DNR to consider paddling fees

The Wisconsin DNR is considering charging paddlers a fee to use Wisconsin rivers and streams.  Presumably this means you would have to purchase an annual registration sticker for your kayak (or canoe).  This is unfortunate for many reasons.  While the fee probably won’t be too high, the hassle involved in doing the registrations and renewals will deter the public from paddling and exploring our great state.  Paddlers have a very small footprint…we just need a shoulder to park on and two-foot right-of-away to slide our boat into the water.  The very expensive boat ramps that are popping up (sometimes to the tune of over a million dollars) are overkill for paddlers and should not be an excuse for paddling fees.  You can read more about this new registration proposal here.  For comparison, Iowa requires registration for kayaks over 13′ and Minnesota requires registration for all kayaks (plus a complicated registration process).