Current through August 26, 2024
Projects eligible for funding under this section consist
of:
(1) Facilities such as ramps and
boarding docks required to gain access to the water.
(2) Structures such as bulkheads and
breakwaters necessary to provide safe water conditions for boaters.
(3) Activities such as dredging of launch
basins and harbors of refuge to provide safe water depths for recreational
boating. Dredging of launch basins or harbors of refuge is an eligible project
only when it is associated with project development at the project site.
Maintenance dredging of launch basins and harbors of refuge is not an eligible
item for funding.
(4) Support
facilities including parking lots, signs, sanitary facilities, fencing or
security lighting for the convenience of boaters.
(5) Improvement and repair of locks and
facilities which provide access between waterways for operators of recreational
watercraft.
(6) Acquisition of aids
to navigation and regulatory markers including ground tackle. Only the costs of
the aids to navigation and regulatory markers including shipping and ground
tackle are eligible for funds under this chapter. The cost of repairing,
placing, moving or removing aids to navigation or regulatory markers is not
eligible for funds under this chapter.
(7) Acquisition of capital equipment that is
necessary to cut and remove aquatic plants that are aquatic nuisances or that
are detrimental to fish habitat with the following limitations:
(a) Eligible capital equipment shall be
limited to cutting devices, barges with propelling motors, conveyors and
trailering devices.
(b) Acquisition
of capital equipment is eligible only when the acquisition is pursuant to a
plan to cut and remove aquatic plants that is approved by the department. If
the capital equipment is to be used on more than one lake, each lake shall be
covered by a department approved plan to cut and remove aquatic plants and each
plan shall outline the organizational relationships, rights and
responsibilities for weed harvesting operations between the cooperating
sponsors.
(c) For a single
waterbody for which the equipment is being purchased the waterbody shall have a
minimum acreage of harvestable aquatic plants of at least 30 acres. For several
small waterbodies for which the equipment is being purchased, the cumulative
acreage shall be at least 50 but no more than 100 acres of harvestable aquatic
plants for all lakes combined and the waterbodies shall be in close proximity
to each other as approved by the commission.
(d) All sponsors for small lakes cooperating
in the purchase of weed harvesting equipment shall demonstrate financial
participation in the purchase of the equipment.
(e) If a sponsor purchases new equipment, the
department may not provide funds for the purchase of individual pieces of weed
harvesting equipment more than once every 10 years. If a sponsor purchases used
equipment, the 10-year limitation may be shortened to match the remaining years
of utility of the equipment. If a sponsor sells any or all of the equipment
funded under this chapter prior to the end of the 10 year or adjusted period,
the sponsor shall repay the department 50% of the sale price.
(8) Rehabilitation of capital
improvements that are related to recreational boating facilities with the
following limitations:
(a) The repair or
renovation is the result of damage from natural events or faulty design but is
not a result of inadequate maintenance or lack of care.
(b) The total estimated cost of the
rehabilitation is greater than $10,000.
(c) The total amount of costs eligible for
cost sharing assistance that a sponsor receives for rehabilitation shall be
reduced or refunded by any amount of damages recovered by the sponsor through
either litigation or insurance settlement.
(9)
(a) In
addition to projects specified under subs. (1) to (8), dredging of a channel of
an inland waterway to the degree necessary to accommodate recreational
watercraft is eligible for funding with the following limitations:
1. In order to be eligible for funds, a
channel to be dredged in a lake shall be defined by aids to navigation as
defined in s.
30.74(2) (b), Stats.
2. Cost sharing for dredging of a channel may
be provided only for dredging the width of a channel to a distance of 25 feet
on either side of the centerline of a river or 25 feet on either side of a
center channel marker in a lake. The dredging of backslopes necessary to
maintain a channel width of 50 feet for a minimum of 10 years is eligible. The
depth of the channel dredging shall be limited to the depth necessary to
accommodate recreational watercraft commonly utilizing the waterbody.
Note: The limit on the design slope ratio of the backslope
dredging shall be commensurate with the nature of the lakebed materials.
3. Eligible costs of dredging a
channel in a waterway include: engineering, including soil borings; dredging
and mobilization; construction of a temporary holding area; and transportation
of spoils. The cost of constructing revetments to permanently contain spoils is
eligible if the sponsor can demonstrate that the cost of creating a land mass
is less than the cost of transportation of spoils to a disposal site or if a
substantial benefit to the recreational boating public will accrue.
4. Ineligible costs include: any costs
relating to planning, engineering, dredging, handling, processing, transporting
or depositing of contaminated dredge spoils; the purchase of land rights for a
spoils deposition area or the costs of landfill storage of spoils; costs of
land treatment to cover up spoils deposit; and the cost of testing or
monitoring as a condition of a state or federal permit.
5. A sponsor may not receive funds for
dredging the same channel of a waterway more than once every 10
years.
(b) For the
purpose of s.
30.92(4) (b) 2, Stats., the dredging of a channel of a
waterway to the degree necessary to accommodate recreational watercraft
pursuant to s.
30.92(4) (b) 8 a., Stats., shall be considered a
construction project.
(10) Use of chemicals to remove Eurasian
water milfoil as follows:
(a) Eligible costs
are the cost of chemicals, chemical application and necessary
permits.
(b) Ineligible costs are
costs of pre- and post-treatment monitoring, information and education
materials, preparation of aquatic plant management plans, spraying equipment or
protective equipment.
(11) Acquisition of capital equipment that is
necessary to collect and remove floating trash and debris from a waterway.
Eligible costs are the costs of the following capital equipment: collecting
devices, barges with propelling motors, conveyors and trailering
devices.
