For the Tomahawk Leader

ONEIDA COUNTY – Oneida County is currently seeking the public’s input on how to improve outdoor recreation throughout the county.

Oneida County recently teamed up with the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (NCWRPC) to update the county’s five-year Outdoor Recreation Plan for 2024-2028. A release from NCWRPC explained that the plan must be updated every half-decade for the county and local governments to apply for 50% grant funding for a variety of outdoor recreation projects that must be listed in the plan.

NCWRPC said the plan lays out the recreational development needs as identified by the public via an online survey and lists what projects the county and local governments would like to tackle with 50% funding grants from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR)’s Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program or the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Survey topics and questions include:

• “Rate your overall satisfaction with various county parks.”
• “What type of outdoor enthusiast are you?”
• “Should improvements be made to a specific county park?”

“We want to know specifically how people are enjoying the outdoors right now, and what improvements they would like to see in the future.” said Fred Heider, NCWRPC Planner. “With Oneida County being home to one of the largest concentrations of lakes in Wisconsin, I’m sure that boating or swimming will be top five recreational pursuits among residents and visitors.”

The deadline to take the survey is Sunday, April 9.

To take the survey, visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/OneidaCountyORP.