Wisconsin's shoreland zoning rules (NR 115) contain statewide minimum standards for shoreland development in unincorporated areas. NR 115 is being comprehensively revised for the first time since it took effect in 1968 (download current proposal).

Overall, this rule has many good features to help protect the rights of property owners and the public to enjoy good water quality, fish and wildlife, lake recreation, and scenic beauty. The rule takes existing uses of properties into account, and makes it easier for property owners to maintain their property while still protecting their lake.

Many of the values lake front property owners appreciate and enjoy about their properties--natural scenic beauty, tranquility, privacy, and relaxation--are enhanced and preserved with good shoreland management.

We encourage you to send in your comments on these extremely important rules. WAL generally supports the proposed amendments to NR115 WI administrative code.(visit WAL's website for talking points, background, detailed discussion of good features in the rule and needed adjustments).

Send your comments over the internet at: http://adminrul es.wisconsin.gov or e-mail toni.herkert @wisconsin.gov.

Mail your comments to: Toni Herkert
Bureau of Watershed Management
P.O. Box 7921
Madison, WI 53707

Comments will be accepted by any means through 4:00 PM, Friday September 7, 2007.

For the past year, WAL has been working toward statewide legislation--based on Dane County's existing ordinance--to ban the use and sale of phosphorus lawn fertilizer (with a few reasonable exceptions). We are pleased that the Senate Committee on Natural Resources heard testimony August 28th about the proposed statewide ban on phosphorus in lawn fertilizer (SB 197).

The committee heard from many lake people about how phosphorus is impacting lakes and the people who enjoy them, and about the efforts many lake organizations are making to reduce phosphorus entering their lakes.

Banning phosphorus in lawn fertilizer is one easy step to take as we continue to work towards reducing phosphorus in our lakes. We will keep you informed as this bill progresses and welcome your continued participation as we work towards a new state law.

If you have a free moment, please thank the Committee members for for holding a hearing on this important issue and let them know you look forward to seeing this bill move forward:
Senator Mark Miller
Senator Robert Jauch
Senator Neal Kedzie
Senator Dale Schultz
Senator Robert Wirch

Though the algae blooms are being helped by hot and dry weather, they are fed largely by phosphorus, a non-degrading nutrient in many lawn fertilizers, said Chad Cook, watershed educator at the Winnebago County office of the University of Wisconsin-Extension.

Many people don't realize that stormwater drains bypass water treatment facilities and empty out into rivers, lakes, and streams. That means phosphorus runoff from lawns goes directly into surface waters, where it can cause big problems for recreational users and property owners, like algae blooms. Recent toxin-producing blue-green algae blooms on Lake Winnebago have prompted the state Department of Natural Resources to urge people to use caution because contact with the algae can cause illness.

"I think if you talk to people, a lot of them will equate the source of the phosphorus as our farm fields," Cook said. "Actually, our urban residents can have just as big of an impact, if not bigger, depending on what lawn care practices they're using or the other things they are doing," he said. Cook said inexpensive soil tests would reveal that many fertilize their lawns to excess--unwittingly posing harm to surface waters in the process. Cook said soil tests are available for $15 plus $3.50 postage through county extension offices. Read full story.

Oconomowoc bans phosphorus in lawn fertilizer to aid lakes

Lawn care companies have responded to the growing concern over phosphorus in lawn fertilizers. Matt Stroik, service manager for the Milwaukee branch of Scott's Lawn Service, said the company changed last year to phosphorus-free fertilizers. "We were told by our corporate office - they do studies - that they found there is an abundance of phosphorus in our soil and there is no need to put phosphorus back into the soil," said Stroik, referring to the Midwest.

Tom Steinbach, operating manager for Oconomowoc's wastewater utility, said the ban was proposed in 2006 after residents raised concerns about lake quality. Steinbach said phosphorus levels have been increasing in the Oconomowoc River chain of lakes, which include Okauchee, Oconomowoc and Fowler lakes, along with Lac La Belle.

A state Department of Natural Resources spokesman said reducing phosphorus will cut down on algae problems, which have been increasing. "Phosphorus poses a very real concern to area lakes - there's no argument about that," said Carroll Schaal, lake team leader for the DNR. "If phosphorus is being spread very near the lake, every time there's a good rainstorm there's excess phosphorus leaving the shore land to get in the lake."Read full story.

Jake Macholl, working for the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, is completing a statewide survey of springs that will not only fill in considerable missing knowledge about the location, size and number of Wisconsin's springs but may also play an important role in strengthening legislation aimed at protecting the state's threatened groundwater resources.

After nearly two years of work, Macholl has identified about 10,851 known springs in Wisconsin. His studies of the size of the springs show that the much-heralded 2004 groundwater law protects just about 3 percent of those springs. The law protects only those springs that flow at a rate of at least one cubic foot per second, or 7.5 gallons per second, at least 80 percent of the time. But Macholl's work shows only about 235 springs of the nearly 11,000 that he found meet that criteria.

Springs are crucial parts of the natural water system. Generally, the health of a spring is directly related to the health of the groundwater system that feeds the spring's flow. Springs, even smaller ones, are crucial sources of water for trout streams and are home to numerous species--such as the Hine's emerald dragonfly--that are threatened or endangered.

Springs across the state are threatened by development and growing numbers of high-capacity agricultural wells. Macholl estimates close to a thousand springs have dried up in the last five years, including many in Dane County where growth and the demand for water is drawing the water levels in the deep underground aquifer down faster than nature can replenish them.

You can rebuild wetlands and prairies and other such important landscape features. But springs, gifts of ancient geologic forces and flowing from deep within the Earth, are irreplaceable. "You can't," Macholl said, "build a spring." Read full story.

A drought stretching into its second year has dropped water tables so low in some areas of the state--particularly central and northern--Wisconsin - that lake waters are receding, boats and motors are scraping bottom and docks sit idle.

The problem is worst in what the Department of Natural Resources calls "seepage lakes," where there is no natural inlet or outlet of water. Also known as spring-fed lakes, water levels depend on rainfall and groundwater. Many of Wisconsin's 15,000-plus inland lakes are seepage lakes.

The drought has been compounded by a mild winter that left below-normal amounts of snow to melt and replenish groundwater tables. Plus, warm winters meant lakes froze over later, allowing more water to evaporate, said Richard Lathrop, a DNR research limnologist. Even heavy rains may not help raise water levels, because plants will suck up that moisture. Groundwater tables need precipitation in spring and late fall to recharge.

Another factor: water siphoned by high-capacity wells for municipal water supplies and agriculture irrigation. The DNR this summer began funding two studies in central Wisconsin to figure out just how much groundwater pumped from high-capacity wells affects lakes and rivers and how vegetation affects the amount of water that soaks into soil and replenishes groundwater.

Low lake levels are part of the natural ebb and flow of ecology, but to folks who bought homes and cottages on rapidly disappearing lakes, to anglers who can't get to their favorite fishing spots and boaters who can no longer use boat landings now left high and dry, it's a worrisome trend. (Visit WAL's website for low lake level and groundwater information from last fall's Central Sands Groundwater workshop) . Read full story

An undeveloped lake in Bayfield County and much of a second lake nearby have been permanently protected as a State Natural Area (SNA). All of 31-acre Inch Lake is included in the SNA, as is a large share of 66-acre Hildur Lake. Hildur Lake is the headwaters of the popular and unspoiled White River.

The combined property becomes the 501st state- owned Natural Area. There are now more than 130,000 acres protected under the program. State Natural Areas set aside land to help retain species of plants and animals that might be pushed out by development. Many of Wisconsin's endangered and threatened species can be found on SNA lands and waters.

As a condition of the Inch Lake donation, owners Jill and Jerry Martin of Gurnee, Ill., required that Inch Lake become catch-and-release fishing only, with no motors and no live bait. All of the forest included in the SNA will be open to the public for hunting and hiking and closed to any logging or development.

"We don't have many lakes left that are totally undeveloped. ... That's a big benefit for loons and herons and other shore species,'' Strand said. "And the forest, while there is some logging history there, is a nice mix of red pine and white pine, oak, aspen and maple. It's not a virgin forest, but it's a very intact, very natural forest.''

The two properties in the Inch Lake SNA were each valued at about $1 million and both are considered prime candidates for ecological protection. The Western Wisconsin Land Trust helped broker the deal. Money for the purchases came from the state's Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund.

In 2008, the Wisconsin Lakes Convention celebrates its 30th birthday! We will reflect on the accomplishments we have achieved by working together these past 30+ years and explore ways to build on those successes. The convention will focus on how Wisconsin lakes have changed over time, and what we have collectively learned over the years. We are looking for sessions/workshops that fit in the following categories:

• Success stories related to Wisconsin lakes
• Current research, lake science
• Water law and public policy
• Wildlife, fisheries or aquatic plants
• Citizen involvement
• Aquatic Invasive Species
• Lake organizations and their management
• Other lake/water topics

Who can submit an application?
Everyone! We encourage lake organization members and leaders, resource professionals, researchers, students, teachers, business leaders and others to submit proposals. A good mix of presenters makes for a good mix of sessions. If you have an idea or success story to share but are not sure how to develop or present the idea please contact Susan Tesarik in the WAL office (at 800-542-5253 (toll free in Wisconsin) or at 608-661-4313). We are happy to work with you to share your story.

Types of sessions:
There are three types of sessions: hands- on/interactive workshops, field trip(s), and concurrent sessions. The 3-hour workshops and field trip(s) will occur on Thursday, April 17. Concurrent sessions will take place on Friday and Saturday, April 18-19. Concurrent sessions will be 50 minutes each, but you can propose a 25-minute session and share the full session with another presenter covering a related topic.

In appreciation of their time, speakers will receive free registration to the convention on the day they are speaking. The submission deadline is Friday, October 5, 2007.

Submit your proposal online. If you have questions, please contact Kim Becken at 715-346-2116 or kbecken@uwsp.edu.

Who are the people, groups, leaders, and businesses that have made a positive impact to your lake this summer?

The Wisconsin Lakes Partnership gives out these awards each year in celebration of the extraordinary volunteer and professional efforts given to protect and improve lakes in Wisconsin. The Stewardship Awards represent our best collective effort to honor and celebrate all the incredible work that goes into ensuring the future of our state's Legacy of Lakes. Please join us in that spirit by nominating a deserving person or group today.

This year's nominees and winners will be celebrated at the 2008 Wisconsin Lakes Convention, to be held in Green Bay on April 17-19, 2008. Stewardship Awards nomination guidelines and online nomination form are online at the UW- Extension Lakes Program website. For more information on the awards or for nomination materials in another format, please contact the Wisconsin Association of Lakes office at 800-542-5253 (toll free in Wisconsin) or at 608-661-4313, or email us at wal@wisconsinlakes.org.

Nominations are due no later than February 22, 2008.

The Wisconsin Association of Lakes is the only statewide organization working exclusively to protect and enhance the quality of Wisconsin's 15,000 lakes.

We represent citizens like you who care about Wisconsin's lakes as a natural resource, and who also recognize the value healthy lakes bring to property values, tourist economies, and overall quality of life.

• Learn about our statewide voice for strong lake policy
• Learn about our lake education events
• Learn about our lake publications, The Lake Connection and E-lake Letter
• Join Us in working for clean, safe, healthy lakes for everyone.