March 1, 2004

Chairman Kedzie and Chairman Johnsrud:

My name is George Meyer, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.  The Federation is the largest conservation organization in the state, has existed for fifty-five years and is comprised of eighty-five hunting, fishing and trapping organizations located throughout the State of Wisconsin. 

The Federation would like to thank Chairman Kedzie and Johnsrud for the collaborative process that they put together to gather input in drafting the groundwater protection bill that is before your today.  The process used was relatively unique in the drafting of environmental legislation especially in this last two-year legislative session.

While the process involved the opportunity for broad public involvement, the final result, LRB-4302, while having some good conservation features, does not sufficiently protect Wisconsin’s valuable springs, lakes, streams and wetlands.  While it is important to pass a groundwater quantity bill in the State of Wisconsin, the bill should protect the highest quality streams and springs in the state. 

The Wildlife Federation endorses the position submitted to Chairs Kedzie and Johnsrud on Friday detailing the concerns of the Clean Water Coalition about the current draft of the bill. 

The Federation would like to highlight that many valuable springs and streams are not included in the groundwater protection areas described in the bill.  What membership of the Wisconsin Wildlife federation is looking at in this bill is whether the important waters that they use for fishing, trapping and hunting are going to be protected.  What is of great concern to them is that Class 3 trout streams are not included in the bill and that only springs in excess of 1 cubic feet per second are protected in groundwater protection areas.  Class 3 trout streams are very important to providing quality fishing for Wisconsin anglers and high capacity wells will still be able to degrade the value of such streams under this bill. 

Also only protecting springs that have 1 cubic feet per second of flow is far too high a bar to set to protect streams in the state.  Only 100 springs in the entire state of Wisconsin will be protected under this standard.  It will be a very big surprise in the future to citizens through out the state that the spring or spring complex that plays an important role in supporting their stream, lake or wetland is not protected by this highly publicized Groundwater Protection Act. 

It is critically important that at the outset this bill protect Class 3 trout streams and all springs that are one-half cubic feet per second in size.  Another critical oversight in the bill is that it does not require that sound water conservation practices be used in areas where wells are causing harm to our lakes, streams, wetlands and springs or are causing major lowering of the groundwater table in various locations throughout the state.

While many believe that Wisconsin is a water rich state, there are many locations where we are headed for major crises because of the overuse of our critical groundwater supplies.  Water conservation practices should be mandatory in places where Wisconsin’s ground and surface waters are being seriously harmed. 

In conclusion, while the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation supports many concepts in LRB-4302, we recommend that the provisions identified by the Clean Water Coalition be included in the bill and adopted by this Committee and the Legislature in this legislative session. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. 

- Submitted by George E. Meyer

  Executive Director, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation