Letter from Lake Ripley

Dear Brian,

I obtained your contact information from Patricia Cicero at the Jefferson Co. Land & Water Conservation Department, and understand that you are the chairman of the Rock-Koshkonong Lake District. I've attached a letter that our organization (Lake Ripley Management District) plans to send to Jefferson County requesting a ban on phosphorus-based lawn fertilizers. The letter was also mailed to your 374 E. Samuelsen Dr. address a couple months ago.

We are currently looking for other lake and conservation groups in the county to co-sign the letter. So far, our other co-signers include Rock River Coalition, Friends of Allen Creek Watershed and Rock Lake Improvement Association. A few other groups have shown interest (i.e., Blue Springs Lake Mgmt. District, Joint Rock Lake Committee, Lake Koshkonong Wetland Assoc.), but their boards still need to meet to discuss the matter.

Please let me know if your group is interested.

Paul

Paul D. Dearlove, Manager
Lake Ripley Priority Lake Project
Lake Ripley Management District

Dear Paul;

Thank you for your letter and for your email. I am indeed chairman of the Rock-Koshkonong Lake District, the largest lake district in Wisconsin.

As you may know, the RKLD has been granted a contested case hearing by the DNR Secretary. A DOA hearing examiner is charged with reviewing the current DNR water level orders and the data collected by the RKLD’s team of environmental experts that oppose those orders. The RKLD has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to research the hydrological and ecological behavior of Lake Koshkonong. Our experts conclude that the current DNR operating orders is causing damage to the entire system, from mortally damaging the fish habitat due to the DNR-mandated winter water level drawdown, to actually damaging the future health of wetland shorelines.

In addition, navigation and safety is jeopardized by artificial low water levels that require longer piers to reach navigable water, and public boat ramps that do not accommodate the public.

With over 4,000 parcels and nearly 10,000 taxpayers within the boundaries of our lake district, you can surely understand this is the most pressing issue for the RKLD.

With that, I would like to invite you and your organization to testify in support of the RKLD. Public testimony is being offered on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 28th and 29th, at the Jefferson Library. Our request is for nominally higher summer water level (7.2 inches) and the elimination of the winter draw down. It must be noted that nominally higher water does not encroach on the OWHM, nor does it add to flood conditions that we occasionally experience with the Spring weather conditions.

RKLD’s request is not adding high water; we are requesting an elimination of low water -- the benefits of which can be reviewed on the science page of our website, www.RKLD.org

Our hearing will continue on into April in Madison, but that time is reserved for testimony from “expert witnesses.”

Your participation and support on behalf of the RKLD would demonstrate to state legislators – the folks who statutorily created Lake Districts – that those of us closest to our water bodies, are best capable (with real-time data collection from the science community) of managing the resource.

Please let me know if you and your group will testify in support of our efforts.

Thank You.

Brian Christianson
www.RKLD.org
608-884-9444