MOSINEE, Wis. — A central Wisconsin potato farmer, Justin Isherwood and his wife Lynn, won a court case January 31, 2018 to protect trout in a creek on their property. And a local non-profit group, Landscapes For Life Foundation, helped raise $14,000 for the Isherwoods to assist with the legal expenses to help achieve this result.
A protracted legal battle between the Isherwoods and the Portage County Drainage Board came to a head on Wednesday January 31st with Judge Jon Counsell in Portage County ruling in favor of the Isherwoods. The ruling came after three days of testimony and a court visit to the Plover site where Justin had previously installed trout habitat in the stream. The Drainage Board had the habitat removed in the summer of 2017 just prior to a hearing on an injunction to stop the removal. That removal of trout habitat by the Drainage Board earned the ire of Judge Counsell when he exclaimed in court, “Why would somebody pull such a pigheaded move and do that?”
The Drainage Board had insisted that some Christmas trees and logs that Justin had staked to the bottom of the stream for trout habitat were disrupting the flow of water and could result in flooding of other properties. The case included testimony from George Kraft, a nationally recognized hydrology and water expert. Kraft’s testimony threw a wet blanket on the Drainage Board’s assertion.
Tom Girolamo, President of Landscapes For Life Foundation had this to say, “Here is a really good example of a farmer of a commodity crop, not just saying it, but actually being a contentious and good steward of the land. For Justin to put in trout habitat was not too difficult. The hard part was overcoming a hundred years of drainage practices that failed to use scientific methods and good resource management. This win by the Isherwoods helps protect everyone’s rights to public water ways in Wisconsin.”
The judge ruled that the Portage County Drainage Board must compensate the Isherwoods to replace the trout habitat removed by the Board and to cover the Isherwoods’ legal expenses. Justin and Lynn Isherwood are eager to get back to work reinstalling the trout habitat.
— Landscapes For Life Foundation
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