The Joint Finance Committee acted this morning on the Stewardship Fund.  On a strong bipartisan vote of 12-4, the committee voted in favor of a motion offered by Sen. Kevin Shibilski which:

• Increased funding in the program to $404 million over ten years.  This is a $94 million increase over what the Governor had proposed and $173 million more than the current program.  While this is less than what we had proposed, it's a good first step and Sen. Shibilski promises to work for another increase when the budget reaches the full Senate in a couple of weeks.

• Added conservation initiatives for wild lakes, the Middle Kettle Moraine, blufflands and a purchase of conservation easements programs as we have proposed.

• Linked grants to local governments to land use planning as we have proposed.

The committee also approved, in a separate vote, a $20 million 10-year Heritage Trust Program.  The Heritage Trust will provide match grants to local governments and groups for saving and rehabilitating historic structures.  This was another item in our WisConservation legislative agenda.

Overall, these provisions represent great progress toward our goals.  Thank you for your letters and emails to committee members! They worked!

Sen. Kevin Shibilski and Sen. Rob Cowles took the lead on this initiative and deserve special thanks.