Finance Committee Votes
To Spend $400 Million
Over 10 Years On Stewardship
reprinted with the permission of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel6/9/99
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The state could spend $404 million buying and preserving land over the next 10 years under a committee-approved plan.The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee voted 12-4 Tuesday to approve the plan, which would authorize up to $40.4 million a year in bond revenue for the state's Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship 2000 program.
Of that money, $31 million a year would be earmarked to buy Wisconsin's natural lands and $9.4 million annually would be used to develop land, particularly in urban areas.
The program approved by the finance committee adds $54 million to what the Building Commission had recommended in Gov. Tommy Thompson's proposed 1999-2001 budget.
The priorities for land purchases in Wisconsin would include state trails, water resources, habitat areas, natural areas, Great Lakes bluffs, the Middle Kettle Moraine and Baraboo Hills.
Most of the money for land development would be spent on assistance to local governments and nonprofit conservation organizations, including grants to develop urban rivers, urban green space and local park aids.
The Department of Natural Resources could not approve spending more than $250,000 on a stewardship program named after two former governors without getting approval of the Joint Finance Committee.
This proposal will be included in the budget that will go before the Legislature this summer and would go into effect in 2000.
The motion's author, Sen. Kevin Shibilski, said it would help preserve Wisconsin's biodiversity and encourage state residents to enjoy the outdoors.
"We need to find ways to reacquaint ourselves with the natural world," Shibilski, D-Stevens Point, said. "It's a magnificent array of biology or biodiversity that we have. ...This is an incredible state we live in. Let's just make sure we preserve the important parts of that biodiversity."
Finance Committee co-chair John Gard, R-Peshtigo, said he opposed the plan because it is too expensive.
"This is too rich," Gard said.
An Inside Report on the WI Stewardship Fund Vote
