Inside This Issue

• A Message from the Executive Director
  
  
• Introduction of New Board Members
  
  
• An Impassioned Quest for Groundwater Protection
  
  
• Update from the Kewaunee and Calumet Groundwater Guardians
  
  
• Barn Dance a Huge Success
  
  
• Meuer Farm Supports Niagara Escarpment

A Message from the Executive Director

LNRP Continues to Grow

As autumn descends upon us, LNRP is revisiting our mission and better defining who we are and what we do.  We are focusing on our 2011 Action Plan that will include a Community Grant round, a spring Champion of Conservation program, continued work on the restoration of Centerville and Pine Creeks, and the collaboration with the Friends of the Branch River.  The Niagara Escarpment Resource Network will be launching a membership campaign in the next few weeks.  We’ll also engage further in the protection of groundwater building on grants given in the 2009 Community Grant Program to the Kewaunee County Groundwater Guardians and the Calumet Groundwater Guardians.

In revisiting our Mission, the Board is focused on action items that describe Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership:

• Protect and preserve the waters of the Lakeshore Basin
• Restore and enhance
• Advocate
• Improve
• Strengthen communities
• Natural resource stewardship throughout the Wisconsin Lakeshore Basin
• Watershed-based
• Build and foster partnerships and collaboration

Perhaps more importantly are the values we share – with our members, with our partners, and with our Board.  These values include the belief in community, the belief in the triple bottom line defined by social equity, economic vitality and environmental sustainability.  These values help define our mission and create a working environment that focuses on neighbor-to-neighbor relations and building bridges that create win-win situations.

If this approach resonates with you, please support us by joining our Board, becoming a member, or finding a role in one of our programs.  We are very much looking forward to the rest of the fall and the upcoming year.  With your help we can make it the most exciting and expansive year ever for LNRP.

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Introduction of New Board Members

The Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership expanded its Board membership in the last couple of months by adding five new board members.  We welcome these new members from Manitowoc, Calumet and Kewaunee Counties.

Two members, John Kirsch and Lynn Utesch,  joined the LNRP Board in July 2010.  Three other Board members, Bonnita Budysz, Diane Chapeta, and Jim Olson, joined in September 2010.

Bonnita Budysz (pictured right) grew up in rural Manitowoc County instilling in her a personal connection to nature’s rhythms and cycles. Her early childhood drawings of farm animals and nature around her blossomed into an extensive career as a fine artist. Her artworks have been exhibited in Petropavlosvsk, Russia and Pasadena, California Art, as well as locally at the Rahr-West Art Museum in Manitowoc and the Edgewood Orchard Galleries in Door County.  She shares her love of art by teaching, demonstrating, and lecturing at art institutions worldwide.

Artist activist Bonnita spearheaded a three-museum show, "Farm Stories: Studies of a Disappearing Landscape,” featured in the national American Artist magazine, and included a documentary. As founder and director of the Water's Edge Artists, partnering with LNRP, she continues to champion conservation issues. 

Bonnita and her husband Robert live in a century-old farmhouse west of Two Rivers in Larrabee.  She loves gardening around her renovated heifer barn studio, hosting summer potlucks and pitfires with friends and family, and especially enjoys backpacking and canoeing to explore wonderfully wild places.

Diane Chapeta, a native of Chicago, (pictured left) has worked in various avenues of the food service industry for over 30 years. She began as a pastry chef under the guidance of her mentor and teacher, master chef and educator Clea Wilcox, and traveled the U.S. competing for top honors at National Restaurant Association pastry salons. In 1998, Diane chose to once again expand her horizons accepting a position as nutrition manager for a small, rural school district. It was during her re-evaluation of the school lunch program she discovered the availability and startling benefits of local, whole foods. 

As the current Child Nutrition Services Director for Chilton and Hilbert Public Schools, she has reformulated their school lunch program to eliminate processed foods, replacing them with whole, fresh foods. In the fall of 2008, Diane created the Northeast Wisconsin Farm to School Initiative. To date this grass roots initiative has assisted 29 school districts and countless farms to form purchasing partnerships. When she is not visible in the hallways at school, she can be found educating and assisting schools and organizations across Wisconsin to reap the benefits of local, whole foods.

Jim Olson has a background in advertising, graphic design and printing.  He worked for many years in sales at the Door County Advocate newspaper. Though recently retired, he channels his passion for nature through photography.

Raised on an Illinois farm, Jim knows well the challenges facing farmers to be faithful stewards of the land and water. He and his wife, Paula (a master gardener), have lived on the lakeshore in Algoma since 2001.

Having first-hand experience with the annual algae bloom along the lakeshore, he recognizes the urgent need for organizations like LNRP to educate people and facilitate collaborative efforts to keep our waters clean.

Born and raised in West Bend, John Kirsch (pictured right) has lived in Cleveland since 1981. He has a B.S. in Industrial Technology from UW-Stout and works at AECOM in Sheboygan. John has designed many buildings throughout the U.S. for more than 30 years, with experience in building design, project management and computerized building information modeling.

John has enjoyed five terms as Trustee for the Village of Cleveland working as chairperson of the plan commission, parks committee and human resources. He also served on the Cleveland and Town of Centerville joint planning committee. Both as citizen and elected official, he promoted and was instrumental in preservation of the Fischer Creek, Point Creek, and Veterans Park conservation areas and Hika Park conservation shoreline, as well as spearheading many projects to develop and preserve the area’s natural and cultural aspects.

Lynn Utesch and family are small farmers raising grass-fed beef and lamb on their 150-acre farm in Kewaunee as well as having horses his family enjoys riding.

Formerly of Washington Island and living on the lakeshore for the last 20 years, Lynn has witnessed first-hand receding lake levels, E-Coli problems, algae blooms, a variety of invasive species, among other issues impacting Lake Michigan and our water resources.

While believing in the principles of good stewardship and sustainability in farming, he is acutely aware of farm practices that threaten the environment and water quality.  Lynn is proud and excited to be part of LNRP and looks forward to addressing issues that help protect and preserve the lakeshore basin.

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An Impassioned Quest for Groundwater Protection

Kewaunee County’s Chuck Wagner may wear many hats in his vast involvement with a plethora of organizations and governing boards – including county government, several statewide environmental organizations, soil and water conservation boards and associations -- but he stays clear on his purpose and intent. “I try to look at all sides of an issue, to bring all the points of view to the table,” Wagner explains. “I’m looking for solutions arising out of compromise working together, to find middle ground for the betterment of everybody.” No small task indeed with the complicated and highly charged issues Wagner finds himself working on these last nine years.

It all began, he says, in December, 2001 when his daughter and newborn granddaughter came to live with him and his wife. His daughter was concerned about her new baby’s well being and wanted her father to have their well tested. Much to his surprise, Wagner’s 5-year-old well came back contaminated with bacteria and high nitrate levels. Initially, he says he thought it was inaccurate and had it retested. The second test came back with even higher levels of nitrates at 10 ppm –“unsafe for human consumption.”

“You’d expect 2 ppm naturally occurring nitrate levels according to scientists and state officials,” Wagner says. “Anything above that indicates you’ve got a bad well from bugs, insects, some contamination. Levels between 3-10 ppm are considered bad for infants.” So began nine years of bottled water necessitated by this contamination. In the ensuing years since those initial tests, his well has been tested and retested dozens of times, repaired and parts replaced, all bringing only very short term relief. The problem? Karst soils – notoriously unpredictable thin soils over fractured bedrock, “2-3 feet at most with sinkholes covered by 5-6 feet of ground. We live in the far northwestern corner of Kewaunee County, the heart of the Niagara Escarpment. The contamination comes in through the cracks in the bedrock.”

“This is not about blame,” he adds. “I’m just trying to fix this. I’m working with the system, the public, farmers, the state Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, state Department of Natural Resources, so many boards now, and I haven’t come very far in nine years! But, I have to keep plugging away and trying -- it’s become my passion.”

Wagner has served on the Kewaunee County Board of Supervisors since 1999 and only became involved with the Land and Water Conservation Committee in 2003 after his well enigma persisted. Now he also sits as the Lake Michigan district representative on the state Land and Water Conservation Association Board after serving as an alternate for four years, and has already been appointed president of the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association shortly after he accepted their invitation to join them. He has worked with the League of Conservation Voters for the last four years as well.

A photograph Wagner took of two water samples from his well, showing one with bottled water that’s clear and the other with his brown water, has become the “poster child” (literally) of many articles and print, including “a poster put out by the League of Conservation Voters some years ago.”

Wagner helped found a local chapter of the Groundwater Guardians based in Missouri. The Kewaunee County Soil and Water Conservation Department tested 350-400 wells and found 30% were contaminated. Well-testing continues conducted by county staff groundwater specialist Davina Bonness and Paul Fredericks.

Every May since 2005, Kewaunee county 5th graders take part in a Groundwater Festival and to date more than 1,000 students have completed this educational, hands-on experience. “Charlie Frisk and his students went through this program initially and were trained,” says Wagner. “Now they’re in high school and have become the instructors!” Students come from neighboring Luxemburg, Casco and Kewaunee school districts.

“We’re dealing with a culture here, it’s how people have always farmed and distributed contaminants, how we’ve always done business in dairy farming, and we’re trying to change a way of life. We have to start with the kids, and that’s where we can have the greatest impact,” Wagner explains.

Groundwater protection legislation was introduced last session by state Sen. Dave Hansen in May evolving from a “2007 Karst Task Force report moderated by UWEX conservation trainer Kevin Erb,” Wagner reports. In committee testimony last spring in Madison, Hansen said, “This bill is about public health. Contaminated water containing bacteria and other harmful pathogens found in manure, septic sludge and other waste can cause infections, gastroenteritis and other serious health problems.” Hansen talked about what happened in the Town of Morrison in 2006 when over 100 wells were contaminated leading to a Brown County ordinance restricting manure spreading. Broader legislation, Senate Bill 620, also known as the Groundwater Protection Act, would create groundwater management areas and provide local communities with a means to protect water quality or quantity through developing an overall plan.

Wagner adds that State Rep. Gary Bies from Door, Kewaunee and a small segment of Brown Counties “has been helping a lot with these bills.” Senate Bill 632 allowed for creating a management zone in areas where karst soils allow manure runoff to seep through to groundwater more easily than in normal soil conditions and would set strict guidelines to limit manure spreading in Brown, Calumet, Door, Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties as a result. The bills passed the Senate committee on the environment but died without a companion bill in the House. Sen. Hansen is likely to reintroduce the legislation with some modifications during the next legislative session.

Wagner points out that many groups and powerful organizations oppose this legislation, “perceiving that the Groundwater Protection Act would hurt farmers. We’re not trying to kill farming or kill agriculture – they’re absolutely vital to our state and our economy – but the bottom line is we all need clean water.”

So how does Wagner keep up his pace and perseverance? “I believe in a collaborative approach to solving these issues. My background -- as a mechanical engineer and project manager for the paper industry for many years and four years with Wisconsin Public Service – taught me all about scheduling and planning. I’m also guardedly optimistic and realistic at the same time, while continually pushing the facts. I also love trees and tree farming which I’ve done for the last 16 years for recreation.  It’s not work, it’s my passion.” The LNRP recognized Wagner’s efforts with environmental education by awarding him as a 2009 Champion of Conservation. He remains hopeful as well that one day he may actually have a contaminant-free well.

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Update from the Kewaunee and Calumet Groundwater Guardians

In LNRP’s last grant round in 2009, we awarded funds to two local groups working to protect and improve groundwater in their areas: the Calumet County and Kewaunee Groundwater Guardians. Here we’re examining how these two counties are using these grant funds to protect their precious groundwater resources.

With $4930 for printing and graphics, the Calumet County Groundwater Guardians is finalizing by the end of October an educational brochure relevant to one originally written for Door County titled “Protect the Water You Drink:Tips for Owners of Rural Homes and Agricultural Lands.”

With the presence of fractured bedrock combined with thin and shallow soils, well contamination is an ongoing challenge for certain areas of Wisconsin (see related article about Chuck Wagner in this issue). Dani Santry, Groundwater Specialist who works in the Calumet County Land and Water Conservation Department, explains that Door County has extensive areas of shallow bedrock within 5 feet of the surface which makes groundwater very susceptible to contamination from land uses at the surface.  Although Calumet County has relatively fewer areas where soils are less than 5 feet to bedrock, nearly half of the county is covered in sandy-silt loam soils that overlay bedrock ranging between 5 – 50 feet from the surface.  These areas are also highly susceptible to groundwater contamination, a fact that is reflected in groundwater testing data. The soil types in the county differ distinctly along a northwest-southeast divide. To the north, the soils are primarily clay and not as permeable or susceptible.  To the south, the soil is more permeable due to the silt loam texture and problematic—with contaminants released from animal waste and other sources.

“People living in these areas of shallow bedrock and silt-loam soils can have groundwater contaminated with nitrates and e-coli,” Santry says. “Countywide, 48% of the samples taken since 2002 have been found unsafe due to coliform bacteria and/or nitrates, and in some neighborhoods in Stockbridge, Brothertown and the southern sections of Charlestown and Chilton, 90% of tested wells were found to be unsafe at time of sampling. We monitor nine wells, and it’s not uncommon to have them all contaminated with either bacteria or nitrates.“

Following imminent publication, her office and other members of their local organization will distribute the more than 6,000 brochures to private well owners and rural land owners in Calumet County’s Lakeshore Basin. “We’re targeting the County’s Groundwater Protection Area which primarily lies within the Manitowoc River watershed.”

Calumet County also received a second $3500 grant for well-testing. Santry says the Groundwater Guardians recruited two new members to assist with the project. They held their initial testing on August 30 and had 101 participants for sampling.  Grant funds were used to offer a $25 discount on testing for bacteria, nitrates, metals (such as arsenic) and a pesticide screen. Following the testing event, the Calumet Groundwater Guardians sponsored a groundwater educational night held on September 29 where 43 people came representing about 30 households. From the initial testing, in the Town of Rantoul, only two wells out of 36 showed elevated levels of nitrates whereas in New Holstein, the percentage was much higher.  New Holstein has a larger concentration of the sandy-silt loam over fractured bedrock v. the more clay soils in Rantoul. “We also offered on a volunteer basis to test for heavy metals and pesticides,” says Santry, “and found no traces of pesticides in Rantoul and only sporadic levels of naturally occurring arsenic (released from bedrock) in both townships.”

A similar effort is underway in Kewaunee County, with their 2009 $5000 grant from LNRP.  An initial $500 went to put on their Annual Groundwater Festival. County Water Quality Specialist Davina Bonness, Land and Water Conservation Department, reports that in 2010, three schools participated with 156 5th grade students, 10 teachers and chaperones, seven professional volunteers, six Groundwater Guardian volunteers and 25 high school student volunteers.

Bonness says, “Students spend half a day rotating through three hands-on groundwater lessons each focusing on a different aspect of groundwater, including watershed and karst models.  These lessons are developed to enhance students’ understanding and knowledge about our valuable groundwater, surface water, and the connection between humans and groundwater.  They learn about real life solutions they can take home with them.” The Groundwater Guardians raised enough funds to host the sixth annual event next spring, she adds. To date, more than 1,000 Kewaunee County 5th grade students have completed the training and experience offered at the Festival.

Kewaunee County Groundwater Guardians also developed and printed their own version of the “Protect the Water You Drink” brochure mentioned above. Their brochure focuses on the vulnerability of drinking water related to the depth of soil and the likelihood of groundwater contamination.  “Five key characteristics, spread throughout our landscape, help identify these areas,” Bonness explains. “They include depth and type of soil over bedrock, type of bedrock, permeability, and water table depth.  The map inside the brochure illustrates these characteristics and susceptibility to contaminated drinking water.”

“In addition, where soils are less than five feet to bedrock, direct conduits for contaminants to enter our groundwater can be quite common. Private well testing conducted by the Kewaunee County Land & Water Conservation Department and the Kewaunee County Health Department has shown that greater than 25% of wells have been contaminated from coliform bacteria and/or nitrates.” 

Bonness says, “Everyone needs to have their wells tested for bacteria (coliform and e-coli) and nitrates, at least every 15 months. The time of year is crucial. If testing in August after a drought, your well may test safe, but after a wet spring, you could get dramatically different values of nitrates and bacteria.”

The Groundwater Guardians, with their well-testing program, groundwater education, and “Protect the Water You Drink” brochure, are focusing upon the reality of how vulnerable their groundwater remains in Kewaunee County.

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Cleveland Barn Dance Celebrates Rural Wisconsin

A celebration of rural Wisconsin and the people who make it a special place was held on Saturday, Sept. 25, at a historic Manitowoc County farm.  The fundraiser, benefiting four nonprofits dedicated to rural issues, generated over $28,000.

The event ran from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Klessig family Saxon Homestead Farm and included a barn dance in a restored 1850’s era dairy barn. Under the banner, “Partnering for Progress: Celebrating our Rural Communities,” the event featured music by the King Comets, a swing band that focuses on the swing era, early rhythm and blues, and the roots of rock 'n roll. 

A locally sourced appetizer buffet and refreshment bar demonstrated the variety and delectability of the Wisconsin harvest.  Local professional Water’s Edge Artists displayed their rural landscape paintings, and door prizes of more Wisconsin products – including fine artisanal cheeses, wines and grass-fed beef-- added to the harvest celebration atmosphere.

A short program featuring noted rural chronicler Jerry Apps, author of Barns of Wisconsin and dozens of other books showcasing Wisconsin’s rural heritage.  The partnership also paid tribute to Secretary of Agriculture Rod Nilsestuen who passed away in July in a drowning accident in Lake Superior. The event was dedicated to his memory.

Organizers were delighted to welcome so many representatives of the next generation of Wisconsin agriculturalists, including students from the UW School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers, the State FFA full executive team and students from the nearby Lakeshore Technical College. 

Sponsoring organizations include the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP), the Council of Rural Initiatives (CRI: successor to the Future of Farming and Rural Life study), Gathering Waters Conservancy (GWC), and the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers.Each organization has significant programs for protecting our natural resources and developing and sustaining rural communities. 

Karl Klessig, who operates the fifth-generation Saxon Homestead dairy farm with partners Robert Klessig and Jerry Heimerl and their families, says it’s important to celebrate the positives rural Wisconsin has going for it, even in difficult times.

“This was not only a celebration, but a way to recognize some of the important things happening right now in rural Wisconsin, including the power of partnerships,” he says. “These sponsoring organizations are working to empower rural communities in Wisconsin to push through this difficult and challenging economic time and build a better rural Wisconsin for the future.”

Organizers of the event point to new opportunities for agriculture and rural Wisconsin in the recently passed Wisconsin Working Lands Initiative, the steps to improve water quality in agricultural watersheds, and the growing local food movement.

“Agriculture is right at the base of every rural community in Wisconsin, and anything we can do to empower the people on the land will enhance the whole state and our whole country,” Klessig says. “Really, where it all starts is on the back 40.”

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