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Hunting, fishing and outdoor enthusiasts take note: budget negotiations might affect future access to recreational lands. Conservationists are alarmed the scenic beauty and future Wisconsin hunting and fishing lands are in jeopardy from drastic legislative cuts.

One of the budget items being hotly debated is the reauthorization of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, established in 1990 to help buy land to be preserved in its natural state.

Funding for the program has not been increased since 2002, when it was increased from $46 million to $60 million. Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget requested reauthorization funding be increased from $60 million each year to $105 million.

Assembly Republicans, on the other hand, would cut funding by 58 percent, from $60 million to $25 million a year and extend the life of the fund another 10 years, to fiscal year 2019-2020. This proposed funding level would be close to the 1990 state contribution of $23.1 million when the program was established.

The stewardship fund is financed with general obligation bonds. The state sells bonds to investors now, then pays back the debt over the next 20 years.

According to the DNR Secretary Scott Hassett, “The (governor’s proposed) increase will allow the program to keep pace with the rising costs of land in rural areas as well as land near more urban areas of the state.”

But Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said the fund is paying out as much in interests costs as it is in funding projects each year. Interest costs the state $50 million per year.

“We reduced the amount from $60 million to $25 million due to the level of borrowing,” Huebsch said. “We want to make sure we have a balance of what we should be purchasing versus what the taxpayers can afford.”

He also wants legislative oversight of the fund. Right now, the governor approves purchases of tracts of land. “Stewardship use to be (reviewed) by the governor and (the Legislature) would approve purchase of tract of land. The governor eliminated our authority to oversee those purchase two or three years ago,” Huebsch said. “Duly elected officials needed to have oversight. We wanted to make sure no net loss of hunting and fishing and public access. If we lose (that access) then we have to find land to make up land elsewhere, create it somewhere else.”

Under the Assembly Republican proposal, the Legislature would have oversight of any purchase over $500,000.

In addition, Huebsch said he had concerns with the entire program.

“We have huge tracts in the northern parts of the state and pockets of land in (the) La Crosse area,” Huebsch said. “What the program is lacking is a long-term plan. When will we know that we’ve purchased enough? What do we purchase and why do we purchase? Before we reauthorize for another 10 years I want to make sure the Legislature knows what the plan is.”

State Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse, said he feels the conference committee, which is reconciling the budgets between the state Senate and Assembly, has its work cut out for them.

“I think it’s been an important program. Preservation of our natural resources is very important to all of us,” Kapanke said. “On the other hand, the conference committee is going to go through a lot of issues and budget items. Can we find a balance between social programs like dental insurance for the poor and autism protection and other issues?”

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 92 percent of land purchased or acquired by the DNR through the stewardship fund is open to the public for hunting. And 96 percent of these same lands are open to fishing and other passive uses.

The stewardship program has protected more than 480,000 acres of public hunting land and natural habitat in Wisconsin since it began in 1990.

The fund, established to preserve Wisconsin’s most significant land and water resources and to provide the land base and recreational facilities needed for quality outdoor experiences, would expire in 2010.

The stewardship fund provides 50 percent match grants to the DNR, local governments and nonprofit organizations, such as the Mississippi Valley Conservancy, for eligible projects.

Projects include land acquisition for natural areas, habitat areas and fisheries, state trails, stream-bank protection and wild lakes. It also provides funds for development of local parks, urban rivers, urban green spaces and acquisition of development rights.

According to the MVC, the fund has preserved the Holland Sand Prairie by Holmen and bluff lands in La Crosse County. The MVC said its organization has utilized stewardship funds to “bring $1.5 million into our local communities, directly and permanently protecting 700 beautiful and ecologically significant acres in the process.”

MVC Executive Director Tim Jacobson said there is a long-term stewardship plan, contrary to Huebsch’s assertion. A 232-page document called the Wisconsin Land Legacy Report (printed in 2006) is an inventory of every part of the state that details land protection priorities.

“I think it’s misleading to say there is no long-term plan,” Jacobson said. “All land conservation is voluntary. We (and the DNR and local governments) have to wait until land is on the market. It’s hard to time things; we have to see what opportunities present themselves. We’re 30 to 40 years out before most of the valuable land protection is realized.”

Jacobson said he is afraid legislative oversight would just make particular projects political devices that can be used by particular legislators to favor projects in their districts or deny other politicians’ districts from projects.

“Do they have the expertise to evaluate these projects?” Jacobson asked. “Are legislators knowledgeable about the ecological impact and importance of particular habitats? And do they really want to be spending time evaluating every single grant?”

Jacobson acknowledged that the stewardship fund involves spending a lot of money. “But it’s hard to imagine a ‘fiscally conservative’ legislator who think this is not a good investment,” he said. “Every dollar spent by the stewardship fund is matched by other sources, sometimes two or three times over, to invest in our state’s natural resources. If that’s not a good investment … .”

One of the biggest payoffs, “Jacobson said, “is the $13 billion tourism industry in Wisconsin, almost entirely in outdoor recreation.”

The MVC has received almost $1.9 million from the stewardship fund to finance the acquisition of 1,351 acres of land in western Wisconsin. Six of the sites are in La Crosse County, some of it bluff land and some quarries and prairies acquired to protect existing habitat.

“If we say no to long-term preservation of our natural resources,” Jacobson said, “we lose our access to outdoor recreation, the tourism dollars, and the future beauty of our area.”

“In the context of all the compromises that will have to be made,” Kapanke said, “I would be surprised to see it stay at $25 million (as the Assembly proposes).”