January 13, 2023 at 11:09 a.m.
Pelican River Forest land purchase blocked
Loss of tax base cited as reason
Pelican River Forest land purchase blocked
Last week, however, members of the state's Joint Finance Committee blocked that goal.
Representative Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) was the first to come forward to say she voted against the easement. She said she was not the only member of the committee to vote against the move, but would not divulge the names of any other members who may have voted against it.
The issue with the easement, she said, is that it encompasses 69% of lands in the Town of Monico. This, she felt, is too large of a share of land to be removed from the town in perpetuity, meaning it could never add to its tax base.
According to Monico Town Chairman Robert Briggs, an original 12,000 acre conservation easement, when added to this 56,000 acres, put 81.5% of the Town's land into this category.
In 2021, the Conservation Fund bought the land from the Forestland Group, which was using it for logging. They secured conservation easements on 12,000 acres and worked with the DNR to secure conservation easements on the remaining 56,000 acres.
"We're hoping to find a compromise," Briggs said.
He pointed to the state-mandated comprehensive plan the town completed, which was approved. That plan, he said, essentially took 40 acres on each side of the Highway 8 and Highway 45 corridor and left those as lands on which people could build in either a residential or commercial capacity.
"What was the sense of the comprehensive plan?" Briggs asked, noting that the easement did not take that plan into account. The comprehensive plan for the town also includes preservation of forest lands within the town borders, meaning the two sides may not be as far apart as it may seem at the outset. With a good portion of Managed Forest Law land already in the town, there is not a large area of land on which residents could build. This was a concern to Briggs.
"If you own some land and you bought it thinking you would eventually buy the piece next to it - well, you still can, but you can't do anything with it," he said.
The Town of Monico drafted and approved a resolution to be sent to each town chair affected by the easement purchase, the county chair, state representatives and the state senator for the area objecting to the easement. According to Briggs, the hope is to find some sort of compromise that would allow an easement, but would reserve more of land which could add to the tax base of Monico.
"The legislature needs to find a balance between conservation, outdoor recreation and local economic development," Felzkowski said in a recent statement. "When I did listening sessions last month, one of the top issues was townships who actually want to sell some of the state land within their boundaries so they have future opportunities to expand their taxable footprint, increase their local revenues and have the necessary funds to provide critical services like fire, EMS, public safety and roads."
She went on to point to the housing and workforce shortage as reasons she voted against the easement. The three counties affected, she said, already had a substantial amount of public land: Forest County 60%, Langland Count 32% and Oneida County 31%. Felzkowski said she would be willing to hear a proposal that would come out of meetings between the municipalities and the Conservation Fund, the compromise about which Briggs spoke. It will be up to the co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee as to if and when a hearing is held on moving the project forward.
The land in question was owned by the Forestland Group and was used for logging before being sold to the Conservation Fund. The Conservation Fund purchases land to conserve it for forest management and recreation. The land was in the Managed Forest Law program, so it is open to the public, but not necessarily accessible. Some gates would be unlocked for six months of the year, making the interior of the property accessible by vehicle with this easement in place. If the Conservation Fund cannot come to an agreement with the state, they would look to sell off the property.
Conservationists and others see this vote against the easement as a vote against public recreation. Groups such as the Wisconsin Conservation Congress and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation have expressed approval of this easement.
Clint Miller, the Central Midwest Regional Director for the Conservation Fund, said this parcel of land is the "largest, unprotected, intact commercial forest remaining in the state."
"This project itself is a historic opportunity for the citizens of Wisconsin that strengthens the state recreation and forest economies," Miller said.
The easement would serve as a link between the Oneida Count Forest and the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. It would also benefit state endangered and threatened species such as the American marten as well as store the carbon equivalent of emissions from 4 million cars each year. The easement was also expected to support up to 775 forest-related jobs.
Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].
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