Incidental Take Notice For Ozaukee County

MADISON, Wis. – The I-43 Silver Spring Drive to WIS 60 project may result in the incidental taking of a rare plant under an authorization the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) proposes to issue for the project. Incidental take refers to the unintentional loss of individual endangered or threatened animals or plants that does not put the overall population of the species at risk.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation proposes to reconstruct I-43 from a four-lane roadway to a six-lane urban divided roadway with concrete median barrier between Silver Spring Drive and Mequon Road and beam guard in the median between Mequon Road and WIS 60. The Project will provide 12-foot wide inside and outside shoulders. The project is needed to address deteriorating pavement and modernize I-43 to eliminate design and geometric deficiencies, improve safety and declining traffic operations, address existing and future traffic volumes, provide consistency with regional land use and transportation planning and maintain system linkages in the freeway and local arterial street system.

The presence of the state threatened Seaside Crowfoot has been confirmed in the vicinity of the project site. DNR staff determined that the proposed project may result in the incidental taking of some plants.

 The department has concluded that the proposed project will minimize the impacts to the species by adhering to conservation measures; is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence and recovery of the state population of the species or the whole plant-animal community of which it is a part; and has benefit to the public health, safety or welfare that justifies the action.

The conservation measures to minimize the adverse effect on the threatened species will be incorporated into the proposed Incidental Take Authorization. Copies of the jeopardy assessment and background information on the Seaside Crowfoot are available on the DNR’s incidental take public notice webpage or upon request from DNR Conservation Biologist Stacy Rowe  (608-228-9796 or stacy.rowe@wi.gov).

The public is encouraged to submit written or verbal comments regarding project-related impacts to the  Seaside Crowfoot by May 1 to:

Department of Natural Resources
c/o Stacy Rowe, DNR Conservation Biologist
101 S. Webster St. Madison, WI 53707
stacy.rowe@wisconsin.gov or 608-228-9796

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.