AJR54: Joint Resolution Text

LRB-2865/1

CMH:amn

2019 - 2020 LEGISLATURE

2019 Assembly JOINT RESOLUTION 54

June 7, 2019 - Introduced by Representatives Billings, Tranel, Petryk, Doyle, Oldenburg, Pronschinske, Anderson, Neubauer, Shankland, VanderMeer, Kolste, Considine, Sargent, Emerson, Spreitzer, Pope, Hesselbein, Skowronski, Kulp, Ohnstad, Subeck and C. Taylor, cosponsored by Senators Shilling, Smith, L. Taylor, Carpenter, Cowles, Schachtner and Miller. Referred to Committee on Rules.

AJR54,1,3 Relating to: supporting the efforts by the State of Wisconsin and others in the Mississippi River Basin to work together to achieve the goals of the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan and a reduction of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

AJR54,1,6 Whereas, the loss of phosphorus and nitrogen into Wisconsin rivers, lakes, and streams in the Mississippi River Basin is causing water quality problems that impact the recreational use and fisheries of these in-state waters; and

AJR54,1,10 Whereas, excess amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen that reach the Mississippi River are causing overgrowth of duckweed and filamentous algae on backwater lakes of the Mississippi, creating low oxygen levels that are unhealthy for fish and other aquatic life and inhibiting recreation; and

AJR54,1,12 Whereas, these nutrient losses contribute to the continued formation of a large area of hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, in the northern Gulf of Mexico; and

AJR54,2,2 Whereas, the State of Wisconsin has been a participant in the cooperative effort to address this problem through the federal-state Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force since 1997, and the Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico since 2000; and

AJR54,2,6 Whereas, these efforts have engaged 12 states along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, along with federal agencies and private stakeholders, in a collaborative effort to reduce the average size of the annual hypoxic zone through conservation, ecosystem restoration, and nutrient management and reduction programs; and

AJR54,2,10 Whereas, Wisconsin created a state nutrient reduction strategy that is being implemented by state and federal agencies, municipalities, county land and water conservation departments, farmer-led watershed groups, lake management and watershed associations, industries, farmers, and landowners; and

AJR54,2,15 Whereas, Wisconsin and the task force are working with partners such as Mississippi River Basin Land Grant Universities, including UW-Madison, and programs such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative, which has developed projects in watersheds across Wisconsin, in cooperation with farmers; and

AJR54,2,17 Whereas, the citizens of Wisconsin support efforts to restore and protect waters of state and national significance; now, therefore, be it

AJR54,2,22 Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the Wisconsin Legislature urges and requests continued support for the efforts by our state and others in the Mississippi River Basin to work together to achieve the goals of the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan and a reduction of the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

AJR54,2,23 (End)