The Central Wisconsin Chapter of Trout Unlimited (CWTU) recently honored long-time Wisconsin DNR employee Elward Engle with a memorial stone located along the Mecan River between Wautoma and Coloma.

Engle is largely responsible for the acquisition of land in Central Wisconsin for state parks, the Ice Age Trail, wildlife areas, hunting and fisheries areas, natural areas and public access areas. In his 40-plus years with the DNR he was involved in 60 public land purchasing projects. He also secured easements on more than 100 miles of trout streams. If you hunt, fish, hike or go birding on public lands in Central Wisconsin you are probably doing it on land that Engle helped secure.

One of his most notable accomplishments was being instrumental in turning away a national bottled water company that wanted to drill wells into the Mecan River Springs for their bottling process; a project that would have been highly detrimental to the Mecan River, one of the state’s premiere trout streams.