GOP vote spurs fight over state stewardship program

A pair of Republican-authored bills to continue the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, which has been used locally to acquire natural areas such as Lions Den Gorge Nature Preserve in the Town of Grafton and the Sauk Creek Nature Preserve in Port Washington, in fact would gut the program, area conservationists warn.

Tom Stolp, executive director of Restoring Lands — previously the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust — was blunt in his assessment of the bills approved by the Assembly last week, saying they would create a “zombie” program.

“Let’s be clear: what passed is not Knowles-Nelson,” he said. “The heart and soul of the program — funding for land acquisition — was cut from the legislation.

“Some Republicans claim these bills keep the program ‘alive,” but without land acquisition funding the proposals create a Knowles-Nelson zombie, technically living but dead on the inside.”

The bills will be the subject of a public hearing Tuesday, Feb. 3, before the State  Committee on Financial Institutions and Sporting Heritage.

Committee member and State Sen. Jodi Habush-Sinykin, D-Whitefish Bay, whose district includes a large swath of Ozaukee County, called the bills “inadequate” and said she will continue to work for a robust program.

“I remain committed to passing legislation that reauthorizes the Stewardship program while keeping its integrity intact,” she said. “I will remain steadfast in my efforts to ensure the continuity of this vital program and am hopeful that lawmakers in both parties will come together to continue this bipartisan success story.”

Funding for the stewardship program needs to be approved by June 30 or the program will end.

Stolp said he’s “deeply concerned” about the program, saying it essentially eliminates funding to acquire property for conservation.

“That’s pretty much what Knowles-Nelson is most associated with, creating nature preserves,” he said.

Currently, he said, the program is operating with a record low funding level of $7 million for land acquisition.

“With real estate prices, the dollars don’t go as far as they used to,” he noted.

State Rep. Deb Andraca, D-Whitefish Bay, proposed a one-year extension of the current program just before the Assembly bill was approved, and it was voted down along party lines, according to Charles Carlin, director of strategic initiatives for Gathering Waters.

He added that Gov. Tony Evers has said he will only sign a Knowles-Nelson reauthorization that includes adequate funding for both land acquisition and habitat management.

The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program — named after former governors Warren Knowles, a Republican, and Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat — has been provided $23 million to fund 133 projects in Ozaukee County over the past 30-plus years, Stolp said.

That’s especially noteworthy, he said, because the program only pays a maximum of half the cost of acquiring the land or the appraised value of the land, whichever is less, with the remainder coming from nonprofit organizations such as Restoring Lands.

“I attribute the success of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust, River Revitalization Foundation and now Restoring Lands to two things — our committed and generous community of conservationists and the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program,” Stolp said.

The first project financed by these funds in Ozaukee County was in 1994, when $130,000 was given to what was then the Ozaukee Land Trust to acquire the Sauk Creek Nature Preserve, he said.

  The current state of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program stems from a controversy over $2.3 million in funding from the program that was earmarked for the acquisition of the Clay Bluffs Cedar Gorge Nature Preserve land in the City of Port Washington but blocked by a single, anonymous member of the Joint Committee on Finance using a legislative rule that was in place at the time.

Evers made up for the lost funding for the land purchase with American Rescue Act money and a legal challenge initiated by the State Department of Justice resulted in the state Supreme Court outlawing anonymous vetoes.

In response, Republican leaders refused to reauthorize the stewardship program in the 2025-27 budget, arguing that it needed to be paused and redesigned.

Ironically, Stolp said, a statewide poll commissioned by Gathering Waters and The Nature Conservancy shows 93% of state residents support state funding for land protection and 83% support investing $100 million annually for the next decade to do that. That support, he said, spans all political parties.

The Assembly bills approved last week was approved on a party vote —all Republicans present voted for it and Democrats against it. To pass in the Senate, a bipartisan support will likely be needed. Stolp said there are some good aspects to the bills, such as funding to maintain existing Knowles-Nelson properties, but, he said, “This improvement critically misses the mark because it applies only to government-owned lands.

“It’s a head-scratcher that the party of less government is directing more money into government while leaving out charitable, community-based organizations like Restoring Lands, which owns and maintains more than 30 nature preserves that are free and open to the public.”

Stolp is urging supporters to contact their legislators to restore land acquisition funding at current levels for land trusts and local governments and to make land acquired with stewardship funds eligible for habitat restoration and trail funds.

“With these two fixes, Knowles-Nelson can remain a functional conservation tool through the next state budget,” he said.