On June 19th the DNR released its draft master plan for the Willow Flowage.  The draft plan consists of management guidelines and an environmental assessment for the 16,174-acre property and 6,400 acre flowage, located in Oneida County.  The entire property is about 5 miles wide and 7 miles north to south.  Most of the land area lies to the south of the flowage.

From a conservation standpoint, the draft fails to follow through on the public’s demand for a large non-motorized area on the lands located on the south side of the flowage.  The DNR’s draft allows a 2.3 mile stretch of the Iron Gate road to be open on a permanent basis.  The Iron Gate road runs in a northwest direction from County Hwy. Y into the heart of a non-motorized area proposed by ECCOLA on the south side of the flowage.

The road crosses a snowmobile/ATV trail about one mile from its start on Hwy Y.  From there, ECCOLA proposed to block the road and create a 15 square mile non motorized area approximately 4 miles wide and 3 1/2 miles deep.  The Willow Flowage portion would comprise about 11 square miles where it adjoins a large wetland dominated area (4 square miles) of the Oneida county forest where all roads are currently gated or bermed shut.  The DNR’s proposal would extend the road 1.3 miles past the junction with the ATV/Snowmobile trail

Clearly, the tranquility that so many of us enjoy and deserve on Willow Flowage lands will be shattered routinely by ATV’s, and dirt bikes if the Iron Gate road isn’t closed, at the very least, at its the junction with the Little Rice ATV/Snowmobile trail.  ECCOLA and many other citizens fear that ATV’s and dirt bikes will drive to the end of the iron gate road and then radiate out, opening a Pandora’s box of user conflicts, renegade trails, noise and pollution.  What makes the Iron Gate road decision difficult to comprehend is that the DNR didn’t present any compelling reasons for its road policy.
 

Short History

The flowage was purchased by the state in two phases in 1997 and 1999 and includes 64 miles of shoreline frontage and 106 islands.  The Iron Gate road was always gated shut by the previous owner (Tenneco Co.) to the pubic.  The company’s forestry personnel and workers of its mill in Tomahawk had the only motorized access beyond the gate.

The company’s long-standing policy prompted many citizens at the DNR’s Willow Flowage Planning hearings to admonish the DNR to continue to block the Iron Gate road to public motorized access.  An impressive array of conservation and environmental groups such as the Twin City Rod & Gun Club of Neenah, Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade, River Alliance of Wisconsin, the Stevens Pt. Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, the Madison Chapter of the Audubon Society and Senator Roger Breske (12th District) joined ECCOLA’s call for the DNR to close the iron gate road and create one of the largest areas of peace and solitude in Wisconsin.

In addition, the Conservation Committee of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress and Oneida County’s Forestry and Parks Committee also send letters to the DNR stating their preference for a large non-motorized area on the Willow Flowage property.

The flowage was purchased by the state in two phases in 1997 and 1999.  The Iron Gate road was always gated shut by the previous owner (Tenneco Co.) to the pubic.  The company’s forestry personnel and workers of its mill in Tomahawk had the only motorized access beyond the gate.

After the Flowage was purchased in 1997, the DNR opened the Iron Gate road six weeks later without any public input for the deer hunting season.  The gate stayed open despite repeated questioning by ECCOLA until the following spring.  Since then, the DNR has kept the gate open every year from the beginning of April until the beginning of December.

ECCOLA contacted DNR officials up the chain-of-command all the way to Secretary George Meyer about its Iron Gate Road policy.  Top DNR officials repeatedly ducked the issue that opening the Iron Gate road set a precedent for making substantial management decisions before any public comments could be evaluated.  Instead of ordering the Iron Gate road to be shut until the end of the Master Plan process, they provided feeble excuses to keep the gate open for eight months of the year.
 

Time to Roll up Our Sleeves

Several months ago, ECCOLA faced a similar situation of correcting a faulty draft with Oneida County’s Metallic Mining ordinance.  Instead of throwing up our hands, we doubled our grassroots organizing effort, which resulted in a vastly improved final version.  Now we have to do the same thing with the Willow Flowage Plan!
 

We Need Your Help.  Here’s what you can do to make peace and quiet in the north a reality: Attend one of the meetings listed below and make your views heard with the following points. We only have until July 21 to put pressure on the DNR: Meetings will be held from 6 to 9 p.m., at the following locations: Monday, July 10, Minocqua - in the Meeting Room Minocqua Community Center, 415 Menominee St.  Tuesday, July 11, Wausau - Room C-106, Northcentral Technical College, 1000 West Campus Drive.  Wednesday, July 12, Madison - Oak Hall Meeting Room Fitchburg Community Center, 5510 Lacy Road, Fitchburg Close the Iron Gate road at the ATV trail.  It would: 1. eliminate much of the unauthorized ATV access to the southwestern portion of the Flowage;  2. eliminate vehicular traffic in an areas heavily used by the Little Rice wolf pack;  3. provide the public with the opportunity for solitude; 4. the road could  still be opened for deer gun hunting seasons to help reduce burgeoning deer numbers in the area ; 5. The DNR doesn’t have the funds for adequate law enforcement. Currently, a single, part-time patrol worker is responsible for covering the entire flowage land base. Closing the Iron Gate road at the ATV trail is prudent and cost-effective;  6. Non-motorized recreation would also spur new economic development in the segment of the tourism industry that caters to silent sport enthusiasts. Silent sports and silent hunters are being crowded out in this part of Wisconsin.  These tourism activities are generally low impact, require minimal investment,  and are sustainable.  A quiet area would enhance fishing and hunting opportunities for those people that seek a wilderness-like experience.

Other Notable Conservation Points:

• Native community management areas should not only include the areas of existing pine on the property, it should also include all 18 of the natural communities listed on Table 1 in the Willow Flowage Biological Inventory Report.
• Currently, the entire area south of the Willow’s scenic lakeshore buffer is typed as a Forest Production zone. This designation makes no biological sense because some of these areas are not even forested.
• In some cases the DNR has placed a Forest Production designation over wetlands and bogs that do not possess the ecological capability to produce any wood products.
• Such blanket classifications violate the DNR’s mandate to classify areas so that they are consistent with the area’s ecological capability.
• Most of the 18 areas identified as natural communities are wetlands. They deserve native community management.
• The draft Master Plan calls for the conversion of about 1000 acres of aspen to longer-lived forest communities such as red and white pine.
• This aspect of the plan should be encouraged. The Willow Flowage lands make up an excellent opportunity to reestablish large blocks of mature pine in the long term.
• Where possible, the aspen conversion should take place next to existing pine stands to create larger blocks.

Copies of the Willow Flowage Master Plan are available for review at DNR Service Centers in Tomahawk, Park Falls, Woodruff, Rhinelander, Antigo, Merrill and Wausau.  A summary of the 90-page plan is available by clicking here on the DNR web site.  Interested persons may also receive the plan by calling (608) 267-8986 or by writing: Willow Flowage Master Plan –LF/4, Wisconsin DNR, Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921.  If you have any questions, please contact John Schwarzman (call 715-356-4206) or Jim Wise (call 715-453-6015).

Thanks for you past support.  Time is running out and I hope you’ll agree that we need to do everything we can to convince the DNR to satisfy the public’s wishes for the Willow Flowage.

Sincerely,
John Schwarzmann
Secretary/Treasurer-ECCOLA