Bills raise conservation eyebrows

Wisconsin lawmakers are considering legislation to make it easier to sell off public lands, including those preserved with donations from private donors, according to a Wisconsin State Journal report. Companion bills sponsored by a pair of northern Wisconsin Republicans would allow the sale of some lands purchased with Knowles-Nelson Stewardship funds, a program through which the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) helps local governments and nonprofit organizations preserve land for nature-based use by the public. Conservancy groups including Clean Wisconsin, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, and the Wisconsin Bike Fed oppose the bill. The law currently only allows the sale of Knowles-Nelson lands with rarely granted DNR approval. Since 1989, the Knowles-Nelson program has been used to preserve more than 800,000 acres throughout the state.