Wisconsin Statutes
Wis. Stat. § 31.187 (2026)
Abandoned dams
✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
WI-LEGdocs.legis.wisconsin.gov
JustiaChapter on Justia
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
31.187(1)(1) The department may remove or cause to be removed, in such manner as it deems fit, old and abandoned dams in streams in this state, upon giving 60 days’ notice in writing to the owner thereof, if the owner can be found. If the owner of the dam is unknown or cannot, by due diligence, be found, the department shall publish a class 3 notice, under ch. 985, in the county in which the dam is situated.
31.187(2)(2) Whenever the department determines that the conservation of any species or variety of wild animals will be promoted thereby, the department may maintain and repair any dam located wholly upon lands the title to which is in the state either as proprietor or in trust for the people after giving due consideration to fixing the level and regulating the flow of the public waters.
31.187 AnnotationThis section, and not s. 31.185 or 283.31, governs removal of a dam by the Department of Natural Resources. There is no statutory authority to grant injunctive relief against the department when it causes damages during a dam removal. Froebel v. DNR, 217 Wis. 2d 652, 579 N.W.2d 774 (Ct. App. 1998), 97-0844.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 1998–2000 · leading case: Froebel v. Wisconsin Dep't of Nat. Resources, 579 N.W.2d 774 (Wis. Ct. App. 1998).
Froebel v. Wisconsin Dep't of Nat. Resources, 579 N.W.2d 774 (Wis. Ct. App. 1998). “Froebel's argument overlooks § 31.187, Stats., which affords the DNR broad discretion in dam removal.”
Froebel v. Meyer, 13 F. Supp. 2d 843 (E.D. Wis. 1998). “13 On the issue of whether the DNR was required to obtain a WPDES permit for the removal of Funk’s Dam, the court of appeals emphasized the importance of Wis.Stat. § 31.187, a section which Meyer and Sturtev-ant continue to stress in today’s litigation.”
Kurt Froebel v. George E. Meyer, 217 F.3d 928 (7th Cir. 2000). “Both the Wisconsin circuit and appellate courts upheld WDNR’s actions by reference to Wis. Stat. § 31.187 (1), which provides: The department may remove or cause to be removed, in such manner as it deems fit, old and abandoned dams in streams in this state, upon giving 60 days’…”
Wis. Stat. § 31.187(1): 2 cases
Froebel v. Wisconsin Dep't of Nat. Resources, 579 N.W.2d 774 (Wis. Ct. App. 1998). “Froebel's argument overlooks § 31.187, Stats., which affords the DNR broad discretion in dam removal.”
Froebel v. Meyer, 13 F. Supp. 2d 843 (E.D. Wis. 1998). “13 On the issue of whether the DNR was required to obtain a WPDES permit for the removal of Funk’s Dam, the court of appeals emphasized the importance of Wis.Stat. § 31.187, a section which Meyer and Sturtev-ant continue to stress in today’s litigation.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.