Make captimes.com your all-day, every-day, Madison news home page. Subscribe to get news updates delivered by email. Learn more.

Outdoors: Besadny, Cohee, Husting to be inducted into Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  4/16/2008 9:13 am

This Saturday marks the 24th annual induction of conservation leaders into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame.

Carroll "Buzz" Besadny, Melville Cohee and Paul Husting will be inducted into the Hall in ceremonies that begin at 9 a.m.at the Sentry Insurance Building in Stevens Point.

Cohee, who was born in 1909 and died in 2001, helped to establish the soil conservation movement in America in the 1930s, and spearheaded the nation's first erosion control pilot program at Coon Creek in western Wisconsin.

Husting (1866-1917) served as a United States senator from Wisconsin in the early 1900s and was a champion of public water rights.

Besadny (1909-1999), was a beloved Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in Madison. He came up through the ranks as a biologist and researcher with the Wisconsin Conservation Department.

When the DNR was formed in 1969, Besadny was appointed the first director of the Bureau of Environmental Impact, and then he became administrator of the Division of Resources Management and was appointed DNR Secretary by the Natural Resources Board in 1980. He retired as secretary in 1993.

Besadny was respected both by employees of the agency and by the public. Under his direction the state implemented the federal Clean Water Act, which made Wisconsin the first state to meet "fishable and swimmable" standards; the DNR also began using the Knowles/Nelson Stewardship Program to purchase additional public lands.

Besadny served as president of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies from 1983 to 1984 and as president of The Wildlife Society from 1974 to 1975.

The induction ceremonies are open to the public and will be held in the theatre at Sentry Insurance at the intersection of Business 51 and North Point Drive in Stevens Point. People driving from Madison should use Exit 161.

Following the ceremonies, the Hall of Fame, which is located two blocks east on North Point Drive, will be open for tours until 5 p.m. For information on the Hall of Fame call 715-346-4992.

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  4/16/2008 9:13 am