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DNR News

March 7, 2006

The DNR News is updated every Tuesday at noon. Click on the current issue link at left to reach the most current issue.
Previous DNR News are also available on-line.

Edited by Paul Holtan
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
PO Box 7921
Madison WI 53707
(608) 267-7517
Fax: (608) 264-6293
E-mail address: paul.holtan@dnr.state.wi.us

This Week's Articles

State wildlife action plan
aims to keep species from declining

MADISON – Wisconsin has an impressive record in restoring and protecting endangered and threatened species like bald eagles and has been very successful managing game species, like turkeys and deer. But these are just a fraction of the wildlife that enrich Wisconsin’s landscape. About 85 percent of the wildlife species found in the state don’t fall into these categories.

Now, the state has a new plan for conserving wildlife species that are not so rare they are listed as endangered or threatened or are neither hunted, caught or trapped.

Taking nearly a year to research and write, Wisconsin’s Wildlife Action Plan, drafted by the Department of Natural Resources, endorsed by the Natural Resources Board and accepted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, is a trove of information on the conservation needs of more than 700 species of state wildlife.

From butterflies and fish to warblers and frogs, and from water shrews to moose, the plan identifies those native species at risk with low or declining populations.

Most importantly, the plan lays out a menu of conservation actions designed to prevent declining species from being declared as endangered or threatened. If they already are listed, it outlines actions to get them off the lists.

“It’s many, many times more cost effective to keep a species off the endangered or threatened list,” said DNR Secretary Scott Hassett. “Taking steps to help these animals now could avoid having to make expensive and controversial decisions down the road.”

The plan also fulfills a requirement for Wisconsin to receive critical federal funding for these conservation efforts. This funding, known as State Wildlife Grants, has been called the “third leg” of a sort of the wildlife conservation funding stool.

Legs one and two are the longstanding Pittman-Robertson and Sportfish Restoration Acts, which aid states in managing mainly game species.

Through the Wildlife Grant Program, Wisconsin has received $6.6 million in federal dollars to aid the understanding, management and conservation of non-game animals. This is the only program in the federal budget that addresses the needs of these animals. A partial list of some projects funded by State Wildlife Grants is available on the DNR Web site.

“The job of conserving declining wildlife is challenging,” said Signe Holtz, director of the DNR Bureau of Endangered Resources, “but we know success is possible from our history with wildlife conservation triumphs like the wild turkey, bald eagle and trumpeter swan.”

Wisconsin’s Wildlife Action Plan and the conservation actions in the plan, are based on the identified species of greatest conservation need, according to Holtz.

“Conservation efforts focused on these animals will also benefit other wildlife,” she said. “Many species, both game and non-game, share habitat and face similar challenges. Restoring habitat for wildlife means protecting natural areas and clean waters for people too.”

The plan stresses the importance of habitat to protecting large groups of species rather than focusing efforts on individual animals, which is often what happens when a species lands on the endangered or threatened lists. “It’s a much more efficient use of funds and human energy,” she said.

Building partnerships with citizens and encouraging joint approaches to habitat conservation at the local level on both public and private lands is key to implementing the plan say DNR ecologists who stress that this is an action plan and not a regulatory, land use or land acquisition plan. Similar plans were drafted in all 50 states making it historic as nothing like this has been done before.

“Partnerships and cooperation were crucial to drafting the Wildlife Action Plan,” says Holtz. “It was a science-based process using input from biologists, scientists, birders, hunters, farmers and business people from around the state. Thanks to them we have a much better idea of the diversity and condition of our state wildlife. It’s solid base that helps to establish priorities, actions and opportunities for cooperative efforts.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Signe Holtz - (608) 264-9210

Grants will help landowners
protect rare species on their property

Workshops planned to assist with application process

MADISON – Landowners interested in preserving rare species on or near their property may apply for a new grant program to help improve habitat for “at risk” species.

“The federal Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) is a grant program that helps private landowners manage and restore habitat for rare and at-risk species on their land,” said Signe Holtz, director of Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Endangered Resources. “More than 85 percent of Wisconsin is privately owned and close to 90 percent of our at-risk species exist on private land. This program helps landowners to address the biggest threat facing most rare species and that is loss or degradation of habitat.”

Private landowners, individuals or groups such as land conservancies or trusts, watershed councils, community organizations and conservation organizations are eligible to apply for the grants.

Two workshops have been organized in collaboration with the Aldo Leopold Foundation’s Woodland School to help landowners apply for the grant. The workshops are scheduled for March 21 at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Center, LaFarge 7-8:30 p.m. and March 22 at the Lussier Family Heritage Center, Madison 7-8:30 p.m. To register, contact Jeannine Richards (608) 355-0279 or visit the Woodland School's web site <http://www.thewoodlandschool.org/courses.htm> (Exit DNR).

Wisconsin has received funding to implement the LIP grant program in two areas of a significant habitat loss that can harbor many rare species. The two areas cover roughly the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin in what ecologists identify as Wisconsin’s Prairie and Savanna Habitat and the Northern Lake Michigan Ecological Landscape which includes much of the Door County peninsula and counties along the western shore of Green Bay.

Additional information including applications (25 kb .pdf) and application guidelines (377kb .pdf) are available on the DNR Web site.

Eligible projects under LIP include, but are not limited to, conducting prescribed burns, restoring native vegetation, and removing invasive and woody species to benefit at-risk species.

The program provides up to 75 percent of the cost for eligible projects and provides technical assistance to landowners. The program is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The maximum possible grant is $25,000 per project.

Landowners must contribute 25 percent of the project cost but this can be in the form of donated labor, equipment and materials or can be cash from another, non-federal source.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Bardeen - (608) 266-8736

Air and Waste Division 2005 Annual Report now available

MADISON – Eliminating a backlog in issuing air permits, streamlining waste management rules, and securing a $400,000 grant to aid in the cleanup and redevelopment of the 30th Street industrial corridor in the city of Milwaukee are among the activities and accomplishments highlighted in an annual report on air and waste management in Wisconsin.

The 2005 edition of the Department of Natural Resources Air and Waste Division Annual Report (1,003 kb .pdf) is now available in portable document format on the DNR Web site.

The report summarizes the activities and accomplishments of the bureaus of Air Management, Cooperative Environmental Assistance, Remediation and Redevelopment, and Waste and Materials Management that make up the division.

“The Air and Waste Division experienced an outstanding year in 2005,” said Al Shea, Air and Waste Division Administrator. “In particular, I’m proud of the elimination of permit backlogs in the Air and Waste programs; the signing of the first Green Tier charters and contracts; and our continued exemplary groundwater cleanup and brownfields activities. We have also been leaders in the development and use of performance measures to benchmark our progress toward Smart Regulation.”

Evolving from Gov. Jim Doyle’s “Grow Wisconsin” economic plan, Smart Regulation is the Air and Waste Division’s regulatory improvement effort which aims to maintain environmental standards and protect human health while improving service.

“To the Air and Waste Division, Smart Regulation means that we expect to be responsive, efficient, timely, effective and consistent in all of our regulatory efforts,” said Shea.

Among the accomplishments of the Bureau of Air Management in 2005 were the elimination of the remaining backlog of 159 operations permits and the resolution of the EPA’s March 2004 Notice of Deficiency. The Air program also made significant progress in its Cleaner Air Faster voluntary initiative, outreach for Air Quality Health Advisories and the Air Permit Improvement Initiative.

The Bureau of Cooperative Environmental Assistance continued is successful Environmental Cooperation Pilot program and environmentally responsible businesses were able to begin participating in the Green Tier program. Several participants in the ECPP won environmental leadership awards in 2005, largely because of the flexibility offered them by the Pilot Program.

The Bureau for Remediation and Redevelopment continued as a nationally recognized leader in brownfields cleanup and reuse. In partnership with the city of Milwaukee and the 30th St. Industrial Corporation, the DNR netted $400,000 in grants to redevelop the 30th St. Corridor as part of Governor Doyle’s Conserve Wisconsin initiative.

The Bureau of Waste and Materials Management celebrated the 10th anniversary of Wisconsin’s highly successful recycling program. A major effort to streamline regulations in the waste program also occurred in 2005 as revisions to the rules for landfill design, beneficial use of waste materials and industrial byproducts, hazardous waste and recycling went into effect.

The report also contains sections listing the accomplishments of the five DNR regions, 2005 performance measures for the bureaus and a summary of feedback the division received from its customers in 2005.

FOR MOREINFORMATION CONTACT: Al Shea, (608) 266-5896

Anglers catch nearly 419,000 Lake Michigan chinook in 2005

MILWAUKEE – Chinook fishing in Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan got even hotter in 2005: anglers reeled in the highest recorded harvest of chinook and caught them faster than ever before, according to recently analyzed angler surveys.

Anglers caught an estimated 418,918 chinook in 2005, the most since angler, or “creel,” surveys started in 1969. That’s 33 percent more than the five-year average. The surveys are conducted from mid-March through October.

“In the nearly 40 years we have been stocking salmon and conducting creel surveys, 2005’s total was the highest of all time,” says Matt Coffaro, Department of Natural Resources fish expert for southeastern Wisconsin. “A person would be hard pressed to find better salmon fishing anywhere in North America!”

He credits the fantastic fishing to a variety of factors, but says there are two major trends at work: DNR fish hatcheries are producing and stocking healthier fish that are surviving better, and the fish have been able to prey on the huge number of alewives hatched in 1998.

“The number of fish they pulled in per hour was incredible,” says Brad Eggold, DNR fisheries supervisor for southern Lake Michigan. “We had a higher harvest than in 1987, the previous high, yet only 60 percent the fishing pressure. If we had had the same fishing pressure in 2005 as in 1987, what would the harvest be? It would be off the charts!”

In 2005, anglers spent an estimated 2.8 million hours of fishing, significantly down from the 4.8 million hours estimated in 1987 but up slightly from 2004. Charter fishing and fishing from boats in the open water increased, while shore and stream fishing were down.

The phenomenal chinook fishing of 2005 marks the fourth consecutive summer of record setting fishing. Catch rates in each of those years were also very high and harvests were among the highest recorded.

Based on the strength of the chinook harvest, the overall total catch in 2005 of all trout and salmon was estimated to be at its highest level since 1987. However, the fast and furious chinook fishing likely contributed to smaller harvests of coho and lake trout because more anglers were targeting chinook, Eggold says.

Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan first began stocking nonnative trout and salmon in the late 1960s to control exploding populations of alewife, an exotic forage fish, and continued to do so because the “kings” became popular sportfishing quarry. The states agreed to reduce stocking in 1991, and then reduced it again starting in 1999, because the chinook population was outstripping the forage base and stressing the fish, in turn leaving them vulnerable to infection with bacterial kidney disease and other pathogens.

That reduction in the number of fish hatcheries had to produce meant better conditions for fish at the hatchery: more room, better water quality and less competition. Thus, chinook raised at the Wild Rose State Fish Hatchery, where the majority of Wisconsin chinook are produced, were healthier, larger and less stressed when they were stocked. Also, Wisconsin and other states started taking steps to improve the health of all fish stocked in Lake Michigan, including testing fish they collect eggs from to reduce the likelihood of the next generation of salmon being infected with bacterial kidney disease.

The healthier fish produced in the intervening years have been able to feed on a fairly substantial alewife year-class from 1998. Michigan is also documenting significant natural reproduction of chinook in their tributaries, adding to the total number of chinook in the lake.

Biologists are now concerned that there may again be too many chinook for the available forage base, especially since the 1998 year-class of alewives is rapidly being depleted. They see signs of such a mismatch in the decrease in the average weight of chinook caught, which fell to 8.6 pounds in 2005, down from 9.8 pounds in 1995 and 13 pounds in 2001. Fishing contest information collected in 2005 also reflected a decrease in weight, Eggold says.

In an effort to continue the fantastic fishing and to bring the forage base and chinook population in line, biologists from Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois have agreed to collectively decrease stocking again by 25 percent from 4.4 million fish. Wisconsin’s share of the decrease is 21 percent, or about 300,000 fish. Michigan will stock 30 percent less fish, Illinois 17 percent and Indiana 12 percent.

“Every time we’ve reduced stocking in the last 20 years our fishing has gotten better, and we hope that trend will continue,” Eggold says. “Hopefully, 2006 is going to be another solid year.”

More information, including harvest totals for 2005 and dating back to 1986, go to the Lake Michigan pages on the DNR Web site and look under “Management Reports” and scroll to “Lake Michigan Sport Harvests.” The first three documents report creel survey results from 2005 and past years.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad Eggold (414) 382-7921; Matt Coffaro (414) 263-8614

2006 Wisconsin Fishing Report available online and in print

MADISON – Anglers can find forecasts for the coming fishing season and descriptions of projects their license dollars fund to improve fishing in Wisconsin in the 2006 Wisconsin Fishing Report, now available in print and online.

The Department of Natural Resources’ annual publication has been expanded to 16 pages to accommodate more forecasts and more stories on fish management efforts. The newspaper can be found on-line at <www.fishingwisconsin.org>, and is available in limited quantities at DNR service centers, bait shops and other license outlets.

“We consider this to be our annual report to users,” says Mike Staggs, Wisconsin’s fisheries director. “We report results of many of the fish surveys we do, the habitat projects we’ve worked on, often with the help of local conservation groups, fish stocking, regulation changes, and all the other activities we do that are intended to make fishing better in Wisconsin.

“This report should be an invaluable reference for any angler to start planning fishing trips.”

Wisconsinites love to fish: 48 percent of Wisconsin adults surveyed in 2002 said they participated in fishing, according to the latest DNR recreational participation survey, with the figure as high as 60 percent for residents in northern Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has about 1.4 million licensed adult anglers who fish 22 million days a year and catch 69 million fish, releasing more than half of them.

Wisconsin trails only Florida in the number of days nonresident anglers spend fishing here, according to statistics from a 2001 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey. Such popularity, among both residents and non-residents, in 2001 helped generate a $2.3 billion economic impact in Wisconsin, provided more than $90 million in general purpose tax revenues for state and local government, and supported more than 26,000 jobs.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Staggs (608) 267-0796

Hearings set on CWD management zone hunting rules

MADISON -- The public will have an opportunity to comment on proposed deer hunting rules in zones established to control and eliminate chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin at a series of open house meetings and public hearings across southern Wisconsin.

The Department of Natural Resources will conduct five deer management open houses and public hearings for the 2006 CWD hunting season.

Alan Crossley, DNR chronic wasting disease project leader based at Fitchburg said DNR staff have “been listening to hunters and landowners in the CWD zones and we believe hunters will see what they’ve told us reflected in the CWD rule proposals.”

Highlights of the proposed changes include: unlimited either sex deer hunting in both the CWD Herd Reduction Zone (HRZ) and Disease Eradication Zones (DEZ); shorter and earlier gun seasons in the Eastern and Western DEZs; longer closed period for gun hunting in the DEZs; longer early gun season in the HRZ and shorter late gun season in the CWD Zones; and identical hunting seasons in the CWD Zones. The department is not recommending any boundary changes to the CWD management zones.

Each Open House will run from 5 to 7 p.m. Hunters will be able to talk with DNR wildlife biologists about the 2005 hunting seasons, population estimates, deer hunting prospects in area deer managements units (DMUs), and the proposed CWD rules. Following the open houses a formal, public hearing on the proposed revisions will begin at 7 p.m. The hearings will be held:

  • March 13, Waukesha, Waukesha State Office Building, 141 NW Barstow,
  • March 14, Prairie du Sac, Grand Avenue Elementary School Theater, 225 Grand Ave.
  • March 15
    • Jefferson, Jefferson Co. Fairgrounds Activity Center, 503 N. Jackson Ave.,
    • Kenosha, Kenosha Center, Kenosha County Administration Center, 1010 56th St.
  • March 17 Dodgeville, DNR Service Center, 1500 N. Johns St.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Alan Crossley - (608) 275-3242

2006-07 hunting, fishing and trapping license on sale March 10

2005-06 hunting, fishing and trapping licenses expire March 31

MADISON – Wisconsin hunting, fishing and trapping licenses for the 2006-07 license year will go on sale on Friday, March 10 at all license sales locations, over the Internet, or by phone. The 2005-06 licenses expire at midnight Friday, March 31, so 2006-07 will be required beginning April 1.

Hunting and fishing licenses are available at 1,450 locations around the state including many hardware and sporting goods stores, resorts, and DNR service centers. In addition, licenses can be purchased on line through the DNR Web site or by phone at 1-877-945-4236.

More than 4.7 million licenses and approvals are sold through the DNR’s automated license issuing system (ALIS), bringing in more than $68 million dollars in revenue to Wisconsin’s Fish & Wildlife Account each year. Most licenses can also be purchased online through the Licenses, Permits and Registrations page of the DNR Web site or over the phone by calling toll-free 1-877-WI-LICEN (1-877-945-4236). Both the Internet and phone sales must be done by credit card.

Resident sportsmen and women serving in the military can receive a free armed forces fishing or small game license. They may pick up the license while on leave at any license agent location, not just at a DNR office or County Clerk’s office as in the past.

Sales of the remaining spring turkey permits
will start at noon on Saturday, March 25

This is the first year that remaining permits not issued through the spring turkey permit drawing will be available for sale on a first-come, first served basis through license sales outlets, over the Internet or by phone. Initially, Department of Natural Resources officials had hoped to have the turkey permits also go on sale March 10, but that date has been moved back to March 25 to ensure all sales locations are geared up and able to offer these permits.

Hunters have shown a great deal of interest in these permits and will be able to purchase one per day until each zone and time period is sold out. Permits cost $10 for residents and $15 for non residents in addition to an annual the hunting license and turkey stamp. The spring turkey license and stamp fee will be added during these purchases unless the customer is a 2006 Conservation Patron license holder or already has a current license.

More than 40,250 permits across almost all units in the May hunting periods are available. A complete list of units with the number of permits is available on the DNR Web site or contact at DNR service centers.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Customer Service and Licensing - (608) 266-2621

New ATV rules took effect March 1

MADISON – New rules aimed at assuring All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) in Wisconsin are complying with laws limiting excessive noise and clarifying when nonresident operators need ATV trail passes went into effect March 1.

One new rule provides law enforcement with a field-friendly stationary test procedure for testing an ATV’s compliance with a noise limit that was established in 2003. That law makes it illegal for a person to manufacture, sell, rent or operate an ATV that emits noise in excess of 96 decibels.

“Some aftermarket exhaust systems on ATVs can create excessive or unusual noise and are illegal. That noise generates complaints from the public, closes trails and creates a bad image for all ATV operators,” said Gary Eddy, Department of Natural Resources ATV and snowmobile administrator. said Eddy. “These new rules will help protect the future of the ATV program in Wisconsin.”

The rule that goes into effect March 1 authorizes a test procedure that has been adopted by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) as a means to measure ATV noise levels using a nationally consistent method. In brief, stationary ATV exhaust noise is measured at 20 inches away with the ATV throttled up to half the machine’s maximum RPMs.

“Excessive noise levels on our trail systems hurt the ATV program. We’re happy to see law enforcement get this very important tool,” stated Randy Harden, President of the Wisconsin ATV Association.

The other rule change affects the non-resident ATV trail pass. A 2003 law created a nonresident ATV trail pass that needs to be displayed on ATVs not registered in Wisconsin. Current law requires an ATV to be registered in Wisconsin unless the ATV is registered in another state and has not been in Wisconsin longer than 15 consecutive days. However, some states do not have a registration program.

“Some nonresident owners were confused about whether they needed Wisconsin registration, a non-resident trail pass or both,” said Eddy.

“This new rule clears up that confusion by providing an exemption for an out of state ATV from registration if the ATV displays a nonresident decal and if it is not in Wisconsin for a period of more than 15 consecutive days.”

With the new rule, out of state ATV owners need only purchase a non-resident trail pass to ride Wisconsin trails. If the ATV is kept in Wisconsin for more than 15 consecutive days, then the ATV must be registered in Wisconsin. ATV trail passes are $18 and are valid from July 1 to June 30.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Gary Eddy – (608) 267-7455

162 Wisconsin cities now Tree City USA communities

MADISON – Representatives of Tree City USA communities across Wisconsin will gather at Madison’s Monona Terrace Convention Center on March 9 to recognize Wisconsin’s 162 Tree City USA communities and 12 Tree Line USA utilities.

The benefits of urban forests were recently highlighted in new research published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Forest Service, which found that Wisconsin communities receive three dollars in benefits for every one dollar 1 spent planting and maintaining community trees.

“An urban forest includes all of the trees and other vegetation in and around a city, village, or development,” said Dick Rideout, Department of Natural Resources urban forestry coordinator. According to Rideout, Wisconsin has a total urban forest area of about 1.7 million acres – almost 5 percent of the total land area.

“Urban forests are a critical part of a community’s infrastructure,” says Rideout.

“The benefits trees provide in energy savings, air pollution reduction, storm water runoff reduction and increased property values out weigh the costs to maintain them by three to one,” Rideout says. “This doesn’t even include the benefits to local business or the psychological and social benefits provided to residents that are harder to quantify.”

Wisconsin ranks third among states with its 162 Tree City USA communities. The group includes five new Tree City USA cities (DeForest, Elkhorn, Johnson Creek, Mineral Point and Washburn) and 24 existing Tree City USA communities that will receive growth awards on March 9.

To be recognized as a Tree City USA, a community must meet four requirements. It must have a designated tree board or forestry department, an annual forestry budget of at least $2 per capita, and a tree care ordinance. The community also must host an Arbor Day Celebration and Proclamation. Urban forests provide important environmental, social and economic benefits to Wisconsin and are home to over 80 percent of Wisconsin’s population.

A list of Wisconsin’s Tree City USA communities and 12 Tree Line USA utilities can be found on the DNR Web site along with a photos of the Tree City USA award winners.

“Urban forests are invaluable to the quality of urban life, “ says Rideout. “The tree canopy softens downpours allowing rain to soak gradually into the ground where it can recharge local aquifers and in the process reduce flooding, pollution and sedimentation in rivers and lakes.”

In an age of increasing energy costs, trees also can positively impact energy needs say foresters. They convert sunlight into stored energy instead of heat, provide direct cooling through transpiration and evaporation, shade and insulate buildings. This reduces the need both for heating and air conditioning.

Researchers found that trees in the yard can save up to 20 percent on annual air conditioning and 2 percent in winter heating costs.

The urban forest also helps maintain clean air by removing 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of air pollutants annually for every 100 trees in a community.

Trees also muffle noise and provide places to rest, meet, and socialize. Among the many benefits of maintaining a sustainable urban forest are the economic benefits. Research shows that people linger and shop longer along tree-lined streets. Apartments and offices in wooded areas rent more quickly and have higher and longer occupancy rates. A large tree can increase a house sale price by one percent and a large specimen tree can add 10 percent to property values.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Dick Rideout – (608) 267-0843

Smaller municipalities
start reducing stormwater pollution

MADISON – Efforts to clean up and protect Wisconsin waters from polluted runoff take another step forward this month as dozens of smaller cities, villages, towns, and counties start planning and implementing measures to reduce the stormwater pollution they send into lakes, rivers and groundwater, state water quality officials say.

To meet federal requirements, 150 municipalities -- those with 10,000 or more people or ones that are part of an urbanized area of at least 50,000 people -- have 90 days to fill out the stormwater permit applications they received earlier this month from the state. In the permit application, municipalities summarize the programs and practices they will implement to reduce the total suspended solids – or the soil and debris – carried in their stormwater discharge by 40 percent by 2013, according to Eric Rortvedt, who leads the Department of Natural Resources stormwater program.

“In coming months, these 150 municipalities will start taking steps to protect state waters from stormwater pollution, meeting goals through methods that the municipality decides will work best for them,” he says.

Certain urban areas including Madison and Milwaukee have been required to get individualized stormwater permits since 1995, and consequently, more than 60 Wisconsin communities already have them. The federal government extended the requirements to many other smaller municipalities starting in 2003.

These permits also are used to implement Wisconsin’s comprehensive runoff management standards adopted in 2001 to reduce polluted runoff and stormwater from entering lakes, streams, groundwater and wetlands. That standard set the 40 percent reduction goal for suspended solids.

Research on urban streams in Wisconsin has shown high concentrations of suspended solids, bacteria, heavy metals, oil and grease and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the discharges from municipal stormwater sewers, which empty directly into lakes and streams with no treatment.

The additional 150 municipalities will be regulated under a general permit covering public education, involvement and outreach, detecting and eliminating illegal discharges to the sewer system, developing construction site erosion control ordinances, practicing pollution prevention in their municipal operations, annual reporting, mapping areas contributing runoff to their stormwater sewer systems, and locating outfalls where the stormwater enters lakes and streams.

DNR and the University of Wisconsin-Extension will be working with the municipalities to help them with the permit applications, including with enhanced teleconference sessions planned for March 21 and 22. Municipalities may also work together with neighboring municipalities to meet the permit requirements.

A copy of the general permit application these municipalities must complete and other information on stormwater can be found on the Runoff Management pages of the DNR Web site.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Rortvedt (608) 264-6273; Gordon Stevenson (608) 267-2759

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Last Revised: Thursday June 28 2007