We're winning the debate!
On April 30, the Wisconsin State Journal featured a opposing viewpoints on Stewardship Fund reauthorization by DNR Secretary Scott Hassett (read here) and Wisconsin Policy Research Institute fellow Christian Schneider (read here).
Editors asked readers to share their thoughts
on Stewardship Fund reauthorization. On May 1, the State Journal published
13 letters the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund (read
here and see below). Of the 13 letters, only two were slightly
critical.
Many more letters were sent in that didn't make it into Sunday's paper. Some of these are included below.
Wisconsin State Journal Published Letters
Stewardship Fund offers insurance policy
I applaud Gov. Jim Doyle for requesting $105 million a year to continue the Stewardship Fund for another decade. Stewardship is not a cost, it is an investment that pays dividends forever.
In 1961 I worked closely with Gaylord Nelson in developing the Outdoor Recreation Act Program, the predecessor to today's Stewardship Fund. Wisconsin's residents are indeed richer as a result of our decades-long commitment to conservation.
Do we still need the Stewardship Fund? Of course we do. Since I came to Wisconsin in 1950, our population has increased by 2 million. In the next 25 years we will add another million. To maintain our connection to nature and provide balance in our busy lives, our growing population needs easy access to places to touch, feel, enjoy and understand the land.
Finally, scientists predict that if we continue to pollute at present rates, more than half of the species on earth may be extinct by the end of the century, a frightening prospect. Continuing to protect land and habitat through the Stewardship Fund, while no panacea, is a modest insurance policy to soften the most catastrophic impacts of global warming. We can do no less.
- Harold "Bud" Jordahl, Madison
Rely less on taxes, more on investments
The two points of view in last Sunday's Forum did not clearly state reasons for increased funding. Instead, both discussed the use of the money as a lead into other opinions.
Columnist P. Scott Hassett doesn't want to put a price tag on the quality of life for our future. However, he states the exact price tags that the hunting, fishing, tourism and forestry industries give the state as a result of land use.
If we are getting all this money from those industries, why do you need to take more money from us?
And columnist Christian Schneider's opinion about using other programs is a good one. Yes, we should explore other ways to save the environment, but that does not address the question.
His opinion concerning the management of the money is more to the point.
However, I can name several government programs that are not well run.
I think the Stewardship Fund should get more money - but not from us. The state government should have staff able to set up an account that earns interest and can therefore perpetuate itself. Along with this new account, people should be able to donate and bequeath to the fund if they want to.
- Jeff Ehren, Whitewater
Sharing nature with children is priceless
As a working mother of a young child, it's both essential and wonderful to have natural places close to home where I can go for quick retreat from my busy life. A half hour walk through Cherokee Marsh, a run at the Arboretum or a quick bike ride on the Capital City Trail can do wonders for the psyche.
But more importantly, these are the places where I am teaching my son to explore the outdoors and learn about nature. Having access to wild spaces where a child can run through the woods, discover a spring, listen to birds, or follow a new-found trail is something we can never put a price tag on.
I can't help but believe that these experiences will serve my son well throughout his life. They are teaching him to be confident, independent, curious and inquisitive, but also appreciative and respectful of the natural world.
And I take comfort in the fact that, thanks to programs like the Stewardship Fund, he may return to these very places with his own children someday.
I fully support an increase in funding for our great state's Stewardship Fund. Current and even greater access to open, wild places is very much a part of what makes Wisconsin great - and why my family has chosen to raise our child here.
- Jessica A.T. Klabough, Madison
Appropriate? No. Increase fund level
Although we grapple with challenges unique to our time and have the latest technology to help us, we still haven't found anything to rival the age-old remedy of a quiet walk in the woods.
We now know that undeveloped land not only clears our minds, but our air and water supply, too. Is the proposed funding increase for the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund appropriate? Probably not. When you factor in all the benefits we and future generations stand to gain, it's too low - but it's a step in the right direction.
- Laurel Hauser, Sturgeon Bay
Beware mixing market and assessed values
Sunday Forum columnist Christian Schneider, a fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, argued that the land-purchasing program has not been trustworthy with the use of state tax dollars. Schneider relies on the fact that a 2000 audit of past purchases showed the Department of Natural Resources paying 120 percent of assessed value for properties.
We should clarify the facts for readers who, like Schneider, may not fully understand the difference between a property's market value and its assessed value.
An analysis of 2006 Department of Revenue records show that, statewide, the median assessed value is less than 86 percent of "equalized value." The gap was likely greater for the pre-2000 purchases included in the audit. Even referring to equalized values can be misleading because equalized values are only indirectly related to fair market values.
This important debate should not be confused because of misuse of statistics that have no impact on future fund acquisitions.
- Rick Staff, La Crosse, president, Wisconsin Real Estate Service Network LLC
Stewardship costs, but it's been successful
Few government programs have matched the success and public support of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund. Millions in private and federal matching dollars have been leveraged by this nationally renowned program.
In its first 17 years, Stewardship has conserved 477,000 acres. The program has purchased park land at places like Devil's Lake State Park; protected wildlife habitat and permanently secured hunting land; added almost 900 miles to the State Trail System for walking, bicycling, horseback riding, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing; and protected thousands of acres of working forest vital to our economy.
There is a cost to state taxpayers for all of this, especially with rising land prices. But we're getting a lot for our money.
We invest in roads and other infrastructure because they benefit our economy. The investment represented by Stewardship strengthens our tourism economy and our forest products industry, while increasing recreation opportunities and improving our quality of life.
Private incentive programs like the Managed Forest Law are part of the equation. They protect our forests and provide some public access, but they can't replace a successful program like the Stewardship Fund that has done so much to ensure that future generations will enjoy the same access to nature that we enjoy today.
- John J. Magnuson, emeritus UW-Madison professor, and Peter A. Peshek, former Wisconsin Public Intervenor, both board membersof The Nature Conservancy
Fund program works, despite DNR's critics
I'm on the "pro" side of Gov. Jim Doyle's proposal to continue the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund at a level that accounts for land cost inflation.
I retired and returned to Wisconsin after living elsewhere and working all over the world as a senior petroleum industry executive. I returned for the excellent quality of life here that is due substantially to Wisconsin's historically progressive conservation programs.
I serve on the boards of Gathering Waters Conservancy and the Nelson Institute at UW-Madison, because I believe in what they do. The tax burden, when all is said and done with honest facts and figures, is not bad because we generally get what we pay for.
Whining about the Department of Natural Resource's alleged ineptitude has been going on since I was one of its student law clerks in the 1960s. Acquiring real estate with debt is nearly universal. How many buy a home, business or farm without borrowing? Who pays assessed value or less? Who wants to buy special places just to own them and exclude the public? Differing valuation opinions is why all markets exist.
I believe in business excellence, and the Stewardship Fund looks like a good deal.
- Lew Posekany, Verona
Fair to share costs with future residents
The Stewardship Fund isn't used just for land purchases. It is also used for the purchase of conservation easements, which leave ownership in private hands and on the tax roll, but limit uses to those which are friendly to the environment.
Increasing the funding for stewardship is vital. Land values are always on the increase. Development is ongoing. It's not possible to preserve something once it is lost, and the longer one waits, the more preservation costs.
Yes, preservation takes dollars, but if Wisconsin is to remain a great place to live and visit, it is necessary. Preservation now will be even more important to future generations. It is only right to use bond financing, so that future taxpayers will contribute to the cost of preservation done today. In fact, I expect most future taxpayers would look back with appreciation of the benefits of this program.
Everything has a cost, but land preservation is worth it, even in tight budget times. And the cost is shared by present and future beneficiaries, as it should be.
- Bob Oesterreicher, Eau Claire
Give video generation outdoor place to play
As the mother of young children, I'm grateful to Wisconsin's progressive conservation leaders like Gaylord Nelson who pushed for stewardship when I was a kid. Without it, I might not have been able to take my children to Cherokee Marsh last weekend.
When I volunteer in my daughter's kindergarten classroom, I am saddened at the already-apparent impacts of too much TV, too many video games, too much digital this and that, and the lack of exposure to the great outdoors that plagues our urban youth.
Connection to the land and our precious natural resources is imperative for healthy living. If our generation doesn't continue to push for the land legacy that our forefathers had the foresight to begin protecting, shame on us.
As Wisconsin's growth continues, we must preserve places that provide opportunities for creative young minds to explore and discover the wonders of the natural world, counterbalancing the societal impacts that stem from being raised in overly-stimulating electronic environments.
Do I mind, or will my children mind, being "a taxpayer who will be paying for decades when the state gets the land now," as Schneider asserts? Absolutely not. It's a price we can't afford not to pay.
- Joy Stieglitz Gottschalk, Madison
Keep the faith of our visionary leaders
We in Wisconsin have long enjoyed an international reputation for conservation leadership. Over the last century we have shown the way forward:
Through innovative approaches to restoring and stewarding our forests, soils, watersheds, waterways, wildlife and natural areas.
Through progressive policies on pollution control, land use, and sustainable farming.
Through an evolving land ethic that begins deep in our Native American traditions and grown through the timeless contributions of figures like John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Wilhelmina LaBudde, Sigurd Olson and Gaylord Nelson.
Now we begin a new century, during which we will again be called upon for leadership.
Reauthorization of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund provides us with such an opportunity.
- Curt Meine, Prairie du Sac
Don't know the costs, but ignore the value
Warren Nelson, the troubadour of the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua, read the April 22 Forum columns on the Stewardship Fund. He told his audience in Madison that afternoon that it was wonderful that Wisconsin has preserved hundreds of thousands of acres through the Stewardship Fund.
Nelson was in town to give an Earth Day show, "Wild Woods and Waters," celebrating Wisconsin's natural resources and advocating good stewardship. The audience applauded when a picture of Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day, flashed on the screen.
Wisconsin should put every dime it can into the Stewardship Fund. Private individuals like columnist Christian Schneider should help out, as I did, and preserve our pre cious natural lands, too. The people who argue it's not our business to do so are those who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
- Rich Eggleston, Fitchburg
Follow example set by conservationists
As newcomers to Wisconsin in the 1970s, it was the parks and open spaces that my husband and I enjoyed in our new community.
I learned that in Madison, it was the Parks and Pleasure Drive Association that had the foresight and commitment to preserve green space - Tenney Park and locks, Brittingham Park, Henry Vilas Park and Zoo, to name a few. We are still enjoying these green areas 100-plus years later, and I am grateful to those thoughtful people.
I think our children and grandchildren will have the same gratitude for the land set aside by the Stewardship Fund. Let's not be shortsighted and miss this opportunity to in crease the fund and our investment in the future.
- Sherry Caves, Middleton
Drop restrictions so all can participate
The existing Stewardship Fund program is effective and should be renewed and funding increased to a reasonable level. One specific program change should be considered.
The funding restriction for only funding "nature based" facilities should be eliminated. This restriction hurts small communities throughout the state and virtually locks them out from program participation.
We need to let communities decide their own priorities and provide the quality outdoor recreation facilities their citizens and visitors need. Every citizen pays for stewardship funding. Every community should be given a reasonable opportunity to participate.
- Duane Hofstetter, chairman, Mount Horeb Parks, Recreation and Forestry Commission
Unpublished Letters
Dear WSJ Editor:
When it comes to the Stewardship Fund, Wisconsinites put their money where their mouth is.
Both Scott Hassett and Christian Schneider failed to mention that private citizens and local communities have provided over $140 million of their own money to match state Stewardship funds. What better indication of public support can there be?? When it comes to the Stewardship Fund, Wisconsinites have already voted with their dollars.
The Stewardship Fund provides 50% matching grants to local governments and non-profit land trusts to protect places many of us know and love, like the Ice Age Trail, the Baraboo Hills and Mississippi Bluffs, the Green Circle Trail in Stevens Point, popular beaches along the Great Lakes, and the new Mequon Nature Preserve.
It may be easy for critics like Mr. Schneider to dismiss the Stewardship Fund as an “intrusive state land buying program,” but Stewardship isn’t the “state’s” program – it’s our program. It protects land for you and me, not to mention our children and grandchildren. The matching grant program, which guarantees that purchases made with Stewardship dollars reflect local needs and priorities, is proof of that.
Governor Doyle gets it. Under his proposal, more than $28 million a year will be available to help local folks protect the places that make our communities special.
Check out www.gatheringwaters.org to learn more about land trusts and the places they have protected.
Vicki Elkin
Gathering Waters Conservancy
Madison, WI 53703
_________
Dear Editor
As a citizen involved with land conservation in the Sun Prairie community, I am aware of how important the Stewardship Fund is to acquiring land for citizens of the community and state. Money spent on conserving our natural resources is a prudent investment, which has an immediate payoff for the current citizens with access to public land for recreational and educational opportunities. Patrick Marsh serves as a hands on outdoor science lab for students. Money spent today on conservation accrues interest through long-term positive economic impacts such as bringing tourist dollars, and businesses want to locate and stay in areas which have a high quality of life. Often times it is natural resources that give a community their unique identity. Land in urban areas is expensive and landowners deserve to be fairly compensated. Community support for conservation is significant. At Patrick Marsh the Stewardship Fund leverages money from individuals, businesses, foundations, service clubs, county and local governments to purchase land.
The Stewardship Fund has greatly benefited the citizens of Sun Prairie and Wisconsin. I strongly support the proposed increase in funding for the state’s Stewardship Fund.
Jeanne Behrend
President, Patrick Marsh Conservancy
Sun Prairie, WI 53590
________
Dear Editor
In Lake Superior country, there are parcels of land that have always
been open to the public through the generosity of private
landowners--the sandy beach at Cornucopia where all the kids learned to
swim, or the Nourse Sugarbush trails that had been used by community
members for more than one hundred years. But now times have changed,
and many of these special places are being sold. Thanks to the
Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund we were able to purchase these
properties for the public to enjoy forever. We matched the Stewardship
grants with private donations and other grants, essentially doubling the
buying power of the state's money.
If we wish to protect those special places that make the north feel like
"up north" then we need to invest the funds now. Yes, this means we
have to pay for the property over time, but this makes sense considering
the ones who benefit greatly from these conservation acquisitions are
the future generations. In these years of double digit appreciation in
land values, the proposed increase in funding for the Stewardship Fund
is necessary and vital if we are to protect the essential areas that
make Wisconsin a healthy and beautiful place to live.
Ruth Oppedahl, executive director
Bayfield Regional Conservancy
Bayfield, WI 54814
715-779-LAND (5263)
____________
Dear Editor:
Christian Schneider's commentary on the Stewardship Fund in last Sunday's Forum misleads the reader in several ways--in conflating assessments with appraisals, to cite one example. More tellingly, it omits the large effect the fund has through leveraging.
When the Friends of Pheasant Branch raised three million dollars to purchase 19 plus acres of developable land in January of last year, the Stewardship Fund provided slightly over one-fourth of the total. The Dane County Conservation Fund provided even more, and the City of Middleton allocated $300,000. Private foundations, businesses, and individuals funded the rest, over one-third of the amount. All these parties were crucial to the fundraising effort.
Stewardship serves as a rallying point for efforts like this. The Friends campaign to add an ecologically sensitive parcel to the Pheasant Branch Conservancy in Middleton received its first large public funding boost from Stewardship. The campaign succeeded thanks to the partnership of both public and private funding sources. Land needs to be preserved in areas accessible to all Wisconsinites, and the Stewardship Fund needs the proposed increase in order to carry out this vital function.
Submitted by James O'Brien
President, Friends of Pheasant Branch
___________
TO THE EDITOR: Wisconsin State Journal
RE: Stewardship Fund articles
DNR Secretary Hassett was on target, but if anything understated the threat to public outdoor recreation all across the northwoods.
As documented in earlier WSJ articles, hundreds of thousands of acres of Wisconsin’s industrial forest lands are being sold to real estate investment interests. Many of these lands have already been subdivided and closed to public access for hunting, fishing, hiking, skiing and other outdoor pursuits.
Within the last decade, about 90% of the roughly 1.75 million acres of industrial forest lands in Wisconsin have changed ownership. Many other large tracts are up for grabs right now.
We have a very short window of opportunity to protect these lands – 10 to 20 years at the most. And they will only get more expensive. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the cost of forest land quadrupled between 1995 and 2005. The cost of water frontage has escalated even faster.
No future generation is going to question why we spent money protecting the Willow Flowage, the Turtle-Flambeau or the Rainbow. But if we don’t invest in protecting the northwoods now, they sure will be asking why we didn’t, why we let our great outdoor heritage be cut up, split up and sold off when we had the opportunity to keep it protected.
Sincerely,
Bryan Pierce
Executive Director, Northwoods Land Trust
Eagle River, WI
___________
Letter to the Editor
The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund is a terrific investment in the State of Wisconsin. Other states and jurisdictions are now passing referendums to preserve land in its natural state because voters see the value in investing in “green infrastructure.” Saving green spaces has a positive impact on economic development, recreation, water quality, flood management, and clean air. Studies show that saving natural areas actually pays for itself through the increased value of surrounding properties.
Our community, the City of Mequon, has protected over 300 acres with Stewardship
grants. These grants provided $1.6 million dollars, and we have leveraged those dollars by raising over $7 million in city and private funds to match the grants. The location of the properties is on the edge of our state’s largest city, Milwaukee, and will serve citizens and visitors from throughout the area forever.
Governor Gaylord Nelson once said “The ultimate test of conscience may be the
willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will never be heard.” Let’s make that sacrifice and re-authorize the Knowles-Nelson Fund so that our natural heritage can be protected for future generations to enjoy.
Christine Nuernberg
Mayor, City of Mequon
____________
Dear Editor,
I am writing to support an increase in total funds allocated on an annual basis to Wisconsin’s Stewardship program. My wife and I are retired and living in Green Bay. We are both life long residents of Wisconsin. We volunteer for a number of organizations and 3 of those organizations are tied directly to Wisconsin’s Natural Resources. The 3 organizations affect recreation, environmental protection and quality of life in Wisconsin. The organization I am most involved with is the Baird Creek Preservation Foundation. A non-profit with a goal to protect and improve the water and land that surrounds Baird Creek. Baird Creek is a wild, natural area encompassing 500 acres that adjoins the City of Green Bay. It provides refuge for a unique combination of plants and animals as well as recreation for the citizens to enjoy. We use Stewardship to set aside additional lands for the benefit of the people that use the area as well as the natural green space that protects the creek. Please extend Stewardship for non profits like ours to protect Wisconsin’s lands and waters as well as enhance our quality of life.
Tim Rasman
Green Bay, WI
_________
"Is the proposed increase in funding for the state's Stewardship Fund appropriate?"
When the Stewardship Program was created in 1989 Act 31, it was the most significant effort in Wisconsin’s history to expand a statewide network of high quality outdoor recreational opportunities and protect Wisconsin’s important natural areas through a partnership between the state, local governments, and land trusts. The members of the Wisconsin Park & Recreation Association strongly supported this initial program, and now encourage and endorse the continuation of the Wisconsin State Stewardship Program.
How can one possibly place a price tag on preserving Wisconsin’s natural areas for future generations to enjoy? You can’t, and though the Governor’s budgeted level may seem an enormous amount to tax payers, the consequences of derailing this vital investment would have a devastating and lasting impact on the future of our state.
Steven J. Thompson, CPRP, Executive Director
Wisconsin Park & Recreation Association
Greendale, WI 53129
_____________
To the Editor:
Thank you for your articles on the Knowles-Nelson
Stewardship Fund,
Wisconsin’s innovative land protection program. Since
the
establishment of this program in 1989, our state has been able
to
preserve more than 475,000 acres of land for recreation, sporting
opportunities, and wildlife habitat. Without this program,
our cities
and towns would have fewer natural areas for residents to enjoy,
fewer
trails for walking, biking, and bird-watching, and fewer areas
where
we can enjoy natural beauty.
My family owns land in Wood County and has a
strong tradition of
hunting. In fact, we're one of those families where the
person
carving the Thanksgiving turkey is wearing blaze orange. As
our
family grows and relatives take jobs outside of Wood County, I
know we
won't be able to hold on to that land forever. A fund like
the
Stewardship Fund offers us a way to sell the land without losing
the
hunting opportunities we've always enjoyed.
The Stewardship Fund needs to be renewed and
strengthened. The amount
of money available in the fund needs to reflect the escalating
costs
of land today. I fully support the reauthorization of this
program at
$105 million per year.
Sincerely,
Jessica Garrels
Green Bay, WI
For more information about Gathering Waters'
campaign to reauthorize
the Stewardship Fund contact
Vicki Elkin, Stewardship Campaign Director, by phone at (office)
608.441.8819 or (cell) 608.334.1473 or by email at stewardship [at] gatheringwaters.org.
Photo provided courtesy of
Gill Gribb
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