March 13, 2023 at 12:34 p.m.
Lake Tomahawk board hears presentation on Pelican River Forest easement issue
Miller: The Conservation Fund wants to preserve land across the U.S.
Lake Tomahawk board hears presentation on Pelican River Forest easement issue
By Trevor Greene-
The presentation from Clint Miller, Midwest project director of The Conservation Fund, wasn't on the meeting agenda but town chairman George DeMet let Miller speak at the end of the meeting.
Miller said he was there to clarify The Conservation Fund (TCF) is the owner of the roughly 56,000 acres of land that is the Pelican River Forest. Nearly 55,000 acres of that land is within the boundaries of Oneida County.
"A lot of people have heard positive things, negative things about this project and some have seen a variety of things in the newspaper, and (the town board) has seen requests for resolutions from various people, and I'm here to answer questions," he said.
Miller, who works out of Rochester, Minn., explained that TCF is a national nonprofit with a "dual mission."
"Natural resource-based economic development and land conservation," he said. "And where those two pieces come together is a super comfortable place for us," he noted. "So, we do a lot of working farmland protection, a lot of working forest land protection, and then we do projects where you're entering from gateway communities to national parks."
Miller mentioned a "Civil War battlefield project" just outside Fayetteville, Ark. as an example of one of the organization's recent projects.
He said a piece of property was purchased by TCF for the National Park Service, "helping them get it into their hands (by) donating it to them."
"We've done projects all over the country for 35 years," he said.
Miller welcomed the approximately 14 residents in attendance for the meeting to check out the organization's website if they are wary of the project or what TCF is.
"Take a look at who our donors are, look at our audits, look at all the information," he said. "We are a nationally accredited organization that does real estate and financing for real estate projects that end up in some sort of conservation or some sort of status for communities that ask us to show up."
TCF has worked with local governments, state governments and the federal government before as well as other nonprofits, he added.
Miller also noted the nonprofit he works for has a small staff.
"We're not some big massive organization that works globally. We work just in the United States and we work on projects we are invited by our partners," he explained.
Regarding the Pelican River Forest project, he said "the why" of the issue is because the U.S. is losing millions of acres of forest land across the country each and every year.
TCF has set a goal of trying to protect five million acres, he explained.
"Other countries are losing (land) but other countries are taking advantage of the fact that we're losing those kinds of forested lands and the forest products that go with those (lands)," Miller said.
He said securing "some sort" of public access is a bonus to protecting the forest land and acknowledged allocating public use doesn't always happen "but in this case that's what we're trying to do."
"So our motivation is making sure we've got an opportunity for doing future forestry in this area, in this particular area, but also across the country," Miller said. "The way we do that is we acquire land. So we buy the land, in this case put an easement on that land - the easement (puts) specific restrictions to make sure that it's available for forestry and for public recreation - and then we sell that underlying fee. We sell that land back out into the open marketplace."
Because of the organization's nonprofit status, Miller said the land would be sold via auction or work for a third-party broker or timber broker "to get that property back out there."
"There's no sneaky business behind it," he said. "We're not looking for a very specific type of buyer. It's like we buy this property, we put the easement on, and then we sell the property."
Miller said the easement purchase itself, in this particular instance, is funded by three specific sources; one being the federal government providing specific monies to forest land protection efforts via a forest legacy program, the second through philanthropic support and the third being the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program.
"The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship fund is state funds, in this case, non-bonded funds," he said. "These are funds that come from forest revenues that go for forestry protection. And the state finance committee of the legislature has decided to block that."
When the legislature's joint finance committee blocks funding for projects like the Pelican River Forest, Miller said they usually do so anonymously.
"We have had one state senator (Mary Felzkowski) come forward and talk about the things she didn't like about the project," he said. "So we have some sort of clue of how we can manage or make adjustments to the project, but other than that we don't know. It's usually done in an anonymous way."
Ultimately, though, Miller said TCF hopes to complete the easement purchase with the DNR to eventually "leave behind" a property with protected forest resources and permanent public access.
Roads would be opened up within the property, too, he added, with funds set aside to manage those roads.
"So that way you have better public access to this property and more public access to this property," he said. "Unlike what it's been for the past decade which is essentially shut off to the public."
Miller said he's seen "overwhelming public support" for the project but not as much from elected officials.
"For those of you who were at, or saw the news articles of the Oneida County board meeting, there were 22 people that got up or spoke in support of the project and specifically around the resolution that was requested by one of the supervisors saying 'Look, we don't want to use Knowles-Nelson Stewardship funds to do this' and they basically wanted to send a message to the legislature," he said. "Getting out the word to your elected officials is an important part of the project, certainly for the next 90 days."
Oneida County board member Tony Rio, whose district includes ward 2 of Lake Tomahawk, told others at the meeting if they are in support of the project there is time to speak to county supervisors before the tabled resolution comes back before the county board at its May 17 meeting.
"I, personally, kind of see both sides of what they're saying," he said. "I am much more in favor of the easements and supporting that than I am with the whole other side. But there's a lot going on there. There's a committee that has been created specifically for this. I will say that it is primarily comprised with supervisors that are on the board who were in favor of the resolution against it. So, take that for what you will."
However, Rio said there is an opportunity for residents to influence that committee. He also pointed out "that at the end of the day, it is an advisory resolution that gets sent down to Madison."
"There's a lot of things in the county that a lot of people focus on (and) this has kind of taken on a life of its own," Rio said. "It will definitely be the focus point until May."
He again encouraged everyone who is interested or cares about the Pelican River Forest project to contact not just him but other county board supervisors as well to offer input.
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