Contact: Paul Zimmerman, 608.828.5708
MADISON – The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation is pleased with the Wisconsin State Senate’s passage of Senate Bill 368, which reforms the state’s wetlands permitting process.
“The Farm Bureau supports this legislation because it will help farmers obtain permits for projects that impact wetlands, while still protecting the environment,” said Paul Zimmerman, Farm Bureau’s Executive Director of Governmental Relations.
Ensuring consistent state and federal general permits is one of the bill’s provisions that will be beneficial to Wisconsin farmers, he said.
“Our state’s current wetland laws are complex and often times unworkable for landowners who wish to build a shed or driveway near a wetland on their property,” Zimmerman explained. “This bill offers workable solutions to landowners, such as revising the mitigation program to allow for mitigation to offset wetland losses. This means landowners will be required to establish more wetlands on their property than they impact with a construction project.”
“This legislation offers workable reforms for farm families to modernize their livestock and crop farms, and it allows the DNR to work within a common sense framework when making decisions regarding wetlands,” Zimmerman said.
