Sauk County Board of Supervisors

Baraboo, Wisconsin

December 21, 2004

RE: Proposed Thuli Road Tower

Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you this evening. Each of you has received copies of my correspondence with Chairman Wenzel over the past several months. The position of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board has been clearly expressed in those communiqués. On behalf of the Riverway Board, I again respectfully request your opposition to acquisition of the Thuli Road site, whether by purchase or by condemnation, for the purpose of erecting a 250 foot tower with strobe light and red beacon in conjunction with the county’s communications enhancement project. Instead, I request your support of a ten-tower system or use of alternate technologies to address problems with the county communications system.

As you may know, the Riverway was created over 15 years ago after years of public input, including participation from many citizens and local officials from Sauk County. Eventually, a compromise was engineered by former Governor Tommy Thompson, former Senator Richard Kreul, Representative (now Senator) Dale Schultz and Representative Spencer Black. The compromise has been effective and has resulted in maximum protection of the resource with minimal regulation. For the past 15 years, the Riverway Board has exercised common sense and used sound judgment in administration of the unique and innovative scenic protection law. Indeed, the Riverway has been touted has a model of success for aesthetic protection projects in other states and even other countries all around the globe.

The success of the Riverway project could not have been achieved without the cooperation of private landowners. First, it was the excellent stewardship of the land by private landowners that resulted in a river valley of tremendous beauty worthy of protection. Second, it has been the cooperation of private landowners since inception of the Riverway that has led to the project’s success. The Riverway Board has issued literally hundreds of permits to landowners for activities from new structures to timber harvests to prairie restorations to utility facilities. The Riverway Board is deeply appreciative of the cooperation of these landowners.

And so we come to the Thuli Road tower proposal. Because the base of the tower would not be located within the formal Riverway boundary, although the bluffs all around it are in the boundary because of the visibility from the river, the Riverway Board has no jurisdiction, even though the proposed tower would be approximately the same height as the surrounding bluffs. As a result, the tower would be visible from several miles of river and would despoil an otherwise pristine and undeveloped viewshed. This is an obvious weakness in the law and a situation the original framers of the law had not considered. Clearly, the intent of the law was to preclude towers and other structures from being visible from the river.

The Communications Infrastructure Committee is asking you to support exploitation of a loophole in the law and to violate the “intent” of the Riverway law. The Riverway Board is asking you to take appropriate action to protect and preserve the scenic beauty of the Riverway by seeking alternatives to the proposed 250-foot tower with strobe light and red beacon at Thuli Road.

With respect to the Riverway, Governor Thompson, Senator Kreul, Senator Schultz and Representative Black have left their legacy by acting to protect the lower Wisconsin River valley. The Riverway Board has left and continues to leave its legacy regarding scenic protection in the valley. Valley landowners have left an active legacy of sound land stewardship for the past 150 years, including the last 15 years under the auspices of the Riverway designation. And now, I ask you, the members of the Sauk County Board of Supervisors, what will be your legacy in regard to the Riverway? Will it be a legacy of exploitation of a loophole in the law or a legacy of continued cooperation and protection of this magnificent scenic resource, this treasure known as the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway?

The last time I paddled the stretch of river between Arena and Spring Green was especially poignant because I realized it may be the last time I would paddle that stretch of river without seeing a 250 foot tower with strobe light and red beacon right in the middle of an otherwise unblemished and natural viewshed. I was reminded of a quote by President Lyndon Johnson, who nearly 40 years ago said,

“The time has come to identify and preserve free flowing stretches of our great rivers before growth and development make the beauty of an unspoiled waterway a memory.”
And then I thought of one of my favorite Wisconsin River quotes by Aldo Leopold,

“Yet, there remains the river. In some places, hardly changed since Paul Bunyan’s day. At early dawn, one can still hear it singing in the wilderness. Perhaps our grandsons, having never seen a river, will never miss the chance to set a canoe in its singing waters.”

Please vote against the Thuli Road tower and make your legacy with respect to the Riverway one of protection so that your children, grandchildren and grandchildren’s grandchildren will be able to enjoy the same scenic beauty and natural character of the lower Wisconsin River as we do today, as did Aldo Leopold, as did Marquette and Joliet and as did countless generations of Native Americans before them. What will be your legacy with respect to the river?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Mark Cupp