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By Diane Baumgart
Regional Editor
As Wisconsin conservationists work to prevent the spread of invasive species
and viruses, the state Natural Resources Board has adopted permanent administrative
rule revisions to fight invasives.
The revisions, adopted Sept. 26, set general permit standards and exemptions
for the decontamination of all equipment before or after uses in any water.
Emergency rules had been approved April 8 and expanded July 12. Those rules
require decontamination of equipment as a new exemption and general permit standard.
The revision includes equipment used in construction projects or activities
in and near waters.
'Viruses can travel in one drop of water, making it easy for them to transfer
from one body of water to another,' Department of Natural Resources water regulation
and zoning specialist Martin Griffin told the board. 'There are currently no
requirements in the rules setting eligibility standards for waterway projects
for decontamination of equipment to remove invasive species and viruses.'
The new rules will affect waterfront-property owners, builders, developers
and people who do major in-water projects such as dredging.
The new exemption and general permit standard requires any person conducting
an exempt or general permit activity to inspect and remove all aquatic plants,
animals and mud from equipment; to drain all water from the equipment, including
but not limited to tracked vehicles, barges, boats, silt or turbidity curtains,
hoses, sheet pile and pumps. It requires disposal of aquatic plants and animals.
Releasing or transferring plants or animals from one body to another isn't allowed.
Equipment must be washed with hot or high-pressure water and allowed to dry thoroughly for five days.
Boat noise
The NRB agreed to an exemption from the boat noise regulations for trappers.
Boating-law administrator Roy Zellmer and section chief Bill Engfer presented
the modification to the rule, originally passed in December.
The exemption allows trappers to operate airboats or hovercraft while they are
engaged in trapping from Nov. 1 to March 31.
The boat-noise ruling established 86 decibels as the maximum noise level. Mr.
Zellmer said there are exemptions, including boats used for search and rescue,
training by an authorized agency and trappers. A sunset clause on the exemption
for trappers will be March 31, 2009, when the board again will provide a review.
The board accepted a Pheasants Forever donation of up to $35,000 over five years
to support a limited-term position in the Southeast Region to work on prescribed
burns, prairie plantings and grassland maintenance.
A $5,000 grant also was given by the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin
to the department's Bureau of Endangered Resources and the Wisconsin Trumpeter
Swan Recovery Program. The money will be used to monitor the state's growing
trumpeter swan restoration flock.