Electric Company CEO Creates Nature Preserve In Wisconsin
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. (CBS) -- The chief executive officer of Aldridge Electric Company of Libertyville wants to preserve a piece of his childhood.
As WBBM Newsradio's Michele Fiore reports, Ken Aldridge tells the Chicago Tribune he and his family spent many summer vacations under the sprawling pine trees in peaceful Minocqua, Wis.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Michele Fiore reports
Podcast
Last year he and his wife paid $4.5 million for more than 3,100 acres of land there, and now, he's turning it into a nature preserve, the Tribune reported.
A conservation easement signed this month, sets up the Winter Park Pines Nature Preserve, which will be overseen by the Northwoods Land Trust, a conservation organization based in Eagle River, Wis., the Tribune reported.
Bald eagles, osprey and timberwolves live on the land, which is now part of the Minocqua Winter Park trail system and features 27 miles of cross-country ski and snowshoe trails, the newspaper reported.
Aldridge's environmental activism has met with some controversy in the past. The Tribune points out his company was behind a well-known 150-foot wind turbine in Libertyville, which some neighbors want taken down due to the noise it generates.
