From Bill Mueller, WSO Conservation Chair:

A bill (LRB 2803/1) recently introduced into the Wisconsin State Legislature will have potentially far-reaching and harmful effects on Wisconsin's wetland bird life and wetland habitats.

Wisconsin has traditionally had among the strongest regulations in the nation to protect our wetland resources, but this new bill will severely roll back those protections. As a result, it will be much easier for developers and industry to get permits to fill in the wetlands that are home to many of the birds we love.

Under current law, the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) must give extra scrutiny to requests to fill in exceptional wetland resources, such as rare and fragile habitats like bogs and fens or productive waterfowl marshes. Under the new bill, no Wisconsin wetland is off limits. The new bill allows the DNR to consider quality rail, heron and marsh bird habitats as equivalent to a degraded wetland remnant filled with invasive species and old tires when making decisions about fill permits.

Current law requires developers to justify wetland fill requests by showing that no non-wetland site offers them a practicable alternative for their project. The new law eliminates the requirement to consider non-wetland alternatives.

Current law allows wetland mitigation as a last resort in cases where wetland fill is unavoidable. The new law institutes a 'pay to fill' process whereby developers pay into a mitigation fund and get their permit. Restoring degraded wetlands and building new ones is important to maintain our wetland resources, but mitigation is far more art than science at this stage and few such projects result in wetlands that provide the full slate and quality of ecological services (flood protection, water purification, wildlife habitat, etc.) that intact and undisturbed wetlands do.

If you feel strongly about protecting Wisconsin's wetlands, please contact your local state legislators and tell them that you oppose this new wetland bill. An email doesn't have to be long and detailed -- just write a few lines telling them why wetlands and wetland birds are important to you. If a legislator gets ten emails about a bill, that's enough to make them take notice.

You can find your local legislators' names and contact information at:
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/waml/waml.aspx

For more information, a detailed analysis of the new bill and other ways you can help to oppose the bill, visit the Wisconsin Wetlands Association web site:
http://wisconsinwetlands.org/alert_20120106.htm

For more on this bill, see this article: http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/wetlands-bill-streamlines-dnr-procedures-jr3mls0-136887823.htm.

Clearly there are many points of view; please contact your legislators with your own thoughts.

Thank you for your attention,

WSO --

William P. Mueller
Conservation Chair - WSO
Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory
Project Coordinator, Milwaukee BIOME Project
Email: wpmueller1947@gmail.com
414-698-9108
Milwaukee, WI
BIOME Project online: http://milwbiomeproj.wordpress.com/
Blog: http://futureofbirds.blogspot.com/