Wisconsin is a great state...Number 30 to join the union in May 1848; Mound Builder culture, ice age features, Ho-Chunk Nation, Potawatomie, Menominee, Sauk, Fox, Ojibwe, Onieda, Stockbridge, Munsee, and a host of other first nation cultures, French voyageur-influenced, farming, emigrees welcomed from all parts of the world, cheese, beer, motorcycles, paper, gangsters, and the great outdoors...we like to hunt, fish, boat (and return from canoeing adventures), hike the many fine trails, eat fish on Friday nights all year round and celebrate our many distinct heritage sites.
"Forward" is our motto.
We are the badger state, with a nod to our mining roots, not the animal.
Our state bird is the robin; our state flower is the wood violet; our state tree is the sugar maple.
Our landscape features rolling hills, prairie, lakes, good farm land, and tall trees, heavily sculpted by the last Ice Age, or--not, as we call the "driftless" area of southwestern Wisconsin.
Our state capitol is Madison, population in 2013 of about 238,000. Madison is the home of the University of Wisconsin system, part of the Big 10 sports conference.
Our state population estimate in 2013 is 5,717,110 or so, ranking 20th in the US.
The largest city is Milwaukee, 596,500, with a greater metro complex population of over 950,410.
Our land area is 54,310 square miles, ranking 25th in area of the states. Our natural boundaries are Lake Michigan to the east, Lake Superior to the north (and the former territory now known as the Upper Penninsula of Michigan, a gift to the people of Michigan), the Mississippi River to the west and greater Chicagoland to the south, also a gift to the people of Illinois, as we gave up portions of our original territory to allow other states to border Lake Michigan.
On The Web:
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources http://dnr.wi.gov/NaturalResources.html
Parks http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/parks/specific/findapark.html
Friends of Wisconsin State Parks http://www.fwsp.org/stickers_passes/
Annual design the park sticker contest http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/parks/stickers/
Recreation (searchable site engine) http://dnr.wi.gov/topics/category.asp
Hunting and Fishing regulations http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/cs/huntfish/index.asp
Licensing, permits (including for wild rice harvest) http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/cs/licenses.htm
Free calendar http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/greatlakes/contest/GL_Calendar2010_2011.pdf
Calendar of state-wide events http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/news/events.html
Wisconsin Maps http://dnr.wi.gov/maps/gis/applist.html
Wisconsin Department of Transportation http://www.511wi.gov/Web/Default.aspx
Real-time road conditions & alerts (continually updated) http://www.511wi.gov/Web/
Wisconsin Department of Tourism http://industry.travelwisconsin.com/
Travel Wisconsin http://www.travelwisconsin.com/
Wisconsin Historical Society http://wisconsinhistoricalsociey.com/ Click on "local history" for details on area historical society information
Wisconsin Historical Society Press http://wisconsinhistoricalsocietypress.org/
Wisconsin Government http://www.wisconsin.gov/state/index.html
Legislature http://www.legis.state.wi.us/
Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce http://www.wischamberfoundation.org/
Wisconsin Blue Book Online - includes searchable database from 1995
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/bb/09bb/index.htm
Legal symbols of Wisconsin http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/bb/09bb/pdf/961-966.pdf
Sports Teams
Professional Go, Packers - football, Green Bay
Brewers - baseball, Milwaukee
Bucks - basketball, Milwaukee
Semi-Pro Sports Teams
Timber Rattlers - minor league baseball (Appleton)
Racine Raiders - minor league football
University Athletics
http://www.uwbadgers.com/index-main.html
