The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources held a public meeting for the Wolf River Management Plan on November 5th from 6:30-8:30 at Shawano High School.
The Wisconsin DNR presented on the results of the survey to make sure all attendees were on the same pages.
The Wolf River Management Plan is focused on the area from Keshena Falls, within Menominee County and the Menominee Nation boundaries, downstream to the Shawano Paper Mill Dam. This section of river has been used heavily throughout history for transportation, recreation, and economics.
The main goal of this plan is to asses the quality of the river within the project area. Data was collected pertaining to water quality, aquatic plants, aquatic invasive species, fish communities, mussels, and aquatic insects. The watershed management of this area was covered in the Upper Fox-Wolf River Total Maximum Daily Load report that wrapped up earlier in 2019.
The full report can be found here: https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/fishing/documents/outreach/WolfRiverManagementPlan2019.pdf
The Upper Fox-Wolf TMDL report can be found here: https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/TMDLs/documents/UFW/UFWDraftTMDLReport20181130.pdf
After the WI DNR wrapped up their presentation, they opened it up for questions from the audience.
There were approximately 35 people in the audience at the Wolf River Management Plan Public Meeting. The individuals present were made up of representatives and Chairman of Menominee Nation, the Shawano Leader, local interested parties, DNR staff including a Conservation Warden, and Fox-Wolf staff.
The question, answer, and comment period started with a statement from the Chairman of Menominee Nation. He spoke on the history of the dams, the Nations work to protect their natural resources, and the want and need for a fish passage on Balsam Row Road dam. He clarified the relationship between the Menominee Nation and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) – operator of the Balsam Row dam – and why that relationship is important to the management plan.
Another representative from the Menominee Nation spoke soon after the Chairman and greeted the attendees in the traditional Algonquian language. He then discussed the importance of sturgeon to the Menominee people.
From there property owners brought up issues they have encountered within the project area. They asked questions about definitions within the report. For example, they asked what does water quality mean? How was the aquatic plant data collected? What does shoreline restoration mean and are there plant lists available?
Some of the attendees discussed the addition of fish passage at Balsam Row Road dam. The WI DNR stated that the Wolf River Management Plan does not discuss fish passage. The management plan is neither in support of or denying the need for fish passage at the dam. There are steps that would need to take place for a fish passage to be installed and those conversations need to take place.
Another main concern for property owners around the project area were the wild rice beds. Multiple attendees mentioned that the wild rice beds have exploded, in size, over the last few year. This increase in size has caused local residents to get wild rice wrapped up in their boat’s motor. The significance of wild rice to the indigenous people of Wisconsin is an important factor when managing wild rice as well as AIS management. Wild rice does have inter-annual variability so monitoring this populations may be important for the residents within the Wolf River Management project area.
Finally, multiple residents had concerns about a recent blockage of the dam. An accidentally placed log caused there to be a lack of flow of water. This caused there to be a die off a fish – and this die off is still being seen. These residents all agreed that the fish study results did not match the results they have seen while out fishing. The WI DNR staff at the meeting agreed that they would look into this problem further.
For more information on the plan, please visit the link below.
Wolf River Management Plan: https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/fishing/documents/outreach/WolfRiverManagementPlan2019.pdf
The public can submit comments through November 20th.
- Written comments can be sent to:
- David Boyarski
East District Fisheries Supervisor
Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources
110 S Neenah Ave
Sturgeon Bay WI 54235
