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| 12/29/2006 8:30:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | EPA encourages DNR to speed up Powell Marsh master plan
Meeting between
Debbie Munson Badini
Sports/Outdoors Editor
Responding to encouragement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Natural Resources has agreed to move forward in creating a new master plan for the Powell Marsh within the year - a significantly shorter timeline than what the state agency had originally proposed.
"This is a sincere commitment from DNR bureau directors to speed up the process, compared to the original outlook of doing the master plan within the new biennium," said DNR northern region water leader Tom Jerow, adding that critics of current Powell Marsh operations should be "happy."
"The master planning process will open the public debate to decide if the marsh should be maintained as it is," Jerow said. "And that is a big if."
Several alternative management schemes, including removing the manmade ditches that push water through the marsh and hold it in retention pools, were discussed at length by DNR and EPA scientists at a meeting in Madison earlier this month.
"Restoration of the marsh does need to be on the table. Not just mentioned in passing, but as a serious option," said EPA region 5 life scientist Holly Arrigoni at the Dec. 14 meeting. "I know removing the ditches would be a huge undertaking, but we need to consider all of the options, not just the most convenient."
Increased flows also considered
Arrigoni also requested that the state draw up a specific timeline for the next 12 to 18 months detailing how the two agencies would work together during the master planning process, a document Jerow and DNR northern region manager Dan Schuller said could be completed by early January.
Hearing DNR representatives agree with Arrigoni's requests was a precedent-setting moment for Dead Pike Lake Association member Gale Wolf.
The association requested help from the EPA earlier this year to address a disagreement with the DNR concerning evidence that an unnatural level of oxidized iron precipitate (iron floc) is being flushed into the lake from the neighboring marsh, impacting the lake's water clarity.
"We have brought up the option of removing the ditches and letting the marsh return to its natural state as the Midwest's largest leatherleaf bog for the past seven years," Wolf said. "To hear that scenario as a serious option and to anticipate a master plan within the year is phenomenal."
Another potential management option - entailing flushing more water through the marsh to inhibit the oxidation of iron - is also being studied, although the marsh's ability to provide the increased water is still unknown, Jerow said.
If water is not available within the marsh's impoundments, Little Trout Lake has been identified as a potential source, but Jerow said the agency still needs to discuss the option with the Lac du Flambeau tribe, since the lake is partially on the reservation.
While the option of increasing flows still needs to be studied, Jerow said he felt the study could be done in tandem with the master plan, eliminating the need to wait another year before beginning the planning process.
Errors need to be fixed
However, what the agency hears as public comment during the master planning process, not just what researchers discover, will also influence which management options receive the most consideration, Jerow said.
"I have talked to a lot of people who value the marsh as it is, for birding and wildlife viewing," he said at the meeting. "Their opinions on what is best for the future of the marsh will be taken into account also."
But lake association president Pete Guzzetta cautioned both agencies to remember that the management of the marsh does not only affect the recreation opportunities of bird and wildlife enthusiasts. Instead, the marsh is already impacting property values and enjoyment of the lake for homeowners on Dead Pike Lake, he said.
"We already have a $30,000 study that shows that the ditches are the problem, but it was ignored," Guzzetta said. "Removing the ditches will not destroy the marsh, but the ditches are destroying another resource, our lake."
In response to Guzzetta's concerns, Rep. Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford), who also chairs the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources, said he believes the mistakes made in the creation of the Powell Marsh more than 60 years ago need to be remedied before the recreational enjoyment of those mistakes is given equal weight.
"It is evident that something was done wrong in the beginning here, and now we have to right that wrong," said Gunderson, who Wolf has credited with getting the EPA involved on Powell Marsh issues.
"Making changes is going to have an impact on the marsh, but if we erred in the beginning we need to fix that," Gunderson added. "I think it is quite clear that both the EPA and DNR recognize that, because in my 12 years in the Assembly, I have never seen the EPA meeting with the DNR here in Madison."
Debbie Munson Badini can be reached at debbie@lakelandtimes.com.
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