Welcome!
Present and Past Board Members at Ceremonial Ground Breaking for PEVS.
Back row, l-r: Phil Smith, Don Luker, Ray DiIulio, Warren Dewalt, Al Schneider, Jim Rheberg, Judy Rheberg, Merlie Cox, Marc Savard, Jan Mielke. Front row, l-r: Mary Fales, Jack Travis, Tom Wilson, Rolliana Scheckler, Bill Scheckler, Bruce Mielke.
We are the Newport Wilderness Society [NWS], the official friends group for Newport State Park.
NWS was incorporated in 1985 as an independent 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization to assist Newport State Park in carrying out its mission according to its Master Plan of 1974.
We volunteer in various ways as requested by park management. We provide qualified guides from our membership for interpretive nature hikes about natural history of trees, ferns, wildflowers, birds, butterflies and about human history of this area. In teams, we pull garlic mustard and phragmites. We manage blue bird trails and help monitor monarch butterfly migration. We write and publish informational pamphlets and brochures, offer presentations on the meaning of wilderness, light candles and serve refreshments for the February candlelight ski, put on Newport Wilderness Day in September, manage this web site and more. Over the past 5 years, we have raised funds to pay for construction and outfitting of the Hotz Wilderness Room, a part of the new Public Entrance and Visitor Station [PEVS] now being built. We are a voice of appreciation for keeping Newport State Park a wilderness area developed minimally, only as is essential for visitor education and safety.
Al Schneider, NWS volunteer and professional geologist, leads a hike.From about 15 members at its start, NWS has grown today to some 500 members across the country. You are cordially invited to join us. By becoming a member, your dues financially support NWS and, through it, Newport State Park, you can participate however you wish in NWS activities, you get a wonderful newsletter and you add your voice to ours promoting preservation of wilderness.
Members of the current NWS Board of Directors, meeting the first Friday of every even-numbered month, are:
| Bill Scheckler, President | Jeffrey Berger | Warren Dewalt | ||
| Ray DiIulio, Vice President | Marcia Eischen | Dan Fetterley | ||
| Mary Fales, Secretary | Marilyn Hansotia | Marc Savard | ||
| Don Luker, Treasurer | Al Schneider | Phil Smith | ||
| Jack Travis, Fifth Officer | Tom Wilson | Michelle Hefty, Park Manager, ex officio |
Next Board Meeting: April 18, 2008, 3:30 - 5 pm in the new Hotz Wilderness Room.
Past NWS Board Members were: Don Buchholz, Merlie Cox, Don Detmer, Dick Glueckert, Steve Grutzmacher, Jan Pfannenstiel, Carol Kreml, Lon Kopitzke, Roy Lukes, Tom MacDonald, Jan Mielke, Bruce Mielke, Beverly Njaa, Judy Rheberg, Jim Rheberg, Phil Saperstein, Rolliana Scheckler, Don Thompson, Olivia Traven, Lee Traven, Steve Uglinica and Bob Yeomans.
Please notify web smith if she has inadvertently omitted anyone.
Photo of the new PEVS under construction.
NWS will hold a PEVS grand opening celebration, July 26, 2008, the day of its Annual Meeting. Read more about it.
RBS, April 14, 2008. Contact web smith.