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Intro || Where We Work || Education || Advocacy || Events || Publications Our staff empower thousands of wetland advocates by providing key information and direction to people who are concerned about wetland destruction and destructive wetland policies. The secret to our success is connections - connections to the many groups that are interested in protecting our wetlands, such as sporting groups, landowners, various levels of government, clean-water advocates, other conservation groups, and our own members. Protecting our Isolated Wetlands Wisconsin's wetland protection law, Wisconsin Act 6, was passed in May 2001. WWA played a critical role in two ways. First, WWA was able to engage 72 national, statewide and local organizations in a massive campaign. Second, WWA met with legislators and other stakeholders and developed a bill that was acceptable to all parties, and the bill passed both houses unanimously. Protecting the Wetland Regulatory Process When then-Governor Tommy Thompson included a clause into the 1999-2001 State Budget that would give one large corporation, Ashley Furniture, permission to fill a 15-acre wetland without applying for a permit, WWA and four other conservation and environmental organizations sued and won on the grounds that Wisconsin's Constitution prohibits the placement of private matters into a bill without the matter being stated in the bill's title. In rebuttal, legislators sympathetic to the corporation’s interest in working around the wetland regulatory process introduced a similar bill which the Senate Environmental Committee killed. Undaunted, Legislators then inserted the work-around clause into the 2001-2003 Budget Repair Bill. In response to action alerts posted by WWA and partner organizations, more than one thousand citizens called and wrote the Governor to express their concerns over these efforts to cut both the public and the designated regulatory agency (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) out of the regulatory decision-making process. Process prevailed when Governor Scott McCallum vetoed the "Ashley exemption" out of the budget repair bill. Opposing Airport Expansion into Wetlands The City of West Bend, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (Wisconsin's single largest filler of wetlands) are seeking to expand the West Bend Airport. They have misinformed the public regarding the need for such an expansion and have downplayed the impact this project would have on wetlands in the area. We are providing logistical support to the citizens' group, Taxpayers Against Airport Growth. Overseeing Permit Enforcement along Natural Gas Pipelines The Guardian Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline
that goes through Walworth and Jefferson Counties, is being constructed
in gross violation of the already vague permit, and we are insisting
that the permit terms be enforced and working to ensure that a
connecting pipeline that is to be constructed in Waukesha County
be constructed in ways that minimize wetland impacts. Supporting Grassroots Advocacy WWA keeps track of important wetland-related
issues and sends alerts to an extensive e-mail list of wetland advocates. WWA is a partner in the Great
Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network, a consortium of conservation
organizations in seven U.S. states and Ontario that supports (grassroots groups through provision of funding and information) to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin, which encompasses roughly one-third of our
state's area. |
