So I was a my farm in northern Wisconsin this past weekend and I noticed that the highway department was getting to ready to repave the road and do other improvements. Well I have been in contention with the DNR regarding water that runs onto my property and has nowhere to go causing a wetland that I can not get rid of. I tried getting approval for retention ponds the would slowly let the water out and flow of naturally but no go. Now the highway department is going to add another culvert under the road and drain more water onto my property. Where the water will flow through I have a few building that may be damaged by this added water especially after a heavy rain or in the spring. Do I have any right in this matter? I called the department and the guy I talked to said they were not adding anything new just replacing one that are already in place. I know this to be false as I walked that ditch yesterday and found no sign of any culvert or even where an old rotted out one would have been. The area of the property that is affect now was not a wetland until the county decided years ago to protect the road with culverts and turn it into a wetland. This happened long before I bought the property. What say you all?

maybe call your local state rep. We had big problems here with what was then called DEP and our rep. put them in their place.

It's all about talking to the right person.

Well you said you bought the land already used as a wetland. So....

Unfortunately, you need to talk to a lawyer who specializes in these kind of cases.

Keith

In NY I would suggest calling your local SWCD. Every County in the USA has one. Here is one in Wisconsin https://www.barroncountywi.gov/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B89D075CD-5873-4056-8599-65155CFB943F%7D

They may not have your answer but they probably know who would.

I work for a SWCD in NY.

The land has a small area of about 10 acres that is now wetland. That still doesn't not mean that they can make more of a wetland of my property. This "wetland" was farmed at some point many years ago. Now if the DNR would let me expand a pond and run a ditch like I wanted then the added water wouldn't be as big an issue as long as I could drain off the overflow at a natural rate. The guys at the highway dept. were very helpful. I was told that I may be able to get some work out of the highway department to curb the issue and expand the pond but..... I have to go through the DNR again.

Our land conservancy owns a 31 acre woods that is a natural preserve within the village limits of a small village of 1,000 citizens. There is about 12 acres of higher area that has huge older oaks, there is about 10 acres of land that is mostly reed canary grass due to being very wet in the spring and during heavy rain periods. Most of the rest of the area is a black ash cedar swamp that is an ephemeral wetland which is in many years wet the majority of the year. The village is putting in a new 1/2 mile street and will sell several lots for houses. They are putting in a detention pond but all the new drainage will go into our already very wet wooded area of the property. Yes they will release as they can as slow as possible but we have several rains that exceed the new capacity so we will receive a lot more water and we were not even notified of the change until we read the local weekly paper. I can understand that we may not have recourse against their plan but getting some advance notice of the project and process would have been a courtesy at least. It will not take much more water to saturate 3-4 more acres of our wooded vegetation that is not able to take that much saturation in their rooted areas.

Bryce

As a land surveyor and also a town board member here in Wisconsin, I have dealt with these kind of issues more this year than the last 30 years combined.
There is a simple answer, it has rained a lot. When it rains a lot over a period of time conditions change, and if we have a period of drought conditions will change..
I went by a pick your own strawberry outfit on the Interstate in Dane County the other day and water was over the semi trailer that they always used for an office.
Nobody changed any drainage issues there. You need to evaluate your property before you buy it and consider what the best and worst case scenarios might be.
Bryce, I am fairly certain that a project of that nature had gone through a lengthy and time consuming review process and was public knowledge for quite some time.
Been there and done that too many times. Believe me, the developer has spent a bunch of money on a storm water management plan which has been gone through ad nauseum by the DNR.

Zim

I am sure you are correct on the public notice and the time and money but being the land owner where all the water drains into and not receiving any information to our executive director or board of directors, demonstrates to me some concerns.

Bryce