GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — In case you missed it, the Wooly Green Grazers—a flock of sheep— and a few goats will not be returning to Renard Island to graze the land this summer.
"Oh, so we were super excited," said Wooly Green Grazers shepherd, Roxie Emunson.
Roxie Emunson and her husband Daniel live in Appleton, and they were hoping to return to Renard Island this summer to let their flock of sheep and goats graze the 55-acre space that was first made as a disposal site for sediment from the Fox River.
"We started working on our bid so we would be prepared, and then the day after happened," Emunson said.
Emunson says she accidentally wrote down the wrong date for the mandatory site visit.
"It was a Tuesday. I thought it was a Thursday," Emunson said.
"What went through your mind when you first figured it out that you put it down on the calendar as the wrong date," Mac asked.
"So, a lot of probably inappropriate words. We were really upset. We really were," Emunson responded.
"What went through your mind then," Mac asked again.
"I mean, just really disappointed in myself. My friends will tell you I'm a little flighty sometimes, but this was something I had just really gone above and beyond on to make sure we were apart of," Emunson said.
According to Port and Resource Recovery Business Development Manager Mark Walter, "Brown County continues to evaluate a range of options for controlling vegetation on Renard Island in order to allow for future recreational uses. This has included both mechanical mowing and animal grazing in the past. The County did not receive any qualified bids for vegetative management using grazers for the 2025 season."
"Is there anything in particular that you learned from last year that you were hoping to implement for this year," Mac asked.
"Oh, for sure," Emunson said.
Emunson said instead of splitting the sheep into different groups, they noticed the sheep grazed more when they were able to move around the entire island, but she takes all the blame for missing this year's mandatory site visit.
"My husband was in the Marine Corps, and I worked for the Marine Corps for a while. There's rules and regulations, and that's what I thinking, 'That was the rule. These are the regulations, and this is our fault that we missed it,' but that will be something we definitely don't miss again," Emunson said.
Even though the Emunsons missed this year's site visit, they're planning to attend next year's visit in hopes of winning the bid and returning to Renard Island 2026.
Daniel and Roxie Emunson say last year's bid for the project came in at $10,000, which Emunson says was enough money to help pay for fuel for daily trips to and from Renard Island in 2024.
We are still waiting to find out who will be maintaining the island this summer.
