Journalist Dave Carlson Enters Wis. Conservation Hall of Fame

   Wisconsin’s natural resources always fascinated Dave Carlson, whether he was reporting stories during his 40-plus years in TV and newspapers, or clearing brush and organizing conservation programs in retirement.

   Therefore, it’s fitting that Carlson, 78, of Eau Claire, will enter the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame on April 5 at 4 p.m. The WCHF’s induction ceremonies (https://wchf.org/2025-induction-events/) will be held virtually. Joining Carlson in the Hall that day will be J. Baird Callicott, 83, a longtime professor of environmental ethics and philosophy at UW-Stevens Point (2 p.m. ceremony); and Robert Freckmann, 85, a retired biology professor and namesake of the Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium at UWSP (6 p.m. ceremony).

   Carlson began his journalism career in the Marine Corps from 1969-1971, including a tour in Vietnam. After leaving the Marines, Carlson earned a journalism degree at UW-Eau Claire, and then worked as outdoors editor at the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram newspaper through 1980.

   Carlson then turned to broadcasting, hiring on with WEAU-TV in Eau Claire to host the “Northland Journal,” and producing over 1,100 episodes while reporting across the country from 1981 through 2000. When the show ended, he went to WQOW-TV and launched “Northland Adventures,” which ran through November 2013.

   Carlson retired a month later with enough TV and newspaper awards to fill his home; at least the walls not covered by his fish and wildlife mounts. Still, Carlson always focused more on his work than his hunting and fishing prowess. He often acknowledged that thousands of Wisconsinites were better hunters, anglers and skiers than he was.

Dave Carlson, a longtime journalist and TV host in Eau Claire, will be inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame on April 5.   — Patrick Durkin photo

   Left unsaid was that few media people could match Carlson’s skills for reporting on hunting, fishing, conservation and outdoor recreation. He considered the outdoors a news beat; not a stage for entertainment or talent shows.

   For example, Carlson never considered “Duck Dynasty” an outdoors show, or a reflection of hunting culture. He thought most fishing and hunting TV shows focused too much on high-5s, silly antics and lame humor. In a December 2013 newspaper interview Carlson said:

   “I’ve watched those programs and I see very little storytelling about environmental matters, and very little about conservation issues. That bothers me. True hunters and fishers need to know about those things. They need to know what’s happening to the world, and they need to know much more than what bait to use, or what shot to use, or how to set decoys and other technical aspects of outdoor activities.”

   Carlson tackled assignments that required long hours in cold locations, even when he knew some readers and viewers would scorn his reports. That was especially true during the 1980s when he covered several contentious nights at Northwoods boat landings while Chippewa tribal members speared spawning walleyes, a right granted by federal treaties signed a century earlier.

   Carlson never forgot those tense protests, saying in 2013: “I stayed out till the wee hours of the morning, watching people act like idiots, and keeping my fingers crossed that nobody got hurt. You saw society at its ugliest. I compared it to civil rights struggles in the South. It’s fortunate nobody was killed. People were injured, and there were lots of hard feelings. Fortunately, much of that has blown away.”

   That uproar hasn’t quieted entirely, of course. Neither have issues like lead poisoning, whether it’s waterfowl ingesting spent shotgun pellets, or eagles eating bullet fragments in a deer’s gut pile. Carlson also spent years reporting on chronic wasting disease and its slow spread through Wisconsin’s deer herds, and into Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.

   He also covered the controversies surrounding frac-sand mining, pollution in the Mississippi River, and groundwater shortages and dry trout streams caused by unregulated pumping by high-capacity wells in the Central Sands region.

   After retiring from TV in 2013, Carlson continued breaking news through articles for the Wisconsin Outdoor News, while also taking time for radio interviews, and advice for fellow journalists and newcomers.

   He also led conservation projects near home, expanding his work as co-founder of the Chippewa Valley Chapter of Pheasants Forever. In that role, Carlson helped arrange funding to buy over 1,000 acres of waterfowl and upland bird habitat to create the Hallie Marsh State Wildlife Area, all of it open to public hunting. He also met with countless landowners, asking them to consider selling their holdings at  lower prices to the county or state, preserving their land for conservation and public use.

   Through it all, Carlson’s love for natural resources across the upper Great Lakes never ebbed. He considered Wisconsin the regional hub of outdoor recreation, saying:

   “We’re close to Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, and very close to the Mississippi River. We’re also close to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, and just to the south and west you’re in prairies. The Driftless area offers some of the best trout fishing in the world, and we have beautiful forests and excellent warm-water fishing statewide. Much of it has easy public access. It’s so important to maintain public access and add to it at every chance. We have all those things because people care about our state’s natural resources.”

   Carlson isn’t the first outdoor communicator enshrined in Wisconsin’s Conservation Hall of Fame. Those preceding him were newspaper writers Gordon MacQuarrie (1998), Jay Reed (2014), and Don L. Johnson (2019). Carlson is the first reporter, however, inducted from outside Milwaukee’s media market, and rooted in broadcasting and the baby boomer generation.

   By the time he retired from a nearly 50-year career, Carlson produced hundreds of newspaper articles and thousands of television segments. One man who knew him best was John “Duke” Welter, a lifelong conservationist and member of the state’s Natural Resources Board from May 2004 through April 2011. Welter said few people will ever match Carlson’s personal and professional contributions to conservation.

   “What set Dave apart from most broadcasters was his focus on the natural resources themselves, and the ways they’re managed,” Welter said. “He was always a journalist, and operated with soft-spoken honesty and directness. He earned respect from Wisconsin’s outdoors public, his peers in the press, and the professionals who manage our natural resources.”