Wisconsin Assembly Passes Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Reauthorization

The Wisconsin Assembly has passed paired Assembly Bills 315 and 612, which would reauthorize the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program — the state’s most important funding tool for protecting parks, trails, forests, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation.

Some Keys:

Bill Reauthorizes Knowles Nelson until 2028

Program Funded at $13.25 Million/year (Reduced from $33 Million)

Sets Aside Limited Funding for Nonprofit Conservation Organizations

The bill now moves to the State Senate.

With Wisconsin’s decades-old land conservation program due to expire this summer, Assembly Republicans passed legislation to keep it afloat through 2028.

The bill leaves some observers cautious about the changes it introduces.

The bill would simultaneously decrease funding and increase legislative oversight of the Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship program.

The stewardship program allows Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources to borrow money to buy land and set it aside for conservation.

Currently funded at approximately $33 million per year. The Assembly GOP proposal, passed as two bills, would lower that to about $28 million, with $13 million borrowed and the rest from a segregated state fund for land acquisition.

Lawmakers from both sides have supported its outcomes over the years, with land set aside for recreation, habitat and species protection, and climate resilience.

But the program itself has been subject to bitter partisan debate after a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that found that lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee, which writes state budgets and authorizes state funding, were improperly blocking stewardship projects.

The bill now moves to the Senate. Stay informed by visiting Team Knowles Nelson https://knowlesnelson.org/take-action/