MANITOWOC COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Getting out and enjoying state parks is the goal of a new program promoting ways for those with all abilities to enjoy the outdoors.
One tracked wheelchair was officially put into service Thursday at Point Beach State Forest near Two Rivers.
It didn’t take much for Jolene Staskal to get this tracked wheelchair going.
“To be able to get in this, and just, it works with a joystick. It’s just so simple, and they showed you how to turn it on, and you know with the joystick what to do. You push it forward, it goes forward, and to change the direction, that’s fantastic,” said Jolene Staskal, Friends of Point Beach State Forest.
Two Department of Natural Resources-owned tracked chairs and other equipment were celebrated during a launch program at Point Beach State Forest in Manitowoc County. The DNR also bought 11 beach chairs designed to go on the sand and in the water. DNR Accessibility Supervisor Deanna Sell says that’s not all.
“This is the GRIT Freedom Chair. This is kind of a hybrid between a mountain bike, and a wheelchair. It features mountain bike tires, a front caster, which is meant to go over different types of terrain. And then it also features these levers that really work kind of like a mountain bike,” said Deanna Sell, DNR Accessibility Supervisor.
DNR Accessibility Coordinator Nick Zouski says the push to make the outdoors accessible for all is a personal one. He uses a wheelchair, and says the new tracked machine is a game-changer.
“Freedom. I mean, that the number one reason to have these, because you can go, I can go anywhere, just that you can. With these, I’ve gone fishing, hunting. And it just opens up way more of the outdoors.”
Jolene Staskal agrees.
“To increase someone’s accessibility to our wonderful woods that we have here, at Point Beach State Forest, it’s just that’s going to be, I think it’s just going to be wonderful.”
DNR officials say more tracked wheelchairs are coming. The next one is scheduled to be delivered this fall to Buckhorn State Park, which is in the central part of the state.
