Clean Water Updates

Posted May 16, 2026- National Forest roadless rule Town Hall to be held at Nicolet College in Rhinelander June 4th.

OCCWA representatives will be on hand for this important informational Town Hall The event is a collaboration of the League of Women Voters of the Northwoods, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Sierra Club - Wisconsin Chapter, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, and Wisconsin's Green Fire. Come on out and speak up for our National Forests!

From Wisconsin's Greenfire:

Why should you attend this town hall meeting?

25 years ago, the US Forest Service (USFS) held more than 600 public meetings in the process to create the "Roadless Rule." This rule protects millions of acres of forests and grasslands in the USA by limiting the building of new roads and logging in these areas. The rule could soon be repealed. The USFS’s process to repeal may not include a single public meeting.

Instead, Wisconsin's Green Fire and several partners are holding our own public town hall at Nicolet College in Rhinelander.

• During the town hall, we will take public comments from attendees. We will then submit them into the Federal Register during the public comment period.
• The special guest speaker is Dr. Mike Dombeck who led the rulemaking process for the roadless rule as the chief of the USFS.

We believe in the power and importance of public input to shape public policy. Every voice matters from local to national decisions. While we find the USFS's decision not to hold public meetings on the Roadless Rule regrettable, we hold great respect for the federal employees who work to care for our forests, especially here in Wisconsin.

Join us for this public town hall and share your views on the roadless rule and our national forests. Share this invitation widely!

RSVP for the June 4th Town Hall at: Public Town Hall: The future of our wild Roadless forests 

Posted May 14, 2026- Knowles Nelson shares the latest legislative snub as potential funding for the program becomes more dire.

On May 12th Knowles Nelson shared the latest news below.

Yesterday, Governor Evers and Republican legislative leaders announced a deal on a package of outstanding legislative priorities. Legislators had reported that Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program reauthorization was on the table during these negotiations, but it was ultimately left out.

We're disappointed. This program has waited long enough, and every month without funding is another month Wisconsin's land trusts, local governments, friends groups, and the DNR can't access the grants they count on to protect the places that make this state special.

The property tax deal still has to pass the legislature, and it's not a sure thing. Democrats were cut out of the negotiations and aren't happy about it, which could make things complicated for Republican leaders who are likely to need some Democratic votes for the package to pass. The legislature may act as soon as tomorrow. We're watching closely, and we're in active conversation with legislators who care about this program. If an opening emerges, we'll be ready to move.

In the meantime, we’re preparing for January 2027. We've been meeting with candidates, getting legislators out on the land, and working to have a strong Knowles-Nelson bill ready to move the moment the new session begins. None of that stops while we watch this play out.

Ninety-three percent of Wisconsin residents support renewing this program. Our job is making sure every legislator who takes office in January knows that and has no excuse not to act.

Thank you for staying with us through this long fight.

Posted April 29, 2026- Oneida County Lakes and Rivers Association yearly membership drive is underway, please consider supporting this fine local organization. 

Dear Friends of Our Lakes and Rivers: 

The lake ice is melting, and OCLRA is gearing up for an exciting 2026. Last year we built on a couple of regular initiatives and added a new one. We’re looking forward to your support during a new year of life on our lakes and streams. 

Last September we held our first Grant Writing Seminar with the Vilas County Lakes and Rivers Association (VCLRA), and it will be repeated this year on a fall date to be determined. We’ve scheduled the annual Northwoods 6-County Lakes and Rivers Meeting for July 17 with an expanded program and a new venue, James Williams Middle School in Rhinelander. Details will be forthcoming. Meanwhile, the Moen Lake Chain Association has successfully pilot-tested a Lake Steward program to recognize property owners for maintaining shoreline buffers and other best practices. A committee is now working on a plan to make Lake Steward available to lake associations in Oneida and Vilas Counties, and elsewhere. Here are several more highlights of our 2025 activity:

• Supported local ordinances to limit enhanced boat wakes, and helped fight off bills in the state legislature that would have offered inadequate protection for our lakes.
• Continued regular connections with Wisconsin Lakes, the River Alliance of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.
• Continued to monitor the county Planning and Development Committee and provide input on topics relevant to water quality protection and sound land-use planning.
• Offered and supported an amendment to the county Shoreland Protection Ordinance to prohibit clear-cutting in access and viewing corridors (county board action pending).
• Exhibited at local events, including the Earth Day expo at Nicolet College.
• Supported Oneida County’s aquatic invasive species prevention program and CBCW.
• Added three new members to our board: Gary Mastalish, Cheryl Schultz, and Mary Jung
• Worked with the Northwoods Land Trust on a workshop promoting natural shoreline preservation and permanent protection of high-quality waterfront parcel. 

Your support for OCLRA can help advance these and other initiatives to protect our lakes and rivers in the year ahead. We welcome your comments and suggestions as we move into the active seasons of 2026. You can share your thoughts and ideas by email to oclra100@gmail.com. You are also welcome to attend our board meetings, held at 9 a.m. on the second Monday of each month at the ADRC building in Rhinelander. And most important, we invite you to affirm your support by establishing or renewing membership in OCLRA.

All best wishes, 

Ted Rulseh 

President, OCLRA

Apply for OCLRA membership at: Membership ~ Oneida County Lakes and Rivers Association OCLRA 

Posted April 27, 2026- Oneida County Lakes and Rivers Association (OCLRA) shares eNews for April.

OCLRA's April contains information on the following subjects and much more.

• 6-County Meeting: What’s Your Lake’s Report Card?
• Oneida County offers Clean Boats, Clean Waters training
• Is your boat really clean?
• Minnesota associations issue position on enhanced wakes
• Last Wilderness Alliance issues spring newsletter
• Baits designed to leave no trace
• Glacial Lakes Partnership introduces bioengineering guides
• Research shows that AIS messaging works
• Learn about mosquitoes at Discovery Center 

OCLRA eNews can be viewed here:  Six County Meeting date set - and other news from OCRLA 

You may follow OCLRA on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/people/OCLRA/100089436967560/. 

Also, OCLRA President Ted Rulseh affectionately known as the "Lake Guy" made a recent appearance on WJFW. Kudo's to both Ted and WJFW for an entertaining and educational report.

Part's one and two of the WJFW piece can be viewed at:

Talks with Ted Rulseh The Lake Guy Part: 1 (4-23-26) | | wjfw.com 

Talks with Ted Rulseh The Lake Guy Part: 2 (4-23-26) | | wjfw.com 

Posted April 23, 2026- Right wing Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement has issues with current administration and EPA actions on pesticides, PFAS, and more.

In a recent NPR article Trump administration's rollback of regulations frustrates some in MAHA movement : NPR the Make America Healthy Again movement is becoming frustrated with the latest environmental rollbacks. A quote from the article highlights the frustrations.

 "STONE: The list of grievances with the EPA is long and includes the agency moving to roll back drinking water standards for PFAS, or forever chemicals, and weakening protections against air pollutants like mercury, arsenic, ethylene oxide and more. It's OK'd pesticides and insecticides with known health risks and on the carcinogen formaldehyde proposed there's a safe level of exposure for humans. Alexandra Munoz, who has a Ph.D. in toxicology, advocates alongside many in the MAHA coalition on issues like pesticides.

ALEXANDRA MUNOZ: Everything that the EPA has done does not align with MAHA, and it does not align with a regulatory approach that's needed to stop harmful chemical exposures now.

STONE: From the outset, Zeldin has pursued a deregulatory agenda with zeal, even inviting companies to email his agency so they can be exempted from air pollution standards. Meanwhile, Munoz points out those in charge of the EPA office that regulates pesticides and industrial chemicals have worked for these very industries.

MUNOZ: There is this constant effort to lie to everybody and say that what they're doing is MAHA and say that they care about people's health."

OCCWA has in the past shared concerns about the EPA potentially rolling back PFAS compliance timelines as well as Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL's) of certain variations of PFAS. MCL's are the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water.  These very same concerns were shared in a WPR article,  Wisconsin residents, groups frustrated with EPA plan to weaken PFAS standards - WPR 

An excerpt from the article stated:

"The EPA announced Wednesday that it plans to keep drinking water standards for two of the most widely studied PFAS, but the agency is pushing out the deadline for water systems to meet those limits from 2029 to 2031.
Doug Oitzinger is a common council member and resident of the city of Marinette, which first learned of PFAS contamination from Tyco Fire Product’s training facility about seven years ago. He called the change “outrageous.”
“This is terrible news for public health,” Oitzinger said. “It’s terrible news for the environment.”
Last year, the Biden administration set individual limits for PFOA and PFOS at 4 parts per trillion, which is roughly 17 times lower than the state standard of 70 parts per trillion. The Trump administration is keeping those standards in place. But the administration is scrapping and reconsidering limits for three other PFAS that include GenX chemicals, as well as a mix of four other PFAS substances."

For clarification's sake, in Oneida County, PFOA and PFAS which the EPA is delaying MCL enforcement until 2031 are the two contaminants that were in the biosolids spread in the town of Stella that contributed to their contamination. The PFAS contamination in the City of Rhinelander wells is PFHxS which comes from firefighting foam. According to the article, the EPA is now planning on scrapping MCL's for PFHxS.

As far as the pesticide concerns voiced by MAHA, they come in the form of a President Trump Executive Order. The Executive Order addresses glyphosate (Roundup), clarified in an excerpt from bmj.com, Trump’s glyphosate order infuriates MAHA movement, leaving RFK Jr exposed | The BMJ
 

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order aiming to increase domestic production of the controversial weedkiller glyphosate, sold as Roundup.

Trump’s 18 February order comes under a national security justification for increasing US production of glyphosate for food security. It grants immunity under compliance with the Defense Production Act, which generally protects parties from liability for actions taken to comply with orders under the act, though it does not provide blanket product liability immunity.

But the move has brought angry accusations of betrayal from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement and placed its founder, US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, in the awkward position of defending a product he has long condemned.

These concerns combined with "Drill Baby Drill" at all costs as well as the latest attacks to the Clean Water Act are deeply troubling for those in the water protection business. 

Related: Pesticide dark money influencing 2026 Farm Bill

 As part of its “collaborative work” with chemical giant Bayer, which owns Roundup, a public relations firm is quietly pushing Congress to pass the 2026 Farm Bill with a Roundup immunity provision Bayer helped draft. The firm is also running pro-glyphosate ads targeting farmers and rural communities.