Florence Just Made a Very Short List
By Flo | florencewi.com | April 17, 2026
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I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t usually brag.
But this week, Trout Unlimited — one of the most respected conservation organizations in the country — released their inaugural list of American “Conservation Towns.” Five communities. Out of every rural town in the United States.
Florence, Wisconsin is number four.
I’ll give you a moment with that.
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The other four towns on this list are Philipsburg, Montana. Gunnison, Colorado. Fort Bragg, California. Rockland, New York. Places with Blue Ribbon fisheries, national recognition, decades of restoration work behind them.
And then there’s us. A town of 600 people at the end of a two-lane highway in the Northwoods. No stoplight. No chain restaurants. The kind of place you come to on purpose.
Trout Unlimited put us on that list because of the Pine and the Popple.
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The Pine and Popple rivers are two of Florence County’s crown jewels — winding, scenic rivers that draw paddlers and are so appreciated by locals that they inspired the construction of the Wild Rivers Interpretive Center, a joint project of the U.S. Forest Service and the town of Florence.
The 89-mile Pine River and its major tributary, the 62-mile Popple River, offer a true wild experience, being among Wisconsin’s most remote river systems — alternating from quiet sections to swift, rocky riffles, low rapids and waterfalls. No development. No guardrails. No gift shop at the bottom. Just river, rock, and cold moving water that’s been doing this longer than any of us can really imagine.
Trout Unlimited said it plainly: “It’s amazing angling with light pressure.”
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But here’s what Trout Unlimited knows that the rest of the world is still figuring out.
Conservation isn’t just about the water. It’s about the people who teach the next generation to care about it.
In Florence, that person is Johnny Johnson.
Johnny is a logger by trade and an outdoorsman by instinct. He’s also the President of the Northwoods Chapter of KAMO — Kids and Mentors Outdoors — and has been for years. Florence was one of KAMO’s three original founding chapters when the organization launched in 2007. Nearly twenty years later the Northwoods chapter is stronger than ever — and reaching into Michigan too.
Looking back at 2025, the chapter had its most eventful year on record. New events. New friend groups. New partnerships. Before their Kids Day on the Ice, Johnny and volunteers held a work party the weekend before and had 36 rod and reel combinations and 14 tip-ups ready to go.
KAMO’s national president gave him this year’s President’s Award.
Johnny probably didn’t say much when he received it. That’s not his style. What he does instead is put a fishing rod in a kid’s hands and take them out on the ice.
That’s not a program. That’s a person who shows up.
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And when those kids need gear?
Katy and John Church-Baeb came back to Florence after almost two decades in Arizona specifically to keep a community institution alive — purchasing the former Whisler Outdoors and renaming it Cast Away! Bait Shop at 628 Central Avenue. More than just a bait shop, they carry rods and reels, fishing gear, hunting supplies, and pretty much everything you need for an outdoor adventure in Florence County.
They’re a Flo Passport stop. And they’re ready to help KAMO put gear in kids’ hands.
That’s how this town works. Somebody shows up. Somebody else backs them up. Nobody waits for a grant or a committee meeting.
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Trout Unlimited has been working alongside Florence County for years — partnering with the U.S. Forest Service, Wisconsin DNR, and local partners to restore habitat, improve stream health, and keep these waters alive for the next generation to fish.
Johnny Johnson is doing the same thing. Just with kids and tip-ups instead of culverts.
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The Wild Rivers Interpretive Center is now part of the Flo Passport. Stop in, grab a waterfall map, get your stamp. Then go find a river.
Florence isn’t on the way to anywhere. You come here on purpose.
Now you have one more reason.
— Flo
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Florence, Wisconsin — Trout Unlimited 2026 Conservation Town.
Read the full story at tu.org:
https://www.tu.org/magazine/conservation-towns/trout-unlimited-names-conservation-towns-list/