RKLD Surreply - Economic Impact

In the 1938 opinion cited by the Department (DNR reply brief, at 10) in connection with a later Rest Lake water level controversy, the Attorney General concluded that the local resort economy was a component of public rights in navigable water:

It is the duty of the commission [under Wis. Stat. § 31.02] to protect the public right of navigation in these waters; and hunting and fishing are incidents of the right of navigation or are independent rights in themselves. In this case, moreover, the public interest in fishing is unusually important because it is one of the bases of the great summer resort business in the vicinity of Rest Lake and the Manitowish waters.

So it is proper to consider this interest in regulating the water levels.

1938 Op. Atty. Gen. 424, 428.

The Department is not required to regulate water levels to maximize economic gain, but it is required to give due weight and value to accrued property rights in the balancing of interests under sec. 31.02(1), Stats.