The revised draft environmental assessment is expected to be released early in 2001. After the document is released, the Service will host open houses in Baraboo and Portage, Wisconsin, to give local residents an opportunity to discuss the proposal with Service planners. People interested in the proposal will also have an opportunity to submit written comments on the revised environmental assessment.
Work on the draft environmental assessment was suspended in December 1999 after local landowners and conservation organization members asked for an opportunity to explore alternatives for restoration and conservation within the historic Fairfield Marsh basin. Personal responsibility for natural resource conservation was an integral part of Aldo Leopolds land ethic philosophy, and the Service supported the communitys interest by suspending work on the draft environmental assessment. The local group was asked to submit a report to the Service by October 2000 outlining an alternative plan.
Balancing the goals articulated in FACTs report and the goals identified by the Service when a national wildlife refuge was proposed will be an important element in revising the draft environmental assessment. "We respect the initiative this report demonstrates, said Bill Hartwig, Regional Director of the Services Great Lakes/Big Rivers Region. "This is a great opportunity for the Service and the community to work together to restore an important marsh. This project also demonstrates that the Service is serious about listening to people and addressing their ideas.
Concepts presented in FACTs report will be incorporated in a fifth alternative evaluated in the revised draft environmental assessment. Originally, the environmental assessment considered three proposals for establishing a refuge, or "action" alternatives, and one "no action" alternative in which a refuge would not be established. The new alternative would not include land purchases for a national wildlife refuge. However, a recommendation by FACT for retaining the landowner option to sell lands for federal waterfowl production areas will be included in the alternative. The new alternative would also consider partially funding a coordinator position for 1 year and encourage the county and township boards to protect the rural character of the lower Baraboo River watershed through local zoning.
All of the above concepts will be incorporated into a new Alternative 5 and presented in the revised draft environmental assessment. This alternative will be recommended by the Services planning team as the "preferred alternative. The Services decision on this project will be made at the time the final environmental assessment is available to the public.
The Service proposed the refuge as a means of preserving and restoring fish and wildlife habitats associated with the historic Fairfield Marsh in northeast Sauk and northwest Columbia counties. As originally proposed, a drained wetland basin containing wooded swamps, wet prairies and associated dry prairie and forested uplands would be restored. Adjacent restored grasslands would provide breeding habitat for a myriad of migratory birds, including waterfowl and grassland-dependent songbirds.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
For further information about programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our website at http://midwest.fws.gov
