A plan to build a transfer station near the channel on the left would allow boats to sidestep a lock and dam on the Fox River (right). The plan is raising fears about invasive species reaching Lake Winnebago. Credit: Evan Siegle / Green Bay Press-Gazette

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A public agency wants to build a transfer station to bypass a lock on the Fox River in northeastern Wisconsin, but critics fear the project could attract invasive species to inland waters.

Plans by the Fox River Navigational System Authority call for construction of a system to move boats around the lock between Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago.

Under state law, Rapide Croche lock near Kaukauna in Outagamie County must remain closed as a precaution to help stop invasive species from Lake Michigan spreading upstream to the prized fishery of the Lake Winnebago system.

But the authority aims to get around that restriction with a $3.8 million project that would hoist boats out of the river, spray them under high pressure and plop them into a 110-degree bath for 10 minutes before they are returned to the Fox.

The money would come from a mix of public and private dollars. Watercraft as long as 55 feet could use the proposed system.

After the treatment, watercraft presumably wouldn't contain the kind of invasive species, such as sea lamprey, round goby and quagga mussel, that are upending the ecology of the Great Lakes, the world's largest freshwater system.

A St. Norbert College survey conducted for the authority in 2010 estimates that about 1,300 boats would use the system at least twice a year.

Robert J. Stark, chief operating officer of the authority, estimated that boaters would be charged $25 to $50, depending on the size of the boat.

The project must be approved by the Department of Natural Resources and is now before Secretary Cathy Stepp.

The decision will be closely watched to see how the administration of Gov. Scott Walker reviews a project that would ease boat travel between two popular waterways but that could pose a threat to the Fox-Winnebago system.

A DNR spokesman said it was premature to say what Stepp will do. But a department environmental assessment said the project would increase the risk of invasive species to the Winnebago system, which represents 17% of the state's inland waters.

George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, believes the project will benefit relatively few people compared with the thousands of boaters who motor up and down the river every year.

Those behind the transfer station "can argue the risk isn't that great," Meyer said. "I don't buy that. Why take any risk at all?"

Lake Winnebago is the home of a popular walleye fishery and the world's largest self-sustaining sturgeon population. Using survey data on angler spending, the DNR estimated the Winnebago system generates $234 million in annual revenue for the region. The arrival of a new invasive species could jeopardize that, the DNR said.

The Fox River navigation authority was created by state law in 2001 as the state was preparing to take over management of the lock and dam system from the federal government.

The lock plays a strategic role in Wisconsin's battle against invasive species.

Under state law, Rapide Croche — pronounced "rapid crosh" — is the only lock of 17 on the river that is permanently closed. The reason: To prevent sea lamprey and other aquatic invasive species from entering the Fox-Winnebago.

The Fox-Winnebago system and Lake Michigan are both infested with invasive species, but Lake Michigan has more, the DNR said.

Another potential threat are Asian carp — invasive species that consume large amounts of plankton, which are an essential source of food for native fish.

They are moving up the Mississippi River basin and are now found in the Illinois River. Scientists are now looking for them in Lake Michigan tributaries.

The DNR said this fall that it found genetic evidence of silver carp on the Fox in downtown Green Bay. A second round of testing last month revealed no further signs of DNA, meaning it likely came from bilge, a bait bucket or birds that were in areas the carp inhabit.

Physical barriers are seen as a key strategy to protect the Great Lakes from advancing Asian carp from the Mississippi basin.

In 2010, Wisconsin joined four other Great Lakes states in a lawsuit against Illinois to force changes on the Chicago River to stop the carp from entering Lake Michigan, including reconstruction of a barrier between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi basin. Canals in Chicago eliminated that barrier more than a century ago.

A federal appeals court in July upheld a lower court dismissal of the states' lawsuit but left open the possibility the states could file the suit again if Asian carp are shown to be a more immediate threat, according to the Michigan attorney general's office.

In its environmental assessment, DNR staff said a proposed "cleansing station" is more effective than lifting watercraft over the lock or using trailers to drive around them.

"However, (the transfer station) cannot guarantee one hundred percent effectiveness," the DNR said.

The DNR also said white perch and round goby have a "particularly high potential to cause harm to the Lake Winnebago system." Both have invaded Green Bay and moved into tributaries.

The DNR cited research on white perch in New York's Oneida Lake, which has similar characteristics to Lake Winnebago.

White perch compete with native yellow perch, which walleye feed on. They also have caused major declines in the white bass population in the lake, the DNR said.

"The likelihood of invasive species getting in is extremely small," the authority's Stark said.

The authority's own environmental analysis says the transfer station, with a crew cleaning boats, would be more effective than boats moving in and out of scores of boat ramps, where there is little or no oversight.

He said the river is monitored for invasive species and will continue to be checked, with oversight from a scientist with a doctoral degree.

Stark said crews would work in teams of two and be properly trained.

"Compare this with all of all of the access points for boats that have no control or monitoring whatsoever," Stark said.

Meyer, a former DNR secretary, isn't satisfied.

"It's going to be human beings who are running this operation on a part-time basis," Meyer said.

Eight conservation groups, including Walleyes for Tomorrow, oppose the project. The walleyes group has spent $1 million since 1991 to improve spawning habitat for walleye, according to Mike Arrowood, chairman of the group.

"We don't know what is lurking out there and may potentially get in and wreak havoc on the system," he said.