STATE PLANNING BOARD


northern counties. The efforts of the Planning Board staff toward
continuing this work in county planning and zoning, have been in
cooperation with county planning bodies from the highly developed
agricultural and industrial counties of southeastern Wisconsin-Wal-
worth, Jefferson, Dane, Kenosha, Waukesha, Washington, and Sauk
Counties; Door County, in which the income from recreational oppor-
tunities supplements highly developed dairying and fruit raising;
and Marathon, which is unique in that it may be said to present a
cross-section of the entire state, containing as it does a highly de-
veloped industry, a highly developed agriculture, splendid recreational
facilities, and some of the aspects of the cutover region. The work
in all of these counties is directed primarily toward the preservation
of the amenities, the things which tend to make the country beautiful
and livable, without restricting the opportunities for industrial and
other development. Indications are that this work is greatly appre-
ciated and will extend to other counties.
  Assistance in the development of local plans has been rendered
to such communities as Fond du Lac, Whitewater, West Bend, Kau-
kauna, Sun Prairie, Eagle River, Shorewood Hills, and Mosinee;
and requests for this type of service have been received from Eau
Claire, Neenah, Rice Lake, and Wausau.
  The publication of Bulletin No. 7, the Wisconsin Cutover Region,
was the result of the participation of the State Planning Board in
the work of the Northern Lakes States Regional Committee, an organi-
zation composed of four representatives from each of the states of
Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and four representatives of
federal departments, set up by the National Resources Committee in
May 1938 to study the problems of the cutover region of the three
lake states and to propose remedies.
  An economic study of local government finance, which is being
carried on as a WPA project, is of value in connection with con-
sideration of the cutover region, where governmental costs are gen-
erally the highest and incomes the lowest.
  The board is carrying on another WPA project to inventory all
publicly owned lands in the state. This, also, is of value in connection
with governmental problems.
  The field of planning activities that are necessary for all levels
of government, from the towns and villages through the cities, coun-
ties, and states, up to the national government, is virtually unlimited.
The function of the State Planning Board in connection with such
studies is not administration but research-the accurate and com-
prehensive ascertainment of facts regarding the problems of the
state and its subdivisions, the presentation of these facts in a manner
that will be readily understandable to the lay reader, and the dis-
semination of the information so gathered and organized among
the peoplewho are especially interested in any particular set of facts.
  In connection with the gathering of such information, it will
necessarily be the function of the Planning Board to propose methods
of dealing with problems which require solution. It may do this alone,


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