Fillmore County Journal "Where Fillmore County News Comes First" May 5, 2025 by Charlene Corson Selbee Leave a Comment the Caledonia City Council approved a strategic planning and goal-setting session to be held in early summer The strategic planning session will be facilitated by Phil Kern who brings extensive experience in municipal government and has led strategic planning initiatives for numerous cities City Clerk/Administrator Jake Dickson noted that he participated in Kern’s program in a previous role and described the experience as “very will include participation from city council members and department heads Attendees will develop a long-term vision for the city and conclude the session with a newly defined mission statement Dickson emphasized that strategic planning represents a missing component for the city of Caledonia The meeting was called to order by Mayor Jeremy Leis at 6 p.m. The consent agenda was approved through a unanimous motion It encompassed the authorization of payments and disbursement the approval of land use permits for 617 W and the granting of a setback variance at 1218 E Public Works/Zoning Director Casey Klug reported that several outdoor projects are currently underway describing the efforts as “a lot of good outdoor projects.” Notable examples include the replacement of the drinking fountain at Veterans’ Park the replenishment of mulch in the playground area and maintenance work on the athletic fields Mayor Leis complimented Klug and his staff City Clerk/Administrator Jake Dickson provided an update to the council regarding two bills currently making the rounds in the Minnesota Legislature the city has been asked to submit a letter opposing proposed legislation that would eliminate some of the city’s right to zone Dickson also reiterated concerns about a separate bill which would prevent the city from preserving the first floor of downtown buildings exclusively for retail use This bill would kill downtowns in small rural towns Finance Officer Stephanie Mann presented the financial reports for the first quarter While the city has yet to hear from the auditors about presenting their results to the council and she hopes they will attend the next council meeting She reported that the city received 9.402% of its Local Government Aid (LGA) Mann noted that this is an early distribution compared to previous years Mayor Leis adjourned the meeting at 6:45 p.m to allow everyone to get home safely ahead of a predicted severe storm Filed Under: Business, Government, News Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" © 2025 · Website Design and Hosting by SMG Web Design of Preston, MN. You don't have permission to access the page you requested. What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed. © 2025 BVM Sports. Best Version Media, LLC. Caledonia also hosted it’s home meet of the year on Friday The Caledonia relay teams stayed strong with first-place finishes in both meets — keep on the lookout for these through the end of the season We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it OK Privacy policy — A Caledonia family is heartbroken after their loved one tragically died in a barn fire early Sunday morning Family identified the man as 42-year-old Jeff Smith Smith’s family is devastated by the sudden loss “ I want everyone to remember him as the big brother I had,” Jackie Vinopal Caledonia police say they received a call about the fire just before 3 a.m on Sunday near Nicholson and 7 Mile Roads in Caledonia “I got up to use the bathroom a little after three and noticed a lot of fire equipment and vehicles across the street There were still flames visible,” Michael Uher Firefighters from the Caledonia and South Shore Fire Departments arrived within minutes to find the barn fully engulfed in flames they located one person inside the structure who had passed away Watch: Caledonia family remembers brother who died in barn fire Though the name of the deceased was not immediately released Lauren told me he didn’t make it out of a fire She said Jeff’s name and I lost it,” Vinopal recalled they’re remembering a man who was more than just a brother—he was a protector After Vinopal's in-person classes were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic “He always knew grape Gatorade was my favorite and there was a grape Gatorade with a note that said he didn’t want to wake me up but wanted to have something so I wasn’t thirsty," Vinopal recalled was known for his playful nature and love of family like how he would tickle his younger siblings until they were laughing uncontrollably The fire is still under investigation by the Caledonia Police Department with assistance from the Caledonia Fire Department and the Racine County Fire Investigation Task Force The Caledonia Police Department has asked anyone who witnessed the fire or has additional information to contact Detective Chad Zoltak with the Caledonia Police Department at (262) 835-4423 Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more. Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip Report a typo MINNEAPOLIS — The Albany Huskies have clinched their third straight boys basketball state medal They will play for the program's second gold in the Class 2A title game at 5 p.m on Saturday at Williams Arena in Minneapolis The championship will be against the other undefeated team in Class 2A: Waseca The Huskies beat Caledonia by a score of 59-54 on Friday in Albany's team's closest result of the year If Albany (31-0) wins Saturday it would be the Huskies' second state championship in three years and third consecutive medal. The program's first title was won in 2023 and the Huskies played for third in 2024 Waseca (32-0) beat 2024 champion Breck School (20-11) in the other semifinal "We played with really good flow," Schlagel said in Friday's postgame press conference We were just hitting shots early to get that big lead We wanted to play fast throughout the game to get their bigger bodies moving around as much as we could." Albany wins section championship by 40: Albany seeded No. 1 in state basketball tourney after winning section championship by 40 Huskies play to football semifinal: Albany overcome by Stewartville in Class 3A state football semifinal Hockey season ends with Cathedral loss: Cathedral ties state hockey championship in final minute of regulation, but loses in OT Caledonia played a physical game not dissimilar to the Huskies' The resemblance is not a coincidence: one of Albany's best players Jamestown College-commit Zeke Austin is the nephew of Warrior coach Brad King and Austin has three cousins on the team senior Mason King "It was definitely the most physical game we've played," Austin said "That's good in a way and also bad in a way because playing physically we can do more things But then you have to be stronger otherwise there are lots of turnovers or you're not going to finish as well." more than quadrupling his total from the semifinal and added nine boards and and seven assists Austin has played against his cousins in AAU but said he has wanted to play them in varsity ball for years He was trusted with Caledonia's last real shot to keep the game within reach King drove down the right side of the lane early in the possession only to miss a layup off the bottom of the rim Austin was fouled and put the game out of reach with a free throw Albany was clinging to the lead until that point having trouble getting into the fast-paced steal and fastbreak game the team is used to The Huskies ground into a half-court offense and went 11-22 from three with 24 points in the paint They also made eight of 12 attempted free throws Though Austin led both teams and senior Elliott Burnett had seven rebounds rebounding is how Caledonia kept itself within single digits The Warriors went 5-9 from three in the second half improving on a first-half percentage of 22.2%.Albany continued to shoot well too Junior Braeden Justin was 3-5 and senior Bennett Hylla and junior Brady Rueter both had three-pointers Some of Austin's shots stopped falling but Sam Hondl scored or facilitated several buckets with drives into the paint He worked several sets out of the high post looking for cutters or to take the ball to the basket himself "I tried to not force anything and my teammates moved well and moved the ball well," Hondl said Klug and senior Garrett Konz were tasked with guarding Hondl trying to stay tight on the Minnesota State-Moorhead signee and force difficult shots The Warrior pair had 15 rebounds between them and Hondl complimented their size and strength Austin and Burnett played every minute of the game making up for senior Ethan Meyer's decreased impact because of foul trouble Meyer was called for two fouls in the first two minutes of the game and he struggled to make an impact without catching a whistle Going 1-2 from the field in 11 minutes and 50 seconds of play Meyer platooned with senior Jacob Buttweiler off the bench Buttweiler has been effective in games this season but had just two points and zero rebounds in the semifinal Schlagel said Meyer was frustrated being confined to the bench while playing what he thought was clean defense "We just tried to keep telling him to stay focused," Schlagel said "We've been (utilizing Meyer in the post) a lot lately just because Sam gets heavy coverages any time he catches it 10-feet on in and Ethan has a knack at finding those open spaces." Hondl ended with 12 points and six rebounds Though it benefitted from one of Albany's top rebounders sitting the bench Caledonia did not capitalize on the free points at the line The Warriors shot 9-19 at the charity stripe and were 41.3% from the field They were 7-18 from deep with Mason King scoring six of them "Sometimes it's not your night shooting-wise," Brad King said "But we put ourselves in spots that were helpful for us to win the basketball game When it's one or two plays at the end of a game it's hard to say someone's a loser but someone's got to be a winner." Though the coach said he is disappointed Caledonia is not playing in the championship he was proud the Warriors "left it all on the floor." "After the first seven our eight minutes I thought our defense was fantastic," he said Caledonia has not won a championship since 1997 but the Warriors were runners-up three times since "We're very proud of the effort that everybody puts in every day," Brad King said "We were playing today but we got here with the work these guys put in two years ago All the time they put in during the summer and then last year all the work they put in." Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com Subscribe now to get full access to our exclusive News Get started with a ch-aviation subscription unrestricted access to all of ch-aviation's news and data for 14 days Upgrade to our Data and News Subscriptions Aviation Intelligence for your everyday use We offer a comprehensive aviation industry database utilised by various entities such as operators talks about the French Pacific territory's political future were progressing slowly between visiting French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls and all sides of the political spectrum Valls arrived in New Caledonia on Tuesday 29 April 2025 in another bid to pursue and possibly finalise talks about New Caledonia's political future and status a fresh meeting behind closed doors was locally labelled as the first step into negotiations while previous rounds were considered as mere "discussions" which again took place at the French High commission in Nouméa was short-lived: it was suspended after less than two hours and the meeting was adjourned until next week the aborted plenary was switched back to a "bilateral" session with pro-independence parties The suspension was reported as due to fresh "tensions" among political stakeholders some political parties arguing at one stage that they did not have their followers' mandate to further commit During future sessions scheduled to re-start Monday next week Valls was still planning to submit a document that is described as France's proposal on New Caledonia's future political status This includes New Caledonia's future relationship with France its citizenship and the transfer of remaining key powers (defence who is visiting New Caledonia for the third time since February 2025 said he would stay in New Caledonia "as long as necessary" for an inclusive and comprehensive agreement to be reached his stay in the French Pacific archipelago could extend as far as 8 May 2025 with another three full days of plenary meetings planned (Monday 5 to Wednesday 7 May 2025) Valls also likened the current situation as "walking on a tightrope above embers." "The choice is between an agreement and chaos," he told local media local parties are said to be more vigilant than ever They have all stated earlier that bearing in mind their respective demands they were "not ready to sign at all costs." Amid strong opposition and polarisation between pro-independence parties and those who want New Caledonia to remain part of France the talks aim to reach an agreement that would define New Caledonia's political and institutional future Friday's short session of political talks was also the last one to be attended by outgoing French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc who is leaving the French Pacific after over two years of office He was the guest of honour to a function on Friday night Le Franc's tenure was marked by the insurrectional riots that started on May 13 And depending on the political camps in New Caledonia he is regarded in radically different ways His management of the civil unrest was often criticised by pro-independence components who said he had taken excessive measures (such as the curfew the ban on sale and transportation of firearms and ammunition) They had consistently demanded that Le Franc leaves some going as far as stressing he had "saved lives" through his security-focused approach A ban on public demonstrations for the Greater Nouméa area was lifted only recently And a new ban on the consumption of alcohol has been reintroduced for May 2025 a precaution ahead of the first anniversary of the 13 May 2024 riots in an interview with public broadcaster NC la 1ère that a special security set-up was "already in place" for the riots' first anniversary riot squads and 20 Gendarmerie squads (about fifteen hundred personnel) Le Franc's new posting is Prefect of the department of Finistère in North-west mainland France "I did what I had to do" (...) "Very frankly I sincerely believe we have averted a civil war" Le Franc told pro-France Radio Rythme Bleu on 18 April 2025 He said he would certainly come back to New Caledonia as his daughter is married there has extensive military experience and is expected to arrive in Nouméa on Saturday morning During a visit in New Caledonia on Thursday New Zealand's deputy Prime Minister and head of diplomacy Winston Peters met French Minister Valls to cover a wide range of pressing issues labelled "constructive and positive," also included the new President of New Caledonia Peters said he came to New Caledonia "to listen and learn and to demonstrate New Zealand's support for the continuation of dialogue on New Caledonia's institutional future which include all tendencies of New Caledonia's parties "send a positive signal to the Pacific region about the good faith efforts underway to return peace and stability to New Caledonia," Peters says New Zealand has consistently said that no matter your position on New Caledonia's institutional future violence is not the answer - and progress can only be made through careful just like France and all our Pacific partners Peters also met New Zealand Defence Force personnel taking part in the French-hosted military exercise "Croix du Sud" (Southern Cross) 2025 which took place during the second half of April 2025 With a strong focus on humanitarian deployments and disaster relief is hosted by the French Armed Forces in New Caledonia (FANC) It focuses on humanitarian assistance and emergency response with a strong emphasis on the notion of "inter-operability" between all participating forces up to two thousand military personnel and NGOs from 19 countries were taking part in the manoeuvres the aftermath of a devastating cyclone on Wallis Island (near Fiji) and the deployment of air The deployment also included a "special effects" unit (including stocks of fake blood) for volunteers playing the role of affected civilians Minister Valls was to attend the official closing ceremony of "Southern Cross 2025" at the weekend in Nouméa still along the lines of regional security Valls and Peters reaffirmed their "long-standing partnership" on Pacific security issues "We have a shared interest in ensuring that the Pacific Islands region is protected from efforts by external influences to undermine good governance and democratic decision making," Peters said He elaborated in referring to "foreign interference in the Pacific." Since the insurrectional riots erupted on May 13 2024 causing 14 dead and some 2.2 billion Euros in damages France claims that some foreign countries had interfered Based on an investigation conducted late 2024 by French digital watch government agency VigiNum the name of Azerbaijan has been appearing consistently and repeatedly Peters was escorted by New Zealand's Consul General in Nouméa as well as the Wellington-based French Ambassador Laurence Beau and Nouméa-based French Ambassador for the Pacific "France and New Zealand are like-minded countries it's really about how New Zealand can support the French State's commitment in favour of condemning all violence in New Caledonia and supporting dialogue to reach a solution" had to be postponed due to the volatile situation at the time a delegation of Pacific Islands Forum leaders also visited as part of a fact-finding mission in October 2024 The "Troika Plus" Forum mission is expected to present its report on New Caledonia at the next Pacific Islands Forum leaders' summit in Honiara The Deputy Prime Minsiter said the goal was to listen and learn and to demonstrate NZ's support for the continuation of dialogue on New Caledonia's institutional future who is visiting New Caledonia for the third time in two months has again called all sides to live up to their responsibilities Less than a month after his previous visit Manuel Valls intends to further talks on the French Pacific territory's political future UN Human Rights Committee challenges France on security operations and its attitude to decolonisation The New Caledonia Congress President has doubled down on Kanaks' aspirations to seek self-determination and lambasted France for "demeaning" Pacific leaders' mission Pacific RSS Follow RNZ News Boxall scored his first goal for New Zealand in his 55th international with a header on the hour-mark before Barbarouses volleyed over the goalkeeper five minutes later to send a crowd of more than 25,000 into ecstasy at Eden Park Substitute Elijah Just added the third goal in the 80th minute to ensure New Zealand advance to their third World Cup following the 1982 and 2010 finals New Zealand missed out on the last three World Cups after defeats in intercontinental playoffs But with Oceania given a berth at the finals for the first time the All Whites were a shoo-in as the region's dominant team New Zealand became the second nation through to the tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, with Japan qualifying with a home win over Bahrain last week I'm ecstatic," said 35-year-old winger Barbarouses who missed out on selection for New Zealand's World Cup squad in 2010 "This is my fifth attempt to get to a World Cup very happy and sort of had flashbacks of the last 15 years "I'm very happy to contribute and help the team get over the line." New Zealand's players put on white T-shirts emblazoned with "Qualified" and sprayed champagne on each other The celebrations were tempered slightly with an apparent hip injury to captain Chris Wood who limped off early in the second half Ranked 152nd in the world and dominated by amateur footballers New Caledonia battled hard to keep the match scoreless for more than 60 minutes of the Oceania final The French territory will have another chance to qualify via intercontinental playoffs "We knew it was going to be hard against New Zealand on their home soil," said coach Johann Sidaner "We've got time to think about the playoffs for 2026." New Zealand scored quickly in their 7-0 win over Fiji in the Oceania semi-finals last week but they had to wait on Monday as early chances went begging Boxall bounced a header over the bar in the 14th minute while Marko Stamenic had two headers saved on the line six minutes later Wood sent a third header pinging off the right post and a fourth flying over the bar late in the half Home fans grew restless as the game remained locked into the second half but New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley's substitutions ultimately paid off Francis de Vries came off the bench to produce the corner kick that set up Boxall's goal Wood's replacement, Barbarouses, latched onto a through ball from his Wellington Phoenix teammate Tim Payne and volleyed over the rushing keeper Rocky Nyikeine Barbarouses followed up by laying off the pass that set up Just's strike Barbarouses also apologised to his four-year-old daughter Luna for missing her birthday "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for your birthday today but I'm sure I've more than made it up to you," he said Substitute Elijah Just added the third goal in the 80th minute to ensure New Zealand advance to their third World Cup following the 1982 and 2010 finals New Zealand became the second nation through to the tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, with Japan qualifying with a home win over Bahrain last week I'm ecstatic,\" said 35-year-old winger Barbarouses \"This is my fifth attempt to get to a World Cup \"I'm very happy to contribute and help the team get over the line.\" New Zealand's players put on white T-shirts emblazoned with \"Qualified\" and sprayed champagne on each other The celebrations were tempered slightly with an apparent hip injury to captain Chris Wood who limped off early in the second half \"We knew it was going to be hard against New Zealand on their home soil,\" said coach Johann Sidaner \"We've got time to think about the playoffs for 2026.\" Boxall bounced a header over the bar in the 14th minute while Marko Stamenic had two headers saved on the line six minutes later Wood's replacement, Barbarouses, latched onto a through ball from his Wellington Phoenix teammate Tim Payne and volleyed over the rushing keeper Rocky Nyikeine \"I'm sorry I couldn't be there for your birthday today but I'm sure I've more than made it up to you,\" he said Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article Efforts to diversify the economy beyond the commercial and administrative sectors have met with little success The main island of New Caledonia and the inhabited outer islands are ringed by roads. Virtually the entire coast of the island of New Caledonia may be traveled by road, and crossroads penetrate to the centre of the island. The port of Nouméa handles the majority of ship traffic Regular service is available for cargo and passengers provides internal air service from Magenta Airport near Nouméa to the main and outer islands; Aircalin an international partnership between Air Calédonie and several other national airlines provides service to other countries in the South Pacific and to Japan The heads of government are a high commissioner appointed by France and the president of the New Caledonian government The French government retains authority over defense Health and educational facilities are of higher quality in Nouméa than elsewhere in New Caledonia. The more-isolated islanders have access to few schools and health centres. School is free and compulsory between the ages of 6 and 16, and the school system generally follows the syllabus of schools in France Although elementary school attendance is nearly universal and secondary enrollment is high relatively few non-Europeans gain higher qualifications French is the only language of instruction in state-supported schools Melanesian football and cricket teams compete annually in domestic competitions which is still something of a ceremonial and social occasion and also sometimes draws urban workers back to their villages for a short period State-owned radio and television stations relay programs to all parts of New Caledonia In Nouméa there are also several privately owned radio stations Satellite antennas have become increasingly common bringing television programs and Internet access to even the remotest regions A man is dead after a barn fire early Sunday morning in the Racine County village of Caledonia the Caledonia and South Shore fire departments and Caledonia Police responded to the fire in the 7900 block of Nicholson Road Caledonia Police say police and fire crews arrived on scene within four minutes and observed a barn fully engulfed in flames crews located a deceased person within the damaged structure Multiple news outlets have identified the victim as 42-year-old Jeff Smith Police say no one else was injured in the fire The fire occurred on Smith's father's property The GoFundMe will go toward Smith's memorial and service and repairing fire damage The fire is under investigation by the Caledonia Police Department with assistance from the Caledonia Fire Department and the Racine County Fire Investigation Task Force a joint task force comprised of police and fire personnel from agencies throughout Racine County Anyone who witnessed the fire prior to the arrival of rescue personnel or has additional information should call the Caledonia Police Department at (262) 835-4423 Ext RACINE, Wis. — A 15-year-old from Caledonia charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the stabbing death of his mother was back in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing is being charged as an adult after prosecutors say he planned to kill both his parents and was inspired by a recent documentary about the Menendez brothers Watch: Caledonia teen charged in mother’s death back in court for preliminary hearing He will be back in court on June 16 for a reverse waiver hearing who were convicted of the 1989 murder of their parents are together again and housed at the same California state prison RELATED:-Knapp Elementary staff, parents mourn Racine teacher who police say was killed by her son Watch the story in the video player below: a 4K Educational Assistant at Knapp Elementary School The discovery was made after police said they received a call from someone who claimed to have received disturbing photos on Snapchat according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday Reed made his first court appearance Thursday afternoon over Zoom where the court commissioner set a $1 million cash bond The teen will be allowed supervised contact with his father through the juvenile detention center — An EF-0 tornado touched down in Caledonia during Sunday's severe storms the National Weather Service confirmed Monday which started near 100th Avenue SE and Eastern Avenue SE at 5:42 p.m. the tornado lifted off the ground near 84th Street SE and Hanna Lake Avenue five minutes later at 5:47 p.m. destructive winds led to downed power lines downed trees and damage to homes and buildings As of Monday evening, thousands of Michiganders remain without power, according to a map provided by Consumers Energy. and Manchester City’s Ruben Dias vie for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester City at the City Ground stadium and Manchester City’s Abdukodir Khusanov compete for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester City at the City Ground stadium fight for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Arsenal at the City Ground stadium in Nottingham New Caledonia earlier beat Tahiti 3-0 in the first semifinal in FIFA’s smallest confederation New Zealand captain Wood headed Sarpreet Singh’s cross home to open New Zealand’s scoring in the sixth minute as it led 4-0 halftime He then scored off Tim Payne crosses in the 56th and 59th minutes for his 43rd and 44th goals in 81 internationals before being substituted in the 61st minute Wood received a yellow card when climbed into the grandstand to finish the game among the crowd surrounded by fans and signing autographs for eager children Singh and Payne also scored in the first half along with an own goal by Fiji Payne’s goal was his first for New Zealand since 2013 Kosta Barbarouses scored the final goal in the 73rd minute while Ben Waine missed an 87th-minute penalty “We had a pretty dominant first half and we wanted to keep it going into the second half I think the team did really well in that sense.” New Caledonia’s 36-year-old striker Georges Gope-Fenepej scored twice in his team’s win over Tahiti The 14-year international veteran collected the rebound from captain Cesar Zeoula’s saved shot in the 50th minute and delicately chipped the ball into the Tahiti goal from close range he launched a spectacular left-foot shot from 30 meters Substitute Lues Waya added to the scoring in stoppage time “We’re all obviously football fans so to see someone like Georges play and the display he put on today is absolutely magnifique and wonderful,” New Caledonia coach Johann Sidaner said The loser of the Oceania final will still have a chance to qualify through an intercontinental playoff The decision to award direct entry to Oceania offers an historic opportunity to some of soccer’s smallest nations New Zealand with a population of 5 million is the largest and highest-ranked of the Oceania nations and has qualified twice before New Caledonia had to overcome political unrest in its homeland to qualify for Friday’s match Violent protests against voting reforms broke out last year leaving 13 dead before the French army was deployed to restore order Metrics details Soils harbour an incredible diversity of microorganisms that play crucial roles in ecosystem functioning this biodiversity remains largely overlooked with a poor understanding of how patterns form across landscapes An eDNA metabarcoding approach was used to identify potential overarching patterns in fungal and bacterial communities from ultramafic ecosystems in New Caledonia Our comprehensive analysis revealed several key findings notably an important microbial diversity in the extreme environments of iron crust soils Clear tendencies in phyla composition were also observed with the fungal groups Ascomycota and Mucoromycota acting as potential indicators of land degradation (only in lateritic soils for Mucoromycota) Chloroflexi was characteristic of open vegetation while Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria were observed in higher relative abundances in the closed vegetation The ectomycorrhizal fungal functional group was also found to be rich and unique and over-represented by the Cortinarius genus in rainforests and maquis (shrublands) dominated by ectomycorrhizal plants each ultramafic Massif demonstrated a unique microbial community our findings provide valuable insights into microbial ecology and emphasize the need for tailored conservation strategies for this biodiversity hotspot investigating soil microbial communities has become increasingly important particularly in light of the global change the belowground component of terrestrial ecosystems remains largely overlooked (A) Location of New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific and (B) locations of the five studied ultramafic sites on the main island (Grande Terre) The non-ultramafic site (gibbsic Ferralsol) at Maré Island Numbers in superscript indicate the previously published research articles from which data are sourced; 1: Gourmelon et al Relative rarefied abundances of soil (A) fungal phyla and (B) bacterial phyla within the different vegetation types studied at the five ultramafic sites and the non-ultramafic site used as an outgroup For bacteria, ASVs mostly belonged to the sulfate reducer, dehalogenation and ammonia oxidizer metabolism categories (Fig. S3B; Table S8) no significant changes were observed along the successions Barplots of the (A) relative abundance and (B) relative number of ASVs of ectomycorrhizal fungi in the different locations and vegetations studied. Number of ectomycorrhizal fungal species (ASVs) for each of the 33 detected genus from the entire ITS2 dataset The number of delineated ASVs within each genus is indicated at the top of the bar Bipartite networks performed on soil (A) fungal and (B) bacterial communities Coloured nodes correspond to the plots positioned at different sites and vegetation types in New Caledonia Sizes of plot nodes are proportional to the number of edges they are connected to they are proportional to the number of plots they are connected to Letters in nodes correspond to the site name (the same name can thus appear several times) This is consistent with our hypothesis of iron crust soils being less constraining in nickel content but a vegetation composition effect must also be considered deplancheanum is a major component of the maquis in the South of the main island and could thus drive bacterial community diversity in this area The highest values of fungal richness being observed in the G deplancheanum-dominated vegetation suggest that the presence of this Casuarinaceae species may also locally contribute to increased soil fungal diversity beneficial mutualistic interactions) or indirect (e.g. we do not know whether the prevalence of this GS23 Clade in ultramafic substrates is mainly restricted to lateritic soils in general or linked to particular vegetation types the over-representation of these three genera in iron crust environments supports the interest of further characterizing and comparing environmental constraints of distinct ultramafic soils as well as identifying the key microbial taxa involved in soil biogeochemical cycle regulation New Caledonia clearly hosts a high and unique ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity This raises questions about the underlying evolutionary and ecological mechanisms that have led to this exceptional and exclusive diversity in this remote territory The New Caledonian biodiversity is also facing various severe threats (e.g. frequent and extended wildfires and invasive species introduction) and fungi This high endemism rate points out the effort that should be made to identify fungal species under threat and establish on-the-ground species-oriented conservation plans an aspect that has never been considered and addressed in this biodiversity hotspot these observations clearly highlight the need to determine the mycorrhizal status of the New Caledonian flora with only 14 plant species inventoried as ectomycorrhizal to date This will improve our understanding of the extent to which this mutualistic association influences the ecosystems functioning in this extraordinary hotspot of biodiversity including well-known biodiversity hotspots like New Caledonia A high-resolution investigation of microorganisms using high-throughput sequencing technologies on a large array of soil types could constitute a next future research challenge At the scale of this territory and more widely it will undeniably help to put on the map this still largely neglected hidden biodiversity and will contribute to a more holistic perception of nature conservation Our eDNA metabarcoding comprehensive analysis allowed us to depict several global patterns in microbial communities from ultramafic soils in New Caledonia: Iron crust soils harbour a significantly higher fungal diversity than lateritic soils The composition of microbial phyla shifts along ecological successions which were prevalent in the first stages of the succession may be markers of ultramafic land degradation the high relative abundance of Chloroflexi seems to characterize vegetation with limited plant cover both Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria characterize closed maquis and rainforests The ectomycorrhizal fungal functional group exhibits a high and unique species richness the Cortinarius genus was prevalent in ultramafic rainforests and maquis (shrublands) dominated by ectomycorrhizal plants each ultramafic Massif seems to display its own soil microbial community All these results highlight the relevance of further identifying the evolutionary and ecological mechanisms that have shaped the microbial diversity of ultramafic ecosystems in New Caledonia Future investigations are also needed to better understand how the dominant groups are involved in the functioning of ultramafic systems our observations underscore the necessity of describing microbial species and assessing their threat status to establish species-conservation plans They also support the emerging point of view of considering soil biota for identifying hotspots of diversity and defining conservation priority areas for a more holistic perception of nature conservation expanded high-resolution investigations into soil biota covering a wider range of vegetation and soil types (including volcano-sedimentary and calcareous soils) will provide a deeper insight into how environmental factors This would help to define conservation strategies and policies for this biodiversity hotspot This will notably be achieved through the sensibilization of local populations (of all origins) to soil life and its significance alongside the consideration of their perception of soil and nature conservation as well as their involvement in defining priority areas This study encompasses, five sites located on ultramafic soils across the main island of New Caledonia (Fig. 1) namely from the south to the north: Goro (22°16’S; 166°58’E) Kopéto (21˚10’S; 165˚0’E) and Tiébaghi (20°27’S; 164°12’E) 25 soil samples of 10 cm depth and 5 cm diameters were collected and grouped to constitute one sample per plot All samples were placed at 4 °C and stored at −20 °C within the 4 following hours Out of the 91 plots used for this analysis 26,960,796 ITS2 reads and 29,024,538 V4 reads were obtained Species level assignments were performed based on exact matching with sequenced reference strains according to 99% of homology clustering The distribution of each indices was checked and fixed as negative binomial in the GLMM model a Bray-Curtis dissimilarity matrix was calculated from the ASV abundance data for both ITS2 and V4 datasets Dispersion homogeneity was tested across groups defined by site and vegetation type Statistical significance was determined using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) applied to the distances to group centroid DNA librairies: the Illumina MiSeq sequences are available under the following NCBI accession numbers: SAMN05786746 to SAMN05786777 for Rivière Blanche and Kopéto; SUB9939738 SUB9965709 and SUB9966666 for Goro; SAMN31953029 to SAMN31953058 and SAMN31953148 to SAMN31953177 for Maré; SRR30291378 to SRR30291403 for Bois du Sud and Tiébaghi 454 Pyrosequencing analyses of forest soils reveal an unexpectedly high fungal diversity Distribution patterns of microbial communities in ultramafic landscape: a metagenetic approach highlights the strong relationships between diversity and environmental traits Rooting theories of plant community ecology in microbial 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The R package ’anaconda’: targeted differential and global enrichment analysis of taxonomic rank by shared Asvs. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.11117.67048 (2022) Download references We gratefully acknowledge Alexandre Bouarat and Simon Gensous for their substantial assistance in fieldwork We thank the “Plateforme du Vivant” (Noumea New Caledonia) for access to its facilities This work has been founded by the Société Le Nickel (SLN-Eramet Group) (Convention IAC-SLN Research Collaboration N°DE2013-041) and the CNRT “Nickel & son Environnement” (agreement CSF N°1PS2013-CNRT.IAC/BIOINDIC) de Robotique et de Microélectronique de Montpellier (LIRMM) Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l’Environnement (CRBE) The authors declare no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94915-0 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science 20 Black families relocated to Caledonia in Livingston County from the south to start a new life Josh Shelton and Chip Day are both descendants of a couple of those families "My grandparents came here in 1906," Day said "My family moved here from Culpepper Virginia in like 1918 The stories of those families, which first arrived to Caledonia during the Great Migration from the south between 1890 and 1930, are featured in an exhibit at the Big Springs Museum not when they first came up here," Judith A but perseverance and probably self-respect and self-reliance Simms said the community was raised up in the church, with most in the community attending the local Church of God and Second Baptist Church MORE: 13WHAM's Black History Month coverage along with some from Maryland — all in search of work and better opportunities for their family "My father’s aunt lived in Caledonia," Betty McClenney said "I don’t know how long they had been here but she thought it was a land of opportunity everything is just wonderful here,' and he did it.” They made a good living for their families “My great grandfather had a dry-cleaning business He was quite the entrepreneur," Shelton said some generations later went on to become athletes "There's quite a wide breadth of what people have accomplished coming from here as far as they go on with their careers,” Day said “I've got my aunt that's a lawyer; I got an uncle that’s a lawyer “Several of them have served in military," said Robert Poles we have a general manager of a professional football team Clustered mostly on Leicester Street for five generations the community in Caledonia has been tightknit despite being made up of several different families McClenney described the town as “very small "We were almost a small island in a primarily White community and it was like a huge family," James Nelson said "Everybody’s yard was a yard you played in Everybody’s home was a place you could visit.” Day talked about growing up on Leicester Street but I could not go to anybody else's house and act out,” said Day “I would be corrected and disciplined right there on the spot and I think that helped everybody on their street to grow and to also realize that no matter what happens there's a place that you could always go.” That sense of community remains ingrained in everyone that calls this area home "I don't think it's any better than that." All the families tell 13WHAM they stayed or came back to Caledonia because it remains a great place to raise a family some five generations after their family members moved from the south "I’m a fourth-generation Cal-Mum Raider my daughter is going to be the fifth generation