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F } 2845 Timber Lane Verona, WI 53593 March 5, 1994 4AR 0 7 1994 TO: Dane County Zoning and Natural Resources Committee Zoe€NS fl' FROM: Rich Henderson RE: Rezoning application#5869 and C.U.P. #1125. Item#4 on 3/8/94 agenda. The public announcement I received did not define "expansion" of the existing horse boarding stable. If this means allowing additional horses or significant reduction in the amount pasture space now available to the Bell's operation, I have reservations about the appropriateness of such changes. I believe the site is not capable of responsibly supporting any more horses. My concerns are purely environmental from the perspective of land and water conservation only. I have no other concerns relating to the rezoning. I live immediately north of the Bell's stable operation, and over the past 30 years I have walked, explored, and observed the site. I also happen to be a trained natural resource specialist (primarily a plant ecologist). I estimate about half the property or more is floodplain wetland with a good quality,permanent stream running through it north to south. The wetland vegetation was(and still is west of the stream) of good quality, with a diverse native flora. The uplands have a house and yard, stable facilities, and about 5 acres of pasture. All the uplands are pitched with moderate to very steep slopes toward the wetland. Over the past decade I've witnessed very obvious land and water degradation directly attributable to the current horse density on the property. To the Bell's credit, the horses are kept out of the wetland and stream. But unfortunately,this has not protected the wetland and stream from nutrient and silt runoff from the pasture and stable facilities. As a consequence, the wetland vegetation east of the stream has suffered visible degradation, such as excessive algae blooms, reduced species diversity, increase in cattails, and invasion by the non-native variety of reed canarygrass. Canarygrass invasion is indicative of overgrazing in a wetland(not the case here) or silt deposition(definitely the case here). Periodically the pasture areas have been completely denuded of vegetation resulting in obvious sheet and severe gully erosion. In addition, about a dozen 100 plus year old bur oak trees have died as an indirect, if not direct, result of the soil compaction and girdling that comes from high horse densities. I have no objections to boarding stables in general, or to any other aspects of the Bell's rezoning petition. My concerns lie only with resource protection as it relates to this site. Also, I certainly don't enjoy confrontation, and the last thing I want to do is to antagonize a neighbor. I'm not faulting the Bell's for the existing operation. I realize they did not start the boarding stable on this site(it was preexisting when the bought the land). My point is that, if their intent is to accommodate more horses at the site or reduce the already limited pasture they now have, I would view that as very inappropriate for the site based on what has already been demonstrated from the current animal density, and not in the best interest of the greater public good. Thank you for your consideration. •