MADISON — The Department of Natural Resources is asking the governor and state lawmakers to more than triple the amount Wisconsin spends on a program to buy and protect land for conservation.
But a top Republican says the program could be eliminated altogether after a recent state Supreme Court ruling barred lawmakers from blocking conservation projects.
The DNR’s budget request includes a request for $100 million in each of the next 10 years to fund the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, Management and Budget Director Maggie Hutter said at a Natural Resources Board meeting on Wednesday.
Money from the program allows the DNR to purchase land and funds grants for land trusts and local governments to buy and improve public land. Currently, the stewardship program is funded at $32 million a year, but that funding will expire in 2026.
Watch: Conservation program in jeopardy as DNR asks to triple funding
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the Legislature’s budget-writing committee clashed over the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program after GOP lawmakers anonymously blocked dozens of projects in recent years.
Evers filed a lawsuit over the issue last year, and in July the Wisconsin Supreme Court said lawmakers legally could not block the funding.
“Since that court decision came out and the legislative obstruction is gone, we have seen land trusts—the nonprofit groups that take advantage of Knowles-Nelson funding—come rushing back to the table asking for support,” said Charles Carlin, director of strategic initiatives at Gathering Waters.
Carlin said the extra funding could help land trusts make up for years of underfunding. Funding for the stewardship program peaked in 2007 when it received $86 million in state support.
But to make it into the state budget, the DNR’s funding request would have to gain approval from the same GOP-controlled finance committee that has rejected its conservation projects.
“It’s unfortunate that Governor Evers’ lawsuit removed all accountability from the stewardship program, which helped ensure local voices were heard and that taxpayer resources were spent wisely,” Republican Rep. Mark Born, who co-chairs the Joint Finance Committee, said in a statement. “The entire program is now in jeopardy.”
Evers is expected to publish his budget proposal early in 2025. The finance committee will then write its own version to be passed by the Legislature and sent back to Evers, who can amend it with his partial veto power before signing it into law.
