Whose side is WAL On?

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...About 85 percent of all decks wouldn't even need a general permit, according to the agency. On the face of it, it looks pretty good. But there's a lot beneath the surface that isn't so pretty - there's some absolutely ugly stuff, in fact, that the DNR and the groups supporting the rules, such as the Wisconsin Association of Lakes (WAL), don't want you to know.

...The truth about what the DNR and WAL want to do on this front can be found in a case this year in the state Court of Appeals, an enforcement action against Tom Baer of Manitowish Waters.

In that case, the DNR cited Baer for illegal piers, though no one had complained. Baer challenged the citation, and the circuit court agreed with him, saying the agency was bound by the administrative rule's complaint-driven language.

The DNR appealed, and WAL weighed in with a brief explaining its view of the DNR's enforcement authority. The language is telling, for WAL essentially argues that the DNR should be able to go after piers at will, no matter what the rule states.

According to WAL, the legislature has given the DNR "sweeping authority" to regulate piers under the public trust doctrine.
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