The Eau Claire Area Ecology Action (ECAEA) grew out of a local teach-in to observe “Earth Day” on April 22, 1970. While their first project focused on the water quality of the Chippewa River, their focus quickly turned to the issue of solid waste. In the spring of 1971, ECAEA began a recycling project on the university campus which grew to be a community effort that fall. With the help of ECAEA group members as well as community members, Eau Claire would open a recycling center which changed locations several times over the next few years before finding a permanent location. The group would later focus on the issue of solid waste again in 1975 when they attempted to get a “bottle bill” passed on the fall special election ballot. The referendum, which would have put a small deposit on throwaway soda containers to encourage the use of returnable bottles, failed by a two-to-one margin. In 1973 ECAEA shifted its focus to the issue of nuclear power. The group put together a study committee to research nuclear power in response to the planned construction of a nuclear power plant in Durand, Wisconsin which is situated along the Chippewa River. The committee concluded that ECAEA should oppose the purposed power plant and the group voted to come out against the plans. The group would become heavily involved in construction permit hearings for the plant in 1974 and tried to get involved in federal hearings.

The ECAEA would sponsor another teach-in for Earth Day in 1971 with a much smaller turn out than the prior year. The group would also sponsor a series of workshops and speakers for Earth Day in 1975. ECAEA started publishing a monthly newsletter called “ECO News” in 1973. The last issue of “ECO News” in the collection (Volume 4, no. 6) indicates that between February and June of 1976 the Eau Claire Area Ecology Action became Northern Thunder, an ecology organization which remains active to the present day. The renaming of the group also came with a renaming of its newsletter which started publishing under the name “Hard Rain”. As a new group, Northern Thunder committed to a greater range of issues and increased its focus from the Eau Claire Area to all of northern Wisconsin.