End of stewardship fund blasted at Lion’s Den

Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve in the Town of Grafton, which was developed in part using funds from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, was an appropriate setting Monday as Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin and others blasted the fact that funding for the program ended June 30.

She called for people to push legislators to approve funding for the stewardship program when the state budget is finalized next year.

“I am confident that we can come together next year and get this done,” she said. “Where there is a will, there is a way.”

While funding for the program ended this week, the effect may not be immediate, Habush Sinykin and others speaking at the press conference said.

Tom Stolp, executive director of Restoring Lands, said land trusts and communities will no longer be able to apply for funding to conserve additional properties.

But the most immediate impact, he said, will likely be seen in lands already preserved that need work done.

“That goes away,” he said.

Instead of buying properties, Stolp said, organizations may seek conservation easements.

But, he said, those don’t necessarily allow public access to the lands, something that is required with stewardship funding.

“We’ll see the downstream effects,” Stolp said.

Ozaukee County Parks and Planning Director Andrew Struck said a lack of stewardship funding will also make it more difficult to obtain other funds for conservation projects.

Not only has the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program provided funding that is used as a match for other grants, Struck said, some federal programs require state stewardship funds as a condition of their grants.

Habush Sinykin noted the stewardship program is a success story supported by 93% of Wisconsin residents.

But the reason why the stewardship program, which has protected 750,000 acres around the state, is no longer funded is simple, she said.

“Sad but true — partisan politics,” she said.

Republicans upset that the State Supreme Court found their use of anonymous objections to derail projects was unconstitutional took out their anger on the stewardship program, Habush Sinykin said.

The practice of using anonymous objections came to light when the Joint Finance Committee used it to derail approval of a $2.3 million grant intended to help with the acquisition of the Clay Bluffs Cedar Gorge Nature Preserve in Port Washington.

That project was saved by Gov. Tony Evers, who used pandemic relief funds to finance the purchase.

But Republicans took aim at the stewardship program, Habush Sinykin said.

Efforts to provide some stewardship funding were short circuited by Republican legislators, she said. They proposed a bill to fund the program that imposed what she said was an unworkable oversight mechanism.

She introduced a bill to fund the program, but the Republican leadership would not bring it to the floor for a vote.

And she said a last-ditch effort she introduced to fund the program for a year was also rejected by them.

“Allow me to state the obvious: Actions speak louder than words,” Habush Sinykin said. “If the people of Wisconsin wish to see the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program continue going forward, we need legislators in charge who value the program and its continuity.”

Todd Ambs, an Ozaukee County supervisor and former assistant deputy secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, said that while funding for the program only just ended, scuttling the program has been a goal of Republicans for years.

“This just didn’t happen this year,” Ambs said. “Republicans for a good decade or more have been taking steps to wiggle away from it.”

They also stripped funding from the state park system in 2019, he said, and projects are backing up.

“There’s a snowball effect here,” Ambs said.

One man in the crowd noted that the program had been funded by bonding and asked if there was an alternative that might be more acceptable to Republicans.

Stolp noted that the state bonds for “far less durable” projects, such as roads, but suggested that one source of revenue could be an excise fee on data centers.

“They’re such a rapid conversion of open spaces,” he said.

Other states impose this type of fee, Habush Sinykin said, and Wisconsin is likely to do so as well.

Habush Sinykin said she’s determined to restore funding to the stewardship program.

“It’s not just for at-risk lands,” she said. “It’s for those properties that come up once in a lifetime and are jewels. We need to have the tools to act.

“This is not over. We’re just waiting for the next opportunity.”