Crawford Stewardship Project (CSP) members are attending meetings within the Coulee Region and throughout the state to promote better scientific understanding of our region’s karst (broken limestone) bedrock, soil composition and surface water/ground water interactions.

CSP asserts that comprehensive scientific research of our surface water/ground water interactions must be completed before more agricultural operations of more than 500 animal units are allowed in the fragile and unique Driftless Area.

There are no definitive studies in our region. Studies by experts in the field of hydrology and geology have conducted research on the effects of agricultural and municipal runoff in a now-contaminated region of northeast Wisconsin. “Don’t drink the water in parts of Door and Brown counties” is the advice to those in attendance of several karst and hydrology lectures. Anyone can pollute, but when there are millions of gallons of liquid waste being spread on slopes in our region, the opportunity for disaster looms large. Contamination of streams and groundwater is a real threat, especially if we don’t have a complete picture of our soil composition and limestone bedrock.

Wisconsin’s Livestock Siting Law (Act 235 and s.93.9 Wis. Stats) is supposed to make a “predictable framework” for local government decision-making and the Siting Rule (ATCP 51) sets standards that county and municipal governments use and livestock operations are to follow. Both the Siting Law and the Siting Rule are a statewide blanket set of rules and regulations that do not distinguish one region from another. What we in the Coulee Region really need is for those laws to be changed to reflect the vastly different set of circumstances we face here, where our surface and groundwater interact so quickly and so closely. It seems a shame to me that our county government can’t object to a permit application without serious threat of a lawsuit, hog-tied, ridiculous.

Crawford Stewardship Project is a volunteer organization committed to better understanding of our local geology and groundwater, as well as, socially and environmentally responsible agricultural practices. To learn more go to crawfordstewardshipproject.org.

E. Sebastian Smith

Seneca

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