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Outdoors: Stewardship Fund gets budget boost

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  10/25/2007 8:29 am

Budget details are not fully available but preliminary information indicates that outdoors people could be pleased with the compromise on funding of the new Knowles/Nelson Stewardship Fund.

George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said that he has been told that proposals by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Hunters Rights Coalition, Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, Conservation Congress and other conservation organizations have been included in the budget.

"We have been told that the Stewardship Fund has been reauthorized starting in 2010 at $86 million a year for 10 years, which is an $850 million program," Meyer said.

Stewardship is the fund that the state uses to purchase public lands, from money the state receives from selling bonds. The state later pays back the funds, with interest, in later budgets allowing future generations to pay for lands, such as public wildlife areas, public fishery landings, and state natural areas, that they will benefit from.

The current program expires in 2010, and the new program will begin in 2011.

Gov. Jim Doyle originally proposed funding Stewardship at $105 million, up from the program's current $60 million because the cost to purchase land has increased substantially. The legislature looked at alternatives varying from $25 million to $105 million, which formed the basis of the final bargaining positions.

Meyer said the $86 million amount was in the range that many people close to the legislative action initially projected would be used. He is hopeful that in future years that number could be increased -- just as when the Stewardship Fund was reauthorized in 1999, it was originally reauthorized at $47 million, not the current $60 million. It was increased by $13 million a year two years later.

Meyer said he has heard that the new Stewardship program will include language that all lands bought in fee with Stewardship dollars, regardless if they were bought by the state, local units of government or nonprofit organizations, must be open for public hunting, fishing and other purposes unless it was necessary to restrict access for public safety purposes or to protect unique ecological values.

He said the legislature required that 80 percent of the funds needed to be spent on parcels larger than 10 acres. This was for the purpose of assuring that the program would get the biggest impact and that there would be a focus on larger parcels which would be more useable for hunting and other purposes.

He also understands that the legislature will authorize the DNR to contract with outside groups, such as nonprofits including hunting and fishing groups and land trusts and private companies, to help manage the public lands that they are buying. This was to get at the issue of habitat degradation, invasive species, un-maintained roads and parking areas, fences, land trespasses, etc., that sportsmen and women have been very concerned about.

One trade-off that was made was to allow the legislature to have more legislative oversight on land purchases and auditing of the program.

"This Stewardship reauthorization was a great victory for the sportsmen and women in this state," Meyer said. "Sportsmen and women of this state who contacted their legislators about the importance of this program did a good thing for your children and grandchildren and the future of hunting, fishing and trapping in Wisconsin."

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  10/25/2007 8:29 am