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| 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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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.
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
