You re shut out if you re not a Priority Watershed. Al Shea, chief of watershed development for the DNR, sought to offer reassurance that, as far as the TMDL Program was concerned, Wisconsin s long attention to environmental matters was going to pay off. A lot of other states don t have the sophisticated programs Wisconsin has. The bar for the rest of the country is being raised closer to Wisconsin s. But Shea saw a problem on the agricultural side.
Counties now carry out regulation for the ag community.
It s an inconsistent fabric, with one county having tough rules for large feedlot farms and the next one not. There s a need for counties to pass ordinances that are consistent with what the state will pass. The Farm Bureau s Zimmerman replied that it was not that simple. When they do, it can also be a problem. Town and county boards are not prepared to do the work, so the machinery has become county staff, and that s a real scary situation.