Support For 
Restoration of the 
Public Intervenor Office

 
Wisconsin Association of Lakes, Inc.
Post Office Box 2064, Madison, Wisconsin 53701
Phone: 800-WIS-LAKE,  Fax 608-244-0650

April 11,1995

NEWS RELEASE
For further information, contact:
Lisa Conley, President, 414-567-5947
William O’Conner, Legislative Counsel, 608-255-3000
Elmer Goetsch, Chairman of the Board, 715-546-2340

* * * * * * * * * *

The Wisconsin Association of Lakes (WAL) has taken issue with Governor Tommy Thompson over several features of his 1995 Executive Budget now under consideration in the Joint Finance Committee of the Legislature.  The Association met in its annual meeting on April 7th in Stevens Point in conjunction with the 1995 Wisconsin Lakes Convention.  Two resolutions were unanimously approved at that meeting.

The over 200 local lake member organizations of WAL strongly object to a number of state government reorganization and funding proposals in the budget.   They relate to management of Wisconsin’s land, water and wildlife resources, and would:

  • Drastically weaken the structure and authority of the current Natural Resources Board and the Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Board.
  • Authorize direct gubernatorial appointment of not only the secretaries of those two departments, but also of their senior subordinates, such as division and district directors, all of whom would then serve at the pleasure of the Governor.
  • Drastically weaken the structure and authority of the Land and Water Conservation Board.
  • Repeal the authority, and eliminate funding, for the Office of the Public Intervenor in the Department of Justice.
  • Establish an “Environmental Science Council” in the Department of Administration as a kind of in-house “second guesser” on actions of the state government departments.
  • Divert $9.5 million out of the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Program for purposes completely inappropriate to the Program’s conservation, recreation, and water quality goals.
Association President Lisa Conley said that, excepting the last, all these changes would allow most important decisions relating to Wisconsin’s land, water, and wildlife resources to be made administratively, without the public notice, open meetings, and citizen involvement now required by law.  The “Environmental Science Council” and expanded gubernatorial appointment powers would greatly increase self-serving economic and political influence on permitting and enforcement processes relating to projects affecting natural resources, such as the controversial Crandon Mine and the proposed “dockominium” on Lake Geneva.

Conley pointed out that another serious disadvantage of the reorganization proposals in the budget would be to subject management of natural resources to short-notice, short-term policy swings as political winds and state administrations change.  Such resources must be managed under overall goals in terms of decades and generations, she said.  Wisconsin has a long tradition of foresighted, long-term management of its natural resources which could be lost if the Governor’s reorganization proposals become law. 

The present system in which the two boards in question appoint their departmental secretaries, set basic policies, and are composed of citizens appointed by the governor to overlapping staggered terms, all give greatly needed stability to management of our land, water, and wildlife resources.  This stability will surely be lost under the budget proposals, Conley said.

Eliminating the Public Intervenor’s Office would save only about $200,000 in annual funding, Conley said, but would take away an influential resource within state government with the charter to intervene when the public interest in natural resources is threatened by administrative and judicial decisions. 

A recent example is the Intervenors joining with WAL to support Oneida County before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the Converse “Wet Boathouse” case.  The Court decided in favor of the county in overturning a previous appellate court decision against the county’s right to regulate rebuilding of a boathouse over public waters that was destroyed in a storm.

Association President Conley also drew attention to the proposed diversion of funds out of the Stewardship Program to build dormitories at State Fair Park, for a cost share to construct a Great Lakes Visitor Center in Hayward, and for preventative maintenance on DNR properties.  This would reduce by 70% the funds collected for general land acquisition for wildlife reserves, public parks, and the like. 

Conley said these were all worthy projects to which the Association had no objection, except that funds should not be taken from the Stewardship Program.   Funds in the Program should continue to be reserved for acquisition of resources like the Chippewa Flowage, acquired by the state several years ago using Stewardship Funds.

The Wisconsin Association of Lakes was formed in 1992 by the merger of the Wisconsin Association of Lake Districts and the Wisconsin Federation of Lakes.   WAL is a statewide “umbrella” organization for local lake management organizations.  Its members include local lake protection and rehabilitation districts, sanitary districts with lake protection powers, lake and river associations, and municipalities with lake management responsibilities. 

WAL is also the Wisconsin Chapter of the North American Lake Management Society, one of 21 such state chapters nationwide.  The Society’s national headquarters is in Madison, as is that of WAL.

WAL represents the citizen component of the “Wisconsin Lake Partnership.”  Two other parts of that Partnership are the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin Extension Service.  WAL and its predecessor organizations have been a major force in the development of policies and programs now in place for the protection and safe use of Wisconsin’s nearly 15,000 lakes and rivers.

(Click here to read the WAL Resolution.)

back to the Wisconsin Stewardship Network home page