Editorial: Fish kill sends warning
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Aug. 9, 2004
The recent fish kills in Willow Creek in Richland County and the
Pecatonica River in Lafayette County may have been simply the result of
a convergence of unhappy circumstances, primarily bad luck and a wet
spring. But even if that's the case, the kill still highlights just how
fragile nature can be and points to the need for the state and farmers
to do more to protect Wisconsin waterways from such accidents.
In particular, the kill shows how important it is that state
legislators provide the money that was promised farmers three years ago
to help deal with rural pollution rules. And it serves as a warning to
farmers that they need to take extra care in doing their jobs, even
when, and perhaps especially when, they're not getting the help they
need.
If legislators and farmers don't do their jobs, there'll be a lot more Willow Creeks around Wisconsin in the coming years.
What happened, according to the state Department of Natural
Resources, was that cow manure leaked into local streams, killing
thousands of fish. Willow Creek is - sorry, was - highly prized by
trout anglers. Officials believe that 90% of the brown trout were wiped
out along almost 12 miles of Willow Creek. Other fish that serve as
food sources for trout were also killed. Officials expect Willow Creek
to rebound - in about six to eight years.
On the Pecatonica, the kill extends over 30 miles on the river, the
longest kill in southern Wisconsin in more than 30 years. The DNR has
found more than 2,000 dead fish from 27 different species, and many
more are believed to have died. The Pecatonica recovery may take two to
three years.
In one case, a farmhand apparently left a pump unattended, allowing
manure to spew across a field and into a creek; in the other case, wet
weather and a manure pit that officials say should have been managed
better may have caused the leakage.
It shouldn't ever happen again, but it, or something like it,
probably will. Which is why the issue deserves serious concern - and
action - from farmers and state officials.
From the Aug. 10, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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