Geology Professor John Luczaj co-leads one-day classroom and field training session for Wisconsin DNR

Green Bay campus Geology professor John Luczaj partnered with UW Madison’s Division of Extension and the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS) for a one-day classroom and field training session for Wisconsin DNR, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and county conservation agency staff. Luczaj co-led the afternoon field session with Dave Hart of WGNHS, visiting a quarry and several sinkholes in Brown County, showcasing how land management practices have a direct influence on both groundwater and drinking water quality.

“Our goal is to make sure that the agency staff working with rural landowners understand how sensitive the local geology is, and what research by Luczaj at UWGB, WGNHS and others say about how contaminants move and can impact the local groundwater,” noted Extension’s Kevin Erb as he talked about the classroom session that preceded the field training. Erb (MS, 2020, Environmental Science and Policy) said that this workshop is one of a series led by Extension’s Conservation Professional Training Program, based in the STEM building on the UWGB campus, offered around the state.

The 33 workshop participants were from a variety of programs within DNR, including public and private drinking water, Runoff/CAFO and Spills/Remediation & Redevelopment staff.

For more information on this or future sessions, contact Kevin Erb at kevin.erb@wisc.edu.

UWGB’s John Luczaj discusses the characteristics of karst aquifers at the Geology of Northeast Wisconsin training session for DNR/USDA and County conservation staff Nov 14 2023 at the STEM building on the UWGB campus.

UWGB’s John Luczaj discusses how water moves through the natural cracks and factures in the Silurian bedrock of Northeast Wisconsin on a farm in southern Brown County during the Geology of Northeast Wisconsin training session for DNR/USDA and County conservation staff Nov 14 2023.

Field participants discuss how sinkholes are a risk factor for groundwater contamination with UWGB’s John Luczaj on a farm in rural Brown County.

Field participants examine a series of open sinkholes on a farm in rural DePere as UWGB’s John Luczaj explains how surface runoff enlarges the sinkholes both by moving overlaying soil into the fractures and slowly dissolving the dolostone bedrock.