Local wildlife filmmaker
embarks upon new documentary project

    Award winning, Prairie du Chien wildlife filmmaker Neil Rettig is in the midst of a new project being filmed in the Driftless Region, including the greater Prairie du Chien, Marquette, McGregor and Harper’s Ferry area.
    Rettig is working with producers from National Geographic Television on the project, which is expected to take up to two years to complete.
    “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” said Rettig. “We’re aiming to be as good as or better than the Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth, which set the bar pretty high.”
    National Geographic Coordinating Producer John S. Benam said that the Driftless Region footage will be a part of a National Geographic Channel series tentatively entitled Planet in Motion. Five one-hour episodes are planned featuring wildlife and natural history elements from around the world.
    Filming in the Driftless Region will concentrate on the spring, summer and fall, specifically the spring and fall migration of numerous species along the Mississippi River Flyway.
    Numerous Neotropical migratory bird species will be featured, along with raptors such as eagles, hawks and peregrine falcons. Also highlighted will be Canada geese, wood ducks and numerous other waterfowl, in addition to prey such as black birds, bluejays and doves.
    Fish, including sturgeon, northern pike, invasive Asian headbutting carp, and food base such as gizzard shad, will also be highlighted.

Towns consider, then reject
sharing city administrator position

 By Trudy Balcom

When the Marquette City Council convened a special meeting last Wednesday to discuss the applicants for the city manager position, they had guests.
    Mayor Roger Knott and councilwoman Rogeta Halvorson of McGregor presented the council with the proposal that the two towns work together and hire one manager or administrator jointly.
    Both Marquette and McGregor are seeking someone to fill this position. For Marquette, it will be only the second time the position has been filled. Marquette initiated the search for their first city manager about two years ago. Mike Puksich left the position after less than a year in February, 2007, with a substantial severance package.
    The incident left the Marquette council with a sour taste and a busy schedule; they abandoned the task of replacing Puksich for  months and took it up again early this year.
    McGregor is seeking to replace longtime city clerk-administrator Norm Lincoln. Lincoln announced his intention to retire late last summer.
“We kind of have a perfect opportunity here…I think our towns are looking for the same kind of person, a leader,” Knott told the Marquette council. “Do you have any interest in combining the position for the two towns?” he asked.
Knott suggested that by combining forces the towns could attract a better candidate than either could by themselves. Each town has discovered that people with city administration experience are in high demand and can command sizeable salaries— $80,000 and up. The salaries that McGregor and Marquette can afford are in the $40-$50,000 range.
    The Marquette council did not jump at the prospect.
    Councilman Tracy Melver spoke first to the proposal. He wondered how a person working for both cities could divide their loyalties. “I think that would be a big obstacle. I just can’t see how a person in that position could do that,” Melver said.
    Mayor John Ries agreed.
    “Basically they would have two towns and two councils to keep happy, that would be a tough job,” he said.
    Councilman Jim Meana took a slightly different perspective, saying that Marquette had an especially challenging workload for whom ever takes the position; work that has been left long undone. “We have a bit of catching up to do,” he said.

Tornado look-alike
spotted in Clayton County

  By Trudy Balcom

 After the F-5 tornado destroyed Parkersburg recently, people in Northeast Iowa may be understandably jittery about funnel clouds.
    Amy Cherne and Cindy Schoulte were  driving from Guttenberg to Osterdock on Saturday night when they spotted a funnel cloud which they fearlessly photographed.  They were among dozens of eyewitnesses of the cloud from Clayton County, some of whom who called the National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wis., from 7:15 p.m. to 7:35 p.m.
    Weather Service radar equipment could not detect any rotation in the cloud and dubbed it a tornado “look-alike.” As a precaution, they issued a Tornado Warning for Grant County as the storm moved east. The cloud apparently never touched the ground (although it appears to in the photos), and there was no damage reported.
    Heavy thunderstorms rolled through the county early Saturday evening  and pelted towns from Postville to Monona with three-quarter inch and larger hail. One-inch sized hail was reported three miles south of McGregor and as the storm moved east, 1.75” was reported by law enforcement in Bagley, Wis.
    Reported rainfall amounts were not significant, however. Littleport  reported .29 inches; Garber .16; Marquette .21 and Ion .14 inches of precipitation. Rain and storms remain in the forecast for this week.

Great Places coaches
visit McGregor and Marquette

 By Trudy Balcom

Work on the Great Places application for this year for Marquette and McGregor is underway.
    Last Wednesday the coaches assigned to the McGregor-Marquette application visited the area.
    Jeff Morgan of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and Nate Hoogeveen, Rivers Program Coordinator for the Iowa DNR were assigned as coaches. They have both participated as Great Places coaches before.
    The local Great Places Visioning Team were pleased with the two, and with getting the coaching process underway in a timely manner. Last year, coaches were assigned only three weeks before the final application is due.
    Applications are due this year on August 11.
    Sasha Dull, McGregor-Marquette Chamber of Commerce Director, and Rogeta Halvorson, Visioning Team member, gave Morgan and Hoogeveen a brief tour of the area and then settled down for a working lunch in McGregor with other members of the Visioning Team to get acquainted.
    Morgan and Hoogeveen were familiar with the McGregor-Marquette application from last year. They offered tips on improving the application to make it more appealing to the Great Places Citizens Advisory Board that reviews the applications. They suggested ways to better market the application including finding a “wow” factor—something that sets the application apart from others.
    The Visioning Team is not yet sure if a application will be submitted this year. At least one of the projects must be “shovel ready” within 12 months, and it is unclear if any of the community projects planned for the application will be at that stage.
    The application process is  in a period of adjustment. Projects included in the application could change depending on how quickly they progress. According to Chamber director Sasha Dull, work on a new application will begin, even if it is not submitted this year. “We’ll just have to see,” she said.
    The major project envisioned for the Great Places application, the Community Wellness Center, is currently on hold with the City of Marquette, pending the hiring of a new city manager.
    The coaches will return to the area for another visit before July 10.

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