If ever there were an historically bi-partisan cause in Wisconsin, it’s conservation.
Our citizens/voters have demonstrated time and again in polls that a big majority support the preservation of our lands and waters — politically, financially and even spiritually.
Unfortunately, partisanship has reared its unconstructive head in recent years, and now uncertainty about the flow of funds for conservation reigns in how federal and state funds will be dispersed for the balance of 2025 and beyond.
As an example, without explanation, trail-building on the Ice Age Trail in Washington County was called off in March, but then, without explanation, given a green light for this Fall.
A new 2.4-mile section of the trail, the Cedar Lakes segment between the Polk Kames and Fox Hill, will be built by volunteers in October. Will the green light stay lit in the face of continuing federal cuts by Elon Musk and his DOGE hatchet crews? Who knows?
At the same time, Republican legislators in Wisconsin are signaling that the state-hallowed bi-partisan Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program could be terminated. That program has been a bi-partisan hallmark since 1989 when it was created collaboratively by former governors Warren Knowles, a Republican, and Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat.
Though diminished in scope by Republicans in recent years, it has survived at $33 million per year in state budgets for more than a decade.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu has recently said that a Supreme Court decision limiting legislative oversight of Stewardship sounded “a death knell” for the program. The Sheboygan County legislator has been listening to local stewardship advocates, but has only committed to taking survival of the program to his closed GOP caucus.
On the other side of the political divide, Democratic Gov. Tony
Evers put $1 billion over ten years into his new state budget for Stewardship. Obviously, there is a massive gap between the two state leaders.
How is that going to shake out? The budget is supposed to be finished by June 30, so some resolution is imminent.
Hopefully, the strength of voter polls in favor of conservation have influence toward a positive Stewardship outcome.
Mike McFadzen, an outspoken champion for trails and park improvements in Wisconsin, from Plymouth, says that the Knowles-Nelson Program “generates benefits beyond conservation. Studies show that protected lands boost local economy by attracting tourists, hunters, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts.”
He cited a study by the Outdoor Industry Association concluding that outdoor recreation generates $7.8 billion in annual consumer spending per year in Wisconsin and supports 93,000 jobs.
Additionally, he said, “The program plays a critical role in mitigating climate change and preserving biodiversity. By protecting forests, wetlands and prairies. It helps sequester carbon, reduces flooding and maintains essential habitat for wildlife.”
Those are the kinds of arguments that conservationists will use to convince Republican legislators to meet Gov. Evers part way. The Stewardship Program will probably be part of a grand compromise between Evers, LeMahieu and Assembly Speaker Robin Voss on many items in the budget, including Stewardship.
The Republican legislators will take into account that one of their stalwart leaders on the Joint Finance Committee, Duey Strobel, was defeated by Democrat Jody Habush Sinykin last November. He was perceived as anti-conservation when JFC slowed, reduced or eliminated payments for local conservation projects funded in part by Stewardship.
The politicians on both sides of the aisle should also take special note that most of the proposed conservation projects have a big local match. The conservation champions put their own money into projects they advocate.
The case can be made against more state bonding for funding Stewardship. The state has invested $1.4 billion over the past 30 years; the outstanding debt now stands at about $564 million.
Other potential more permanent sources of funding could be analyzed by a bi-partisan Legislative Council. Alternatives include: a small part of the state sales tax, ala Minnesota; a segregated sales tax on outdoor recreation equipment; or an extraction tax on each ton of fracking sands produced in Wisconsin.
The state’s $4 billion surplus could expunge the state’s Stewardship debt, with the savings in debt service becoming an annual allocation for conservation.
It’s time to get creative, to ditch the partisan divide over conservation and to get back to our deep conservation roots in this naturally beautiful state.
(Torinus is a former chair of The Nature Conservancy, Wisconsin Chapter and a former director of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust.)
