MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers has secured federal dollars to complete the largest land conservation purchase in Wisconsin history, going around Republicans in the Legislature who had blocked the project, the governor announced Tuesday.
The state Department of Natural Resources planned last year to spend about $4 million from the state’s Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program to help finance the purchase of the property east of Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin known as the Pelican River Forest. The U.S. Forestry Service had agreed to pay the remaining 75% of the easement.
Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee in April blocked spending stewardship dollars on the project. Sen. Mary Felzkowski, one of the lawmakers who objected to the project, said she was worried about the effect removing that much land from future potential development would have on northern Wisconsin’s economy. The GOP has long criticized the stewardship program because it removes blocks of private land from local tax rolls and prevents development.