy,
education, science, religious and grantmaking fields since 1995. For more
information, visit www.biodiversityproject.org
and www.greatlakesforever.org.
Wisconsin Public Television is a
service of the Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-
Extension. Wisconsin Public Television is a
place to grow through learning on WHA-TV/DT, Madison; WPNE-TV/DT, Green Bay;
WHRM-TV/DT, Wausau; WLEF-TV/DT, Park Falls; WHLA- TV/DT, LaCrosse; and
WHWC-TV/DT, Menomonie-Eau Claire.
Jeffrey Potter
Director of Communications Programs
Biodiversity Project
214 N. Henry St.
#201
Madison, WI 53703
P: 608-250-9876 x12
F: 608-204-9768
Donate and learn more
online: www.biodiversityproject.org
Help the Great Lakes, visit: www.greatlakesforever.org
Meet your neighbors,
chat at: www.greatlakestownhall.org