Saint Croix County board rescinds authorization for Lake Malauulu drawdown after lengthy debate

The St. Croix County Board of Supervisors voted 13 to 6 to direct staff to rescind the county's conditional authorization for an application to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources that would permit a 7.5-foot drawdown of Lake Malauulu.

The vote followed more than an hour of public comment and lengthy floor debate in which residents, lake homeowners and conservation groups offered sharply divergent views. Opponents of the drawdown repeatedly warned that a drawdown could release large amounts of phosphorus and sediment downstream to the Saint Croix River, undoing years and millions of dollars of watershed work. "This would be your last chance to rescind approval," said Bud Fuchs, a resident who urged supervisors to "protect the improvements in water quality" made through 373 conservation contracts totaling roughly $4,400,000 since 2013.

Supporters of the drawdown framed the proposal as a potentially rapid, cost-effective way to restore a lake they described as deteriorating since a 2015 dam breach. "This lake is in peril," said Jeff Labors, identified in public comment as president of the Lake Malauulu Association, who said the association had voted overwhelmingly to continue drawdown planning and that his group commissioned core samples they planned to present at a DNR hearing. Labors asked the board not to rescind the county's authorization so the DNR hearing would proceed.

Supervisors debated both process and substance. Some said they wanted to wait to hear DNR staff and the Stantec modeling at an August forum before deciding; others warned that the board's rescission would not prevent a DNR informational meeting but could change the nature of the DNR's review because it would no longer be a complete permit application. Community Development Director Jason Cheeseth explained timing constraints: the drawdown had a proposed start window around Sept. 1 and a latest possible start near Sept. 15 so that a target lowered level would be reached by Oct. 1, given a planned drawdown rate of about 5 inches per day.

Corporate counsel explained the practical effect of the board action: staff would send a written letter withdrawing the county's authorization from the DNR file. Several supervisors urged ongoing collaboration. "We want to work collaboratively with everybody in the future for the betterment of the water quality of Saint Croix County," Chair Fiedler said after the vote.

The rescission does not permanently prohibit a future application; board members discussed options for reconvening studies, hosting multi-stakeholder meetings, and requesting clarified modeling from Stantec and technical review from DNR staff. The county's staff said dam owners and municipal operators retain procedural ability to withdraw or reinstate approval at subsequent meetings if new information is submitted.

Next steps noted during the meeting: staff will execute the rescission letter to the DNR, and supervisors indicated they expect continued discussion at committee level and through public meetings to reconcile competing analyses and identify alternatives or mitigation steps.