Adams County Wisconsin Fights for Safe Water Amid Gov. Race and Republican Attack on Local Control

Entire regions of Wisconsin face disaster
from polluters and Republicans.

'88% of our county water recreational property is on the state's impaired list'

Madison, Wisconsin — One of the damages inflicted on Wisconsin by Gov. Scott Walker (R) is the malicious attacks on local control for the benefit of Republican donors.

If Walker and Republicans can chase out multi-generational families, disembowel local democracy, then the remaining residents as a whole will be more pliable, better victims

Below is an email from Don Ystad working on protecting Adams County in central Wisconsin by establishing and codifying local bodies of citizens as they face assaults from Republican state government and Republican-supported polluters.

Ystad and other residents held a public Oct. 16 citizens' meeting with the Adams County Board.

Ystad, and neighbors have been deep into this kind of community work for years now. 

Below is an email sent by Ystad on the outcome of the latest meeting, replete with facts and recommendations to safeguard the county from polluters and increase local democracy.

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Chairman West,

Thank you very much for the opportunity to share our concerns and suggestions for steps that would help improve our declining recreational water quality and our loss of tourism revenue in our county.

The 5% loss in county tourism revenue alone last year equals nearly $17 million. Add the lost opportunity cost of the statewide 3.2% gain and the potential for increased water recreational property value, and I think all would agree that there is a sizable upside to taking steps immediately to improving these impaired waterways. 

As mentioned, 88% of our county water recreational property is on the state's impaired list. Action is needed to reverse these declines. I hope you or Casey can forward to other county board members and applicable committee members. I will forward to the citizen groups to which I have access.

Following are the suggestions discussed last night. I've included those I brought up, as well as those from attendees:

1) Encourage increased involvement of Land and Water Conservation Department (LWCD) and other departments with citizen lake groups. An example is the nine key element plan which was started as a citizen involved participation project, but was redirected with the change in the the LWCD. Another example is the minimal communication of lake issues at the LWCD committee meetings. We can do better than that.

2) Hire a part-time or contract grant specialist to assist LWCD and lake groups to obtain funds for improvement projects. We lost grant funding last year.

3) Hire a a part-time lakes expert to provide guidance to our young LWCD department, and to help spearhead lake improvement efforts like the nine key element plan and improvement projects for our other impaired waterways.

4) Enforce setbacks for all county waterways and expedite the rewrite of the shoreland protection ordinance. Determine if we can enforce the 35' buffer now, in spite of the state changes a few years ago. See Bar Association of Wisconsin.

5) Organize the county-wide septic system database. Improve inspection, reporting and condemnation process.

6)Strengthen and support the county lake alliance. Establish a stronger connection to the LWCD committee and others, including the county board. Help create a link between lakes dwellers and agriculture, and support water improvement projects in common.

7 Involve citizens in a county forest program

8) Consider a task force for CAFO regulation in the county

9) Consider a task force for high capacity well regulation in the county

10) LWCD and other build relationships with neighboring counties that share our watersheds. Promote producer led watershed councils, and facilitate interaction with other counties and with lake and agriculture groups within them.

And, perhaps even more importantly, place each of these suggestions on the county board agenda or agenda of related committees so that concerned citizens can be aware of progress.

For the citizens in attendance at the meeting, and those copied through the e-mail train, communication goes both ways. We need to be a part of this by inserting ourselves in the county government process. That means attending meetings, volunteering, and being an active part of the efforts to repair our county water bodies.

Respectfully,

Don Ystad

Wisconsin Citizens to Capitol on Feb. 8 for Water Days

Wisconsin families over generations know the Badger state is a great place to live.

A running feud with Minnesota is which state really has more lakes, and whose people are really more nice.

But the gentle folk of Wisconsin have been targeted by Big Ag as entire regions are threatened by the massively polluting industrialized agriculture, CAFOs or Confined Animal Feeding Operations.

Big Ag is rapacious, toxic and it will not look back as its operations devastate families, ruin rural economies and pollute Wisconsin surface and ground waters.

From Don Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin

Rome and Saratoga friends and neighbors,

This all started with a suggestion from our neighbor and friend Bob Benkowski, and it grew when another Rome friend and neighbor offered to donate buses to get us to Madison. And, it really grew when Concerned Rome Citizens reached out to a statewide group, Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network.

Five hundred of us are traveling to Madison next week Wednesday (Feb 8th) to take our message to the Legislature. The right to clean and abundant water belongs to all of us. It doesn't belong to just a select group of industry lobbyists blowing into the ears of our representatives. And that is the message we plan to deliver respectfully and without screaming and shouting.

We are bringing with us citizens and progressive farmers concerned with protecting our water and our environment. All with a clear message about protecting water for all of us. Our buses are full, but we invite like-minded citizens to drive down and join us.

Concerned Rome Citizens

Sick Abuse of Cows Reveals Nature of Wisconsin Factory Dairy Farms

Wisconsin's farming heritage is a remnant as corporate farming—cruel and polluting—is the modern model of dairy farming in Wisconsin

A video has surfaced of disgusting abuse and beating of cows at the Andrus Dairy Farm in Birnamwood, a village in Marathon and Shawano Counties in northcentral Wisconsin.

The undercover video was produced by the animal rights group, Mercy for Animals.

The video is below at bottom, though any non-psychopathic human ought not watch this repulsive display.

An attorney, Roberta A. Heckes, has tried to spin the cruelty even as the owner of the Andrus Dairy Farm has publically expressed shock.

Heckes' minimizing this abuse is not going over well with corporate America.

"Representatives with Great Lakes Cheese, based in Ohio, said company leaders are outraged by the videos. The abuse violates the company's policies and Great Lakes will no longer buy cheese made from milk that comes from the Birnamwood farm, said Great Lakes spokesman Tim Ault," reports B.C. Kowalski of Stevens Point Journal Media. (Gannett Co.) Other corporations condemn cruelty to animals.

Heckes' cruelty-is-fine November letter to the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune reveals the disingenuous nature of mega dairy farms—the same operations that pollute Wisconsin waters so badly that streams and lakes are becoming dead zones—that defenders like Heckes calls the practice "so-called abuse."

This barbarian treatment is not necessary. As Patt Pisellini of Rome, Wisconsin wrote me this Autumn:

I spent my summers in Clark County, Wisconsin on a dairy farm. We never had a 'lagoon,' and we took our cows out to pasture each morning.

Our milk was safe to drink, and our water did not test positive for nitrates.

Responsible dairy farmers would NEVER let such things happen - AND we knew the names of every cow, because they came when they were called. Our cows didn't recoil from human touch.

A reply to Heckes by retired business consultant, Don Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin is run in full below:

This response from Atty Heckes is indicative of the disintegration of our great farming heritage. As more and more factory farms take over family farming operations, there is a disconnect between the operator and the animals who make the farm possible. Industrialist owners defer to migrants and disconnected employees to care for the animals. Many farm industrialists are akin to the greedy manufacturing industrialists from the early 1900s who had little regard for their environment or their employees. While the EPA forced manufacturers to clean up their act in the 1970s, agriculture was given a bye and we are seeing the effects of it today.

As a counter attack, the writer criticizes media and the "whistle blower", suggesting those trying to report or prevent the mistreatment of animals have an "agenda". What she ignores is that most of us are very supportive of family farms, and we mourn the loss of family farms in Wisconsin as unfeeling corporations drive them out. Citizens are not so naïve as to think that dairy cows are family pets, but we also understand that responsible farmers don't mistreat their animals. And that's the issue here. If the farm owner is being honest in his comments, at the very least he is guilty of mismanagement of his herd by allowing his cows to be beaten and mistreated by uncaring employees. In an age when lobbyists want to make it illegal for citizens to take photos of abuse on CAFOs, be thankful that someone is keeping watch.

Living in a community facing the possibility of a CAFO moving in nearby, I'm very concerned about this transition away from our farming tradition. Bigger is not always better. I'm proud of my family's farming heritage and I appreciate the true family farmers. Let's not confuse disconnected industrial farmers with family farmers.

Citizen Ystad Speaks on Water Resources; Looking for Action

CAFO and liquid manure spraying are
killing Wisconsin waters -
Image from the Wisconsin
Initiative on Climate Change Impact

Citizens working with Saratoga Concerned and Rome Saratoga Friendly attended a Groundwater Summit this last weekend in Almond, Wisconsin in Portage County sponsored by the Central Sands Water Action Committee.

Residents in Juneau, Wood, Adams, Portage and Waushara counties should be on Code Red, as should all whole state.

Donald Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin is ready to go 15 rounds to protect Wisconsin's waters from polluters and cynical politicians. And Ystad is not alone.

The latest from Mr. Ystad:

As you can see from Rep Shankland's e-mail [below], the fight is far from over.  Ag lobbyists are working over their favorite lawmakers already. This will result in additional bills proposed to loosen what controls remain for protecting our water. We need to exercise our court of public opinion.  That's you and me, e-mailing and commenting on our water issues, and the threat to our growing recreational environment.  If you see an e-mail from me or a core group member titled action needed', please take the time to do a reply all so that the politicians and agency heads will know it's not just a handful of us who are concerned,

Ystad refers to Rep Shankland's (D-Stevens Point) note to Ystad and Bruce Dimick of Wood County:

Hi Bruce and Don,

It was great to see you both on Friday! Thank you for your thoughtful advocacy. I wanted to share with you this excerpt from the Wheeler Report on Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald’s priorities in January:

High capacity wells is an issue Fitzgerald said the Senate will be working on in 2015.  Fitzgerald said the Senate began working on the issue as a caucus but it fell victim to two major problems, a clear definition of the issue to be addressed and the end of session.  Fitzgerald highlighted the efforts of Sen. Kedzie working on high capacity wells to address a court case in his district while other members of the caucus wanted to address the issue on a statewide basis.  One of the major focuses for the caucus concerning high capacity wells is agriculture.  Fitzgerald said when the Senate returns it will be one issue his caucus will address. Fitzgerald said his caucus is also ready to work on reforms to workers compensation.  Fitzgerald said the caucus wanted to start reforms to the program during the 2013 session but ran out of time.

It looks like it could be SB 302 or worse. Please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you very much!

Yours,
Katrina Shankland
State Representative
71st Assembly District

Also from Ystad comes his very latest:

Even Nestle knows agriculture needs to clean up it's act‏

Politicians and agency people,

Perhaps you already knew that Nestle, the worldwide beverage and food company, has taken steps to insure the long term viability of it's food and water sources, and to insure their good reputation in the marketplace.  If you were already aware, shame on you for allowing them to upstage you and take these steps before you did.  After all, they're a for profit company, while you are the protectors of our state's resources.  They evidently see very clearly that the public is becoming more and more concerned about the abuse of animals and the damage to our natural resources caused by weakened laws and reckless farming practices.

Here in the Rome and Saratoga recreational area, we face the prospect of a 5,130 cow dairy CAFO right in our backyard, threatening class "A" trout streams, lakes, and a vibrant recreational tourist area.  It's incomprehensible that this administration could allow this to happen.  We read every day about manure spills, beach closings, e coli in our lakes, increasing nitrate and phosphorous levels in our lakes, water levels dropping in our lakes and streams, and drinking water befouled by manure runoff.  You'd have to live in a cave not to take notice about what's happening to our environment.  And yet, a for profit company is taking steps to protect and preserve, while we hear that certain ag friendly politicians are gearing up to take another run at further weakening our environmental laws.  What's happened to the Public Trust Doctrine?  Is anybody listening in Madison?

I'm a concerned citizen and I vote, as do many of the hundreds blind copied here.

Don Ystad
Rome, WI

Nestlé Announces New Animal Welfare Program that Will Impact Its Suppliers

August 21, 2014 at 12:58 PM

Nestlé has just signed an agreement with World Animal Protection, an animal welfare organization based in London. The result is that hundreds of thousands of farms that supply Nestlé will have to comply with tighter animal welfare standards. Here is the company's complete statement on the agreement.

World Animal Protection has been working with Nestlé on how to strengthen it's current sourcing requirements, which already include spacing standards for livestock pens. Going forward, the company plans to eliminate the use of a variety of other practices by suppliers, such as the use of veal crates, cattle dehorning, swine gestation crates, poultry cage systems and methods that artificially speed the growth of animals. The company has also identified the following dairy farming/processing "priority areas" for improvement:

1. Manure management
2. Water savings
3. Control and reduction of pollutants loads in effluents
4. Reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery of waste and by-products

Nestlé will begin a monitoring program to better understand and track the status of animal practices on farms. This will involve monitoring by an independent auditing firm that will be supervised by World Animal Protection. If a violation of company policy is found, Nestlé will work with the supplier so the farm can meet the required standards. If violations persist, Nestlé will stop doing business with the farm.