With a ribbon-cutting and the unveiling of a new sign you might expect to see some changes at Rainbow Flowage in Oneida County, but you won't and that's exactly the point. The ceremony is to celebrate the new owner of the Flowage, the state of Wisconsin.
Gov. Doyle hopes to keep this area of wilderness looking like it does now for years to come.
"What we're able to do is conserve, that's what conservation is about, and to keep this land in the kind of pristine state for generations to come."
Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company had owned the land for 70 years, but they say they're happy to see it go to the state because that assures it will be well taken care of.
The purchase covers about 10,000 acres, half of which is land, the other half, waterway, and getting the funds together to make this $7 million purchase wasn't easy.
The DNR had been trying to buy Rainbow Flowage for decades, and now thanks to money from the Stewardship Fund, that finally is a reality.
The Stewardship Fund helps protect local parks and conserve land. Doyle says without that funding Wisconsinites might have seen the land divided up and part of our wilderness lost.
