Landowners Getting Help to Quicken Shore Cleanup: Relentless Vegetation

By Lee Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

May 24–EAU CLAIRE — Property owners on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior are getting a new tool to remove the all-too-common sight of rotting seaweed and aquatic invasive pests from shorelines.

The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board voted, 6-0, on Wednesday to approve emergency regulations that will allow Great Lakes landowners a shorter and simpler way to get approval to use backhoes, front-end loaders and other equipment to scoop up thick mats of vegetation and other organic material that pile up and slowly rot in the summer sun.

Property owners have been able to remove as much of the material as they could by hand, “but for a lot of people, the problem has become almost too much of a problem for a single person or family to bear,” said Martin Griffin, waterways policy coordinator for the state Department of Natural Resources.

Until now, if landowners wanted to use heavy equipment, they had to spend $500 on a state permit and wait 30 days to allow the public to comment because waterways are publicly owned and managed.

Officials say a malodorous mix of plant life, invasive mussels and gull feces is getting so bad in some areas that they felt compelled to move quickly this year. Conditions are at their worst in July and August as temperatures rise.

In documents, the DNR described stretches of Lake Michigan where vegetation extended 30 feet off shore and was 2 to 3 feet deep.

Some large government agencies, such as the DNR, have long-standing permits to clean up lakefronts.

Tons of the material have been removed from Milwaukee’s lakefront in recent years, officials said, but the problem at places such as Bradford Beach in Milwaukee has been so relentless that it’s turned off the public. The problem also affects Green Bay shorelines.

Now the agency wants to provide more tools to landowners.

The board approved an emergency rule that requires a $50 permit, a speedier review and no waiting time for public comment. The agency eventually will move to make the rules permanent. The emergency rule also could be reviewed by the Legislature.

At the monthly meeting of the board, board member John Welter of Eau Claire asked why the measure was being pushed now, since the problem has bedeviled the lakes, especially Lake Michigan, for years.

‘Perfect storm’

DNR Secretary Scott Hassett said the emergency rule was needed because of a “perfect storm” of factors that were spelled out by Griffin.

First, he said, there is the long-standing infestation of zebra mussels, an invasive mussel from the Caspian and Black seas that is believed to have entered the lakes from the ballast water of overseas ships.

Second, water levels are falling on both lakes, exposing more and more beachfront.

And finally, there is the more recent arrival of quagga mussels, a cousin of the zebra mussel that also is believed to have hitchhiked here through the discharge of ballast water and is muscling aside the zebra for dominance.

Both invasive mussels are prodigious algae feeders, which produce clearer lake water and spur the growth of Cladophora, a lake plant that grows quickly, dies, washes to shore and rots on the shoreline.

It’s often mixed with dead fish, mussel shells and the droppings of gulls that eat the mussels. The action of waves, which vary widely on the lakes, can push more Cladophora ashore in some places.

“It’s extremely gross,” said Tom Ward of Manitowoc, who is secretary of the Great Lakes Nonpoint Abatement Coalition, an organization of county land conservation departments in the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior watersheds.

In a telephone interview, Ward said he backed the approach because “it gives the landowner a tool to take care of an acute nuisance.”

The mats of vegetation may cause higher levels of E. coli and other bacteria that settle on beaches, presenting a threat to public safety, both Ward and Griffin said.

Landowners will be able to use equipment that will allow as much as 3,000 cubic yards to be cleared.

The material has to be skimmed from the top of the lake bed to minimize the impact on lake and other vegetation.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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