Thursday, April 19, 2001

OUR OPINION

On wetlands, solution
should be cooperation

As state legislators and the governor move closer to restoring protection of so-called "isolated" wetlands, they should take care not to trade one problem for another. The goal of this exercise should not be more top-down regulation by the state Department of Natural Resources, but a cooperative agreement that involves the state, local governments and private landowners in incentive-based management.

There aren't many incentives in the current approach. The Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, which represents many municipalities statewide, has been collecting weflands regulation "horror stories" from its members. Consider this example from Beaver Dam: City officials there sought to extend a street on the city's northwest side to provide a safe bicycling route to Beaver Dam's Edgewater Park. The goal was to keep youngsters from bicycling to the park along a busy Highway 33.

Even though only two-tenths of one acre would have been filled, the plan was rejected by the DNR.

The agency contended that a drainage ditch running from an old farmyard near the proposed street extension is a "navigable stream," which gives the DNR authority over the wetlands. Bike to the park at your own risk, kids.

Other stories detailed how the DNR blocked efforts by cities to better control stormwater runoff, to fix drainage patterns disturbed by highway construction and to dredge a filled wetland that was causing flooding. According to the Alliance, the DNR stopped the city of Madison from cleaning up a grass drainage way because — get this — it would interfere with fish migration. "The agency did not share with city officials the identity of the fish species that migrates in grasslands," read a memo to Alliance director Ed Huck

At some point, common sense must prevail. Also, state legislators must ask themselves if "do-it-our-way regulation is consistent with recent state land-use efforts such as the "Smart Growth" law, which is designed as a state and local partnership.

In Minnesota, a state that has nearly 9.3 rniilion acres of wetlands, protection is accomplished through incentives such as wetlands "banking," tax credits and purchase of development rights. Local governments have a role in regulating almost all of those wetlands, and the system appears to work well. As state officials in Wisconsin try to improve wetlands regulations, they should examine models from states where partnerships and market forces are working for people and the environment.
              

(c) 2001 Wisconsin State Journal
Reprinted with permission