Water is essential to our identity in Wisconsin. It supports our economy, recreation and way of life. Wisconsin has a long history of managing our water resources as a public good not a private commodity.
There is a bill currently before the legislature that would violate that history to the detriment of the state, and it is likely to be voted on on Tuesday, March 20.
This bill requires the Department of Natural Resources to issue a general permit that would allow, with some exceptions, a landowner to remove every year up to 50 cubic yards of material from waters affected by a man-made impoundment. This is the equivalent of removing five dump truck loads of material by every landowner every year without any review. The John Muir Chapter opposes SB 789. This bill violates the best traditions of Wisconsin in managing its natural resources in a balanced way for the good of all.
The old motto for a successful carpenter is to “measure twice and cut once.” For the waters of Wisconsin affected by this bill, it would become “never measure and cut repeatedly.” This bill eliminates a system that has served us well to balance competing interests regarding our natural resources and replaces it with blind faith in the responsible actions of landowners and contractors. No longer would there be the necessary oversight of such activities, and nothing would ensure that our natural resources are not damaged.
Removing material from a lakebed can cause a number of problems, including destruction of spawning areas or other important habitat and resuspension of silt and any contaminants present in the material. These changes can adversely affect the lake, neighbors and other users of the water body such as swimmers, boaters and fishermen. In some cases the damage would be permanent. Under a general permit, adjacent landowners, other users of the water and interests of the public will not be protected; dredging of this kind should be done, as it is now, through an individual permit. This bill will eliminate the necessary review of these activities by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to prevent adverse effects on the states resources. It will create needless conflict between neighbors on Wisconsin lakes, and conflicts between landowners and users of our lakes.
For example, with no notice requirements, a neighboring riparian landowner will not know of the proposed dredging until it is underway, leading to personal conflicts and lawsuits. The result is that instead of any sort of clearly defined system, riparian landowners will have to follow court cases to understand what they can and cannot do. In that it allows damage to the states waters without review, it probably also violates the Public Trust Doctrine of the Wisconsin constitution.
By Bill Davis, Chapter Director