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Page 1 of 3 Lane, Roger From: Lane, Roger Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:55 PM To: 'Jim Knowles' Subject: RE: Wetland Site Review If you can do the determination now, please do so. Dane County Zoning will accept your determination. Roger Original Message From: Jim Knowles [mailto:james.knowles @jdknowles.com] Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:51 PM To: Lane, Roger; 'Peterson, Cami L- DNR' Cc: Schutte, Kristine; Steinhauer, Charles; Everson, Daniel; Eric.Heggelund @Wisconsin.gov; 'Gene Harbort' Subject: RE: Wetland Site Review Good Afternoon, I understand the issue and do agree that doing wetland delineations in the winter is problematic at best. The main issue there is whether or not soils are at or below 28 degrees; biological activity stops at that point. Without going into too much science and policy, I will mention that the growing season discussed in the 87 Manual is based upon agricultural - annual - crops that are susceptible to damage after the first major frost. So, growing season is based upon annual plants and not perennial plants. Many perennial plants continue to grow if the ground is not frozen and they are able to get plenty of sunlight. For example, red osier dogwood shrubs can continue to grow throughout the winter season as long the ground is absent frost within the plant's root zone. The 87 Manual does recognize that ground temperature should be measured this time of year. Never- the-less, NR 310 does contain language that states where environmental studies are done after November 15th and before March 15th the Department can table any reviews or decisions until such reviews are verified outside that winter period. So regardless of the growing season issues, the Department reserves the right to withhold reviews under that rule. One last item: the COE has issued a public notice about 8 years ago stating that growing season is not entirely based upon the USDA Soil Survey for a given county, but by the ground temperature and the presence/absence of ground frost. This past fall the COE issued supplemental guidelines that clarify that growing season is not based upon the soils manual but actual site conditions; that during winter months the growing can and in some cases does continue. As a compromise, I can easily determine the extent of wetlands on the site based upon soils at this time of year provided that the ground is not frozen. If the ground is frozen I can thaw out the soil with a torch and still obtain correct soil color designations which are a main key to determining the presence/absence of wetlands. Recall, that have been doing this work in Wisconsin for nearly 17 years with Dane County as one my areas while working for the COE. In fact, I did an on-site review of the original wetland mapping effort in 1994, 1997 and 1998 and approved the last wetland mapping effort. I can determine with a high degree of certainty whether or not the wetland line moved and how far. Also, other than the Kentucky blue grass growing under the snow it appears that much of the dominant vegetation on the site is still quite visible and quite identifiable. Well, give it some thought and please let me know what you wish to do. There is no frost in the ground so now is the time to do the work. Jim 1/28/2009