30.10 Cross-referenceCross-reference: See also chs. NR 300 and 320, Wis. adm. code. 30.10 AnnotationWhen there are 2 owners of land adjacent to a disputed parcel erroneously meandered under sub. (4), the judge is to divide the parcel proportionately on an equitable, but not necessarily equal, basis. Kind v. Vilas County, 56 Wis. 2d 269, 201 N.W.2d 881 (1972). 30.10 AnnotationThe department of natural resources properly considered the existence of beaver dams and ponds and the periods of high water caused by spring runoffs in determining the navigability of a creek. The dams and ponds were normal and natural to the stream, and the periods of high water were of a regularly recurring, annual nature. DeGayner & Co. v. Department of Natural Resources, 70 Wis. 2d 936, 236 N.W.2d 217 (1975). 30.10 AnnotationAn owner of land on a meandered lake takes only to the actual shoreline. An owner does not have a “proper claim” to an isolated parcel separated from the remainder of the lot by the lake, making sub. (4) (b) inapplicable as parcels separated by a lake are not “adjacent.” State Commissioners of Board of Public Lands v. Thiel, 82 Wis. 2d 276, 262 N.W.2d 522 (1978). 30.10 AnnotationA department of natural resources declaration of navigability subjecting private property to sub. (1) was a taking. Zinn v. State, 112 Wis. 2d 417, 334 N.W.2d 67 (1983). 30.10 AnnotationThe department of natural resources has the authority, as well as the obligation, to determine whether the waters of the state are navigable in fact and subject to regulation under ch. 30, another agency’s prior ancillary finding to the contrary notwithstanding. Turkow v. Department of Natural Resources, 216 Wis. 2d 273, 576 N.W.2d 288 (Ct. App. 1998), 97-1149. 30.10 AnnotationThis chapter applies to navigable ditches that were originally navigable streams. If a navigable ditch was originally nonnavigable or had no previous stream history, the department of natural resources’ jurisdiction depends upon the facts of the situation. 63 Atty. Gen. 493.
30.10 AnnotationErroneously meandered lakeshore — the status of the law as it affects title and distribution. 61 MLR 515.
30.10 AnnotationThe Muench case: A better test of navigability. Edwards, 1957 WLR 486.
30.10 AnnotationRiparian Landowners Versus the Public: The Importance of Roads and Highways for Public Access to Wisconsin’s Navigable Waters. Williams. 2010 WLR 186.
30.10230.102 Website information. 30.102(1)(1) Navigability determination and ordinary high-water mark identification. If the department makes a determination that a waterway is navigable or is not navigable or identifies the ordinary high-water mark of a navigable waterway, the department shall publish that information on the department’s Internet website. Any person may rely on the information posted under this section as being accurate. This section does not restrict the ability of a person to challenge the accuracy of the information posted under this section. 30.102(2)(2) Application status. To the greatest extent possible, the department shall publish on the department’s Internet website the current status of any application filed with the department for a permit, license, or other approval under this chapter. The information shall include notice of any hearing scheduled by the department with regard to the application. 30.102 HistoryHistory: 2011 a. 167; 2017 a. 365 s. 112. 30.10330.103 Identification of ordinary high-water mark by town sanitary district. A town sanitary district may identify the ordinary high-water mark of a lake that lies wholly within unincorporated territory and wholly within the town sanitary district. The department may not identify an ordinary high-water mark of a lake that is different than the ordinary high-water mark identified by a town sanitary district under this section. 30.103 HistoryHistory: 1997 a. 237. 30.10530.105 Determining footage of shoreline. In determining footage of shoreline for purposes of s. 30.50 (4q), 30.77 (3) (ac), (ae) and (am) and 60.782 (2), towns, villages, cities, public inland lake protection and rehabilitation districts and town sanitary districts shall measure by use of a map wheel on the U.S. geological survey 7 1/2 minute series map. 30.105 HistoryHistory: 1995 a. 152 s. 9; 1995 a. 349 s. 11. NAVIGABLE WATERS AND NAVIGATION IN GENERAL
30.1130.11 Establishment of bulkhead lines. 30.11(1)(1) Who may establish. Any municipality may, subject to the approval of the department, by ordinance establish a bulkhead line and from time to time reestablish the same along any section of the shore of any navigable waters within its boundaries. 30.11(2)(2) Standards for establishing. Bulkhead lines shall be established in the public interest and shall conform as nearly as practicable to the existing shores, except that in the case of leases under sub. (5) and s. 24.39 (4) bulkhead lines may be approved farther from the existing shoreline if they are consistent with and a part of any lease executed by the board of commissioners of public lands. 30.11(3)(3) How established. Whenever any municipality proposes to establish a bulkhead line or to reestablish an existing bulkhead line, the municipality shall indicate both the existing shore and the proposed bulkhead line upon a map and shall file with the department for its approval 6 copies of the map and 6 copies of the ordinance establishing the bulkhead line. The map shall use a scale of not less than 100 feet to an inch or any other scale required by the department. The map and a metes and bounds description of the bulkhead line shall be prepared by a professional land surveyor licensed under ch. 443. The department may require the installation of permanent reference markers to the bulkhead line. Upon approval by the department, the municipality shall deliver the map, description, and ordinance to the office of the register of deeds of the county in which the bulkhead line lies, to be recorded by the register of deeds. 30.11(4)(4) Riparian rights preserved. Establishment of a bulkhead line shall not abridge the riparian rights of riparian owners. Riparian owners may place solid structures or fill up to such line. 30.11(5)(a)(a) Prior to the execution of any lease by the board of commissioners of public lands concerning rights to submerged lands or rights to fill in submerged lands held in trust for the public under s. 24.39, the department shall determine whether the proposed physical changes in the area as a result of the execution of the lease are consistent with the public interest. Thirty days before making its determination, the department shall notify, in writing, the clerk of the county and clerk of the city, village, or town in which the changes are proposed and the U.S. army corps of engineers of the application for the lease. In making its finding the department shall give consideration to all reports submitted to it. The department shall not approve a lease applied for under s. 24.39 (4) (a) 2. if the department determines that the lease may threaten excessive destruction of wildlife habitat. 30.11(5)(b)(b) When considering leases to allow certain initial improvements such as, but not restricted to, filling on submerged lands to create sites for further facilities, the department may determine whether such initial improvements are consistent with the public interest in the navigable waters involved even though the exact final use to which these improvements will be put is not known. The department, at the time it finds that a proposed lease would be consistent with the public interest in the navigable waters involved, may include in its findings such limitations upon the use of improvements as it considers necessary to confine their use to functions primarily related to water transportation or otherwise of public benefit. The board of commissioners of public lands shall include in the lease such limitations on final use as is determined by the department.