Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Levees and Flooding

Another comment from a visitor to the website:

Here is another except from the same article you have posted on your web
blog, but the funny part of what these wetland environmentalist say is the levees they complain about were not even built till 1969, so what the heck caused the loses of wetlands from 1930 till 1969 if not natural conditions such as hurricanes and flooding?

"Sidney Coffee, executive assistant to the governor for coastal activities, said about 1,900 square miles of wetlands have disappeared from the area since the 1930s, and the receding continues at a rate of about 24 square miles per year"

Here's what I found on that:

Indians had lived along the Mississippi for hundreds of years, and apparently had not been bothered by the river's proclivity to leave its banks, or to wander to and fro in search of a speedier path to lower terrain. They simply moved their teepees when the blankets started getting wet. but, as one joker put it, "It's more difficult to move Baton Rouge."

As a river leaves its banks at flood stage, it quickly begins to slow and drop its sediment. The finer silt may be carried for some distance, but the heavier sands and small rocks will settle almost immediately. Thus, the Mississippi, a river prone to flooding throughout its history, had already built some substantial natural levees before the Europeans arrived on the scene.

This suggested to the new settlers that assisting nature by building the natural river walls even higher might offer some protection to them in the years when Montana and other upstream states had a very wet winter and spring, and they got the resulting runoff.

In New Orleans, a town where the majority of the first homes were built on the river's natural levees, an ordinance was passed in 1724 making each homeowner who lived along the river responsible for building and keeping in good repair an artificial levee. Not everyone bothered to construct a levee; indicating that even then they had the makings of fine American citizens, who today still balk when they are ordered by the government to do something for their own good. Those who did follow the ordinance constructed dirt and rock structures generally not more than three feet in height. In 1727, the New Orleans levee system was declared complete, and the city was considered to be flood proof.

No one informed the Mississippi, which proceeded to put New Orleans under water in 1735, and again in 1785. Levee building on both sides of the river now proceeded in earnest.

Levees became a business. By the time the War of 1812 erupted, there were levies along much of the river from New Orleans to the point where the California to Florida Bicycle Route crosses the Mississippi, a distance of more than 200 miles. Still the river flooded, and again the levees were built higher. By the time the Civil War broke out, the levees averaged nearly 6 feet in height, double the height of the initial New Orleans levees.

The river remained ignorant of the great pains the population was taking to keep it within its banks. In 1862, 1866, and 1867 it flooded; in dozens of places the levees failed and were rebuilt, and failed again.

In 1879, Congress got into the act and turned over the responsibility for flood control to the Army Corp of Engineers. After studying the problem, the Corp determined that the levees, if properly constructed and maintained, would do the job. They discarded alternate plans of tributary dams, spillways, and downstream reservoirs.

And so through the turn of the century the cycle continued, with higher and higher levees, and occasional pronouncements that the river was at long last under control. In 1884, 1890, 1891, 1897, 1898, 1903, 1912, 1913, 1922, and 1927 those pronouncements were drowned by the sound of rushing flood waters.

By 1928, with much of the 1,500 miles of levees now at eighteen feet or higher, someone finally asked, "How high is high enough?" The engineers worked their slide rules again, and this time arrived at a different, and very disturbing, answer: the levees would not fully solve the flooding problem, no matter how high they were built.

The Corp turned to "Plan B," essentially the system of flood ways, reservoirs, and control gates, it had discarded some 45 years earlier. Levees were not ignored as part of the solution; by the 1930s the average Mississippi levee was 30 feet high.
And still the river continued to flood. By the 1970s, it was time to try a new approach. The Corp decided to draw the battle line at Old River, where the Atchafalaya River and the Red River join the Mississippi.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Wetlands Assn. Boat Tour Results

Notes from Sunday's Wetlands Association boat tour of Lake Koshkonong:

I went on the boat ride with the wetlands group yesterday afternoon.

It was a very pleasant day on the lake- calm and hardly any boat traffic compared to the Madison Lakes. It turned out to be pretty much a bird watching and native american history tour. Very little was said about the wetlands and with boats you couldn't really get close enough to see much into the wetlands. A few tidbits I did pick up along the way...

...An archeologist from the Wisconsin Historical Society that talked about a lot of the indian history and artifacts found around the shore. Basically she said you probably couldn't throw a rock without finding some indian artifacts. I think she was talking mainly about upland sites but said the marshes were largely unexplored. Some of the better artifacts such as dugout canoes may be found in the wetlands where they would be better preserved...

Quentin Carpenter...also said that even though he is generally not in favor of armoring wetland shores, it does seem to be working well on Lake Koshkonong...

...A dentist from Chicago that lives near Carcajou asked him what he thought of the proposal to raise the water level 7 inches...

...The (DNR's) Don Bush more or less said that he could manage the fish at what ever level and the annual, natural water fluctuation is much greater than the 7 inches...

...He did have two points of concern. He liked a fall drawdown because it forced carp out of the marshes, where they are probably doing the most damage and into the lake. He was referring particularily to Mud Lake. An he liked the marsh fringe to have water on it in the spring for spawning, particularily for northern pike...

...Another thing I noticed that even with pontoon boats and not particularity big motors (40-70 hp) we were stirring up quite a bit of mud going in and out of some of the bays. I didn't see any submerged aquatic plants, but visibility into the water was poor...

Hurricane Katrina & Wetlands

This, from a reader of our website...

Hurricanes and Wetlands

Excerpts:
...Wetlands act as a "speed bump," slowing down storms almost like dry land does, said Kip Patrick, spokesman for America's Wetland. "They take some of the brunt of the force of the hurricane, weakens the storm like any land mass would."

...The regular floods served nature's purpose by feeding the delta, bringing fresh water and sediment that served to sustain life and replenish the wetlands. Without the regular flooding, the wetlands naturally "compact."

..."The entire area has to be re-plumbed," she said. "You have to build on what you have. It's a very complex solution."
New Orleans and the history of navigation, shipping and commerce on the Mississippi that the levee system protects is sure to be a big topic in the coming weeks.

Closer to home, Mother Nature does indeed provide regular high water/flooding of the Koshkonong wetlands, and the Wetland Protection grants that nine (9) wetlands owners have received has already proved beneficial to wetland restoration.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Web site tells anglers where they're biting

From the Janesville Gazette

(Published Monday, August 29, 2005)

...thanks to the advancements in technology, those techniques might be a thing of the past. Today's fishermen can anchor themselves to their home computers and log onto:

www.lake-link.com

for all of the fishing reports they could possibly want.

...The site, developed in 1997 by brothers Steve and Darin Novak, is full of information on fishing Wisconsin's lakes. Much of the content is free...

Friday, August 26, 2005

Quotes on DNR's Science

You’d think that a science driven department (DNR), as they claim to be, would be anxious to verify a hypothesis.
Gale Wolf, chairman of the Dead Pike Lake Association’s water committee

These decisions are as much political as anything. You’re (DNR) managing that for hunters. But you’ve (DNR) got to get it into your head that you’ve also got to manage for the entire ecosystem, water quality included.
Rep. DuWayne Johnsrud (now retired)
Chairman of Assembly Natural Resources Committee

Science Needed at DNR

Read the entire editorial at:
Science is exactly what we need in the DNR,

The Lakeland Times

For those who have not read the DNR’s proposed new shoreland zoning administrative rule, the revised NR115, this would be an important time to do so...

...All its supporters emphasize the so-called ‘science’ that makes this radical revision...

...When it comes to science, the DNR is just like the naked emperor who paraded around the kingdom touting his new suit. Like the emperor’s clothes, the science just isn’t there. They may say it is – and they do – but just looking at the rule quickly tells you what the real purpose is, and that’s to pursue a political agenda...

...For example, water quality should be the agency’s top priority and the central goal of any NR115 revision...

...I was astounded by the lack of attention paid to invasive species or non-point source pollution or acid rain or phosphorous or even to the overall increasing use of our lake resources.

Provision after provision is instead devoted to telling people where they can plant trees on their property or where they can put their non-conforming homes. The agency would use this new law to tell people they can’t expand their lawns or put flags or signs within the setback...

...And none of this deals with the increasing deterioration of water quality. Take septic systems, for instance. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, septic system failure rates range from 1 percent to 5 percent a year and septic system failure is now the third most common source of groundwater pollution. This is an especially critical problem in the Northwoods because of the vast number of homes – and the vast number of lake homes – that use septic systems.

To address this problem, we don’t need to think about what is going on above ground so much as we do about what is going on beneath us, underground. There, the water is flowing to the lakes, and, while in some cases it gets trapped, for the most part it moves downhill toward the lowest point. As it does so, it will carry with it contamination from failing septic systems or from underground gasoline tanks.

The point is, a faulty septic system will pollute, whether it is 50 feet from the lake or 1,000 feet from the lake. Water, and the leaking sewage in it, will seek the lowest point, it will contaminate wells along the way, and when it reaches the lake it will, among other things, produce those large algae blooms the DNR loves to talk about...

...Oh, the DNR staff has a pat answer when failing septic systems are brought up. There’s nothing we can do about that, they say, because we don’t regulate septic systems. The Department of Commerce does...

...Then there’s the issue of impervious surfaces and the run-off threat associated with them. The new rule would strictly regulate the amount of impervious surfaces – which include gravel surfaces – on a homeowner’s lot, but that doesn’t stop the agency from routinely and needlessly clearing public shorelines and creating impervious surfaces for boat landings.

If it truly cared about the environmental effects of run-off, the DNR would not have force-fed our area a landing on Lake Kawaguesaga, when several landings already existed on the chain that provided access to the lake.

...If the DNR really cared about surface runoff, it would provide either wastewater treatment or traps to stop the run-off wherever it imposes impervious surfaced or blacktopped landings. But it does not.

Then, too, the DNR doesn’t like lawns and doesn’t want existing ones expanded, when in reality a faulty septic system near a lake, or even hundreds of yards away, will dump more phosphorus into the water than several lawns.

And while the DNR is obsessed with eliminating structures within the shoreline setback, it does not address the miles of concrete and blacktop and buildings built more than 1,000 feet from the shoreline.The truth is, though, if a house pollutes the water from 35 feet, then a house 500 feet away will also pollute the water, no matter what is planted on the shoreline...

...Contouring our properties and using proper soil erosion methods make it difficult for runoff to get to the lake and actually are the best tools we have to protect water quality, but the DNR doesn’t tell anyone that.

They don’t tell anyone because the science isn’t as important to them as how “natural” a shoreline looks. If it is endowed with natural beauty – that is, untouched by human hands – then it’s OK, even if the natural beauty doesn’t do a thing to stop run-off from getting into the lake and the human-created contoured lawn does.

So the agency simply falls back on its flawed science, as it did when it tried to argue in the Tom Baer case that a seawall he had wasn’t needed for erosion control and that it adversely affected water quality.

In that case, a judge rejected both those arguments – and the DNR’s scientific claims supporting them.

The Department, in this case, presented extensive evidence of its concerns about the adverse impacts related to seawalls, the judge concluded. However, the experts retained by the Baers exhaustively studied Alder Lake, especially in the vicinity of the Baers’ shoreline, and demonstrated both that a seawall was warranted and that it would not be detrimental to the public interest. Not only that, the judge added, Baer’s seawall wasn’t harming the environment at least in part because the department itself – using fluctuating water levels on the lake – had already damaged it by killing off amphibians and reptiles and reducing aquatic vegetation. Both of these conclusions rely heavily on the fact that the water level in Alder Lake is elevated above its natural level during the summer season and drawn down in the winter, the judge wrote.

...Not too long ago, I read with interest an article in the Madison State Journal, in which a Madison resident called upon the DNR to make NR115 even stricter than what the agency is proposing. I found that interesting for two reasons:

One, that individual lives in a city that is exempt from NR115 and in which the Monona Terrace juts out significantly over the lake. It’s easy to call for stricter regulation when it doesn’t apply to you.

Second, this individual was asking the bureaucracy rather than the Legislature to enact that stricter law. This, too, is a deformity, when a bureaucracy can make and enact laws without public or legislative approval. What has happened to our democracy?

...Spending more than a quarter-million dollars to harass a law-abiding citizen such as Tom Baer and then to try and codify the same discredited and judicially rejected science in NR115 certainly is not rational, does not make common sense, and will do nothing to protect our water quality, the biggest environmental issue of our time.

Just think if that $250,000 was put toward stopping invasive species. Just think!

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

More Questions RE: Shoreline Trespassing

WI DNR

Trout anglers, canoeists, hunters, and others who frequent Wisconsin's lakes rivers and streams need to be aware of changes to rules pertaining to access along waterways that were enacted in the 2001 Wisconsin state budget bill.

Effective Sept. 1, 2001, waterway users will, for the most part, have to return to the old "keep your feet wet" test, as created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The new law allows users to exit the body of water, where necessary, to bypass an obstruction. The bypass can involve areas up to the ordinary high water mark and should be by the shortest route possible. Under the new law, using the exposed shoreline for purposes such as picnicking and sunbathing is not allowed.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Sign-Up Today!

WI Wetlands Association

Pontoon Boat Tour of Lake Koshkonong Wetlands
Jefferson/Rock County
Sunday, August 28, 2:00 - 5:00 pm

In partnership with: Lake Koshkonong Wetlands Association

Field trip leaders: Quentin Carpenter and representatives of Lake Koshkonong Wetlands Association

Limited space; call WWA to register: 608-250-9971

Relax and enjoy a pontoon boat ride while learning about the natural and cultural history of Lake Koshkonong and its wetlands. These wetlands provide important wildlife habitat along the Rock River corridor, but their health and continued existence are affected by a number of threats including operation of the Indianford dam to potentially raise lake water levels, nutrient inputs from the watershed, and introduction of the common carp. Lake Koshkonong Wetland Association works on these and other management issues to ensure protection of the ecological values of these wetlands. Because of boat capacities, we are limited to 20 participants and registration is required. Call 608-250-9971 soon to reserve your spot.

Wear or bring sun protection (hats, sunglasses, long-sleeved shirts, sunscreen, etc.) and bring rain gear in case of light showers and/or spray from the boat. Trip will be cancelled in case of heavy rain or other hazardous weather.

Directions:
We will board the pontoon boats from Linn and Ann Duesterbeck's property at N630 Blackhawk Bluff Dr. in Milton. From I-90, take Hwy 59 southeast to County N and turn left (east). Take N to Vogel Rd, and turn left (north). Vogel Rd becomes Pottawatomi Trail and then later turns into Blackhawk Bluff Dr.

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Sunday, August 14, 2005

Looking to restore Whitewater lake's luster

(story)

The lake has never been put high on the agenda. We need to get public awareness. This lake not only serves the people who live around it, it is an important part of our local resources. If nothing else, the city should want to improve the lake from an image standpoint.

Now, is the time for a call to arms. People need to get more vocal and involved. There needs to be a clamoring for better lake quality. It will come, but it won't come without headaches.

Rick Fassl
A Whitewater resident for more than 30 years, Fassl was part of a group that attended a recent meeting organized by Tom Barnes, director of the city's parks, recreation, forestry department, to discuss possible improved lake management solutions.


Tripp Lake options
Local residents have three options for taking a lead role in managing Tripp Lake, said Jeffrey Thornton, a principal senior lake management planner with the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

The options are:

-- Do nothing, allow the city to continue its plan.

"But then the community is at the mercy of the city, which has many other priorities on its plate," Thornton said.

-- Form a voluntary resident lake property association, which could be as simple as a group of people gathering to accomplish a goal or take steps to incorporate the association. Incorporation provides legal protection.

-- Form a special purpose of government, such as a public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district. Lake management districts are governmental units, which means all property owners within the district contribute to it.

"It's unlike an association, where the burden falls on a few individuals," Thornton said.

More than 800 such lake organizations exist in the state, with about half of them being lake management districts organized under state statutes as a special unit of government

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

NR 115: Existing Rule vs. Proposed

Click here or here to read what the DNR is constructing for new Shoreland Zoning rules.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

NR115; New rules will help protect lakes, rivers

Janesville Gazette Op-ed


...Enter NR115, a set of proposed rules governing everything from setbacks for buildings to shoreline buffers and types of vegetation. The rules have undergone numerous rewrites. Large crowds have offered the Department of Natural Resources feedback at public hearings.

...The apathetic can ignore the debate and let the DNR enact whatever rules it wants. Yet if you own shoreland property or enjoy time on the water, we urge you to pay attention.

...After all, many people criticize the DNR-some for being too protective of resources, others for allowing environmental damage. You don't have to look any further than the Rock-Koshkonong Lake District, where a majority of residents voted July 30 to fight the DNR's limits on the lake's water level.

Floridone -Yahara Lakes Association

DNR wary of fluridone to clear lakes of weeds

Solution to lake weeds begins at home

Problems Defy Simple Solution

We won't save lakes by playing it safe
Eric Farnsworth July 21, 2005

Madison and Dane County purport to be proponents of technology to further science, medicine and even Internet communication.

Why then is it sitting on its laurels while its premier natural assets, the chain of lakes, become an unusable, unsightly and noxious liability?

While Susan Lampert Smith in her Sunday column suggests using a "magic potion" to save our lakes, there is really no magic to it. It is science and it is available to those who are willing to recognize that inertia means loss of the asset and deterioration of the quality of life.

This isn't about a few lake property owners. At least they still have a view, even if they can't motor through the weeds or swim or breathe in the noxious mix we call a lake.

This is about every resident of this county who endures its tough winters with visions of summer fun on the lake - only to be told the beach is closed and the water is too choked with weeds to fish or frolic.

With the UW Center for Limnology in Madison, with the overwhelming support of those who use the lakes, and with our quality of life at stake, why is our state Department of Natural Resources speculating about or being leery of possible fixes?

Do what scientists do - experiment in a section of the lake with a proven product like Sonar or equivalent, evaluate the effects, report the results to the appropriate commission charged with oversight of the lakes, and then start a public discussion about remedies and costs.

Of course you have to be careful when altering the ecosystem of a lake, as DNR coordinator Graham warns. But these ecosystems have already been significantly altered by man. Now it's man's obligation to fix it.

If the DNR is too cautious or too worried to take an initiative that carries risks, then let's let them off the hook and create a Commission to Save the Lakes that isn't too gun-shy to act.

Tern Comments

Low water levels in the Horicon Marsh did no good for the ducks there, or the catfish for that matter.

I have been told the Terns will find a suitable spot no matter how high the water level is in the lake, as long as it is a STABLE level.
###

For more info:
WI DNR Protected Birds Terns

Tern Nesting

We were never above 776.38 during the so called, nesting period.

We were at 778.24 during March and April of 2005 but only for a very short period of time each month, definitely not long enough to do any damage nor would it destroy nesting sites, as it was way to early for any birds to nest.
Jim

Correction: Yes we were above max -- in 2004. Many of us missed the date of the LKWA posting - 2004. During that time, as many of us remember, we were 4-5 feet ABOVE summer max levels. In fact, the river was no wake until the end of July last year.

However, it is important to note that the high water last year was the work of Mother Nature. Lake Koshkonong has always experienced flood stages and always will.

The RKLD's petition is to control the low water, which is appears to be equally detrimental to the tern nesting.
Brian

LKWA - There They Go Again

From the Lake Koshkonong Wetland Association (LKWA) Club Meeting
6/29/04 Program Notes:

One activity that we plan for the fall or winter is to make additional nest boxes and also nesting platforms for black terns and forester's terns.

These birds have not been able to nest yet this summer because the water is too high.

Their nesting will also be hindered for years to come because of loss of vegetation in the wetlands this spring. Large pieces of the floating bogs have been destroyed.
However, this from Michigan State University:

The effects of human disturbance on black terns are poorly studied.

However, activities other than habitat destruction include fishing, swimming, boating and prolonged human presence.

RKLD is conserving habitat (see below). Are we being asked to choose between tern presence and human presence?
Nests are usually protected from direct open water to avoid dangers such as wind and wave action. Overall, black terns tend to nest at sites with a 50-50 vegetation cover:open water ratio.

If the wetlands were armored, as has 9 sites that have already been sponsored by the RKLD, it would help the terns.
Nests are depressions in floating, matted vegetation. Nesting occurs in water depths of .5 m to 1.2 m.

Simulating drought conditions, as advocated by the LKWA and the DNR, appears to be detrimental to the black terns. But then again, so is human presence.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Meeting Comments III

Hello Brian -

Just want to let you know you and the other board members did an
outstanding job at Saturday's meeting (7-30-05). It was run professionally and
orderly and most importantly, I feel we are actually getting closer
to our Lake District goals.

Maybe next year with the help of the DNR, we can put together a plan
on restocking the lake with Bass, Walleyes, Northerns and Muskies
instead or court battles and legal costs. Wouldn't that be nice.

Regards,
James

The Newspapers Missed this Quote

Ideally, the winter drawdown would have been set for early October but was delayed until November 1 to accommodate duck hunters navigating across the lake in their skiffs, pointed out Mr. Johnson.

From the DNR's Press Release rejecting the RKLD's petition for a 7.2 inch change in lake levels.

NR115: A hoax perpetrated by political extremists

From Minocqua's The Lakeland Times

...Right now, the revision of the state’s shoreland administrative rule is in its eighth incarnation. Apparently the last two or three versions never even made it to the advisory committee the DNR had put together to help write it.

...No need to bother those who might criticize the elite bureaucracy’s work. After all, the DNR is always right.

...It’s all a hoax, of course, from the agency’s disingenuous proclamations about the work being the consensus product of that advisory committee to the so-called scientific explanations backing up what the agency wants to do.

...The other thing the DNR hopes the public will miss is the fictitiousness of its science.

...That was proven in the Tom Baer case, in which the agency pursued Mr. Baer for a variety of alleged violations. They are pursuing him still, at taxpayers’ expense, though so far they have lost on every count. There’s no need to recount all the details here; what’s important is that Mr. Baer and his attorneys destroyed the credibility of the DNR’s scientific claims in court – the fundamental basis for his victories – and established the DNR’s real motivations in the process.

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Thursday, August 04, 2005

Botulism strikes ducks in Horicon

(Published Thursday, August 4, 2005)

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - An outbreak of botulism at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in Dodge County has killed more than 1,000 ducks this summer, the largest die-off at the refuge since the 1970s.

The loss is about a tenth of the resident mallard population.

An official said ducks are killed every year at the refuge because of avian botulism.

But this year, a combination of hot weather and low water levels because of a water drawdown combined to cause even more deaths on the 20,000-acre federal section of the refuge, said Wendy Woyczik, a biologist for the refuge.

She said the mallards are eating maggots that feed on rotting catfish that are dying because of low water levels in the refuge. The maggots are akin to "toxic pellets" filled with a natural bacterium in the soil that becomes toxic because of high heat and decaying organic matter like fish and plants.

The southern, state-operated section of the refuge, which is about 11,000 acres, has not been affected, officials said.

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State considering new rules for lake shorelines

(Published Wednesday, August 3, 2005)

By Sue Yanny
Gazette Staff

DELAVAN-People who owned property on Wisconsin lakes used to build quaint little cabins with paths that ran down to the water.

They now build large year-round homes with big manicured lawns.

Shoreland development has changed, and so, too, must the rules that govern it.

That was the message from Department of Natural Resources officials during a public hearing Tuesday at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan to get feedback about the revised shoreland protection program.

About 100 people attended the hearing in a conference room overlooking the shimmering blue waters of Delavan Lake.
The DNR adopted the shoreland protection program 35 years ago, said Toni Herkert, shoreland management team leader for the Bureau of Watershed Management.

It contains statewide minimum standards for shoreland development that are designed to protect water quality, fish and wildlife habitat and natural scenic beauty along lakes and rivers, she said.

The DNR decided to revise the rules because they no longer apply to much of the development, Herkert said.

The rules are no longer adequate to prevent water pollution, shoreline erosion and the loss of fish and wildlife habitat, she said.

"We're not here saying development is a bad thing," she said. "We're saying development is changing-and we have to compensate for that."

A large house built on the shores of a lake dumps 700 times more phosphorous into the lake than undeveloped land, said Russ Rasmussen, director of the Bureau of Watershed Management. It also dumps 18 times more sediment, he said.

"The water quality in our lakes is deteriorating, for the most part, "he said. "This is what we're trying to address with these new rules."

Most people spoke in favor of the revisions.

Several opposed some changes, however.

Steve Musinsky lives on Pike Lake in Washington County.

He said he supported the new rules in general but opposed provisions that might put burden shoreland homeowners.

"Basically, we're the ones footing the bill for this," he said.

Kevin MacKinnon, who is administrator for the Delavan Lake Sanitary District, said Delavan Lake looks nice, but it did not always look that way.

The sanitary district spent about $25 million to build the sewer system, MacKinnon said.

The Walworth County Metropolitan Sewer District then spent $25 million to build an interceptor and treatment plant, he said.

The town, sanitary district and other governments then spent about $7 million to rehabilitate the lake, he said.

"That's the cost to clean up a lake when the shoreland protection program was not in place," he said.

Walworth County Supervisor Dorothy Burwell said she used to guess at how Delavan Lake affected the area's economy.

She said she knows now because of a study that was recently conducted by the Delavan Lake Improvement Association and UW-Whitewater.

"You may be surprised, as many of us were, how high the dollar figures are," she said. "The impact not only is on local and county revenue, but state revenue, as well. We cannot afford to do anything but have strong environmental rules to protect our lakes, rivers and streams."

The study found that Delavan Lake has contributed $77 million annually to the area economy since it was refurbished in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Freedom requires responsibility, Burwell said.

"We can be free to do what we wish with our land, but we must ever be mindful of how our actions affect those we share the land with," she said.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Thanks from the Chair

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting.

I also want to thank all the volunteers who worked on getting the newsletter in the mail and for helping with a record turnout at the registration tables Saturday.

And lastly, we thank Norbert Jim Johnson for participating in the election Saturday. Democracy is a great thing. Without candidates, without those letters, both supportive and in opposition to the goals of the Lake District, voters would not be as informed as they were when they arrived the meeting.

And thank you to all the businesses that posted our posters, reminding voters to attend the meeting.

Please keep visiting our website. We will be making some changes again this week, trying to post even more information for public consumption.

And as usual, we will be posting regular comments here at the Chairman’s blog each week.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Annual Meeting Comments II

Brian , I would just like to say how impressed I was with the presentation, it was extremely well done & professional.

Also, through the coarse of the morning I met & talked with the board members & was equally impressed, it looks like you all have a real good thing going here & that finally something will get done.

It was also interesting to hear what all the different people with in the gathering had to say, it exposed me to how complex this whole process is & how many different variables there are involved with this issue.

More than anything it inspired my wife & I to get more involved as I believe it inspired others as well, pls let us know moving forward what else we can do to help.

Thx you & the board for all your hard work.
rbh

I also stop by the River Front Resort & saw for the first time some of the literature that you have been distributing (orange flyer), thought you'd want to know that people were reading them & taking them home so it is having a positive marketing effect.
Once again thx.
rbh

Not sure who was distriubuting an orange flyer. THe RKLD mailed a newsletter, bought an ad in the Lakes edition, and distributed posters.
Brian

Annual Meeting Comments

Excellent Meeting, Congratulations; we won the battle but that is just the beginning we now need to win the "WAR"
Jim

Just thought I would commend you on running a great meeting yesterday. Short and sweet, great ground rules, and great results. Keep up the good work.
Chico
You and the board did a great job at running the meeting and answering all questions clearly and calmly. Great Job.
Sara