Fox River and Tichigan Lake issues to be addressed
The Waterford Waterway Management District (WWMD) has retained the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and GRAEF to conduct studies and prepare conceptual plans for the navigational dredging of the Fox River – Tichigan Waterway (Waterford Ecosystem Restoration Project).
A public open house to present an overview of the Ecosystem Restoration project objectives and findings of the recent sediment investigations will be held Saturday, June 15, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Evergreen Elementary School , 817 W. Main St.
Attendees may visit a variety of exhibits and speak with engineers and public officials regarding the dredging process and specific areas of concern. Forms will also be available to provide comments in writing.
Over the years, the rate of development has increased tremendously along the Fox River and Tichigan Lake and throughout the Fox River watershed upstream of our community.
Current patterns of development include bigger homes, larger lawns and more impervious surfaces along the shores of our lakes and streams. At the same time, agriculture continues to make up a significant part of the land use in our watershed.
According to the state DNR, adverse impacts associated with these land uses include loss of fish and wildlife habitat, gradually declining water quality, and accumulation of sediment.
The accumulation of sediment has made portions of the river system increasingly difficult to navigate and at times hazardous. These problems will only worsen as further sediment accumulates.
To address these problems, WWMD was formed in 2003, and has investigated and performed projects needed to prepare for the dredging of the waterway.
WWMD has implemented traditional educational measures, necessary and valuable for raising awareness about what is needed to protect the health of our river/lakes, creating significant behavior changes among river/lakes property owners, and as part of this ongoing effort, is holding this public open house to enhance understanding and involvement of the public and other stakeholders in the dredging process.
Documents prepared for the project are available for review online at http://notices.graef-usa.com/wwmd.
Written comments related to the proposed project can be submitted at the public meeting, or at future WWMD meetings.
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Sorry, but WWMD has failed with the weed problem for 4 years and now wants to put an unbearable cost on reparien property owners for another doomed to fail project.
This is not supported by most water front owners
I know and hope they will make their thoughts heard.
Al Gonder
I respectfully disagree with Al; I support dredging, and am willing to pay my share, and I believe most other riparian owners will as long as the project is thoughtful and the costs and risks are presented fairly.
Bill, are you aware of how much this will cost each riparian owner? It may change your mind.
Everyone oin the watershed should pay, maybe based onn the square footage of impervious surface on your property. Iannpropriate development causes the siltation adn water pollution problems, so all teh people who deman huge houses, three car garages and the like need to pay more.
Then, local elected officials need to get some courage and explain to everyone why local lahd use plans must change, to require smaller areas of pavement adn better retention and pre-treatment of runoff.
What’s surprising is that farming practices are not addressed in this article as well, for a large marjority of siltation in many watersheds originate on crop land.
Thanks Jeff,
Maybe it should be based on the size of our tax bill.
Happy to see that others read this site as it and facebook seem to get the message out vs WWMD.
Al
This is not about the size of the homes (I own a very small one), but what is right for all those who live on and use the waterway. The dredging will make our water safer and more beautiful, encourage an increase in the wildlife, and improve property values (not just in a monetary way) along the entire waterway. I cannot understand why anyone would oppose such a plan.