URGENT UPDATE: The Sewage and Clear-Cutting Situation in St Germain and Vilas County
Good afternoon and happy weekend, everyone! We would like to thank ALL OF YOU for choosing to sign our Petition to Stop the Waste Dump in St Germain. We have nearly 750 signatures in the first 3 days alone… that is an absolutely INCREDIBLE response. We are clearly making our voices heard!
According to our petition statistics, the vast majority of folks who have signed the petition are residents and property owners in St Germain, Sayner, Eagle River, and Woodruff. I hope you are feeling a strong sense of PRIDE and UNITY this weekend! It’s nice to know that our community shares common values when it comes to how we manage and protect our cherished forests and lakes.
WHO ARE WE: Most of us are residents and landowners in St Germain and the greater Vilas County community. We understand that since our campaign is currently being run “anonymously”, it may make people question our authenticity... but please have faith that the folks running this campaign and petition are, in fact, REAL and LOCAL people in our St Germain community. We shop at Camps, we eat Cathy’s Ice Cream, and we occasionally drink old fashions and beers at the Sayner Pub and Murmuring Waters.
Given how small our closely knit our community is, it probably won’t take long for people to figure out who the organizers are… but in order to shield ourselves from harassment, we are choosing to stay anonymous for the time being. But again, trust that we are the modest folks who have loved our Northwoods for generations… We are your friends, neighbors, and we are passionate and motivated!
Good News: In response to our swift and organized campaign, we have already seen the owners of the property in question “back peddle” on our Facebook Page… as they attempted to claim that they never had any intent to put a sewage dump on the property. We all know that this is not the truth, as 2 newspapers directly quoted a representative of the family who owns the property when they stated, at a previous St Germain town board meeting, that a sewage dump was in fact being considered as a use for the property in question.
It is quite obvious that a sewage field has always been the intent for the property… why else would they Clear-Cut the entire property? Thankfully, word of their plans leaked out into the community and together we organized and raised some hell and made our voices heard!
While we appreciate the owner’s suggestion that they will not make the property a sewage dump… it is too soon to take them at their word…. WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO APPLY PRESSURE! We need to let them know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that our St Germain and Vilas County community will not stand for a waste dump that is located anywhere near private residences, lakes, watersheds, and wetlands.
WHAT WE CAN DO THIS WEEKEND: The most important thing you can do RIGHT NOW... is to continue to spread the word about what is happening. Please make it a goal to share our petition with 5-10 friends whom you know are passionate about protecting the forests and lakes of Vilas County. Our #1 goal is to STOP this sewage dump before it starts. But our #2 goal is to raise awareness throughout Vilas County so that every resident and land owner can consider the issues at the heart of this situation.
The Damage Already Done: The Clear-Cutting done on the property was shocking and inexcusable. No matter what the intent was for this property, was a nearly 80 acre Clear-Cut really necessary? We as a community need to do some soul-searching and ask ourselves what are our values and priorities?
Should these type of logging practices be allowed without ANY regulations or oversight from the DNR, County, or town? Yes, we understand, that it is a private property and the owners have freedoms to do as they wish… but acts like this on such a large scale effect our community's wildlife, lakes, watersheds, streams, and wetlands... we believe having a little bit of oversight in situations like this is perfectly reasonable.
Common-sense would suggest that IF a Clear-Cut is needed on public or private land, then it should be done in a way that protects nearby lakes, streams, and wetlands from erosion and runoff. We are hopeful that the public outrage alone will be enough to bring about change to town ordinances. But if not, we need to continue to voice our opinions and offer possible solutions at town meetings across Vilas County, not just St Germain. We need to continue to bring it up in conversations with friends, family, and neighbors.
Without SOLUTIONS and changes to our town and county zoning ordinances… this type of short-sided destruction will continue to happen. As our populations are growing… our forest lands will undoubtedly face more pressure from developers.
The Fundraiser: There have been some questions about why we are also including a fundraiser as part of our campaign. Feel free to visit our GoFundMe Link for more details. We are raising funds in the event of a legal battle OR in the event we need to continue to raise awareness throughout Vilas County… funding will be needed to help promote and defend our cause.
HOWEVER… we have recently decided as a group that ALL DONATIONS will be refunded if they are not needed or put to use in our campaign. Honestly, we are hopeful we never have to use any of the money, but collecting a war-chest now will allow us to act quickly if we need to up the pressure and FIGHT.
Important Note About Donations on Change.org: It was brought to our attention yesterday that a lot of folks gave "Chip-In" donations through the change.org website immediately after signing the petition online. The total amounted raised was about $1700…which is just incredible! The BUMMER however is that this money collected through the change.org website actually only goes to promoting the petition on change.org… and does not actually go to our war-chest. We are very sorry about this confusion… we the organizers didn’t even know that Change.org was collecting these donations. We were not happy about it and we have contacted the website to request refunds... we felt it was a pretty shady tactic… but apparently this is how change.org makes their money.
The GOOD NEWS is that one of our private donors has agreed to MATCH that $1700 and add it to our GoFundMe campaign and war-chest. So if you donated on change.org, please know that your money will still, in fact, go to our cause.
If anyone would like to contribute to the cause…or if you have friends that would like to contribute… please use the GoFundMe Page… and NOT the change.org petition page. And remember, all donations will be refunded if we do not need to use them!
Moving Forward: There is a St Germain Town Board meeting that is open to the public this Monday Dec 11that 6:30pm at the Community Center. Please attend in person or via zoom if you can! The issue at hand may be discussed and public feedback will be encouraged. Check the St Germain Website for updates and the zoom link.
Thanks again, everyone! We will try to do one of these updates every week. It ain’t easy balancing family and work while attempting to organize and rally an entire county… but we are doing it! Your effort and contribution really is meaningful and we hope you understand how grateful we are. We are so proud of how our Vilas County community is rallying together to prevent this type of horror from happening now and in the future.
If anyone has any questions or suggestions... feel free to email us at taxpayersofvilascounty@gmail.com