Madison - After a series of hearings. Rep. Neil Kedzie's wetland regulation bill has dropped a number of provisions that were disastrous to trout streams and watersheds- such as giving Drainage Districts the authority to alter streams and exempting wetlands under one acre. Another provision allowed fish farms to divert water from a cold-water stream, fill a pond with the diverted water and release the warmed water back into the stream. Trout Unlimited has an interest in isolated wetlands because the organization is concerned with the health of entire watersheds.
Wetlands serve as filters for storm runoff and, in many cases, hold water to reduce runoff.
The latest draft of Representatives Kedzie and Jonsrud's bill restores DNR authority to protect wetlands but excludes that authority from development projects initiated by local and other levels of governments. Local governments simply don't have that perspective. What TU and other interest groups are urging the state legislature to do is to restore the same regulatory system that existed before the Supreme Court decided isolated wetlands were not in the Corps of Engineers' jurisdiction. While DNR protection of wetlands may be a burden for some local government proposals, overall it insures the fairest and best protection of these resources over an entire watershed for Wisconsin citizens of today and tomorrow. The Kedzie bill includes some provisions that strengthen the Senate version.