Proposed shoreland rules provide
more flexibility for non-conforming structures
Public hearings to be held on
proposed rules in July and August
MADISON -- Waterfront property
owners -- especially those with homes built before 1970 -- would
gain more flexibility in maintaining and upgrading structures on
their property under proposed rule changes that are also
intended to better protect water quality, fish and wildlife
habitat, and natural scenic beauty. The proposed changes will be
the topic of public hearings statewide in July and August.
A citizen advisory committee
has been working for more than two years to revise and update
Wisconsin's shoreland management rules, which set statewide
minimum standards for lot sizes, how far structures need to be
from the water, and limits on cutting trees and vegetation. A
1997 Department of Natural Resources study showed the minimum
standards, found in Natural Resources Chapter 115 of the Wis.
Administrative Code, were inadequate to provide the natural
buffer and low density needed to protect water quality, habitat
and scenic beauty, as required by a 1966 law.
The proposed changes represent
the sixth draft developed by DNR staff in response to feedback
from the advisory committee, eight public listening sessions
around the state, and thousands of public comments to various
versions of the draft.
Bill Pielsticker, an advisory
committee member and Trout Unlimited Wisconsin official, said
the proposed changes offer more flexibility and predictability
for landowners in exchange for partial or complete restoration
of a shoreland buffer zone, which extends about the first 35
feet from the water's edge. "Such restoration is critical for
maintaining or improving water quality and fish and animal
habitat along the water’s edge, and it will both protect the
public’s interest in our lakes and streams, and the property
values that go hand in hand with clean water and healthy
habitats," he said.
Under the proposal,
requirements would stay the same for minimum lot sizes for
single family homes and for buildings to be "set back" 75 feet
from the ordinary high water mark, according to Toni Herkert,
the shoreland management staffer leading the revision effort.
But the proposal offers alternatives to the "50 percent rule"
that now limits the alterations, additions or major repairs done
on structures built before the current setback standards were
established and closer to the water than 75 feet, a so-called
"nonconforming structure."
Under the proposed revisions
people would be able to make unlimited repairs and maintain
structures that are built on foundations that do not extend
below the ordinary high water mark or extend over navigable
waters within the setback area. Within 35 feet property owners
would be able to tear down and rebuild a structure in the same
footprint if certain criteria are met. In some instances, beyond
35 feet, property owners would be able to tear down and expand
their structure.
When owners of nonconforming
structures start a building project that requires a building
permit or some other county permit, they would be required to
take actions to mitigate the potential impacts of their project
on the primary buffer, the portion of their property right next
to the water. The primary buffer is the most critical area for
providing habitat and clean water.
Such mitigation actions would
include restoring native vegetation within the 35-foot primary
buffer and developing an erosion control plan. Mitigation may
also include getting a septic system inspected and upgraded if
necessary, controlling for the impact of the hard or
"impervious" surfaces on their property that contributes to
runoff and the removal of accessory structures within the 35
foot primary buffer that don't have an exemption, Herkert said.
Pielsticker said the net result
of the proposed changes "provides landowners more flexibility
and predictability while its mitigation requirements promise to
maintain or improve water quality, something the existing rule
has failed to accomplish."
Matt Stohr, another advisory
committee member and legislative associate for the Wisconsin
Counties Association, strongly encouraged county officials, who
play and integral role in enforcing these important regulations,
to attend the public hearings.
"The public hearings will serve
as another opportunity for local government officials, shoreland
property owners and interested parties to determine if the most
recent draft of the rule is a step in the right direction when
it comes to enforceability and protecting shoreland property
owners and Wisconsin’s precious waters," he said.
Public hearings are set for the
following dates and locations. All sessions begin at 4:30 p.m.
with a brief presentation and question and answer session
followed by a 6 p.m. public hearing where testimony will be
taken for public comments.
- July 12 – Eau Claire,
Chippewa Valley Technical College, 620 Clairemont Ave.
- July 13 – Ashland,
Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College, 2100 Beaser Ave.
- July 14 – Egg
Harbor, Landmark Resort Egg Harbor
Room, 7643 Hillside Road.
- July 19 – La
Crosse, Western Wis. Technical
College, 304 6th St. North.
- July 21 – Stevens
Point, Sentry World Theater, 1800
North Point Dr.
- July 26 – West
Bend, UW Washington County, 400
University Dr.
- July 27 – Grand
Chute, 1900 Grand Chute Blvd.
- July 28 –
Rhinelander, Holiday Inn Express,
Pelican/Shepard Rooms, 668 West Kept St.
- Aug. 2 – Delavan,
Lake Lawn Resort, 2400 East Geneva St.
- Aug. 4 –
Fitchburg, Fitchburg Community
Center Oak Hall Room, 5520 Lacy Rd.
The draft proposal, and all of
the other materials that the advisory committee and DNR have
reviewed and developed since starting the revision process in
fall 2002, can be found on the
shoreland management pages of the DNR Web site.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Toni Herkert (608) 266-0161; Todd Ambs (608) 264-6278
Proposed shoreland rules
clarify setbacks for property with wetlands or bogs
MADISON -- Proposed changes in
Wisconsin's shoreland protection rule would clarify setbacks for
waterfront property owners who have a wetland or bog between
their upland and open water, and could allow homes to be closer
to open water than currently allowed. The provision is part of
draft rules that are the topic of public hearings statewide in
July and August.
Under the proposed changes, if
a wetland extends more than 40 feet between open water and the
upland boundary of the wetland, the county may allow structures
to be set back 35 feet from the upland portion of the wetland.
As a result such homes could be set back a total of 75 feet from
open water considerably closer to the water than under the
current standard.
Current rules require the homes
to be set back 75 feet or more from the ordinary high water
mark. The ordinary high water mark, or OHWM, is where the
regular action of water against the bank leaves a distinct mark,
and it establishes the boundary between publicly owned lakebed
and privately owned land.
The OHWM is not always at or
even near the water's edge, according to Russ Rasmussen, who
leads the DNR watershed management program. This is often the
case if a property has a wetland or bog between the upland and
open water. As a result, it's often difficult to determine the
ordinary high water mark, property owners may receive
conflicting assessments of where the mark is from county
officials and DNR staff.
"There have been disputes as to
where the Ordinary High Water Mark actually is," Rasmussen says.
"We are proposing to take some of the confusion out of the
process and we want to see what the public has to think of this
proposal.”
Rasmussen says the point of the
proposal is to establish a simpler process for waterfront
property owners to understand where they can build homes on
shoreland lots bordered by a wetland or bog. One simplifcation
is that the proposal spells out which assessment of the Ordinary
High Water Mark -- a county's or the DNR's -- is accepted in
situations in which the assessments differ by at least 1 foot.
At the same time, he says, the
setback provision concerning properties with a wetland between
the upland and open water are consistent with what the revised
rule is trying to achieve on all other waterfront properties.
That overarching goal is to protect the first 35 feet of land
next to the water. That land, known as the primary buffer, is
the most critical shoreland area for providing habitat for fish
and wildlife, filtering polluted runoff to protect water
quality, and providing natural scenic beauty. So the rules seek
to keep it in as natural state as possible, and limit structures
within it.
Ramussen says the number of
waterfront property owners who could benefit from the proposed
provision would increase in coming years because buildable
waterfront lots are increasingly scarce. As a result, people are
buying lots they once shunned because their soils, slopes, and
other features made building on them more difficult and costly.
"As development proceeds along
lakes, these types of sites are now the only ones that remain,"
he says.
People who plan to build a
house or an addition need to know the ordinary high water mark
to meet county ordinances for building setbacks, and the same is
true when people are applying to DNR for a permit to grade or
make other changes to their shoreline.
This new provision concerning
setback distances for waterfront properties with wetlands is
part of the shoreland protection rule package that is the topic
of statewide public hearings in July and August.
The draft proposal, and all of
the other materials that the advisory committee and DNR have
reviewed and developed since starting the revision process in
fall 2002, can be found on the
shoreland management pages of the DNR Web site.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Toni Herkert (608) 266-0161; Russ Rasmussen (608) 267-7651
New technology reveals
Wisconsin has more stream, river miles than previously thought
MADISON -- Wisconsin officially
just got a little wetter.
New technology has enabled the
state to obtain a more accurate accounting of the number and
size of the bodies of water found in Wisconsin. Based on this
new electronic data, the state now recognizes 84,474 stream and
river miles, up from the 57,698 miles reported in previous years
using manual calculations. A little under half of the new total
-- 41,613 miles -- are waters that flow year-round; the
remaining 42,860 miles flow intermittently, sometimes just
during spring when rain and melting snow fill them.
The new calculations show
Wisconsin's 15,057 lakes stretch across 1.2 million acres, not
the 0.9 million acres as was reported a few years ago.
"New tools have allowed us to
improve the accuracy of water body size calculations, so we have
found a significant difference in the mileage we have
historically reported to the federal government for monitoring
and assessment purposes," says Lisa Helmuth, Water Resources
Specialist.
The new water body totals are
discussed in the biennial report that Wisconsin, like other
states, submits to Congress on the status of waters within their
boundaries. Wisconsin's 2004 Water Quality Assessment Report to
Congress is now available online and in hard copy.
The more accurate accounting of
Wisconsin's water bodies is the result of long-term investments
in information technology and high quality data gathering by the
DNR Water Division over the last decade. These new tools,
Helmuth says, will allow managers to better understand what
water resources the state has, and where and why water quality
problems might arise.
This electronic data on water
in Wisconsin has allowed the state to develop a new mapping tool
that brings water and selected land information together in an
easy to use map called the
Surface
Water Data Viewer.
The Surface Water Data Viewer
gives the public and DNR the ability to go online, click a point
on a map, and reach close up views of that water resource, along
with the location of dams, impaired waters, outstanding and
exceptional resource waters, and floodplains. New information
will be added to the map in the future, including water
monitoring data, community growth data, and the location of
activities that require DNR Permits, such as waste water
discharges.
"It's sort of like having a
street address on the water for everything we do," says Ann
Schachte, Geographical Information System (GIS) specialist.
"It's a visual way of displaying all of the information in one
place."
This electronic representation
allows the DNR to automate and more accurately calculate the
total stream mileage and lake acreage in the state. The previous
method for calculating mileage involved a manual method of using
a map wheel to trace the rivers and lake shores on a map and
then multiplying to account for the scale of the map.
“Our goal is to provide all of
the information possible together on the same map," says Russ
Rasmussen, director of the DNR Bureau of Watershed Management.
"Investment into this and similar tools will reap huge long-term
time savings, and will provide better information as well."
Water Division staff are now
working on making existing information more accessible and
easier to use. For example the new Surface Water Data Viewer
allows computer users to view all surface waters that are
represented on U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute topographic
maps. The viewer can zoom in on the map to find waters that are
considered impaired by the federal government as a result of a
variety of pollutants, or which are categorized as "Outstanding
and Exceptional Resource Waters" and so granted a higher level
of protection.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ann Schachte (608) 267-2301; Lisa Helmuth (608) 266-7768
Reports detail condition of
Wisconsin waters and initiatives to protect and restore them
MADISON -- People can learn
more about the condition of Wisconsin's surface water and
groundwater, and the Department of Natural Resources programs
and initiatives that protect and restore them, through two new
widely available reports.
The first report, "Wisconsin
Water Quality Assessment Report to Congress 2004," is a
biennially updated report to Congress that details results of
DNR monitoring of lakes, streams, wetlands and groundwater. It
also represents a compendium of details on DNR programs and
activities to protect and improve those water resources.
The report is required by
Congress to assess how the states are doing in meeting the Clean
Water Act's goals of assuring all waters are safe for fishing
and swimming. It can be found on the DNR Web site or is
available in hard copy by e-mailing or calling Lisa Helmuth at <lisa.helmuth@dnr.state.wi.us>
or (608) 266-7768.
The second report, the 2004
Water Division Annual Report, available on the
DNR
Division of Water Web pages, highlights many efforts and
activities DNR water staff have undertaken or completed within
the last calendar year to achieve the division's four main
goals. Those goals are:
- implementing and enforcing
the federal Clean Water Act to assure Wisconsin waters are
safe enough to fish in and swim in;
- sustaining groundwater and
drinking water needs;
- enhancing and restoring
outstanding fisheries;
- and protecting lakes and
rivers that belong to all Wisconsin citizens by upholding
the Public Trust Doctrine.
Together, the reports reflect
the significant progress Wisconsin has made in restoring the
integrity of its waters in the last generation. And, the state
continues to look to the future to carry on the work of water
quality improvement, healthy fisheries, and ecosystem integrity.
In 2002, the state adopted the nation's most comprehensive rules
to control polluted runoff from farms, urban areas, construction
sites and roads, the most significant source of water quality
problems in the state.
In addition, the reports
describe significant policy initiatives, including one to better
protect groundwater and sensitive surface waters; the creation
of a special unit within DNR to focus on Great Lakes issues, and
a new law to streamline permitting for projects along lakes and
rivers without weakening environmental protection.
Landmark bi-partisan
groundwater legislation, passed in 2004, allows DNR to evaluate
proposed water withdrawals where they may affect large springs,
Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW), Exceptional Resources Waters
(ERW) or high quality trout waters. The legislation also creates
an advisory committee to review how the new law is working and
to recommend additional groundwater management actions for parts
of Wisconsin where growing water use has led to significant
drops in the water table, stirring concerns of groundwater
shortages and contamination.
The reports also identify high
priority issues and recommendations of special concern to
Wisconsin waters, including putting into place rules adopted in
2002 to address polluted runoff. Other issues include stemming
the influx of non-native aquatic invasive species such as zebra
mussels and Eurasian water milfoil; working with property owners
to reduce the shoreline development that harms critical fish and
wildlife habitat and degrades water quality; and reducing
mercury emissions from utilities and other sources that enter
the aquatic food chain.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Lisa Helmuth (608) 266-7768 and Kristi Minahan (608-266-7055)
2004 Big Game Survey available
MADISON – The second highest
white-tailed deer harvest on record and increases in the bear
and spring turkey harvests are among the statistics available in
2004 Wisconsin Big Game Hunting Summary. The annual summary is
now available from the Department of Natural Resources. The
summary carries results and statistics for the deer, black bear
and turkey hunting seasons and a summary of hunting incidents.
White-tailed deer
In 2004, hunters registered
519,388 deer -- the second highest harvest ever. Archers
registered 103,572 and gun hunters 413,794. Wisconsin tribes
harvested 2,022 deer.
State wildlife officials, using
these harvest totals and age data collected from a sample of the
registered harvest, estimated the 2004 prehunt white-tailed deer
population in Wisconsin was 1.64 million animals
Together, archers and gun
hunters registered 351,343 antlerless deer. The early Zone T gun
deer hunt (Oct. 28-31) yielded 72,358 deer and the late Zone T
gun hunt (Dec. 9-12) produced 14,324 deer.
Archers set a new harvest
record at 103,572 breaking the previous record of 95,607 set in
2003. Archers registered 93,427 during the early archery season
and 10,145 in the late season.
Officials in the DNR Customer
Service and Licensing bureau report that state residents
purchased 616,453 gun deer hunting licenses and 244,728 archery
hunting licenses in 2004. This represents a 1 percent increase
in gun license sales and a 2 percent increase in archery license
sales over 2003. In 2004, all types of deer license purchases,
including resident and non-resident, gun and archery, totaled
907,414.
“The harvest of over 350,000
antlerless deer last year was a tremendous effort by hunters and
is great progress toward getting a handle on high deer
populations across the state,” said Keith Warnke, DNR deer and
bear ecologist. “Effort like this is what is needed to reduce
the need for non traditional seasons like Zone T, reduce
agricultural damages and get back to the traditional archery,
nine-day and muzzleloader seasons nearly everyone would like to
see.
“We don’t have numbers for the
pre-hunt 2005 populations at this time but I think once again
there will be great deer hunting opportunities in Wisconsin this
fall.”
Other informational items from
the 2004 Deer Hunt:
- fawn production during
summer 2004 was at or below the statewide long-term mean,
especially in the northern third of the state;
- 48 deer management units
were designated Zone T;
- 26 deer management units
were designated Earn-a-Buck;
- more than 1 million
antlerless deer permits were issued in 2004;
- 8,352 deer were killed
under the Agricultural Damage Program;
- there were two deer
hunting related fatalities – the second safest season in the
past 20 years.
Black Bear
Hunters registered 3,063 black
bear during the 2004 season. This was 5 percent higher than the
2003 registration of 2,905.
Almost 62,000 people applied
for the 4,741 available black bear harvest permits in 2004. The
overall success rate for black bear hunters was 65 percent in
2004.
A total of 1,278 black bear
complaints were filed from April to October 2004. This was down
5 percent from the number of complaints filed in 2003. In
response to these complaints, 592 black bear were captured and
relocated from problem areas. Five nuisance bear kill permits
were issued during the fall of 2004 a total of five bear were
killed under this permit system, all in Langlade County.
Wildlife officials have
announced that 4,730 permits will be available for the fall 2005
black bear season.
Wild Turkey
Hunters registered 47,477
turkeys during the spring 2004 wild turkey hunt. This was a new
harvest record. The success rate is calculated at 25 percent
based on 186,608 permits issued. Hunter success rates were 20
percent or better in all but 6 of Wisconsin’s 56 turkey
management zones including 12 state parks open to spring turkey
hunting and Ft. McCoy.
The number of permits issued
grew by 9 percent over 2003 (186,608 in 2004, 169,277 in 2003).
A total of 173,743 applications were received; 27,010 received
second permits and 17,023 applications did not get a permit.
Applicants who did not receive a permit had applied for a zone
or time period for which there were more applicants than permits
available. Seventeen zones were over-subscribed in spring 2004.
There were three incidents
during the 2004 spring turkey season involving firearm injuries.
Two were due to a failure of the shooter to properly identify
their target the third was self inflicted.
The much lower key fall wild
turkey season saw 79,178 permitted hunters register 10,362 birds
for a 13 percent success rate. This was a drop in success rate
from the previous year when hunters had a nearly 16 percent
success rate. The number of permits was up slightly from 2003’s
78,831.
Total registrations in fall
2004 dropped 17 percent from the 2003 harvest of 12,554 birds.
The percentage of adults in the ’04 fall harvest was up to 66
percent from ‘03’s 58 percent. Biologists think the increase was
possibly a result of a decrease in turkey production in the very
wet spring of 2004.
There were two non-fatal turkey
hunting incidents in fall 2004. Both were attributed to the
shooter’s failure to properly identify the target.
To request a copy of the 2005
Big Game Report contact the DNR Bureau of Wildlife Management at
(608) 266-8204.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Keith Warnke (deer and bear) 608-264-6023; Andrea Mezera
(turkey) 608-261-8458 ; Brian Dhuey (report statistics)
608-221-6342; Diane Crawford (license sales) (608) 261-0770
Sharp-tailed grouse permits
set at for 2005
MADISON – There will be 780
permits available for the fall 2005 sharp-tailed grouse hunting
season in Wisconsin, state wildlife officials have announced.
The number of permits is down slightly from 2004, which had
1,000 permits available.
The 2005 season runs from Oct.
15 through Nov. 6. Hunters should note the new deadline to
submit permit application to the Department of Natural Resources
is Aug 1.
"Biologists on the DNR Prairie
Grouse Committee recommended decreasing the number of permits
for this fall due to several factors, including fewer dancing
males observed during spring surveys, hunting pressure, and last
spring’s cool and wet weather which had a negative impact on
brood success," said Andrea Mezera, acting upland game
ecologist.
A total of three units will
share the available permits. For management purposes,
sharp-tailed grouse management units use the same boundaries and
designations as deer management units (DMU). Those units with
sharp-tail permits available for fall 2005 are: DMU 2 (620
permits), DMU 9 (110 permits), and DMU 10 (50 permits).
Hunters interested in
sharp-tailed grouse hunting must submit an application.
Applications can be purchased at all ALIS vendors, DNR Service
Centers, by calling 1-877-WI-LICENSE, or by applying through the
License,
Permits and Registrations page of the DNR Web site.
Applications cost $3. Hunters are encouraged to carefully review
the zone map and apply for units that are open. Applying for
closed units will result in an invalid application.
Last fall, just over 470
applicants applied for 1,000 permits. Hunters harvested 40 birds
during the 2004 season.
“Because sharp-tailed grouse
numbers are low, birds will be more difficult to find,” Mezera
said. “We would like to emphasize that the opportunity to find
sharp-tailed grouse is limited and difficult; hunters are
encouraged to hunt for the experience, and not for the
opportunity to harvest a bird.”
The sharp-tailed grouse is
native to Wisconsin's barrens and savannas and is currently only
found in that remaining habitat. It closely resembles the
greater prairie chicken and female ring-necked pheasant, but has
a distinctive pointed tail edged with white, and creates a
“chuk, chuck, chuck” call when flushed.
Sharp-tails are most known for
their courtship display on clearings called "dancing grounds" in
the spring. During this display, the male uses a stiff-bodied
stepping motion, followed by a "dance" in small circles. While
dancing, the male vibrates his tail feathers, which makes a
clicking or rattling noise.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Andrea Mezera (608) 261.8458
Plans proposed to clean up
five streams in Buffalo County
Public has until Aug. 5 to comment
on proposed cleanup plans
MADISON -- The public has an
opportunity to comment on plans to clean up five streams in
Wisconsin that currently do not meet state or federal water
quality standards. The plans set levels for how much pollution
the individual streams can receive from all sources -- known as
a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL – and still support
designated aquatic life and recreational uses.
The Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources has developed TMDLs for five streams in the
Waumandee Creek Watershed in Buffalo County: Buell Valley Creek,
Cochrane Ditch (Rose Valley), Irish Valley Creek, Jahns Valley
Creek and Weiland Valley Creek.
Each of the five streams is
addressed in this report. The TMDLs for these streams address
sedimentation and degraded habitat impairment conditions. The
plans spell out the amount of sediment pollution that each
stream can hold to capacity without exceeding water quality
standards. The plan also includes strategies for reaching these
sediment goals and ongoing monitoring efforts.
As part of the review and
submittal process for TMDLs, a 30-day public comment period
begins July 5 and ends on Aug. 5, 2005.
People can view the most recent
TMDL reports on the DNR Web site.
Questions and comments on the
Waumandee Creek Impaired Streams TMDL should be directed to to
Jim Baumann at: Wisconsin DNR WT/2, PO Box 7921, Madison, WI
53707 or by calling (608) 266-9277 or e-mailing <james.baumann@wi.dnr.state.wi.us>.
