Ned Gatzke
Ned grew up on and in Lake Michigan and Sauk Creek in Port Washington, the son of a biology teacher and conservation activist of the time.
He continued his education at UW-Oshkosh receiving a bachelor’s degree in biology and natural science and later a master’s degree in outdoor teacher education from Northern Illinois University. After moving to Sparta, he found his way into county government, serving as solid waste manager and sanitation and zoning officer. In between the county positions, he provided services and consulting as a soil and site evaluator for Private Onsite Waste Treatment Systems (POWTS) before retiring in 2003. In addition to managing a prairie and woodland homestead, he and wife Carol have been exploring North America by foot, paddle, and bicycle and spending as much time as possible getting their three grandsons outside to explore the real world.
I’m a conservation voter because our natural resources – land, water and air – are essential to sustaining life on the planet. The quantity and quality of these resources are critical. These resources are part of the public trust and subject to public policy decisions made by elected representatives. The conservation values of these representatives matters if we are going to have positive conservation policy at all levels of government.