Dunn County
Land & Water Conservation
• Locally Led Conservation
• March 19, 2015
A County Perspective
• Dan Prestebak
– County Conservationist
• Amanda Hanson
– Conservation Planner
• Robert Walter
– Dunn County Board Supervisor
– Planning Resources & Development Committee, Chair.
– Land Conservation Committee, Chair
TMDL Data Collected in the 1990’s
TMDL Plan began in 2000
TMDL Plan Approved by EPA,
September 2012
Red Cedar Partnership, December
2013
Do Not Wait
Town of Grant AEA 2013-14
• 26,000 Acres
• 15 Petitioners
• 47 Cooperators
• Sustaining an “Agricultural Way of Life”
Citizens
• 2009 Petition
Requesting Clean Water
– 250 signatures
• County Board
• City Council
• Civic Engagement
– 2013
2011 The Year of Water
• Sustainable Dunn
– Resolutions:
• City Council
• County Board
– Clean Water Rally
Tainter Menomin Lake Improvement
Association
• Land Water and People 4TH Annual
Conference Mach 12, 2015
– Solutions
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Minimum Impact Design Standards
Ray “The Soils Guy” Archuleta
Farmer Panels
Red Cedar Partnership
Active Citizenship
UW Stout--Lakes Project 2014-2016
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Farmer Social Networks
Phosphorus Remediation Strategies
Economic Impacts
Sedimentology
Ethnography of RCB land users
Communicating complex information
Civic Governance 2014
• A New Way of Policy Making
– People defining the problem are the people who can solve
the problem
• Stakeholders
Who Is Responsible for Clean Water?
• “Most of the Responsibility for providing
Direction, Policy, and Solutions for
Ensuring a Sustainable Supply of Clean
Water has been placed on Government
Agencies even though Citizens play a
Crucial Role in the success of Identified
Solutions.”
– TMDL Implementation Plan for Lake St. Croix
Red Cedar Partnership
• The Red Cedar River Water Quality Partnership is
organized to share and learn information about the
various efforts underway to improve the water
quality of the streams, rivers and lakes of the Red
Cedar River Watershed. The Partnership is the
principal organization that will write a
comprehensive watershed management plan
focused on water quality in the Red Cedar River
Watershed, and oversee implementation of that
plan.
Red Cedar Partnership
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Dan Zerr UWEX
Paul LaLiberte – WI DNR"
Tyler Gruetzmacher -- Barron County LCD ,
Sorge, Patrick W – WI DNR
Ron Verdon -- Tainter Menomin Lake Improvement Association
Dan Prestebak –Dunn County
Amanda Hanson Dunn County
Dave Gifford – Barron County Planning and Zoning
Julia Olmstead – Farmer Led Watershed, UWEX
Tim Jergenson -- Barron County UWEX
Ruth King -- WI DNR, Spooner
Mike Wendt -- 3M
Katie Wantoch – Dunn County UWEX
Nels Paulson –UW Stout
Randy Eide – City of Menomonie
Rod Olson -- Barron County Lakes
Steve Rassmusen Dunn County Board of Supervisors
Tom Quin—Dunn County Land Conservation Committee
Bob Fitzwilliam--West Wisconsin Land Trust
Civic Organizing
• Stakeholders Need a
Role
• Build for the Long
Term-- Build Strong
Chapter 92: Soil and Water
Conservation and Animal Waste
Management
– Land Conservation Committee
– Land and Water Conservation Department
• Staff
– Land and Water Resource Management Plan
• Allows Each County’s Plan to be Unique
– 15 Member Citizen Advisory Committee
– 22 Member Technical Advisory Committee
Political Will--Dunn County
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Directional Planning
Environmental Weigh-in for all Actions
Sustainable Weigh-in for all Actions
Proactive Government
– Shoreland Protection Ordinance
– Non-Metallic Mining
• Moratorium
• Public Input—Report on Impacts
• Construction Aggregate Vs. Industrial Sand
Resources--Dunn County
• Property Tax
– Levy Limits
– Political Will/Reality
• Revenue Sharing
– Substantial Reduction over several years
– Directed to specific projects
• Grants
• At what level and for what purposes will money be
available?
• Be Cautious-Don’t build grants into a continuing
budget item.
Water Quality
• Water Conservationist Position
• Devote up to $100,000 of Contingency Fund
for Water Quality
• Recommended by the PR&D Committee
• Approved by the Committee on
Administration
• Will develop Guidelines but broadly required
to be used to improve Water Quality