Legislation dealing with Wisconsin’s wetlands is advancing at the Capitol. The bill’s author, Republican state Senator Neal Kedzie of Elkhorn, defends his work on the measure, as Milwaukee Democrat, Senator Chris Larson, offers eight amendments. “I’ve been here Senator, for sixteen years. I was the author of the original bill. I’ve lived this stuff; I know this stuff inside out. And I’ll tell you; this is an improvement over what we had.”
Kedzie emphasizes that he had listened to the Wisconsin Wetlands Association and other stakeholders in working to create the bill, but Larson questions how many of those groups’ concerns were reflected in the final bill. “Builders, people looking to decimate wetlands, got what they wanted,” Larson says. “Those looking to protect, those looking to hunt, looking to fish, were not. It was not a consensus bill.”
Nels Swenson, state chairman of Ducks Unlimited, says his members have concerns. “They’re passionate about the wetland resource and waterfowling,” he says. “Any loss (of habitat) is just something that we don’t really tolerate. The life cycle of a duck is dependent upon wetlands.”
Tracy Hames, executive director of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, says the bill unnecessarily changes the process under which the Department of Natural Resources issues permits to fill wetlands in Wisconsin. “It’s very technical in how it does that, and it does that in several ways. But the end result is fundamental change top the process,” says Hames. The association’s greatest concern centers on a what Hames says is a new emphasis on mitigation – the creation of new wetlands to make up for those altered by development – over the current policy, which seeks to avoid and minimize impacts on wetlands. “We do appreciate that it solves some problems that were true problems, but in doing so, it turns on its head the process of how wetland permitting needs to occur.”
“The process has to come to end at some point,” says Kedzie. “Everybody doesn’t get everything they want. They can go home sad, but everybody’s gone away from this process, and this bill, with a lot.” He also takes issue with how some have characterized the process of writing the bill. “I read the blogs. I see some of the nasty things that are said by some people who are even sitting in this room. I had people making accusations that this was a piece of legislation written by the builders’ association. What an insult. I don’t see that person in the room today, but they know who they are. That to me is a slap in the face, because I’ve never legislated like that, nor have any of my colleagues who’ve served and worked on this with me.”
AUDIO: Senator Neal Kedzie (1:40)
The bill (SB 368) passed the Senate Natural Resources Committee on a 4-3 vote and now goes to the full Senate. Companion legislation is being considered by the Assembly.