Wisconsin Clean Water Activist Endorses Dem Nominee, Tony Evers, for Governor

Madison, Wisconsin — Heavy field, analytical and organizing efforts in central Wisconsin continue as residents and communities work to protect surface and groundwater from pollution.

An important activist, Don Ystad of Rome, just endorsed Tony Evers (D) for governor.

This morning's endorsement sent by email is reproduced below.

By Don Ystad

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Our lakes are in trouble with ever increasing blue-green algae incidents, e coli readings above the safe swimming level, and Adams County tourism down 5% this past year while the rest of the state increased 3.2%. We need to level the playing field in Madison. While we've tried to remain non-political in the past, our water quality continues to degrade. Please consider the following before you vote in November.

Fellow Concerned Citizens,

I was visiting a friend at the Wauwatosa campaign office and Tony Evers stopped in to say hello to the staff. When he asked if anyone had questions, I asked what he would do to fix the water quality issues in the central sands area where I live. He began by talking about the many water issues all over Wisconsin, including Kewaunee and frac sand mining in the western part of the state. I was encouraged that he had a really good grasp of the water quality issues all around Wisconsin. He indicated that he would make the following changes to protect our water:

• First, he would appoint an independent head to the DNR to level the playing field
• next, he would bring back the DNR scientists to re-establish a fact based approach to resource management
• also, he would return the Natural Resources Board as an independent, non-political advisory group, with the power to affect our direction regarding our resources.
• And, Tony said he would work to establish a balance between agriculture and recreational needs, understanding that tourism and agriculture can co-exist

Polluted Wisconsin lake in central Wisconsin

I was impressed with his grasp of environmental issues, and the fact that he would look for a balance between our recreational lakes and our agricultural needs.

As I was explaining this to co-members of our Concerned Citizens core team, PACRS (Petenwell and Castle Rock Stewards) founder Rick Georgeson mentioned he worked in the school system with Tony Evers in Tomah and knows him very well. 

Rick says, “Tony is a real common-sense person, he works very well with other people, has solid principles, and is a great listener and team builder. He was well respected by the community.”  And, he added, “Tony will make a fine Governor.” This means a lot coming from the leader and founder of the PACRS organization.

I plan to vote for Tony and hope you will as well. Our lakes are showing the “business first” challenges of the current administration and we need to level the playing field. For those who might be offended by this recommendation of a change in our state government, I would ask you to think about the condition of our lakes and streams in our area, and consider the efforts of your neighbors, TriLakes and our Rome Town Board, who are trying to clean up our 14-Mile Creek Watershed. We can't do it without the support of our state government. It's time for a change.
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Walmartization of Wisconsin's Dairy Heritage

Clean water activists in Saratoga, Wisconsin fight for
water and oppose the siting of a proposed factory farm

Wisconsin residents are working to preserve a way of life, and revitalize a beautiful state primed for tourism and recreation.

Big Ag's response is a hard 'no.'

The Wysocki Family of Companies wants to begin operations of a massive factory farm sited in Saratoga, Wisconsin.

The problem for Wyscoki who first blindsided the region in 2012 with his plans is massive opposition to this project and a milk glut that makes the whole idea irrational for the foreseeable future.

That Wysocki's project would devastate a four-county region in central Wisconsin is not a concern for this corporation.

Over the entire state, citizen action is fighting the "Walmartization" of Wisconsin's dairy heritage, (Rome Saratoga Friendly, Kewaunee Cares).

By Don Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin

An interesting historical perspective on the milk lobby. Demand dwindles as consumers question the health benefit of drinking milk, and family farmers are driven out by the factory farmers. Meanwhile commerce in rural towns evaporates as small dairy farmers hang it up. The Walmartization of our dairy heritage.

And, Wysocki has now filed for appeal of the recent ruling reversing his vested rights. It makes one wonder why Wysocki would persist with his plans for a 5,300 cow dairy CAFO in Saratoga in a declining market, and in a residential/recreation area where local government and citizens are lined up by the hundreds to make his life miserable if he is successful in his appeal to the supreme court. I don't pretend to know about any behind the scenes negotiations that may have happened, but if the alternative is to abide by Saratoga's ordinance limiting the size of a farm and manure application, it's no wonder he would appeal.

So, what do we do in the meantime? Keep the pressure on our legislators to try to undo the lobbying influence of big agriculture. Support the legal actions being taken by Clean Wisconsin against the DNR for issuing high cap wells permits that ignore cumulative effect. Have your well tested to establish a baseline. For Rome-area people, you can register for testing and get your bottle at the Rome Town Hall on Saturday, July 15th - watch for details. Let's keep moving forward until we know Wysocki is finally defeated.

Read on - interesting article from National Public Radio.

Don
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When's the last time you had a glass of cow's milk?

Americans are drinking a lot less milk than they used to. According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the average person drinks 18 gallons a year. Back in the 1970s it was more like 30 gallons a year. We once hoisted a glass with dinner, soaked our breakfast cereal or dipped into the occasional milkshake.

Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and author of Food Politics, says, "The dairy industry has a lot of public relations that it is going to need to do to convince the public that it is producing a product that is healthy, good for animals, good for people and good for the planet."

Wisconsin Citizen Activism Fights Against Big Ag

Clean water activists in Saratoga, Wisconsin fight for
water and oppose the siting of a proposed factory farm.

On Tuesday, May 2 the Wisconsin legislature will hold key vote(s) on a radical new policy that would obliterate protection for ground and surface waters.

Republicans exercise total control in the gerrymandered legislature and bear responsibility for the results.

By Don Ystad

Concerned friends and neighbors,

Here in Rome, Wisconsin it's not hard to project what life would be like were our lakes to be drained like Huron and others in the central sands around us. Imagine the effect on the $3/4 billion in property valuation around the lakes in Rome, and the reduced spending in area businesses as visitors stopped coming. Those are the concerns being ignored by our legislators and the agriculture lobbies as they consider fast tracking SB 76. They appear blind to the $20 billion in state tourism revenue affected, the quality of life of residents who enjoy these lakes, and the effect on local communities when their tax base erodes because the lakes have diminished.

Consider that our legislators in Wisconsin are being bought off for a paltry quarter of a million dollars per year by ag lobbyists. That is peanuts compared to the value of your combined lake properties. In Adams County alone, lakes properties account for one billion dollars in valuation, nearly a half of the counties $2,2 billion valuation. Agriculture; less than 1%. You pay the taxes, and the ag industry gets the benefit. And, we're ruining our lakes to boot, as 3 of our 4 in Rome are on the state's impaired list. If this doesn't stir you to action, you share some responsibility in allowing this to happen.

The solution?  Citizen activism. Speaking out. Sending letters and e-mails. Let your representatives know there is a down side to ignoring your rights. There are over 5,000 lakes area property owners in Rome. Thousands more in Adams County, and twice that in our whole central sands area. And, ten times more lake property owners than farmers in this state. And, we are allowing a lobby funded by a few dozen industrial farmers and growers and their suppliers to determine the future of our lakes, streams and drinking water wells. We have to speak out, and we have to stop voting in the people who blatantly ignore our rights to clean and abundant water. And, before you slam me as being anti-agriculture, consider that four generations of my family milked dairy cows in Clark County, WI. These big ag interests are doing the same to family farmers as they are doing to us, and that's not good for any of us. Where politics is concerned, silence is consent.

By Todd Richmond - Associated Press

TOWN OF OASIS, WISCONSIN - Cris Van Houten thought he was getting a little bit of paradise when he built his house on Huron Lake in Wisconsin’s central sands region. He could look out from his deck at the blue water and scuba dive in the shallows.

Less than 10 years later, he and his neighbors are watching their beloved lake dry up. The shoreline has receded at least 20 feet, leaving Van Houten with a new beach he never wanted, his dock high and dry, and scuba diving impossible.

Like other lake property owners, Van Houten blames the high-capacity water wells serving agriculture, particularly potato farmers. As the number of wells grows, Wisconsin finds itself in an unexpected fight. Despite being bordered on three sides by Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River and cross-hatched with innumerable rivers, streams and lakes, the state no longer can take water for granted.

"We’re all pretty sick of what’s going on here," Van Houten, 73, said. "We’re losing our lake to make junk food."

Wisconsin Scientists' New Group to Access Threats to Natural Resources

Wisconsin Green Fire - "Voices for Conservation has been
formed in response to recent developments at the
state and national level that threaten science-based
practices and long-term vision in natural resources
management," (Woods Person). Wisconsin’s Green Fire: Voices
for Conservation website, and opportunities to join and/or
contribute are scheduled to be launched in coming months

Facing an unprecedented assault on natural resources by polluting industry, a group of scientists in Wisconsin will launch a private consortium offering science-based analysis into public policy-making and the political culture.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource, (DNR), now facilitates pollution, whereas in the past the DNR protected natural resources.

By Don Ystad

Fellow concerned citizens,

If you look at this from a distance, it's shameful that citizens and former DNR scientists have to rise up to fight the state DNR, a bureau formerly responsible for one of the greatest environmental programs in the country, and a legislature blind to the needs of it's citizens as it panders to a relatively small group of mega farmer lobbyists.  But, we have to also be grateful for the experts stepping forward to remind us of what we have to lose if we also don't step in.  In the current political environment, silence is consent.  Your inaction emboldens the politicians to continue pandering to the mega farm lobby while they threaten your wells, lakes and streams and destroy the family farm heritage we celebrate.

As we approach a blitz by the state Assembly to join forces with the state Senate to provide water rights in perpetuity to these mega farmers, even while your well, stream or lake runs dry or becomes unusable, ask yourself if this might be the right time for you to join forces with other like minded citizens and raise your voice in one of these groups - Concerned Rome Citizens, Protect Wood County, Central Sands Water Action Coalition, Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network, and the new statewide Citizens' Water Coalition of Wisconsin.  Take back your right to clean and abundant water.  You probably won't get a second chance.

Scientists form new group to address threats to Wisconsin’s natural resources

Wisconsin’s Green Fire: Voices for Conservation has been formed in response to recent developments at the state and national level that threaten science-based practices and long-term vision in natural resources management.

[Madison, Wisconsin – April 21, 2017]

Once regarded as a national leader in conservation, Wisconsin’s proud tradition of dedicated stewardship of its land, waters, and wildlife has been severely compromised. A new organization, Wisconsin’s Green Fire: Voices for Conservation (WGF), now seeks to reclaim that tradition of leadership for a new generation.

Under Governor Walker’s administration, budgets have been slashed for Wisconsin State Parks and public lands management, scientific research, the Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine, and the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board. Scientific information on climate change has been scrubbed from Department of Natural Resources communications and restrictions on Department of Natural Resources staff have limited access to science at public hearings. This is a partial list of changes by the current administration that make it clear that responsible, science-based, long-term management practices are no longer welcome at the table.

In response to these threats, a group of retired and active Wisconsin scientists with experience from a wide range of institutions—including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), the University of Wisconsin, federal natural resource agencies, nonprofit environmental groups, research institutions, and the private sector—have established Wisconsin’s Green Fire.

WGF is an independent, nonpartisan group. Its nearly 70 members represent a depth and breadth of experience in natural resource management, environmental law and policy, scientific research, and education.

Historically, Wisconsin managed its abundant natural resources based on sound science, wise economic investments, fair and open public process, and a shared conservation ethic. In the last six years that tradition has been eroded.

"Wisconsin’s Green Fire, (WGF), believes Wisconsin’s citizens deserve better. We believe there are many in Wisconsin who feel, as we do, that a state as beautiful and bountiful as ours deserves thoughtful stewardship." said WGF board member, Nancy Larson, who retired in the past year from WDNR’s water program.

Wisconsin’s Green Fire will help local units of government, nonprofit organizations, media, decision makers and citizens get the scientific information they need to address local and regional issues. The group will also be a source for those seeking experts who can and will take positions and bring scientific clarity and scrutiny to contentious and complicated environmental issues. Underpinning WGF’s mission is the belief that scientific research, knowledge and education are a basis for ensuring clean water, air, and healthy ecosystems for the economic and social benefit of society.

"In recent years, Wisconsin’s longstanding tradition of balancing natural resource conservation with human activities has been undermined," said Terry Daulton, a coordinator for Wisconsin’s Green Fire.  "Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff is no longer able to fully share their expertise with policy makers and the public. As a result, we are seeing new and unprecedented threats to Wisconsin’s water, air, lands and wildlife. Our goal is to be a voice for sound science in conservation."

The group takes its name from one of Aldo Leopold’s essay, "Thinking Like a Mountain". "We decided to use Green Fire in our name to tie us to Wisconsin’s conservation hero, Aldo Leopold," Daulton said. "Leopold’s land ethic relies on understanding that people are a part of the land, every species has importance, and human activities must be in harmony with nature. It also tells us, as citizens and as scientists, that we all share a responsibility for the land, for one another, and for future generations."

More information about Wisconsin’s Green Fire: Voices for Conservation, a website, and opportunities to join and/or contribute will be available in coming months.  For information now, you can contact terryldaulton@gmail.com.

Wisconsin Waters Hailed by Citizens as Ag Interests Poison and Plunder

Citizens lobby Wisconsin legislators at the Wisconsin capitol
for clean and safe water in February 2017. Image is taken
from a video produced by Eric Peterson.

Madison, Wisconsin — A video is out offering a look into the efforts of Wisconsinites fighting for clean and safe water.

People want responsible water policy in Wisconsin.

Yet, the legislators shown in the video, constantly, (invariably), vote against the protection of clean water.

State Senator Patrick Testin, (Stevens Point), State Rep. Scott Krug, (R-Nekoosa), and State Rep. Joel Kleefisch, (R-Sturgeon Bay) are the worst offenders. They represent Wisconsin residents who are being hit hardest by Republican efforts to facilitate the poisoning and plundering of Wisconsin waters.

Donald Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin in Adams County sent an email out Sunday night to 100s of supporters and other interested parties., flush off a major legal victory by central Wisconisn residents over the proposed operation of a massive factory, a CAFO or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, that would devastate the waters of an entire region.

By Donald Ystad

Concerned citizens,

Many of you were among the nearly 500 people who attended the first ever Citizens Water Lobby Day in Madison on Feb 8th this year, and thanks to a very generous Rome donor, many of you rode to Madison in comfort on motor coaches.

That day was the genesis for the new statewide citizens lobby, Citizens Water Action Coalition.

Watch this video and think of all the grass roots groups from all over the state who are now joined together in the common fight to protect our water. You should recognize more than a few faces.

Then, when you read about the legislature pandering to the mega-farm lobby, the administration out of ​touch with citizens' rights to clean and abundant water, and the increasing number of incidents degrading our lakes and streams, make a pact with yourself to be a stronger part of this citizens lobby. It may be the only way to counter the big money interests buying their way through our legislature.

T​hank you to Eric Peterson for his efforts ​on this video.

Wisconsin Dairy Polluters Get Green Light to Expand and Pollute, as Milk Is Dumped Across Nation

Wisconsin homeowners, businesses and communities are not counted as stakeholders as the Republican-Party pushes to give factory farm owners the legal power to give themselves pollution permits, (Verburg, Wisconsin State Journal).

The audacious move would help transform already-weak state protections of clean and safe water as the Republican project to disempower the Department of Natural Resources, (DNR), continues, (Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), (Verburg, Wisconsin State Journal).

This pollution regime effectively gives decision-making power to industrialized agriculture, CAFOs, and nobody else.

As Donald Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin, in Adams County writes:

The 'social license to operate' is defined by Gunningham, Kagan and Thornton as 'the demands on and expectations for a business enterprise that emerge from neighborhoods, environmental groups, community members, and other elements of the surrounding civil society.' Social license is an element of corporate social responsibility. It is premised on the idea that while regulators grant permits, it is communities that grant permission. It’s that 'handshake' that occurs between an incoming business and the people around it, the agreement that the business proposition is good for everyone (Ystad, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune).

Under Republican initiatives, Neighborhoods, environmental groups and community members are no longer regarded as possessing status worthy of a handshake, much less consultation and approval.

The Republican and polluter push for more CAFOs, that are given the power to pollute with no public input, comes as the mammoth milk glut continues.

As noted here, even as the corporations' dairy CAFOs become ever more brazen and ambitious to transform America into a colonial entity in which land and air exist legally for the use of corporate power, the ideological demand constraint on many Americans persists.

Wisconsin Lake Communties Fight Big Ag Polluters

Our plentiful Wisconsin surface waters include three lakes in northern Adams county, Lakes Arrowhead, Camelot and Sherwood located around the town of Rome in central Wisconsin.

The lakes are beautiful, and many a retired grandparent has their grand-kids over for fun, recreation, the simple joy of watching children playing.

Against this is Big Ag that without conscience pollutes, depletes and poisons the lakes, imperiling a region Wisconsin as a state should be protecting and nourishing.

Residents of Rome have taken issue with this writer's being too harsh in describing what Big Ag is inflicting. I get it, I speak for myself.

It's difficult to market a region as an attraction for tourism and recreation as Wisconsin Republicans are working against you, and water.

If industrialized agriculture polluters and its protectors are not stopped, there is not going to be a Rome, Wisconsin. Ask the folks who live on Long Lake in Waushara County in central Wisconsin, (Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

Big Ag is politically protected. Gov. Scott Walker (R) and State Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) are on the side of the polluters who sell out decent, hard-working families who moved to central Wisconsin the last decades for peace—a small home on a lake, paradise in central Wisconsin.

Here's the latest communication from Rome resident, Don Ystad:

Interesting timing, after a TriLakes annual meeting attended by 100 people agreeing unanimously that we need qualified help in addressing our water issues, this article should appear in the Milwaukee Journal discussing the water level issues in our central sands area. It amplifies the difference in attitudes of an agriculture industry intent on expansion compared with citizens trying to protect their lakes, streams and drinking water wells.  As you reflect on your holiday weekend up here and the condition of our water, please support TriLakes in their efforts to urge our town to co-sponsor a citizen meeting with knowledgeable speakers to understand our water issues and begin determining a course of action to clean up our lakes and protect them.

Ystad references Lee Bergquist's important series appearing in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel this week.

Bergquist's work is a must-read, because clean and safe water in Wisconsin under Republican rule is going to become a memory.

Writes Bergquist:

In a major policy shift, the [Republican-led] Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said on June 10 that it will no longer place restrictions on high-capacity wells, or deny applications for new wells, by first evaluating the cumulative effect they could have on the ecosystem.

A leading Wisconsin water scientist said the new approach is a step backward.

'The frustrating thing for me is that it puts us back on a footing of an unplanned future for water use,' said Ken Bradbury, director of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. 'In other words, it’s sort of everyone for themselves again.'

The DNR changed its review process after receiving a legal opinion from Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel, who concluded the agency did not have the authority to consider the compounding effects of such water use. He was responding to a request from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and a GOP-dominated legislative committee.

'It was all a predetermined, preordained strategy by the attorney general, the DNR, the governor and Robin Vos and the Legislature,' said Carl Sinderbrand, a Madison attorney who has litigated cases involving high-capacity wells. 'They wanted to prevent the DNR from regulating wells.'

Clean and safe water in Wisconsin, this is one resource that if ignored will go away.

New Round of Vandalism Targets Citizens Protecting Their Community

Cows in CAFO - File photo, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
(Gannett Co News)

Citizens in Adams, Juneau, and Wood counties working to simply protect their communities and families against Big Ag polluters are targets of a new round of vandalism.

Earlier this year, threats, vandalism and reported cyber attacks were reported in Wood County.

One woman, Nancy Koch, who showed up at an overflow community meeting in 2012 in Wisconsin Rapids—when news was sprung a massive factory farm was sited in the town of Saratoga—was told by her local Wisconsin State Representative, Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) to "quit your bitching," (Mal Contends).

Big Ag and its bought-and-paid-for politicians have only gotten more hostile.

Citizens are not backing down from corporate bullying.

By Donald Ystad of Rome, Wisconsin:

Certainly you've all seen the signs. A few consider it a nuisance, an 'inconvenient truth,' the 'elephant in the room' when you talk property sales, or community growth. 'We should all be quiet and maybe it will go away.'  For residents in Saratoga and Rome, and communities around this demographic, the signs represent concern for the personal risk to our own property values, our lifestyle, or for many businesses, their livelihood, should this CAFO be sited in Saratoga. There are 1,500 residences within the cone of depression of the planned high cap wells, most of them in Rome, and thousands more residents who could be the recipients of fouled groundwater and the odor of 50 million gallons of manure gurgling in a pit, spreading down through our burgeoning area.

That's why many of your friends and neighbors are repainting and reinstalling signs. This ain't over til it's over, and we've been pushing back successfully for over 3 years; the strongest fight against a proposed CAFO in Wisconsin history. And, dozens of us will be making the trek to Madison tomorrow, speaking out about this proposed threat to our future. It's the 'court of public opinion,' and your involvement is beginning to make a difference.

By Kitt Belanger of Wisconsin Rapids (Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune):

Another round of vandalism to signs posted by citizens protecting their community from the proposed Golden Sands Dairy CAFO in Saratoga confirms two things.

First, it confirms the resolve of area citizens to bring attention to their plight. As area property values plummet just with the possibility of the CAFO, and more and more articles appear about CAFO damage in other communities, they recognize the devastating effects this proposed CAFO could have on their community and the communities surrounding them. Signs have been vandalized on at least six different occasions, and each time, more people volunteer to assist with painting and installing more and more signs. It increases the resolve of the concerned citizens to protect their right to protest and to bring awareness to how our entire demographic could suffer with the CAFO.

Second, it highlights the lack of understanding from those doing the vandalism. Some say the vandals are connected with the organization seeking to build the farm. Others feel they are misguided individuals who simply misunderstand the issue that drives people to speak out to protect their community. Whatever the driving force behind the vandalism, it’s only a matter of time before they are identified through the increased pressure from the Sheriff’s Department, citizen watch groups and ​photographic means.

It will be interesting to finally understand the motivation of the vandals and what drives them to fear this group of citizens speaking out to protect their community. And certainly the soon-to-be announced reward will root out the guilty parties.

Kitt Belanger,
Wisconsin Rapids

Meanwhile Big Ag in the Dairy State turns a blind eye towards the communities they are threatening to destroy.