During the 2015 Our Ocean Conference in Chile, President Obama announced that for the first time since 2000, two areas have been identified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for possible designation under the National Marina Sanctuaries Act. The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries will be conducting public scoping sessions in Manitowoc, Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties next week. NOAA is seeking the public’s input on protecting a maritime heritage resource area in Wisconsin as a national marine sanctuary.
The Sheboygan meeting will be held in the Wombat Room, Room 2114 of the University of Wisconsin Sheboygan on November 19th at 6:30 PM. A meeting will be held in Manitowoc at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum on November 17th at 6:30 PM. The Port Washington scoping meeting will be held at the Wilson House at 6:30 PM on November 18th.
At the meetings, those attending will be able to learn more about the NOAA Marine Sanctuary program and highlights of the nomination application. The meeting will also provide time for individuals to comment or provide recommendations on the nomination to NOAA. To see the nomination application online go to sanctuaries.noaa.gov/Wisconsin. Public comments can also be made online by going to regulations.gov and searching for NOAA-NOS-2015-0112 or mailed to Ellen Brody, 4840 S. State Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48108-9719. The public comment period closes January 15, 2016.
In December 2014, Governor Walker presented NOAA a nomination for the designation of a National Marine Sanctuary in Wisconsin. This nomination was submitted on behalf of the Cities of Manitowoc, Port Washington, Sheboygan and Two Rivers and is based on a report prepared by the Wisconsin Historical Society in 2008. The report recommended this Mid-Lake Michigan region as the best location in Wisconsin for a potential marine sanctuary and was the first step in a lengthy process for federal designation. The region covers approximately 875 square miles of Lake Michigan waters along the coast of these four cities.
The proposed sanctuary contains 39 known shipwrecks, including 16 on the National Register of Historic Places. It also includes 15 intact shipwreck sites which is the largest number of intact sites of all the Maritime Trails regions on the Wisconsin coasts of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. The construction dates of these shipwrecks range from 1833 to 1918. Three vessels within the proposed sanctuary possess standing masts – a rarity in any of the Great Lakes. This region includes Wisconsin’s two oldest shipwrecks discovered to date, the Gallinipper (1833) and the Home (1843), both of which remain intact.
After the Scoping meetings and public comments are received, NOAA will develop a draft environmental impact statement, draft management plan and draft regulations for a possible Wisconsin marine sanctuary. Those documents will again go through a public review and comment period. After the plans have completed that review, NOAA will then make a final decision on the designation of a Marine Sanctuary in Wisconsin.
Currently, the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary located in Alpena, Michigan is the only NOAA marine sanctuary located on the Great Lakes. Alpena is known as the “Alpena: Sanctuary of the Great Lakes” and the sanctuary draws approximately 100,000 visitors per year. The remaining 12 sanctuaries and two national monuments are located on the coastal waters of the United States adjacent to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans or the Gulf of Mexico.
Wisconsin Proposed NOAA Marine Sanctuary
Wisconsin’s Historic Shipwrecks