RHINELANDER — The Oneida County Board last Tuesday approved a package of adjustments to its Shoreland Protection Ordinance after narrowly rejecting a proposal to limit clear-cutting along lakeshores.

Supervisors voted 10-9 to reject an amendment offered by Supervisor Kyle Kilbourn that would have restricted tree cutting in the access and viewing corridor (AVC), the stretch of waterfront where property owners are allowed to clear trees for a lake view and access. The board then approved the underlying package, Ordinance Amendment No. 13-2022.

The vote came after most of the 10 people who spoke during public comment urged the board to adopt the limit. About 25 to 30 people attended the meeting.

“Disappointing outcome,” Kilbourn said. “As a supervisor, the job is to listen to the residents on what they want us to do. Unfortunately, this isn’t the outcome we had hoped for.”

The push for the proposal came from the Oneida County Lakes and Rivers Association (OCLRA) and Oneida County Clean Waters Action.

Under the current county ordinance, the access and viewing corridor can make up 35% of a parcel’s water frontage within the protected zone 35 feet from the shoreline. The ordinance does not prohibit clear-cutting in that corridor.

The groups’ amendment would have allowed only selective cutting there, limiting removal to no more than 50% of trees with a trunk diameter of 6 inches or larger.

The groups developed the proposal with the county’s Land and Water Conservation Committee, which forwarded it to the Planning and Development Committee, according to OCLRA President Ted Rulseh. The Planning and Development Committee did not include it in the amendments it sent to the full board.

In an action alert issued Oct. 14, OCLRA urged supporters to contact the county clerk and testify at the meeting. The group argued that clear-cutting in the corridor degrades scenery important to tourism, destroys wildlife habitat and allows more nutrients, sediment and other pollutants to reach the water.

Research supports some of those concerns. A 2006 study by the U.S. Geological Survey, conducted with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), found that surface runoff from developed lakefront lawns was generally 10 or more times higher than runoff from wooded shorelines.

More recently, a long-term DNR study on 92-acre Sanford Lake in Vilas County found that adding fallen trees along the shoreline doubled the number of fish the lake could support, according to the agency. The project received a national award from the American Fisheries Society this year.

Rulseh said the timing was driven by the board’s consideration of the amendment package.

Rulseh said the 50% standard was designed to be simple for property owners to understand and for zoning staff to enforce, and that the groups would be open to alternatives that met the same goals.

“The important thing is to have some responsible limit on cutting in the AVCs such that property owners can create desirable lake views while the environment and scenic values remain protected,” he wrote.

Asked about concerns that the rule would limit what owners can do with their land, Rulseh said owners would still be able to create lake views.

“Property values, especially lake property values, are strongly correlated with natural scenery and lake water clarity,” he wrote.

Vilas rules

Rulseh pointed to Vilas County as an example of a county that already limits cutting in viewing corridors. He said Sawyer and Marinette counties do as well.

Vilas County’s shoreland ordinance allows viewing corridors of the same size, at least 35 feet for every 100 feet of shoreline. But owners may create them only through “select cutting,” which requires leaving a minimum density of trees 5 inches or larger in diameter, evenly spread. Smaller trees must be preserved to maintain the understory.

Outside the corridor, no trees, shrubs or undergrowth may be removed within 35 feet of the water. Clear-cutting is banned within 300 feet of a lake or 150 feet of a river or stream, except around a home, a septic system and a driveway.

Cutting beyond those limits requires a shoreland alteration permit from the Vilas County Zoning Office. Violations can bring forfeitures of $100 to $500, with each day counted as a separate violation. Dead, diseased or hazardous trees may be removed.

OCLRA, a nonprofit based in Hazelhurst, counts 31 lake associations and more than 30 individuals as dues-paying members.

Kilbourn said some supervisors suggested the proposal should first go through committee.
“I don’t think the conversation around this is over, but maybe this was just not the right timing,” he said.