Last Updated: April 24, 2002

The federal government is proposing "danger zone" restrictions that could have a dramatic impact on commercial fishing in Lake Michigan in an unused bombing practice area for the Wisconsin Air National Guard.

Regulation   Graphic/Bob Veierstahler Bombing area

The proposal, issued March 11, allows public comment through Tuesday. But few elected public officials at any level - federal, state and local - had information about the matter. State environmental regulators, too, had been kept in the dark.

Two or three times a year, Air National Guard jets drop non-explosive canisters and flares as they storm across a wide swath of the lake, according to Howard Ecklund, project manager for permits with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Waukesha. The public has not been aware of the activity, he said.

So the Corps proposes to re-establish a "danger zone" in a large area of the lake between Port Washington and Manitowoc - just six miles offshore at one point - saying it is necessary for public safety and would have little economic impact.

But the head of the Wisconsin National Guard said Wednesday that area isn't even used for bombing exercises.

And the news blindsided commercial anglers.

"The proposed zone overlies the southern chub, whitefish and smelt trawling zones," said Philip Moy, a fisheries specialist with the Sea Grant Institute.

Commercial anglers are limited by state regulations to certain areas. "They cannot simply move to another area to fish," Moy said.

The danger zone also encompasses a fish refuge and fisheries research areas, Moy said in a letter to the Corps' regional office in St. Paul, Minn.

"The mid-lake reefs refuge was established to protect stocked lake trout and to provide these and other Great Lakes fishes an area for spawning," Moy said.

Full-time ban

The regulation - which appeared only in the Federal Register and was not shared directly with public officials - would bar commercial fishing vessels from dropping anchor, or slowing down to drop nets, anywhere in the area "at any time."The regulation also states: "All vessels entering the danger zone shall proceed across the area by the most direct route and without unnecessary delay."

"Obviously, it poses a burden on our members," said Scott Stenger, lobbyist for the 45-member Wisconsin Commercial Fisheries Association. "This is an area where they make their living. There a lot of whitefish and chub in that area."

The proposed zone extends from Port Washington to Manitowoc, along a line that runs about six miles east of Sheboygan, 10 miles east of Port Washington and seven miles east of Manitowoc. And from that line the zone extends to about the middle of the lake, forming a large rectangle.

Ecklund, of the Army Corps of Engineers, said the state Air National Guard base at Volk Field in Monroe County would be required to alert the public of scheduled bombing runs only by publishing an announcement in the U.S. Coast Guard's weekly "Notice to Mariners."

Licensed commercial captains - such as the skippers of commercial fishing trawlers and charter boats - presumably read the publication, Ecklund said.

Asked whether recreational boaters would be told of upcoming practice runs, Ecklund said that those boat owners would be aware of the activity only if they read the weekly notice.

"Presumably, the Air National Guard pilots do reconnaissance of the area and they wouldn't operate where boats are," Ecklund said. "That is why the danger zone is such a large area, so that the planes can move off somewhere else to avoid boats."

Robert Sorrell, a U.S. Coast Guard chief warrant officer in Milwaukee who said he first heard of the proposal last week, said military activity in the area would put the Coast Guard into action.

"We would have to set up a safety zone around the perimeter of this operation to make sure that vessels would stay clear of the area," he said.

Ecklund said that when he discovered that the danger zone was no longer printed on nautical charts, he contacted the Air National Guard headquarters in Madison. "They confirmed that it was still used two or three times a year," he said.

For that reason, he proposed the regulation.

"This zone has been used on a continuing basis since World War II," he said. "For some reason or other, everyone involved stopped reminding the public of this activity. So we're letting the public know that something is out there."

But the top National Guard official in Wisconsin said he knew of no such use of the zone.

"I am totally unaware of this and no one on my staff knows about this," said Maj. Gen. James G. Blaney, adjutant general of the Wisconsin National Guard and Air National Guard.

"If this were true, I would know about it," said Blaney.

Lt. Col. Tim Donovan, a spokesman for the air guard, said Wednesday night that no explosives or other objects have been dropped in the area for at least 10 years. "There are no plans at this time to drop any material."

The lack of information created confusion and concern in lakeshore communities.

Sheboygan Mayor James R. Schramm said he hopes to learn more at a public forum to be held at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Sheboygan Outboard Club, 732 N. Water St.

A spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources said late Wednesday afternoon that a reporter's telephone call was the first time he had heard about the proposal, and the DNR has deep concerns.

"We're generally pretty astute on these kinds of things, and we didn't see this one coming," Franc Fennessy, the DNR deputy secretary, said in a telephone interview from Madison.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) said his office first heard of the proposal Wednesday, "and we were a little surprised about what they want to do, and that we weren't given more information earlier."

Sensenbrenner will send out a letter to the Wisconsin Air National Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers "to express his concerns about the proposal, and it will be done soon," said Raj Bharwani, the congressman's press secretary.

Lawrence Sussman of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report

By DON BEHM, JESSICA MCBRIDE and LAWRENCE SUSSMAN
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: April 25, 2002

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued an apology Thursday after a day of pointed criticism from state and federal officials over vaguely described plans to reinstate a National Guard "live fire exercise area" in Lake Michigan.

'Danger zone'   How To Comment   The public comment period on the danger zone designation has been extended to May 15. For information, or to submit a comment, call Howard Ecklund at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' permit office in Waukesha at (262) 547-4171. Comments also can be forwarded to Frank Torbett, of the Corps of Engineers' headquarters regulatory branch in Washington, D.C., by calling (202) 761-4618.   Quotable   I view this as a breach of faith in going behind the backs of Wisconsin officials.   - Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.   Related Coverage   Nichols: Fishermen face new job hazard: Incoming! Background: Proposed 'danger zone' would deter fishing boats

The Corps, which said it was only trying to restore to nautical charts a long-standingmilitary danger zone in Lake Michigan, said Thursday that there would be no dropping of bombs or firing of missiles by Wisconsin Air National Guard planes in that space.

And commercial anglers and other boaters would be rarely inconvenienced, officials said.

The danger zone, which begins only a few miles offshore and extends from Port Washington to Manitowoc, simply identifies an Air National Guard training area, the Corps of Engineers assured in a statement.

That clarification came Thursday evening after a full day of fact-finding by the Corps' St. Paul, Minn., regional office and too late to deflect harsh criticism from elected officials.

U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) said Thursday that he was "absolutely outraged" by the lack of information.

And U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Green Bay) called the situation "very disturbing" and "bizarre."

The request to print the danger zone on Lake Michigan nautical maps came directly from Volk Field, a Wisconsin Air National Guard base near New Lisbon in Juneau County, said Frank Torbett, a program analyst with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C.

Master Sgt. Bill Milem at Volk Field was even pressing the Corps to publish the danger zone notice in the Federal Register earlier this year, Torbett said.

Milem was said to be on vacation the remainder of the week and unavailable for comment.

Sensenbrenner and U.S. Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) are scheduled to meet in Washington next week with Major General James G. Blaney, adjutant general of the Wisconsin National Guard and Air National Guard.

"I'm sure that Congressman Petri and I will have the welcoming committee out there for him," Sensenbrenner said.

Blaney has been working behind the scenes to locate Blackhawk helicopters at the West Bend Airport, Sensenbrenner said, "and if there is a way to get everybody in eastern Wisconsin opposed to them, that's what this is."

Sensenbrenner said Blaney "isn't bashful in letting us know what he wants. But I view this as a breach of faith in going behind the backs of Wisconsin officials."

Among the officials doing some serious damage control Thursday was Lt. Col Tim Donovan, a public affairs officer for the Wisconsin National Guard. He said the Guard had no intention of dropping objects, other than flares, from its aircraft in the future.

"It is occasionally used for military training, including air combat tactics and supersonic flights by fighter aircraft," Donovan said. "Military aircraft have not released ordnance in this zone in more than 10 years," Donovan said.

In its Thursday statement, the Corps of Engineers attempted to clarify the impact of such a danger zone designation on commercial fishing trawlers, charter boats and recreational boaters.

Though a notice published March 11 in the Federal Register said that no boats could anchor or drift "at any time" in the zone, the Corps explained that boating restrictions would be in place only when military aircraft were flying over the area.

"The restrictions apply only when the danger zone is activated," said Shannon Bauer, a spokeswoman for the Corps of Engineers' St. Paul, Minn., office.

Because the notice did not say that directly, representatives of commercial fishing boats and recreational fishing clubs had opposed the danger zone designation.

Confusion was escalated by comments from Maj. Brendan Smith of the Air National Guard in Thursday's Ozaukee Press, a weekly newspaper in Port Washington, in which he described special operations by Blackhawk helicopters shooting at floating targets "or special-ops guys" firing M-16s.

"If we have helicopters doing gunnery exercises, an M-60 has a ricochet danger area of about five miles, so we wouldn't need to restrict an area much larger than that," Smith was quoted as saying. "But if we have F-16s doing bombing, then we'd probably restrict the entire area."

In regards to Smith's comments, Petri said:

"We didn't even know they wanted a redesignation of the area, but Blackhawk helicopters and special things ricocheting? It sounds like someone's going to a movie."

Petri said he doubted there were any serious plans to do practice bombing in the lake, adding that the National Guard "seemed at the highest levels unaware of it, it's not something high on their agenda."

Donovan, who learned about Smith's comments from a reporter, speculated that he was speaking about hypothetical situations. "That is not what the Wisconsin Air National Guard has in mind."

The furor also had the attention of Gov. Scott McCallum.

"We have been - the state of Wisconsin has been - in contact with the Army Corps of Engineers throughout the day," said Tim Roby, the governor's spokesman.

"We have voiced our strong displeasure with this process, and the governor is very concerned about the effects and impact on commercial fishing, recreational boating and general public safety, so we will be forwarding our concerns onto the Corps in a formal letter."

Roby said McCallum was unavailable to comment directly because he was at an event in Madison.

Howard Ecklund, project manager for permits with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Waukesha, will discuss the danger zone at a meeting Saturday of the Wisconsin Federation of Great Lakes Sport Fishing Clubs.

While the meeting is open to the public, no one other than club members will be allowed to speak or ask questions, said club President Louie Kowieski.

The meeting will be held at 9 a.m. at the Sheboygan Outboard Club, 732 N. Water St. in Sheboygan.

Dan Benson of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report