The Onion River Dam referendum divided Waldo residents

WALDO, Wisc. — Waldo, Wisconsin is a village of only about 500 people. One of its main attractions is the nearly 170-year-old dam and mill pond on the Vignon River.

The same land that for generations brought people together for recreation is now dividing the community.

At the vote on November 5, residents must vote to keep or remove it.

“I would hate for this to go away,” Village Board President Gary Decker said. “It’s one of the few reasons people want to come to Waldo.

Dekker grew up not far from the pond. He said the dam is a sentimental place for him.

“There are people out here canoeing, kayaking, fishing,” Dekker noted, looking out over the water from a bench he installed near the shore in honor of his father.

The dam is currently out of DNR code and is considered a “significant hazard.”

I spoke with Waldo Dam Engineer Adam Schneider, who said that if the dam is to remain, the village would have to modify the structure to allow more water to pass through it.

It would require residents to shell out roughly $350,000 over the next 20 years.

“We have no reason to have a pond other than our attachment to the landscape, our attachment to the fact that we have a pond,” said Jack Parrish, a Waldo resident and local council president. Pond Improvement Association.

Although it’s a group dedicated to maintaining the pond and the park around it, it advocates its removal for environmental reasons — better water quality and more fish passage.

“I’d rather not spend my dollars on a dam,” Parrish said. “I really think the best long-term scenario for everybody is to restore the habitat back to what it once was, through a flowing river.”

If the village receives a grant to dismantle the dam, residents will likely pay for land reclamation.

But Dekker still isn’t sure it’s the right way to go.

“It’s probably going to be a swamp after a while,” he said. “I’m sure if you lived near a body of water like this, you wouldn’t want it to disappear either.”

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