From the Ashes: Wallace Grange and the Roots of Wildlife Management in Wisconsin

Rescheduled from Spring 2026! This seminar was originally scheduled for April, but was cancelled due an ice storm. Welcome back to the 2026 WCW Seminar Series, "Voices for Conservation in Wisconsin History." Dick Theil, retired WDNR Educator, presents "From the Ashes: Wallace Grange and the Roots of Wildlife Management in Wisconsin." During the Great Depression in the 1930’s, Wallace Grange and his wife, Hazel, established Sandhill Wildlife Area in Babcock, Wisconsin. Grange became the first Superintendent of Game Management of the Wisconsin Conservation Department (now the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, WDNR), and served the U.S. Biological Survey (now the US Fish and Wildlife Service) as a biologist. This seminar traces the development of nascent wildlife management in Wisconsin as it arose from ecological destruction that accompanied settlement in the state. Thiel, a retired WDNR educator, explores Grange's career and establishment of the largest game farm in Wisconsin, later sold to the WDNR to become Sandhill Wildlife Area. Dick Thiel was Wisconsin’s first wolf biologist and served as the coordinator of the Sandhill Outdoor Skills Education Center at Sandhill Wildlife Area from 1990-2011.