County board approves 10-year land and water plan to qualify for grant funding

The Manitowoc County Board of Supervisors on a unanimous vote approved the county's 10-year Land and Water Resource Management Plan for 2026'2035 after a presentation by David Wittenkamp, the county's Soil and Water Director.

Wittenkamp told the board the plan is required to designate cost-share and staffing dollars and to support ordinances and conservation programs, saying, "Without having a plan on file, we can't ask for grant monies or staffing to help our county with our conservation resources." The board passed the resolution to adopt the plan after a motion by Supervisor Ryan Phipps and a second by Supervisor Chisel; the clerk then conducted the vote and the resolution was approved.

The 150-page plan compiles a year-long public process that included a 16-member local advisory committee, multiple public meetings, a community survey and outreach at venues including the county fair. Wittenkamp said the document is built on earlier plans from 1967, 1978 and the last update in 2015 and is intended to guide conservation investments, ordinance enforcement and grant applications under state rules.

Key priorities identified in the plan include groundwater protection, addressing surface-water contamination from runoff, and enforcing existing agricultural performance standards. The presentation highlighted the DNR's Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) modeling for phosphorus and sediment: darker areas on the county map show priority zones concentrated in parts of the southeast and southwest. Wittenkamp said the county has both groundwater vulnerability in the north (karst and sandy soils) and surface-water runoff issues in lower clay areas, and that responses must be targeted by watershed.

The plan sets out quantitative context and resource needs: Manitowoc County has about 927 miles of streams and 109 lakes, 65 of which the director said are currently listed as impaired. The county contains roughly 193,000 acres of cropland, about 155,000 acres of which the staff currently monitor under nutrient-management plans, and Wittenkamp noted the county holds 32 livestock facility licenses, a figure he said is the highest in the state.

Wittenkamp summarized estimated staffing and cost needs to implement the plan: the work was calculated at about 11,940 staff hours per year against an available 10,725 hours from the department's 5.5 full-time staff, producing an estimated funding gap of roughly $600,000 per year. He told the board that approximately 40'45% of staffing dollars typically come from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the rest from the county levy, and that the county will develop annual work plans to document progress and explain unmet goals.

Supervisor Ryan Phipps, who moved adoption, said of the plan, "This management plan isn't perfect, but it's a good plan." Phipps said the document reflects compromise and will require adjustments over time but provides a framework for conservation work.

Wittenkamp described monitoring and reporting expectations under state rules (he cited Chapter 92 and NR 151 during his presentation) and said the plan is intended to position the county to compete for grants and staff cost-share. He also noted the plan includes a chapter-by-chapter budget and staffing table that breaks each priority into estimated staff hours and associated costs.

The resolution passed as "Resolution 2025-2026-117, the Manitowoc County 10-year Land and Water Resource Management Plan"; after the clerk conducted the vote, the board approved the plan. The county will proceed with annual work plans and follow-up reporting to state agencies as outlined in the document.