Glacial Drumlin Horse Trail Association

Many of you may have seen an email that is going around from the Spur of the Moment Ranch about changes in the Managed Forest Land program. You can see a copy of it in the list on the right.

On Friday, October 26, 2007 Governor Doyle signed the state 07-09 budget bill. The bill contained language inserted by the Joint Committee on Finance that terminates the ability of Managed Forest Law (MFL) participants to lease closed MFL lands for specific recreational activities.

You can also see the letter sent to those in the Managed Forest Lands Program by the DNR explaining these changes is the files section on the left.

Current enrollees, who have a lease or other agreement for consideration which permits others to engage in recreational activities on closed lands must terminate the arrangement by January 1, 2008 or be in violation of this new provision in MFL. This includes negotiated written, verbal or other types of agreements in exchange for any of the recreational activities listed in the law. A person providing something of value to the landowner in appreciation for the permission to recreate on the land is not "consideration" as long as it is freely given and is not an expectation or requirement for use. This change does not remove the ability of a landowner to control who they allow on their closed MFL lands. They are simply not allowed to receive compensation or consideration for recreational uses.

On December 6th the State Trails Council met to learn more about these changes from the DNR Forestry Department and the DNR Legal Department. Several points were quickly cleared up and highlighted here:

It was the intent of the legislature to open more land for recreational actives, not limit them. They were trying to make choosing to limit access to forest land by closing it to the public a less desirable option. They wanted to close a loophole where by MFL participants could make money by leasing MFL and to private individuals.

In the budget bill a change was made and now reads "Section 248d 77.81 (6) of the statutes is created to read: "Recreational activities" include hunting, fishing, hiking, sight--seeing, cross--county skiing, horseback riding, and staying in cabins." The letter that the DNR sent to those in the MFL program contained the same list and added this in front of the list: "The specific recreational activities covered in the new law are hunting, fishing, .... The attorneys offered their opinion on this list. They said that based on past laws and understanding the intent of the law that this list is just an example of recreational activities. They interpret the word "include" to mean "such as". They also said that the letter contained unfortunate language and is incorrect when it state "The specific recreational activities covered".

Example:
Question: Can an owner of MFL property, who owns an adjacent business, stable, resort, or other fee generating operation for which they receive consideration, allow their guests,customer, etc., to recreate on their closed MFL property, so long as that owner provides open and unrestricted access to all members of the public for any and all recreational uses that the owner's fee paying guest enjoy on the MFL property?

Answer:
Yes. As long as any and all recreational uses that the MFL property owner's fee paying guests on the adjoining property/resort/stable have access to are made available to the general public, the access to recreational activities on the property would not be conditioned on the receipt of consideration, and so would not violate the new statutory prohibition on leasing MFL property for recreational purposes.

Holders of property in the Managed Forest Land Program should continue to work with your Wisconsin Woodland Owners Assoc. You can learn more about them at www.wisconsinwoodlands.org Click on the link "What's New" to see their updates. The members of this association working with other interested groups including recreational trail users can make a powerful coalition. We need to stay engaged with this group offering all of the support that we can muster.