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Greetings!
Last
Thursday the Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR)
held a hearing in Minocqua to discuss the suspension of temporary rules
written by the DNR to protect Wisconsin's
water resources as part of the Jobs Creation Act. WWA would like to thank
all of you who wrote, emailed, and called about this issue. We are
especially thankful to those people who took time out of their busy work
week to drive to Minocqua to testify. While we know firsthand that these
hearings can be discouraging, we also know that your presence makes a
difference.
We also
want to bring you some GOOD news: on July 10th, our 2004 field trip series
continues with a trip to one of northern Illinois' best fens to learn about
butterflies and dragonflies with local expert Doug Taron. Details below.
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DATE CHANGE!! Bluff Spring Fen Field Trip July 10
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 Bluff Spring Fen
is home to more than 50 species of butterflies, an endangered dragonfly,
and many more interesting insects. The site has undergone extensive
restoration, to the great benefit of the butterflies including the
endangered swamp metalmark, which has been restored to this site after an
absence of more than 50 years.
Field
Trip Leader: Doug Taron, Curator of Biology, Peggy Notebaert
Nature Museum.
Saturday,
July 10, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM. Bring a bag lunch. Call Doug in case of bad
weather: 847-695- 4568. Call WWA to register: 608-250-9971.
Directions:
From I-90, Exit at Hwy 25 and go south ~3/5 miles to Bluff City Blvd
(just past Hwy 20). Turn left. Meet at Bluff
City Cemetery,
0.5 miles west of the intersection of US Route 20 and Bluff City Blvd in Elgin, Illinois.
Bluff Spring Fen is approximately 1.5 - 2 hours from both Madison and Milwaukee.
More information about Bluff Spring Fen
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JCRAR Suspends Important Rules
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Last Thursday, the Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative
Rules (JCRAR) held a hearing in Minocqua to discuss suspending temporary
rules written by the DNR in response to the Jobs Creation Act of 2003
(Act 118) to assure the protection of Wisconsin lakes and streams. Thank
you to everyone who made the effort to testify at this hearing, and to
everyone who contacted their legislators and committee members regarding
the proposed rules suspension. Approximately 40-45 people came and either
registered or testified at the hearing in support of the DNR's Act 118
rules. The testimony from those supporters had an important effect to
prevent the Committee from doing greater damage to the Act 118 rules than
they did.
Unfortunately,
groups with a large financial stake in the suspension of the rules pulled
out all the stops for this hearing. 450 people registered to speak or
spoke against the rules, primarily against the pier rules (NR 326). This
large crowd was generated by three things: 1. misleading ads taken out in
virtually every major newspaper from Green Bay north that proclaimed that
the rules made everyone's piers illegal; 2. a get-out- the-crowd campaign
by the Lakeland Times in Minocqua, which has been challenging the DNR and
lake protection efforts for a couple of years; and 3. the well- organized
efforts of an intensely active private- property rights group. This group
overwhelmed the hearing and the facility, which was restricted by fire
code regulations to 75 to 100 people. About 400 people were asked to wait
outside, including many individuals who had come to speak against the
rules suspension.
Our
major goal was to protect the provisions of NR 1 which defined
"areas of special natural resource interest," "public
rights features," and "Priority navigable waters." Despite
the overwhelming numbers present speaking against these provisions, we
nearly won the battle to retain NR 1 (and in the end preserved those
rules for thirty days before they are suspended). But the event that
turned the tide against maintaining the rules was a totally unscheduled
appearance by Assembly Speaker John Gard. Speaker Gard made an
impassioned, unscripted speech, barely mentioning the environment but
playing to the property rights people at the hearing. His testimony
directed the Committee to totally suspend all six chapters of the rules.
Thankfully,
by the end of the hearing, the results were not completely devastating.
Representative Scott Gunderson played a major role in this and clearly
Chairman Grothman weighed in as a result of some particularly effective
testimony in favor of the rules by influential constituents of his from West Bend.
Read our June 22, 2004 Wetland Alert for background
on these Rules »
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The Results of the Hearing
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On the key NR 1 provisions, the suspension effective date
was delayed to July 24, 2004 to give all parties a chance to negotiate a
settlement. While we can thank Rep. Gunderson for this temporary
reprieve, this is the key fundamental issue upon which all of the other
eleven chapters of the Act 118 rules rely for resource protection. There
is fundamental disagreement between some of the negotiating parties on
the cumulative damaging effect over many years from these types of
projects. This will be very difficult to negotiate this in only thirty
days.
Regarding
other rules discussed at the hearing, the Committee totally suspended NR
326 relating to piers. The big issue with regard to this rule, according
to Rep. Gunderson, was the impact on existing piers, not on new piers. He
and others want all existing piers to be permanently grandfathered under
the rule, regardless of their size and impact. During the suspension, the
Committee and DNR agreed that current statute and the pier planner could
effectively regulate new pier construction during the suspension.
Several
specific subsections of the Chapter on shore protection, NR 328, were
suspended. They are highly technical in nature but, in general, discuss
where and how much shore protection is allowed. The issue here is the
potential effect on the biologically important littoral zone and on
natural scenic beauty. This battle will need to be continued in the
permanent rule process. While there will be some short term environmental
losses during the suspension, none are likely to be significant in the
near term.
Thank
you again to everyone who voiced their concerns over this matter, and
particularly to those of you who made the long trip to Minocqua to
testify. The process to review and approve the permanent version of these
rules will happen this fall. Stay tuned for more information as the
situation develops.
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Drink Coffee? Protect Wetlands!
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WWA is pleased
to announce Marsh Grounds Coffee and offer you another way to support
wetland conservation in Wisconsin.
Marsh Grounds Coffee is a special blend
of dark roasted coffees from Guatemala and Mexico that's organic,
shade-grown, and fair trade! Marsh Grounds coffee is produced by
Madison's 100% Fair Trade Coffee roaster, Just Coffee. Just Coffee is not
only committed to the principles of Fair Trade, they're also committed to
wetlands conservation.
For every $10 bag (1 lb) of Marsh
Grounds that you purchase, Just Coffee will donate $3.50 to the Wisconsin
Wetlands Association. You can enjoy your cup of Marsh Grounds knowing
that you are directly supporting small farmers, their families, their
cooperatives, and the Wisconsin Wetlands Association.
For ordering information, please see the
Wisconsin Wetlands Association website.
Ordering Information
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