|
 June 2025
Table of Contents
|
|
-
The DATCP North Area Engineer position has been reposted. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, June 10, 2025. The posting and job description can be found here. A map of the position’s service area can be found here. Please share this job posting with anyone you think might be interested!
- We will be posting our Northwest Area Technician (Environmental Specialist) position soon. If you are interested, please check WiscJobs this month. We will also share this posting via the Land+Water ListServ and on Land+Water website when available.
- The dates and locations for the hydrologic restoration field trainings have been determined and registration is open! These are the last trainings in the Hydrology Fundamentals series of trainings that are being offered through an EPA grant received by DATCP and in collaboration with Wisconsin Wetlands Association. Registration at each of the three locations is limited to 30 participants, so sign up soon! Additional details on the training and registration can be found at the links for each training below:
- Plum Creek Watershed (Crawford County)
June 10, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Wauzeka, WI
Register here by June 6
- Rush Creek Watershed (Eau Claire County)
June 24, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Town of Lincoln, WI
Register here by June 20
- Little Plover River Watershed (Portage County)
July 17, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Stevens Point
Register here by July 14
|
|
-
At the June 3, 2025 LWCB meeting, Marinette and Winnebago counties presented LWRM plan five-year reviews to the board. Rusk County presented a plan revision. The board heard an educational item related to the impacts of wakeboats on the environment.
- On September 2, 2025, the LWCB Advisory Committee on Research will convene on Teams at 9 a.m.
|
|
-
NEW! – SnapPlus V3 Summer Training This summer, DATCP staff will host five in-person trainings and two webinars throughout June and July. For more dates, locations, and registration information, visit the Nutrient Management Trainings website.
-
NEW! - Nutrient Management Regional Meeting dates and locations have been set for the end of August and beginning of September. Registration is free and a light lunch will be provided by TNC and WI Land + Water. More information can be found here: NMP Regional Meetings.
- We are excited to share that a new webinar series has been developed on Wisconsin’s Nutrient Management Rules. You can find the webinars along with a quiz here: Resources for Wisconsin’s Qualified Nutrient Management Planners.
- Counties that would like some assistance on Nutrient Management Quality Assurance Reviews should email Cody Calkins at cody.calkins@wisconsin.gov. We are looking at providing assistance this year to at least three counties.
|
|
-
CREP Opened for Enrollment until June 6
We are offering a reminder of the shortened enrollment period currently being offered for CREP under SU63. FSA opened CREP for enrollment on May 12, 2025 on a first-come, first-served basis up until June 6, 2025 for both new and reenrolled acre. FSA will be “batching” enrollment under CREP and all CRP to ensure CRP nationally remains under the statutory acreage cap. If you know of landowners in your county interested in enrolling in CREP or that have an expiring CREP agreement that could be reenrolled, please let them know they should begin the offer process with FSA ASAP. Also please know that authority for CREP under the current Farm Bill ends on September 30, 2025 and there is no guarantee the next Farm Bill will continue CREP or its current provisions.
-
CREP Monitoring LTE Assistance with Mackenzie
Mackenzie Shanahan has rejoining DATCP as the CREP LTE this summer to focus on assisting LCDs with completing CREP easement site visits and record keeping. Site visits are essential for benchmarking the status of the conservation practice and identifying and communicating to landowners about issues on the site prior to them becoming severe. Over the past four years, many counties have taken advantage of the assistance offered by the CREP interns and Mackenzie is once again eager to assist. Please feel free to reach out to Mackenzie (mackenzie.shanahan@wisconsin.gov) via email to schedule times to visit easements in your county.
|
|
-
We are currently accepting petitions for the 2025 Agricultural Enterprise Area program until August 1. 2025. Due to the large volume of interest in petitioning this year, we are asking all potential 2025 AEA petitions submit a draft petition narrative by July 1, 2025 for a pre-submission review. If you are interested in petitioning for an AEA during this petition cycle, please contact Wednesday Coye at wednesday.coye@wisconsin.gov to review the petition process and schedule you petitioner interview. For more information on the AEA petition process, including application materials and examples of successful petitions, visit the Petitioning for AEA Designation webpage.
- DATCP’s Farmland Preservation Tax Credits webpage has been updated with additional information to help landowners and tax preparers choose the correct tax schedule when filing for an FP tax credit. If you receive any questions from landowners or tax preparers regarding questions related to tax credit claims or tax credit denials, please contact Wednesday Coye at wednesday.coye@wisconsin.gov. Landowners who have received a denial letter have a limited amount of time to file an appeal with Department of Revenue; timely action is critical.
|
|
-
Soil Health User Group: It has been a year since ATCP 50 was updated - what have you discovered? How do you evaluate soil health? Does your office have a Soil Health kit? If so, how do you use these kits? There’s a growing interest in soil health benefits, and these kits are a great tool to evaluate changes to soil health with the implementation of conservation practices. DATCP is looking for feedback on how we can better support soil health initiatives. Please contact Randy Zogbaum at randalll.zogbaum@wisconsin.gov if you have any feedback to share and/or would be interested in participating in a Soil Health User Group.
- The online Soil Health curriculum is live and available on our soilhealthtraining.wi.gov website. The purpose of this curriculum is to develop a common definition and understanding of Soil Health and develop some guideposts of how to implement soil health systems on Wisconsin farms. Modules 1-3 establish a common language of Soil Health in Wisconsin agriculture. Module 4 of the training will be developed in 2025.
-
Soil Health Training! Randy can provide or help develop training at any length or format for the summer field season. Below are three suggested learning objectives for soil health trainings. Contact Randy Zogbaum if you would like custom trainings to meet specific needs. Randy is also available if you have questions regarding the online trainings or the soil health program, email Randy at randalll.zogbaum@wisconsin.gov.
-
Learning objective 1 is to discuss what soil health is (and isn't) by defining some basic vocabulary and concepts.
-
Learning objective 2 is to demonstrate how to assess and monitor changes and improvements in soil health on Wisconsin Farms.
-
Learning objective 3 is to demonstrate how soil health systems can be implemented on Wisconsin farms.
|
|
-
The 2025 SWRM Master Contract for each county was emailed May 13. The contract must be signed by the authorized county signatory and emailed to DATCP. The DATCP administrator will sign the contract and the fully executed contract will be sent to the county. Only after the contract is fully executed will payments be able to be processed.
-
NEW FORMS REQUIRED! Many of the SWRM forms have been updated with new content and new numbers. Please refer to Section 3 of the SWRM Grant Resources webpage to access these forms.
|
|
-
The DATCP Drainage Program is developing the spring 2025 quarterly newsletter. The intent of the newsletter will be to highlight successes and challenges facing drainage districts and County Drainage Boards throughout the state. The newsletter is part of the department’s overall effort to improve the effectiveness and efficiencies for all stakeholders involved with Wisconsin drainage law. The department is seeking input for the quarterly newsletter. If you have a project or information that you would like to highlight, please send your ideas to Barton T. Chapman, P.E., Drainage Program Manager at barton.chapman@wisconsin.gov.
- The Wisconsin Association of Drainage Boards (WADB), in cooperation with DATCP, will be holding regional educational outreach meetings throughout the state in 2025. Meeting logistics will be shared as they become available.
- All activities within drainage districts are managed and administered by a county drainage board. Contact information can be found on the Drainage Program website or by contacting Barton T. Chapman, P.E., Drainage Program Manager, at barton.chapman@wisconsin.gov.
|
|
-
The AIS program published AIS 4602 for the Mill Road to Granville Rebuild Project in Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Washington counties, Wisconsin on March 27, 2025.
- The AIS program published AIS 4627 for the Hartford Jackson Interconnect Project in Dodge and Washington counties, Wisconsin on April 30, 2025.
- You can find more information about the AIS program at wi.gov. You can also contact DATCPAgImpactStatements@wisconsin.gov with questions regarding any active AIS statement or the AIS program.
|
|
-
Rulemaking for the program is underway and future allocations to be decided during the 2025-2027 budgetary process.
|
|
-
Nine projects were chosen for NOPP grants for Cycle 3 of the program, awarding $1 million to grantees and UW for research support. With a total request of $1,153,862.57, difficult decisions were required. Thank you to the scoring team for the professional review and recommendations!
|
|
-
2025 was the most competitive year yet for the Producer-Led Watershed Protection Grant. We received applications from 49 producer-led groups, for a total funding request of over $1.6 million. With a program budget of $1 million, the grants review committee had to make extremely difficult decisions. Priorities were to fund new viable groups while also providing the highest level of funding merited to as many existing groups as possible.
|
|
-
2025 Scope Statement of for ATCP 52 Permanent Rule related to Producer-Led Watershed Protection Grants general rule cleanup, and the incorporation of the NOPP and Crop Insurance Premium Rebates for Planting Cover Crops Program is open: SS 046-24.
- DATCP will hold a stakeholder meeting on ATCP 52 on June 27 at 9 a.m.
- Emergency Rulemaking is also underway for providing Crop Insurance Premium Rebates for Planting Cover Crops and NOPP to administer the programs until a permanent rule is in effect.
|
|
-
We filled two vacancies this past month! Please welcome Chris Clayton, who started as the Land and Water Resources Bureau Director on May 19; and Jenn Chakravorty, who started as the Land and Water Resource Management Planner on June 2.
-
Chris Chris Clayton – Land and Water Resources Bureau Director
For the past 5+ years, Chris worked as the Agricultural Runoff Section Manager at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, supervising central office staff in the Nonpoint and CAFO Programs. From 2015-19, he worked at DATCP on the Livestock Facility Siting and drainage district programs and staffed two department boards – the LWCB and LFSRB.
Chris lives in Madison with his wife Nicki and two children, Maeve (14) and Huxley (9). He enjoys spending time with family, especially the small moments like driving to swim practices, reading books at bedtime, or heading out for bike rides.
-
Jenn Chakravorty – Land and Water Resource Management Planner
Jenn received her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Sociology from University of Nebraska – Lincoln and her M.S. in Landscape Architecture (with a focus on Restoration Ecology) from UW-Madison. Her career highlights have included working on diversified vegetable farms in Nebraska, two years of AmeriCorps service focused on local food access and policy in Vermont and Ohio, assisting farmers as an Organic Certification Specialist in Nebraska, promoting conservation of Wisconsin’s grasslands with the Southern Driftless Grasslands partnership (housed at the Driftless Area Land Conservancy), and carrying out on-the-ground land management with various non-profit and governmental agencies in Ohio and Wisconsin (invasive species control, brush removal, prescribed burns, seed collection, you name it!). She spent the last two years at USDA-NRCS working on the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) where she was lucky enough to provide support for projects lead by the American Bird Conservancy, Sand County Foundation, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, and Dane County LWRD. Jenn is excited to continue learning about conservation activities across the state in her new role!
Outside of work, Jenn is in the process of converting her lawn to native species and stewards a 10-acre property made up of oak woodland, oak savanna, and prairie habitats in western Dane County. Some of her other hobbies include gardening, camping, sewing, and birding.
|
|
|
|
|
