MONROE - Clearing trees seems to be a popular spring activity on Green County farms, but some types of clearing requires a permit. It depends on how and where the work will get done. Will a backhoe be taking out the trees or will you cut them off and leave the stumps?
In Green County, there are conflicting rules that govern tree removal. Landowners on the four legal drainage districts in the county have received letters in the past to keep their banks clear of trees to allow for the water to flow and to have a grass buffer along the ditch. Drainage districts in the county are Drainage District Number One (part of the Juda Branch), Drainage District Number Two (part of the Little Sugar River), Decatur District (part of Sylvester Creek) and the Broughton District (part of Norwegian Creek). For the rest of the county's many creeks, streams and rivers, state/county shoreland zoning rules apply, which say that "no more than thirty feet in any one hundred feet (measured along the ordinary high-water mark) may be clear-cut." A complete stream corridor should not be cleared.
There are legitimate reasons to clear trees and slope the banks back. Trees like boxelder and willow are a constant fight along stream corridors that no longer have grazing pressure to keep them at bay. These fast-growing trees quickly shoot up and out, shading competition and usually leaving bare ground, which is more susceptible to erosion. If this ground is in a stream corridor, the stream banks could become vertical and soil erosion would increase.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will be involved if there is more than 10,000 square feet of ground disturbance (for example, the clearing of 20 feet by 500 feet by a bulldozer) would require a grading permit. It is in a landowner's best interest to contact the WDNR or Green County Land and Water Conservation Department to verify if a permit will be needed. The WDNR maintains a website for guiding people through the permitting process: http://dnr.wi.gov/ Permits/Water/. The Green County Land and Water Conservation Department can be reached at 608-325-4195, extension 170.
In Green County, there are conflicting rules that govern tree removal. Landowners on the four legal drainage districts in the county have received letters in the past to keep their banks clear of trees to allow for the water to flow and to have a grass buffer along the ditch. Drainage districts in the county are Drainage District Number One (part of the Juda Branch), Drainage District Number Two (part of the Little Sugar River), Decatur District (part of Sylvester Creek) and the Broughton District (part of Norwegian Creek). For the rest of the county's many creeks, streams and rivers, state/county shoreland zoning rules apply, which say that "no more than thirty feet in any one hundred feet (measured along the ordinary high-water mark) may be clear-cut." A complete stream corridor should not be cleared.
There are legitimate reasons to clear trees and slope the banks back. Trees like boxelder and willow are a constant fight along stream corridors that no longer have grazing pressure to keep them at bay. These fast-growing trees quickly shoot up and out, shading competition and usually leaving bare ground, which is more susceptible to erosion. If this ground is in a stream corridor, the stream banks could become vertical and soil erosion would increase.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will be involved if there is more than 10,000 square feet of ground disturbance (for example, the clearing of 20 feet by 500 feet by a bulldozer) would require a grading permit. It is in a landowner's best interest to contact the WDNR or Green County Land and Water Conservation Department to verify if a permit will be needed. The WDNR maintains a website for guiding people through the permitting process: http://dnr.wi.gov/ Permits/Water/. The Green County Land and Water Conservation Department can be reached at 608-325-4195, extension 170.