Error processing SSI file

DNR News

April 25, 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

Community effort leads to preservation
of rare Mississippi River bluff ‘sand prairie’

HOLMEN, Wis. – A successful community effort has led to the preservation of the last remnant of a rare type of prairie nestled along Mississippi River bluffs, a remnant that has remained undisturbed from a time before French fur traders and explorers paddled the nearby Mississippi and Black rivers.

And it all began with a class assignment.

George Varnum was helping his daughter with a class assignment looking for plants in a field near their home when he realized the field had an amazing variety of plants. They had stumbled onto the Holland Sand Prairie. The gently rolling terrain is punctuated by vegetated dunes and barren hollows. This small 61-acre tract contains the only undisturbed wind-formed dunes in the entire area.

“Portions of it had never been plowed,” Varnum says.

For Varnum, locating the plants was the start of a journey that would involve a whole community in an effort to save the Holland Sand Prairie. With its geographic location, just off Highway 53, it was a prime target for development and possible annexation to Holmen.

The sand prairie sits on a valley floor, or terrace, between Mississippi River bluffs and the Black River. The terrace was formed during the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. It stretches nearly 30 miles from south La Crosse to Trempealeau and is home now to La Crosse, Holmen and Onalaska.

The prairie is home to pasque flower, prairie smoke and bluestem. Visitors can see upland plover, bluebirds, meadowlarks, grasshopper sparrows and brown thrashers. There's a pileated woodpecker nesting in an old stub of tree and tree swallows swoop around. Department of Natural Resources biologists quickly documented more than 110 native species on the prairie.

Upon discovery, the Mississippi Valley Conservancy, a regional, non-profit land trust based in La Crosse started trying to find ways to work with the landowner, potential developers, and local officials to preserve the area. The key was broad community support, Varnum says, noting “a lot of people in the area demanded the preservation of the last bit of prairie.”

The Holland Sand Prairie has now been purchased by a combination of prairie enthusiasts with funding from the state's Knowles-Nelson Stewardship fund, the Town of Holland, the Friends of the Holland Sand Prairie and a lot of private citizens.

“We snatched it from the jaws of death,” says George Howe conservation specialist for the conservancy.

Tim Jacobson, executive director of the Mississippi Valley Conservancy (exit DNR), says the project succeeded because the Conservancy was able to work with all the people interested in the prairie to meet their needs. Teachers, school children, local residents, and town board members all wanted to preserve a bit of yesterday.

“If preservation of the prairie is good for the land it is also good for the people of the area,” Varnum says, noting that dozens of youngsters use the prairie in their school work. Teachers refer to the prairie in class lessons. Visitors admire the diversity.

The upshot was that after extensive discussion and major stories in the local newspaper town residents approved spending $300,000 to help buy the land. The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship fund contributed $480,000 and the Mississippi Valley Nature Conservancy contributed the rest. And the Town of Holland now is the owner of the prairie which is dedicated in its deed as a conservancy area.

Pete Putnam, rural Holman, is president of the Friends of the Holland Sand Prairie. He is a retired quality improvement engineer who says the focus now is the improvement and preservation of the Holland Sand Prairie.

He was working on the project earlier this year – aiding in a 13-acre prescribed burn that will help preserve prairie plants. The controlled fire is a real landmark. It means the historic prairie, as could have been seen by French explorers Perrot, Hennepin, and Joliet in the 1600s, will remain here for youngsters to study and people to enjoy.

The project also benefited from a $14,424 management grant from the Department of Natural Resources as one of Wisconsin’s State Wildlife Grants. Wisconsin has received $1.5 million from federal Conservation Trust Fund grants under a program initiated last year by Congress. “The State Wildlife Grant program offers a fantastic opportunity to begin funding habitat, monitoring and other work to support native Wisconsin species we’ve been unable to target in the past for conservation,” said Signe Holtz, director of the agency’s Bureau of Endangered Resources.

Black locust trees need to be cut; green ash, black cherry, box elder, and prickly ash have to be prevented from encroaching into the prairie.

“We've got a lot of work yet. We have several years of work,” Putnam says. But he's eager to get on with it.

The Friends of the Holland Sand Prairie are providing plenty of help. And if the teachers and students of Holmen High School spent thousands of hours in the past on the prairie – it'll be secure for them to study decades into the future.

Ultimately the prairie will be designated a State Natural Area to be owned by the Town of Holland and managed Mississippi Valley Conservancy volunteers.

Putnam's even named his home “Prairie View Home,” and the prairie is his long term mission.

“We may not be able to save the world but we can save 61 acres of it,” he says.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Armund Bartz, DNR conservation biologist - (608) 785-9019, George Howe, Mississippi Valley Conservancy - (608) 784-3606, or Pete Putnam, Friends of Holland Sand Prairie (608) 526-4407

International Migratory Bird Day May 13

This year’s theme is ‘Boreal Forest: Bird Nursery of the North’

MADISON -- Many of the most popular birds Wisconsin residents see in their backyards, parks and refuges depend upon the unique boreal forest region of North America to hatch and raise their young. To help draw attention to this important, but threatened ecosystem, the theme of this year’s International Migratory Bird Day is “The Boreal Forest: Bird Nursery of the North.”

International Migratory Bird Day, which this year is Saturday, May 13, is held each year to draw attention to the plight of migratory birds that yearly make incredible journeys between their breeding grounds in North America and their wintering grounds in Mexico, Central, and South America. Many of these birds are declining in numbers, primarily due to the loss of habitat. Threats to the North American boreal forest include forestry, mining, and agriculture.

The North American boreal forest is the largest remaining unspoiled forest left on the Earth and the birthplace of billions of birds each year. The boreal forest region of North America stretches across 3,500 miles from Alaska to the Atlantic Ocean. In Wisconsin, most stands of boreal forest are associated with the Great Lakes, especially the clay plain of Lake Superior, and the eastern side of the northern Door Peninsula on Lake Michigan. The boreal forest in Wisconsin is transitional between the mixed deciduous-conifer forests to the south and the spruce-fir dominated forests of Canada, so tree species richness is often greater here.

The boreal forest ecosystem is critical to the survival of nearly half of all North American species, which return each year to the forest to breed. At least 20 percent of birds at North American birdfeeders in winter have returned after a summer in the boreal forest.

Some examples of the migratory boreal birds are dark-eyed junco, pine siskin, white-throated sparrow, great gray owls, boreal owl, golden and ruby-crowned kinglets, olive-sided flycatcher, gray jay, boreal chickadee and lesser yellowlegs.

In addition to boreal birds, other migratory birds include Neotropical waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds, probably the most prominent of which are the warblers, says Sumner Matteson an avian ecologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. Close to 35 species of warblers may be observed in Wisconsin.

There are several warbler species that breed in the boreal forest, such as the Nashville, Tennessee, blackburnian, bay-breasted, black-throated green, Cape May, magnolia, and yellow-rumped warbler. The endangered whooping crane, a species recently reintroduced to Wisconsin, is also a boreal bird.

More information on the boreal forest can be found on the Boreal Songbird Initiative website <http://www.borealbirds.org/>.

International Migratory Bird Day activities are being held throughout Wisconsin in May and are sponsored by the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative, the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, the Milwaukee County Zoo, Wisconsin DNR, Madison Audubon Society, Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, Riveredge Nature Center, National Park Service, and several other organizations. More information about events can be found on the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative Web site at: <http://www.wisconsinbirds.org/events.htm (exit DNR)>.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Sumner Matteson - (608) 266-1571

Web allows people to report shorebird observations

MADISON -- Each spring, the greatest long distance migrants in the world --shorebirds -- pass through Wisconsin on an extraordinary journey from as far away as southern South America to breeding grounds in Canada and the High Arctic. Many of these migrants fly 8,000 miles or more, according to Sumner Matteson, an avian ecologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

On their migration, these birds, mostly comprised of sandpipers and plovers, frequent what are known as coastal and inland stop-over sites to “refuel.” These sites include mud flats, marsh edges, flooded fields, ephemeral pools, and the shores of lakes and lagoons that contain the invertebrates such as insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and bloodworms on which the birds feed.

Matteson says late April to early June is the peak of the spring shorebird migration in Wisconsin. To help biologists assess the importance of different management practices at these stop-over sites, researchers have established a web site <www.uwgb.edu/birds/shorebird (exit DNR)> where people can report shorebird observations for 12 of the best known sites in Wisconsin to observe shorebirds.

The 12 sites are: Nine Springs Lagoons, Madison; Theresa Marsh State Wildlife Area, Washington County; Horicon Marsh and A & W Ponds, Dodge County; Big Eau Pleine Reservoir, Teal Flowage and South Rice Lake (in the Mead Wildlife Area), Marathon County; Ken Euers Nature Area, Brown County; Peshtigo Point and Seagull Bar, Marinette County; Phantom Flowage - Crex Meadows, Burnett County; and Long Island/Chequamegon Point, Ashland County.

Some of the Great Lakes’ sites may be posted that piping plovers are present. The signs ask visitors to respectfully stay away from beach areas that may contain breeding piping plovers.

Migrant shorebirds must arrive on Arctic breeding grounds in good physical condition for successful nesting to occur during the brief Arctic summer, Matteson says. Shorebirds are opportunistic and take the largest and easiest-to-catch invertebrates. During spring migration, shorebirds often congregate in shallow, receding wetlands where large numbers of bloodworms have overwintered.

“While flooded fields and shallow water habitats change from year to year, depending on spring snowmelt and rainfall, these critical, ephemeral wetland habitats have been disappearing from our landscape,” says Matteson.

Slowly drawing down water levels in some wetlands where water levels can be controlled during late April to early June can be beneficial to shorebirds.

Biologists hope to correlate reported shorebird observations at different sites with management activities and conditions to better understand how these activities can benefit shorebirds.

“By understanding their needs, we may guarantee that these masters of the wind will visit us and future generations on their marvelous, transcontinental journeys.”

There have been 41 shorebird species documented in Wisconsin, including seven species that breed in the state: piping plover (endangered), killdeer, spotted sandpiper, upland sandpiper, common snipe, American woodcock, and Wilson’s phalarope.

In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology has worked closely with the Department of Natural Resources on shorebird management. The society has established the Sam Robbins Shorebird Endowment Fund to finance shorebird management practices at various state wildlife areas. Contributions to this fund may be made to the Wisconsin Society For Ornithology, W3330 N8275 West Shore Drive, Hartland, WI 53029 .

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Sumner Matteson - (608) 266-1571 or Bill Volkert - (920) 387-7877

Horicon Marsh Bird Festival May 11-15

HORICON, Wis – Beginner to veteran bird watchers will all find opportunities to learn new birding skills at the 9th annual Horicon Marsh Bird Festival May 11 through 15. From a beginning bird watching course, to bird banding and live birds of prey demonstrations, pontoon tours and morning, evening and daytime hikes, the festival includes more than two dozen activities.

Bill Volkert, Department of Natural Resources Naturalist for the Horicon State Wildlife Area, will be performing bird-banding demonstrations where visitors will be able to see tiny songbirds up close in the hand and learn about their harrowing migratory journeys. Volkert will also lead a hike in search of wood warblers, which are often called the “jewels of the bird world,” he says, because they are the most colorful, but are also challenging to identify by sight and sound.

Beginning at 12:01 a.m. May 13, the festival will also feature the “Big Sit,” during which members of the Horicon Marsh Bird Club will take turns confining themselves to a 17-foot circle as they attempt to find and identify as many birds as possible from that spot over an entire day. Visitors are invited to come join them, watch their progress, and help locate birds. The event is a fund raiser for the bird club and festival.

Bird experts will lead various birding tours for audiences of all ages.

A complete list of activities can be found on the Horicon Marsh Bird Club Web site at <http://www.marshmelodies.com> (exit DNR). Events are held at a variety of locations, including the Department of Natural Resources Horicon Service Center and the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.

The Horicon Marsh Bird Festival is just one of the many spring activities at Horicon Marsh. Marsh Melodies is a five-weekend extravaganza celebrating the wonders of Horicon Marsh. Each weekend has a different theme with unique programs and activities for the general public.

Marsh Melodies events are provided in cooperation with state and private agencies located around Horicon Marsh. The partnership includes the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Horicon Marsh Bird Club, Horicon Marsh Boat Tours; Friends of the Horicon Marsh International Education Center; Rock River Archeology Society; and Horicon and Mayville chambers of commerce.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill Volkert (920) 387-7877

Stocking trucks rolling across the state

Lake Michigan fish, catchable-size trout critical for fishing opportunities

RACINE – State fish stocking trucks are rolling across Wisconsin this week, and that’s particularly good news for trout anglers and Lake Michigan anglers.

This year marks a return to stocking catchable-size trout in dozens of so-called “put and take” waters after two years of such stocking being reduced or eliminated because of budget cuts, fisheries officials say.

Trout and salmon are again being delivered to tributary waters of Lake Michigan, a crucial part of maintaining fishing opportunities in Wisconsin waters of the big pond.

“Most waters don’t need stocking,” says Mike Staggs, Wisconsin’s fisheries director. “But stocking is critical to fishing on Lake Michigan and for the waters receiving put-and-take trout. Without it, there would be very limited or no fishing opportunities on these waters. Stocking efforts are a very visible sign of anglers’ license dollars at work.”

Trout and salmon reared at DNR hatcheries are the backbone of the sport fishing industry on Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan, he says. Sportfishing in 2001 on Wisconsin waters of the Great Lakes generated a $384 million economic impact and supported 4,200 jobs in 2001, according to figures from the American Sportfishing Association.

Inland stocking of trout resumes to near-normal levels

Statewide, more than 300,000 trout of catchable or near-catchable size will be delivered to dozens of waters statewide before the May 6 opener. A listing of waters where DNR was scheduled to stock catchable size trout (pdf, 21kb) is available on the DNR Web site.

“The stocking program for catchable trout is nearly at full levels,” says Al Kaas, statewide propagation coordinator. “Most all put and take waters should be receiving fish.”

An increase in fishing and hunting license fees effective in June 2005 has generated sufficient revenue to allow Wisconsin’s conservation programs to restore many cuts made during tight fiscal time earlier this decade. The fisheries program had cut stocking levels for fiscal year 2004 and 2005 on 5A and 5B waters, and ratcheted back habitat work and fish surveys.

Now, work is returning to more normal levels in all three areas, although there is a lag time in fish propagation. The fish being stocked out now come from eggs collected during fall 2004, when DNR was still operating under reduced budgets and reduced quotas for fish.

Inland waters receiving catchable size trout are those that have no natural reproduction and where stocked fish find it difficult to survive for very long because of degraded habitat and other limitations. These waters, known as category 5A and 5B, are the lowest priority for stocking because less than 10 percent of stocked fish are expected to survive the winter; some may not even survive the summer.

A total of 78,280 brook, 112,875 brown trout, and 123,680 rainbow trout are expected to be stocked this spring. The fish are reared at the Nevin, Osceola, St. Croix Falls, Langlade, Brule River and Lakewood state fish hatcheries. Special operations crews transfer the fish, which are about 18 months old and up to 12 inches, from DNR tank trucks into the water using small nets called “dip nets.”

For some waters, this stocking represents the first catchable size fish they’ve received in two years; other waters continued to receive some catchable trout in 2004 and 2005 from cooperative fish rearing agreements with conservation clubs, but less than in previous years.

“We’ve got trucks rolling out just about every day and we’re glad to be on the road with these fish,” he says Mark Opgenorth, DNR regional operations supervisor, who coordinates stocking occurring in northeastern Wisconsin waters. “Stocking catchable size trout provides an opportunity for almost everyone to have a chance at catching a nice fish.”

Lake Michigan fishing goes

Stocking of Lake Michigan fish started in February and will continue into early May, according to Opgenorth and Dick Rebicek, his counterpart in southeastern Wisconsin.

The new wrinkle this year is crews will be stocking fewer chinook in efforts to help sustain the phenomenal chinook fishing on Lake Michigan. Anglers in 2005 harvested the highest number of chinook in the 40 years DNR has been stocking the fish.

Concerned by signs indicating chinook may be outstripping their forage base, Wisconsin and other states surrounding Lake Michigan have agreed to reduce chinook stocking by 25 percent starting this spring. Wisconsin will reduce its stocking by 21 percent, or by about 300,000 fish, as its share of the total reduction. Michigan will decrease its stocking 30 percent, Illinois 17 percent and Indiana 12 percent.

In total, about 1.3 million yearling fish – those fish hatched in early 2005 and now about 3.5 inches long – will be stocked in Lake Michigan this spring. The vast majority of the fish are brown trout, coho salmon and rainbow trout or steelhead, but 300 Great Lakes strain muskies and 460 lake sturgeon are also being stocked out in Lake Michigan tributaries.

Another 2 million smaller trout and salmon – small fingerlings 3-4 inches and large fingerlings 6, 7, and 8 inches long -- will be stocked this spring and in the fall, according to David Giehtbock, DNR propagation specialist. These fish aren’t of catchable size now, but will provide fishing opportunities starting in 2008 or 2009.

Stocking of chinook, coho salmon and steelhead -- all Pacific northwest species originally introduced to Lake Michigan to help control populations of alewives, an exotic species -- is critical to maintain what’s become a very popular sport fishing opportunity. While Michigan tributaries are showing unexpectedly strong and increasing natural reproduction of Chinook salmon, Wisconsin’s warmer tributaries aren’t, more reflective of expectations.

The Lake Michigan fish are reared at Lake Mills, Kettle Moraine Springs, Wild Rose, St. Croix Falls, Brule, Thunder River, Langlade, Bayfield and Lakewood state fish hatcheries. The rainbow, coho and chinook are stocked in the rivers, and brown trout and Arlee and Kamloops strain rainbow trout are stocked in the harbors, Rebicek says.

Fingerling stocking

Yearling stocking

Brown trout

548,300

Brown trout

486,473

Coho salmon

328,701

Chinook salmon

1,164,684

Lake sturgeon

460

Coho salmon

191,572

Rainbow trout

468,900

Muskellunge

47,304

Muskellunge

300

Splake

40,000

Walleye

78,000

Lake Sturgeon

2,000

“We’re on the tail end of stocking for Lake Michigan,” Rebicek says. “We’ve had pretty good weather for the stocking, the hatcheries have done a great job of producing a healthy, high quality product, so anglers will have more good fishing to look forward to in the future.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Staggs (608) 267-0796; Al Kaas (608) 267-7865

People can help prevent garlic mustard from taking over woodlands

MADISON – Many landowners and city dwellers who look forward each spring to heading out in search of early blooming wildflowers are finding their favorite wildflowers are losing out to a relatively new plant that is dominating forest floors.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a highly invasive plant that has moved into many forests across Wisconsin, including many parks and other natural areas.

Picture of Garlic Mustard

“Within only a few years garlic mustard can dominate a forest floor and displace most native wildflower species and tree seedlings,” says Kelly Kearns, a plant conservationist with the state Department of Natural Resources. “It is a major threat to the survival of Wisconsin's woodland plants and the wildlife that depend on them. Essentially every forest in the state is vulnerable and likely to become infested with this plant unless people keep a keen eye and remove it immediately.”

Garlic mustard is a biennial herb that ranges from 2 to 40 inches in height as an adult flowering plant. Seeds germinate in spring and are currently showing up as a carpet of small seedlings beneath the dead flowering stalks from last year. In its first year of growth the plant forms a basal rosette of rounded leaves with toothed edges. The rosettes remain green over winter, giving them a boost over native plants in the spring.

Second-year plants start growing as soon as the weather warms and develop flowering stems with numerous white flowers that each have four petals. In most areas of southern Wisconsin, the flower stalks are developing and the first flowers are opening in late April to early May.

“Garlic mustard can easily be recognized at this time of year because of it’s lush basal leaves and because it is the only plant of its height in forests that produces four-petaled white flowers in the spring,” Kearns says.

It is also easily recognized by its strong garlic smell when crushed. By mid-June the flowers will develop seed pods with hundreds of seeds per plant. Seeds are often spread on animal fur and by human foot traffic.

The key to keeping garlic mustard, and most other invaders, from taking over land, Kearns says, is to never let them go to seed. Landowners need to get an early start on controlling garlic mustard.

“Hand-pulling is the easiest and most effective way to control new or small populations. It is important to pull up the entire root or new flowering stalks will emerge. If any flowers have begun to open, remove the plants from the woods or tear the open flowers off the plants; otherwise, the uprooted plants can still develop seeds,” she notes.

Pulled plants can be dried and burned or buried. Composting may not kill the seeds, so compost containing garlic mustard should be used with caution! Although garden waste is not usually allowed in landfills, there is a temporary exception for garlic mustard plants with seeds. The bags should be labeled: Garlic Mustard – Invasive Plant Approved for Landfilling.

Larger populations can be managed with a combination of hand-pulling, herbicide and/or fire. Prescribed fires in oak forests can kill rosettes and seedlings, but may result in a flush of new seedlings that develop and will need to be controlled. Landowners should never burn without proper training, equipment and permits.

Use of fire with a high BTU propane torch with a long wand applicator is also effective, but should be done only if there is no chance of the fire spreading (ideally after a rain or when the ground and leaves are moist). Herbicides such as glyphosate or 2,4-D are effective in killing basal rosettes in the sprin or in the fall when rosettes are still active. Garlic mustard seeds can remain viable in the soil for 7–10 years, so any control effort must be monitored and repeated for many years. Wooded sites without garlic mustard should be inspected every year.

More information on garlic mustard, including photos, can be found on the DNR Web site.

Brochures on garlic mustard may be available at your local University of Wisconsin Extension office.

More information on other invasive plants and animals is on the DNR invasive plant Web site and the Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin site at <http://www.ipaw.org> (exit DNR).

People interested in learning more about what they can do about invasive species are encouraged to attend an event in June during Invasive Species Awareness Month. A schedule of events can be found on the Internet at <http://www.invasivespecies.wi.gov/awareness/index.asp>(exit DNR).

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Bureau of Endangered Resources (608) 266-7012

Of Children, Trees and Arbor Day Contests

By Genny Fannucchi, DNR forest appreciation and awareness specialist

In 1907, President Teddy Roosevelt wrote these words of wisdom in his Arbor Day letter to the school children of the United States: “A people without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as hopeless.”

Fortunately, 99 years later, Wisconsin is blessed with the gift of children and trees. Wisconsin’s Arbor Day memories reach back to 1883 when our schoolchildren recognized the importance of trees and forests and tree planting.

This year Friday, April 28 marks the state’s 134th Arbor Day and the 123rd year of its continuous celebration by school children. On Arbor Day 1901, Wisconsin students voted the wood violet our state flower and the American robin our state bird. A bit earlier in 1893 school children voted the sugar maple our state tree and although it received the most votes, it was closely followed by oak, pine and elm.

Fifty-five years later (1948), another vote was conducted among school children by the Youth Centennial Committee, during our State’s centennial. In that election, the sugar maple once again received the most votes, followed by white pine and birch. The 1949 Legislature, in spite of efforts by white pine advocates, named the sugar maple the official state tree and enacted legislation.

Today our children continue to champion Arbor Day. This year 2,400 students from 165 schools across Wisconsin put their fondness for trees into words and artwork to mark the anniversary of Arbor Day, which is celebrated in Wisconsin every year on the last Friday in April. Students from all areas of the state entered their creative works in two contests sponsored by the state Department of Natural Resources: a poster contest for fifth graders themed “Trees are Terrific…and in All Shapes and Sizes!” and a writing contest for fourth graders themed “Gifts from the Forest.”

Little trees, big trees, dancing trees and magical trees were drawn and gifts such as oak beds, pencils, homes for animals, air, beauty shady places for outdoor activities, fruits, nuts, jobs, sawmills, lumber, camp fires and wooden skewers to roast marshmallows were elaborately written about.

Winners of the statewide poster contest are:

  • Tayler Bowser, Barneveld Elementary School, Barneveld (first place);
  • Kelly A. Sheehan, Hayward Intermediate School, Hayward (first runner-up);
  • Maya Medrow, General Mitchell Elementary School, Cudahy (second runner-up).

Winners of the statewide writing contest are:

  • Isabella Devereaux, Sugar Camp Elementary School, Rhinelander (first place);
  • Brandy Carroll, Royce Elementary School,, Beloit (first runner-up)
  • Lyddia Elyse Calmes, St. Mary’s Elementary School, Colby (second runner-up).

The six winners will celebrate their special achievements at an Arbor Day ceremony in the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, and will receive plaques and savings bonds worth $100, $75 and $50 respectively from the Wisconsin Arborist Association and the Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association. In addition, the Wisconsin Nursery Association will supply a tree to each of the six student winners for planting at a local community site.

In all, 24 children (the top 12 posters and essays) from the contests will be able to see their artwork and thoughts on line and in print. All students work is now on-line at the DNR’s Environmental Education for Kids! (EEK!) Web site for kids. Click on “Cool Stuff” on the EEK! page.

Along with Arbor Day, Wisconsin observes Forest Appreciation Week from April 23-29. But people can celebrate Arbor Day everyday by becoming champions of their woodlands and community trees, and by conserving, managing and sustaining our precious natural resources!

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Genny Fannucchi, DNR forest appreciation and awareness specialist (608) 267-3120

Private well testing, public water
supply research can help assure safe drinking water

National Drinking Water Week May 7-13

MADISON – People can take simple steps during National Drinking Water Week, May 7-13, to help ensure their families are drinking safe water now and in the future, state drinking water and groundwater officials say.

About 3.8 million Wisconsin residents drink water from 600-plus municipally owned water utilities supplied by groundwater or by Lake Michigan, Lake Superior or Lake Winnebago. The remaining residents rely on up to 1 million privately owned wells that tap into groundwater aquifers.

“National Drinking Water Week reminds us how important water is for healthy families and a strong economy and environment,” says Jill Jonas, who leads the Drinking Water and Groundwater program for the Department of Natural Resources. “The awareness week also reminds us that where we live and what we do on the land will impact our drinking water."

Test private wells regularly to protect family’s health

While most private wells provide a safe source of drinking water, some wells do become contaminated with bacteria and other pollutants that can affect people’s health, Jonas says. For example, state sampling has found that one in five private wells have high nitrate levels. In infants less than six months old, such exposure can reduce the blood’s ability to carry oxygen and cause “blue baby syndrome” because the skin appears blue-gray or lavender.

“Regularly testing their well water, especially after spring thaw and if there’s a change in the water’s taste, smell or appearance, is an important step well owners can take to protect their family’s health,” Jonas says.

Private well water quality is not regulated by the state, so responsibility for testing and addressing any problems rests with the well owner. Jonas advises private well owners to call a certified laboratory to get a water sampling kit and arrange for testing. Tests for bacterial contamination (pdf) and for nitrates (pdf) are the most important.

DNR maintains online lists of laboratories certified to test drinking water for bacteria and for chemical contaminants. It can be found on the DNR Web site by entering the words “water testing laboratories” in the search engine.

People can also look in the yellow pages under "Laboratories-Testing" or "Chemists-Analytical" and select laboratories that indicate they perform "Water Analysis" and are certified by the state for the type of test you are requesting.

Bacterial contamination can come from sources including insects, mice, septic systems and livestock wastes. Nitrates can occur naturally or come from fertilizers applied to the ground. Contaminants can get washed into the ground by rain or melting snow but are usually filtered out as water soaks into the ground. Poorly-constructed or unsealed wells, fractured rock outcroppings, sinkholes, and quarries may provide a pathway for it to enter groundwater.

Learn about the quality of your public water supply and help safeguard it

People should feel confident that the water they’re drinking from their public utility is safe, says Lee Boushon, DNR public water section chief. Utilities are required to regularly test the drinking water and DNR monitors the results to assure the water meets federal standards designed to protect people’s health, he says.

More than 99 percent of Wisconsin’s public water supplies meet those standards for regulated chemicals. The state also monitors for chemicals not regulated by the federal government and issues health advisories if needed, Boushon says.

Water utility customers can take an important role in assuring the safety of their drinking water by learning more about the quality of their municipal drinking water through the Consumer Confidence Report utilities must file annually to DNR. Individual system reports are available on the Internet and are also mailed out every year to customers.

Jonas says that water utility customers also can encourage their local officials to safeguard land areas important for replenishing the drinking water supply. DNR has in recent years finished an exhaustive effort to survey Wisconsin’s nearly 12,000 public water supplies to show where they get their drinking water from, and the degree to which that land area may be affected by potential sources of contamination.

Jonas hopes that having such detailed information and tools available will spur water customers to get local governments to work with interested citizens to develop protection plans for land that supplies drinking water, and lakes, streams, wetlands and springs with year-round flow. They also can take steps around their own property (pdf) to help safeguard local water supplies.

"Most drinking water comes from local sources,” she says. “If we want to have safe drinking water and healthy natural resources for the future, we have to think about what we do on the ground.”

Updated information now available on groundwater

“Groundwater: Wisconsin’s Buried Treasure,” a popular DNR publication that provides information on Wisconsin groundwater use, aquifers, the water cycle and protection programs, has been updated and is available online as well as in hard copy.

New sections in the glossy, 32-page color publication include features on how a well works, groundwater quantity and a Great Lakes water management agreement signed by Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces.

To receive a free classroom set (30 copies) of the new “Groundwater: Wisconsin’s buried treasure,” please e-mail Laura Chern at <Laura.Chern@dnr.state.wi.us> or call her at (608) 266-0126.

The Groundwater Study Guide booklet and activity sheets for teachers and youth leaders were also recently revised and can be downloaded from the DNR EEK! Web site. To get a paper copy of the guide, please e-mail Dave Lindorff at <david.lindorff@dnr.state.wi.us> or call him at (608) 266-9265.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Jill Jonas (608) 267-7545; Lee Boushon (608) 266-0857

Back to Top
Last Revised: Tuesday May 02 2006