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| No. 162 Monday, August 23, 2004 |
Page A-7 |
| ISSN 1521-9402 | |
|
News | |
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| Water
Pollution Conservation Coalition Petitions Wisconsin For More Protection of Northern Rivers | |
- CHICAGO--A coalition of 44 conservation and
environmental organizations Aug. 17 called for more protection of
Wisconsin's northern rivers, petitioning the state's Department of Natural
Resources to increase protection of 100 river segments.
Midwest Environmental Advocates said it prepared the petition in collaboration with the River Alliance of Wisconsin after Department of Natural Resources data showed some high-quality waters did not have the legal protection needed to limit pollution into those waters.
"These rivers deserve recognition as some of the healthiest rivers in Wisconsin," Denny Caneff, executive director of the River Alliance, said in an Aug. 17 statement. "We support this petition because it makes sense--protect the great rivers we have, before it is too late. That means placing legal limits on pollution before it occurs, and educating the public about our great water resources."
Wisconsin gathered the data on its most pristine rivers as part of the Northern Rivers Initiative, begun in 1997 in response to concerns about overdevelopment and declining water quality. As part of the initiative, the Department of Natural Resources evaluated nearly 1,500 rivers and river segments in Wisconsin's 20 northernmost counties.
"The DNR has the information it needs to protect these rivers," Melissa K. Scanlon, executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, said in an Aug. 17 statement. "The challenge for the Natural Resources Board is to turn that information into action-- and get these rivers the legal protection they deserve."
After identifying the top 100 river segments in Wisconsin's northern woods, the coalition asked that the Department of Natural Resources upgrade legal protections for those rivers to further limit pollution that harms fish and wildlife.
The petition said increasing protection for the rivers also would help the Department of Natural Resources to honor treaty rights held by Chippewa Tribes to hunt and to fish that were ceded to the federal government. Several tribal governments passed formal resolutions supporting the petition.
The Northwoods Hundred Healthiest Rivers Petition
is available at http://www.midwestadvocates.org/
or http://www.wisconsinrivers.org/
on the World Wide Web.
By Thom Wilder
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