DNR News
May 30, 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
- Conservation plan aims to expand Karner blue butterfly habitat
- Draft impaired waters list for 2006 available for public comment
- Fact sheet available on placing piers in waterways during 2006
- Northwoods Cooperative Weed Management Area established
- Waukesha South High School student designs the 2007 state park sticker
- Grants available for wildfire suppression
- June Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine explores fishing contests
Conservation plan aims to expand Karner blue butterfly habitat
Management of Clark County Forestland intended to expand lupine range
NEILLSVILLE, Wis. – Wild lupine is starting to bloom throughout central Wisconsin, and there may soon be more of these native violet-blue flowers blooming in the Clark County Forest thanks to a conservation plan intended to expand habitat for the federally endangered Karner blue butterfly.
The pale green caterpillar of the Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) feeds exclusively on the leaves of the wild lupine. The Karner blue was listed as a federal endangered species in 1992. Although the species is rare nationwide, central and northwestern Wisconsin -- especially where pine barrens, oak savannas, and mowed corridors support wild lupine -- are some of the few areas in the country where the species is more common.
About the size of a postage stamp, adult Karner blues can be identified by the bands of orange spots on the underside edge of their wings. The wing top sides of male butterflies are deep sky blue, while those of the female are darker blue and brown with orange spots on the edges of both hind wings.
Under a Wildlife Action Plan project funded by a $10,500 Teaming With Wildlife grant administered by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Clark County forestry officials are working with a power company on a lupine management plan that is intended to expand the range of Karner blue butterflies into other areas of the county forest where new habitat for lupine will be created.
“The reason it’s important is that isolated (existing) Karner populations need a corridor to disperse and promote genetic exchange,” said Rick Daily, Clark County forestry assistant.
Daily said the conservation plan includes a “shifting mosaic strategy” that is aimed at creating new habitat for the Karner blue in openings created through sustainable timber harvest along with lupine planting.
“The butterfly needs lupine to feed on, and lupine needs land disturbance to thrive,” Daily said.
A second portion of the conservation plan involves a Dairyland Power Inc. right-of-way for an electric power line corridor from near Rock Dam in east Central Clark County to Eau Claire County.
Chuck Thompson, manager of siting and regulatory affairs for Dairyland Power, said the work of the Clark County Forestry Department should mesh well with the power company’s line work.
“We’ve agreed to set aside these properties and help them…to encourage more butterflies,” Thompson said, adding that the power company is hoping that under the management plan the area will support a breeding population.
“It seems to be a win-win situation,” he said.
Daily said a strip about 30 feet wide has been planted within the 50 to 75 foot right-of-way.
Jon Holger, Clark County forestry technician, said that some prescribed burning will also be used to create disturbance in an effort to maintain barrens habitat. The idea, he said, is to “knock back the brush and rejuvenate native grasses and forbs,” adding that “lupine responds very well to fire.”
The butterfly won’t be the only species to benefit from prescribed fire. Past timber harvests opened up some of the area and created a resurgence of barrens habitat. However, the pine barrens community in Clark County has been converting to brush and forest -- gradually destroying habitat for animals that depend on openings and warm season grasses. Five burn sites have been designated and three were burned in 2002 and 2003. Restoring some of the historic barrens will help the black-billed cuckoo, brown thrasher, field sparrow, golden – winged warbler, the northern flicker, whip-poor-will , bullsnake and American badger.
A third part of the Conservation Action Plan calls for removal of two small flowages in the county forest. A dam and dike forming Iron Run Flowage will be removed. At Horse Creek Flowage, where the dam is used as a roadway, a culvert will replace the water control structure.
Native plants will be seeded after the work is complete and the area will be inspected for invasive plants, which will be treated if located. There are old drainage ditches in the area and they’ll be plugged to allow the stream to return to its historic channel. About 4,700 feet of Iron Run Creek is expected to be restored to free-flowing stream.
“They have little wildlife value and it’s best to restore the natural community,” Daily said.
Michelle Windsor, DNR wildlife manager at Black River Falls notes that Karner blues have managed to thrive in the central sands country due to projects like this that receive support from local and county governments and private industries to provide critical habitat.
“This project is just one of many that reflect the strong partnerships that exist within Wisconsin to put the needs of wildlife and its habitats first without compromising the needs of the public and industries that cohabitate these areas,” Windsor says.
And, she adds, many other species will benefit from the Karner blue habitat work. Improvement of the sedge meadows, she notes, would also benefit the American bittern, belted kingfisher, bobolink, northern harrier, willow flycatcher, Blanding’s turtle and possibly even the rare and endangered whooping crane.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Rick Dailey or Jon Holger, Clark County Forest and Parks Dept. – (715) 743-5140 or Michele Windsor, DNR - (715) 284-1403
Draft impaired waters list for 2006 available for public comment
MADISON – The water quality in seven water bodies in Wisconsin has improved to the point where those waters should be removed from the list of impaired waters in Wisconsin, according to a draft version of the 2006 list that is now available for public comment. However, the state will be adding 45 waters to the list, nearly half of which are beaches where increased water monitoring in the past few years has turned up bacteria problems.
States are required to submit biennially to the federal government a list of impaired waters within each state.
The Department of Natural Resources is proposing to remove seven waters from its list of Wisconsin waters with documented pollution problems or degraded habitat: Henry and Syftestad creeks in southwestern Dane County, the Milwaukee River upstream of the Lime Kiln Dam, and the Rock River from the Indianford Dam to the Illinois border. Three inland beaches – Ottawa Lake Beach in Waukesha County, Interfalls Lake-Pattison Beach in Douglas County, and Beckman Lake Beach in Green County are also proposed to be removed from the impaired waters list. The draft 2006 Wisconsin impaired Waters list is available for review on the DNR Web site.
“These waters have improved to the point where we can propose ‘delisting’ them,” says Bob Masnado, who leads the DNR water quality standards section. “They are now meeting their clean water goals for a variety of reasons, including changing land use along the Dane County streams and the effects in the Milwaukee River of the 1970s ban on PCBs.”
The draft proposal adds to the impaired waters list 45 waters where monitoring has revealed that they fail to meet their clean water goals of being fishable and swimmable, he says. Nearly half are beaches, a reflection, Masnado said, of Wisconsin becoming the first state to meet federal requirements for monitoring coastal beaches for bacteria. Since 2003, state and local governments in Wisconsin have been regularly testing more than 115 public beaches on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior for bacteria as part of the federal BEACH Act of 2000.
“We don’t believe the beaches have gotten worse -- what the 2006 list reflects is that we’re monitoring more and so are now documenting what’s probably been a historical bacteria problem at these beaches,” Masnado says.
Seventeen of the 24 beaches added are along Lake Michigan, four along Lake Superior, and three inland lakes. Also added to the list are 9 lakes and 12 streams or rivers.
“Wisconsin’s fortunate to have an incredible number of lakes and streams and a public that is very keen on using them,” Masnado says. “As such, it’s a big job to manage them. We don’t have a magic cure to resolve all of the problems at once so we must prioritize and tackle them as efficiently as possible.”
The impaired waters list helps DNR staff set priorities and is part of a larger effort to build a more comprehensive monitoring strategy for the entire state.
“In doing so, we can work in partnership with many other local, state and federal agencies as well as the regulated community and the general public to deploy our staff and resources as efficiently as possible,” he said.
The federal government requires all states to submit impaired waters lists every two years and to create management plans for each water to address the particular reason or reasons it can’t support the fish community, swimming or other recreation it should be able to support, according to Carolyn Betz, the water quality specialist coordinating development of the list.
Since submitting its 2004 impaired waters list, DNR has worked with local partners to develop management plans for 25 water bodies on the list and is working to implement them, Betz says.
The impaired waters list helps states prioritize technical and financial attention to cleaning up waters with the worst problems. With the additions and deletions proposed for the 2006, Wisconsin would have 643 waters on its impaired waters list.
The greatest number of waters on the list are impaired by airborne mercury from power plants and other sources that enters the aquatic food chain and has triggered a statewide fish consumption advisory. The second leading problem is sedimentation, or soil entering the water in runoff from farms, construction sites and urban stormwater, decreasing water quality, covering fish spawning beds and causing other problems. The third most common impairment is excessive levels of phosphorus and other nutrients in the water, which can result from natural causes, or from human activity such as fertilizing fields or lawns, and which can cause nuisance algal blooms.
Wisconsin has the most progressive nonpoint source pollution performance standards in the country, and is aggressively implementing measures to control polluted runoff from both rural and urban sources, Betz says. This includes installing best management practices on rural farms and implementing the municipal storm water permit program in over 200 designated cities, villages, towns and counties throughout the state.
Betz said the list will keep evolving, with the department adding waters as data shows a water body clearly does not meet its clean water goals, and removing waters where water quality has improved.
The comment period closes June 30, 2006. Comments can be addressed to Carolyn Betz at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 7921, WT/2, Madison, WI 53707 or by e-mail at <Carolyn.Betz@dnr.state.wi.us>.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Carolyn Betz - (608) 266-9262 or Bob Masnado - (608) 267-7662
Fact sheet available on placing piers in waterways during 2006
MADISON – Information now available on the Internet will help Wisconsin waterfront property owners learn what they need to know for 2006 about state requirements for placing their piers in the water, habitat protection officials say.
The pier fact sheet is available on the Department of Natural Resources Web site and is available at all DNR Service Centers.
“This fact sheet explains how current regulations affect pier owners and helps answers questions many have for this summer,” says Liesa Lehmann, a DNR habitat protection specialist and lead on pier issues.
For more than 70 years, the state has overseen the placement of piers in Wisconsin’s publicly owned waters to assure the piers don't present a safety hazard, harm critical fish habitat, or interfere with boating or other recreation, Lehmann says.
Historically and still today, the overwhelming majority of piers do not require a DNR permit.
Studies in Wisconsin and elsewhere over the past 20 years have documented that shoreline and shallow water areas of lakes and rivers are critical in providing habitat for fish and wildlife and helping protect water quality. In more recent years, studies specifically on the effects of piers have shown that large decks on piers, and the boats that dock there, in particular block the sunlight from reaching aquatic plants underneath them, killing the plants. These plants are an important food source for fish and they can help reduce algae growth.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Liesa Lehmann (608) 266-2997
Northwoods Cooperative Weed Management Area established
SPOONER, Wis. – A new partnership of local, state, federal and tribal agencies and organizations joining together to address invasive species in a four-county area is the first effort of its kind in Wisconsin, and one officials hope will result in better coordination in controlling non-native invaders.
The Northwoods Cooperative Weed Management Area (NCWMA) will share resources and jointly pursue grant opportunities aimed at controlling non-native, invasive plants in Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, and Iron counties. It is the first Cooperative Weed Management Area established in Wisconsin, but it is based on a program developed by U.S. Forest Service staff in Idaho.
“We are not really doing anything we haven’t done as individual agencies,” says Dara Olson, aquatic invasive species project coordinator for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, “but now we are working together in a formalized way, which gives us the added benefit of applying for grant money.”
The NCWMA is organized under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed on May 11 by the 22 participating agency, tribal, and organizational members. The group’s mission is to “encourage and formalize the cooperative relationship necessary for effective management, coordination and implementation of invasive terrestrial and aquatic plant species programs.”
Partner agencies and organizations of the NCWMA have each committed resources such as staff time, educational materials, tools, and mapping capabilities to the collective effort. A management plan is being drafted, and a short list of projects is in place for the coming field season.
A few of the projects being planned include:
- An invasive species field trip on the Bad River Reservation in Ashland County aimed at raising awareness of tribal resource managers and community members.
- An educational poster for the Northwest Wisconsin Lakes Convention to be held at Telemark Lodge in Cable on June 30.
- Organizing the workshop Not in my backyard?! A homeowners guide to invasive species in the Northland to be held June 24 at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute on the campus of Northland College in Ashland. This workshop is for the homeowner and citizen who want to know how to identify and control invasive plants and prevent potential future invasions in their backyards and communities.
Additionally, the group is researching funding opportunities that can be used to, among other things, create a “community tool chest” of equipment for cutting and treating invasive plants.
A steering committee for the cooperative will include one representative from each partner agency or organization and two representatives for cooperating, or “informal,” partners.
According to Ted Gostomski, a conservation biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources who represents the agency on the committee, state officials hope this partnership will become a model for coordinated efforts to control invasive species in other areas of the state as well. People interested in establishing a cooperative weed management area should contact Kelly Kearns, DNR native plant specialist at (608) 267-5066 or a regional DNR conservation biologist.
The group’s next meeting will be held in conjunction with the Northwest Wisconsin Lakes Conference on June 29, at the Telemark Resort in Cable. For more information on the NCWMA please contact Leah Gibala at (715) 682-7123, or by e-mail at wetlands@badriver.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Ted Gostomski - (715) 635-4153
Waukesha South High School student designs the 2007 state park sticker
MADISON – A design featuring sandhill cranes in flight by Courtney Olshefski, a junior from Waukesha South High School in Waukesha, has been selected to be featured on the 2007 Wisconsin State Park vehicle admission sticker.
A panel of judges selected Olshefski’s winning design from 345 entries submitted for the annual sticker design contest. It will be printed and displayed on more than 150,000 vehicles.
Olshefski will receive an engraved plaque, a 2007 admission sticker featuring her design, and a state trail pass. The 2007 vehicle admission sticker and trail pass will be awarded to Olshefski when they become available in December, 2006.
Brittyni Carlson, a senior from Marathon High School in Marathon, Wisconsin, took second place in the contest and will receive an engraved plaque, admission sticker, and a trail pass. Third place winner Andrew Zandt is a junior from Waukesha South High School in Waukesha. Zandt will also be awarded an engraved plaque, sticker, and trail pass for his design.
Students who received honorable mention for their designs include: Kirstin Weber from Cedarburg High School-Cedarburg, Laura Stolp from Memorial High School-Eau Claire, Lisa Potter from Watertown High School-Watertown, Phillip Enderby from Ashwaubenon High School-Green Bay, Laura Waters from Cedarburg High School-Cedarburg, Kirstyn Cowle from Cedarburg High School-Cedarburg, and Trevor Prevette from Berlin High School-Berlin. All finalists will receive a 2006 state park vehicle admission sticker, courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The design contest, sponsored by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, is open to all high school age students attending public, private, or parochial schools in Wisconsin. The design must be the artist's own original creation and not copied or duplicated from previously published art, including photographs.
Entries are now being accepted for the 2008 Vehicle Admission Sticker Design Contest. The 2007 winning designs and information on next year’s contest are available on the DNR Web site.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Wisconsin State Parks – - (608) 266-2181
Grants available for wildfire suppression
MADISON -- Local fire fighting agencies have until July 3 to apply for two separate Department of Natural Resources grant programs for suppressing forest and wildfires. Both programs provide funds on a 50/50 cash match basis.
Forest Fire Protection Grants
Local fire departments and county or area fire organizations can apply for Forest Fire Protection Grants, which were established in 1997 to strengthen local fire departments’ and county or area fire organizations’ capabilities to assist the DNR forestry staff in suppression of forest fires.
The grant program provides funds for the purchase of forest fire suppression equipment and training, including: personal protective equipment (clothing must meet NFPA 1977 standards); forest fire training; forest fire prevention tools and equipment; communication equipment; rural fire mapping and numbering; and off-road all-wheel drive initial-attack vehicles.
Volunteer Fire Assistance Grants
Volunteer Fire Assistance grants are available only to county and area fire associations. The program is intended to support wildfire suppression capabilities in an area through broad-ranging projects of benefit to all of the local fire departments.
The VFA grant program provides funds for purchases in the following categories (listed in priority order): forest fire fighter safety; forest fire training; forest fire prevention/wildland urban interface; dry hydrants/water resources; rural fire mapping; communications; forest fire tools and equipment; and organization of new fire department.
Applications were mailed recently to county/area fire organizations statewide and are also available on the DNR Web site. VFA applications must be postmarked by July 3, 2006.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: on the grant program Eileen Trainor - (608) 267-0848; on forest fire and wildfire training or Chris Klahn - (608) 297-2214
June Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine explores fishing contests
MADISON -- For some, part of the thrill in catching fish is that someone else wanted to catch it too. Readers of the June 2006 Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine can examine the growing interest in tournament fishing on Wisconsin waters. The article “Contemplating Competition” looks at how communities capture the thrill and business that tournaments can bring to town, while still respecting other boaters, other anglers and shoreland owners who want to ensure that fishing remains good year-round. Readers can discover how science is helping uncover techniques so more fish survive the rigors of on-water contests.
Other stories take readers through Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands by kayak, recommend 19 hot beaches to cool down on a summer day and post the “Most Wanted” posters on 15 new invasive plants nosing their way across the state borders.
Readers can also take a look at how green design is saving energy, materials and money in operating two new DNR buildings. Or learn how they can start a legacy fund to sustain their favorite outdoor places and activities.
The June issue of Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine is available for $3.50 plus shipping or you can get a whole year’s worth – six big issues – delivered to your door for just $8.97. Subscribe toll-free at 1-800-678-9472, online at www.wnrmag.com. Subscription blanks and single issues are also available from our circulation office at P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: David L. Sperling, editor - (608) 266-1510
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