December 2008 Wisconsin Association of Lakes e-lake letter

News from the Wisconsin Association of Lakes

December 2008

Conservation Lobby Day is coming, priorities for 2009-2010 important to lakes
Feds delay rules to contain invasive Great Lakes virus
Ecologists link farm chemical to frog deformities and deaths
Study links nutrient pollution to economic damages
Minnesota voters pass constitutional amendment to raise funds for conservation programs
Do you know a person or group who is doing extraordinary things for your lake?
Interested in more lake news? Get The Lake Connection and special e-mail bulletins from WAL

Upcoming Events

Conservation Lobby Day
February 25, 2009
Wisconsin State Capitol
RSVP online!

Wisconsin Lakes Convention
KI Convention Center, Green Bay
March 18-20, 2009
More information

Conservation Lobby Day is coming, priorities for 2009-2010 important to lakes
	The new legislative session will bring new opportunities when it begins in January 2009! With considerable input from citizens across the state, local groups, and statewide conservation organizations, four Conservation Priorities have been selected. These priorities reflect collective consensus on critical natural resource management needs that need legislative attention. In 2009-2010, WAL and the entire conservation community will be working with the legislature to: Revise Wisconsin’s current groundwater law to better protect groundwater sensitive lakes and other surface water resources. Current law fails to protect 99% of the state’s lakes, 97% of springs, 92% of rivers and streams, and 100% of wetlands. Create standards for safe agricultural, industrial and municipal waste-spreading. Restore an Independent DNR Secretary and guarantee timely DNR Natural Resource Board Appointments by the Senate Adopt a strong statewide plan to tackle global warming. WAL will continue to work on additional priorities that are important to lakes and lake interests. We will be working with the legislature to pass a statewide ban (with reasonable exceptions) on phosphorus in lawn fertilizer, and revise the state’s aquatic invasive species transport law. In the face of a challenging state budget, we will be working to protect lake grant programs that have provided assistance to so many local groups for their good work. We will continue our focus to advance policies—protecting shorelands, reducing polluted runoff, and preventing invasive species—that will improve lake water quality and shoreland property values. Conservation Lobby Day is February 25, 2009 Join citizens from across Wisconsin at the state Capitol for Conservation Lobby Day. Meet with your legislators to share your conservation concerns, stories, and experiences and ask your representatives to vote well on the Conservation Priorities and all natural resource issues. Your participation in Lobby Day can have a big impact on conservation policies affecting all of Wisconsin. Last year, overwhelming public support helped re-authorize the Stewardship Fund and pass the Great Lakes Compact. The RSVP deadline is February 13th, 2009. RSVP online.
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Feds delay rules to contain invasive Great Lakes virus
		The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has delayed the implementation of Federal rules aimed to contain viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS)—an exotic fish-killing virus in the Great Lakes. The rules were scheduled to take effect November 10, 2008, but the Agency has pushed that date back to January 9, 2009 in response to complaints from fish farmers and wholesalers who claim the rules will eat away their profits on test and inspection fees without solving the problem. VHS is an infectious and communicable viral disease that can kill more than 25 fish species, and is a potentially serious threat to Wisconsin’s fisheries. Species susceptible to the virus include popular sport fish such as chinook and coho salmon, brown and rainbow trout, walleye, bass, yellow perch, lake whitefish and muskellunge. As with many of the 185 invasive species now present in the Great Lakes, the VHS virus was likely introduced when trans-oceanic ships discharged ballast water into the lakes. VHS was first detected in Wisconsin in the inland Lake Winnebago system waters in May 2007 and in Lake Michigan system waters in June 2007. The discovery of VHS in inland waters prompted the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to institute emergency administrative rules to prevent the potential spread of the disease. The rules became permanent in April 2008, and require boaters, anglers, people who harvest wild bait, and the public to take preventative measures, such as draining water from and washing boats and equipment, disposal of leftover bait in the trash, and not moving live fish between waterbodies. The federal rules would require and inspections of farm-raised and bait species susceptible to VHS. The rules focus on fish intended for use as bait or for stocking other water bodies; the rules do not affect shipment of fish intended for human consumption.
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Ecologists link farm chemical to frog deformities and deaths
		A recent study links the widely used agricultural herbicide atrazine with declining amphibian populations. For many years, atrazine has been a leading weed killer used by farmers, especially in corn growing regions. The popular weed killer and its breakdown products can pose a toxic double threat to tadpoles. Firstly, the chemical seems to increase the likelihood of a population boom of frog parasites (several species of tiny flatworms, known as trematodes) which can trigger death or debilitating limb deformities in frogs. In conjunction with increased parasite populations in ponds, atrazine appears to diminish the ability of larval frogs to fight parasite infections. The new data also shows that phosphorus fertilizer runoff into pond or lake water can amplify atrazine’s toxicity. Algae blooms—caused by too much phosphorus in the water—are a source of food for snails, which serve as the primary host for the parasitic flatworms that are killing and maiming frogs. The study quantified more than 240 separate factors that might affect frog parasite infection rates; the study team reports that atrazine concentrations stood out as the prime correlate with parasite infection rates. In test tanks—which contained snails, leaves, insect larvae and other features of a woodland pond—the presence of atrazine accounted for 51% of the likelihood that frogs would become ill from parasite infections. When phosphate fertilizer and atrazine were present, the probability that frogs would become infected with parasitic flatworms rose to 74%. The amount of atrazine and phosphate in the test tanks were always at concentrations typical of what Environmental Protection Agency models suggest would be present in rural waters close to farming. More information about this study is available online. The Lake Connection—quarterly print publication for Wisconsin Association of Lakes members—published an article (“Study finds nutrient pollution drives frog deformities”) in its winter 2007 edition, which detailed the cycle of how frogs become infected with these parasites and the links between increasing nutrients in lakes (eutrophication) and increasing disease in frogs.
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Study links nutrient pollution to economic damages
		A U.S. analysis of nutrient pollution in freshwater—Eutrophication of US Freshwater: Analysis of Potential Economic Damages, published in Environmental Science and Technology—reveals annual losses of at least $4 billion, mostly from dips in lakefront property values and loss of recreational use. Throughout the U.S., lakes and rivers are polluted with excess nitrogen and phosphorus. This nutrient pollution can cause excessive plant growth and algae blooms. Algae blooms cloud water, can block sunlight from helpful lake plants, and can change what species of fish can survive in the lake. Such nutrient pollution is degrading water quality, and costing the country a significant amount of money; at least $4 billion annually, the study concludes. The study authors calculated monetary damage of nutrient pollution using four factors: losses in lakefront property values, reduced fishing and other recreational activities on lakes, cost of biodiversity loss, and cost of purifying drinking water. Together, the potential losses amounted to more than $4.3 billion every year, and these costs are borne by agencies, drinking-water facilities, and citizens. When clean drinking water is unavailable, people pay for bottled water. When lakes are closed because of odor or water-quality problems, local economies lose money because fewer people spend money on recreation. Estimation of damages required an extensive data hunt, and the valuation results are likely underestimate of the true economic costs of nutrient pollution. The full study is available online.
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Minnesota voters pass constitutional amendment to raise funds for conservation programs
	Minnesotans approved a constitutional amendment November 4^th that will raise the sales tax by three-eighths of 1 percent to provide a new pool of funding for outdoors, environmental, arts and cultural programs. The sales tax increase will generate an estimated $300 million a year, and will take effect July 1, 2009. The sales tax increase will be in effect until 2034. The sales tax increase proposal has been a recurring idea in Minnesota politics. Originally conceived as an “outdoors only” proposal, it remained stuck in the legislature for close to 10 years. With the addition of arts and cultural programs into the mix, enough support was gained to get the proposed amendment out of the legislature and onto the ballot. A coalition of more than 350 environmental, hunting and fishing, and cultural groups said the amendment was needed because the Legislature has failed to provide enough funding for projects and fears that programs are likely to be squeezed further in the future by constricting state budgets. The passage of the amendment guarantees a dedicated source of funding for projects that meet the criteria established by law which include; protecting drinking water sources; protecting, enhancing, and restoring wetlands, prairies, forests, and fish, game, and wildlife habitat; preserving arts and cultural heritage; supporting parks and trails; and protecting, enhancing, and restoring lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater.
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Do you know a person or group doing extraordinary things for your lake?
	The Wisconsin Lakes Partnership presents the Lake Stewardship Awards each year at the Wisconsin Lakes Convention to celebrate the outstanding volunteer and professional efforts made to protect and improve our lakes. The Stewardship Awards represent our best collective effort to pay tribute to all the incredible work that goes into securing a bright future for Wisconsin’s lakes. The LakeStewardship award categories are: citizen, organized group, public service, educator, youth, and business. More information about the Stewardship Awards and an online form for submitting nominations are on the UW Extension Lakes website. Contact Wisconsin Association of Lakes for more information or questions: 608-661-4313 (Toll-free in WI only 800-542-5253), or email wal@wisconsinlakes.org
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Interested in more lake news? Get The Lake Connection and special e-mail bulletins from WAL
	Our monthly e-lake letter focuses on current events and is a free service we provide for anyone interested in lakes. But WAL members receive much more. Our quarterly print publication, The Lake Connection, has in-depth articles about lake science and research that helps us better understand our lakes, analysis of legislative and agency policy proposals that may affect lakes, updates on WAL policy initiatives, success stories from local lake groups across the state, and information about WAL's upcoming events and lake education opportunities. Special e-mail bulletins and ActionAlertsLakes help our lake organization and individual members stay connected to the action at the state Capital, and keep their own memberships informed and participating in the creation of lake policy Wisconsin Association of Lakes members receive: WAL’s quarterly print publication, The Lake Connection. WAL’s special e-mail bulletins and Action Alerts analysis of lake policy issues, their potential effect on lakes, and talking points on various bills and administrative rules notification of opportunities for citizens to participate in the policy making process (public hearings, listening sessions, comment periods) guidance on the when, whos, and hows of contacting decision makers on specific issues sample letters to legislators, sample resolutions, and press releases tracking progress of WAL policy initiatives and lake related bills and rules as they move through the legislature special announcements about lake education and other events membership surveys, and opportunities for input on member services. Become a WAL member today!
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