Oneida County land and water conservation committee looks at projects funded by Knowles-Nelson, drafts resolution of support for reauthorization

Part of Governor Evers’ budget includes reauthorizing the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program for 10 years with annual funding of $100 million made available for projects around the state. So far, funding from the program have contributed to 10,274 projects for a total of $1.3 billion. In Oneida County alone, 135 projects have been funded for $56,512.90, according to the interactive map on the website.

One of the agenda items at last week’s Oneida County land and water conservation committee meeting was the Town of Lake Tomahawk Knowles-Nelson Stewardship resolution.

Tom Wiensch, representing Oneida County Clean Waters Action spoke to the committee during the public comment period of the meeting. He asked the committee to support the Knowles-Nelson funding.

“I think that this is a really important, and largely bipartisan, program that Wisconsin’s had for a long time,” he said. “It’s thought of often for being a land purchase program, and has been that. It’s what funded a lot of the purchase of the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest. But it’s really been a lot more than that. It’s really been a boon to recreation up here generally.” He gave several examples of other projects for which Knowles-Nelson funds had been used.

The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program became well known to most in the Northwoods during the most recent land acquisition at the Pelican River Forest Easement. Ultimately the acquisition was completed with funding from private donors as a match for the Federal Forest Legacy Program funding, but that acquisition, and the debate that ultimately surrounded it, made Knowles-Nelson more of a household name. 

Funding has been used in Oneida County for land acquisition in the past, such as a 214.52-acre purchase at the Spur Lake Natural Area in 2008, which used $250,000 in Knowles-Nelson money. Funds have been used in the past several times in the American Legion State Forest as well. Several committee members, however, remarked on the fact that Knowles-Nelson funding has been used for much more than land acquisition.

Committee member Linnaea Newman commented that even the Bearskin Trail, possibly the most-used non-motorized trail in the county, had received Knowles-Nelson funding. In 2002, $175,000 in funding was received for work on this trail system. She also mentioned Minocqua Winter Park as a funding recipient, which she said was another great tourism draw for the county.

In 2016, Acquisition and Development of Local Parks subprogram funds were granted to the City of Rhinelander in the amount of $135,559 to help develop 1.2 miles of non-motorized multi-use trail connecting the chamber of commerce to the Boyce Drive Hat Rapids. Knowles-Nelson funds were also used in 2013 for the Boyce Drive boat landing in Rhinelander. These funds totaled $231,271.

Another boat landing, this one in Three Lakes, also received Knowles-Nelson funding. The Town of Three Lakes was granted $70,008 in 2010 for development of the Townline Boat Landing.

A boat landing project in the Town of Minocqua received funding back in 1987. Knowles-Nelson provided $11,016 for that project at the time.

In more recent times, Lake Tomahawk, too, received funding through the program. The boat landing renovations there in 2006 were made possible with $102,404 in Knowles-Nelson funding.

In the 1990s, some may remember, Knowles-Nelson funds from the Aids for Acquisition and Development of Local Parks funding were used on two separate occasions at Hodag Park in Rhinelander for an accessible bathhouse, toilet building and parking there.

Committee member Lenore Lopez said she felt it was important for the committee to support the reauthorization of the Knowles-Nelson Program going forward. She said the more voices that were heard in support could make a difference. Even some town chairs, she said, were unaware of projects that had been completed in their towns long before they became chair, in some cases. 

Michele Sadauskas said over $629,000 had been given specifically to towns over the course of the Knowles-Nelson Program. An interactive map on the Knowles-Nelson website allows users to drill down to their county to look to see what projects have been funded there, or in a specific town, with funding from the program over the years. The map can be found on the website knowlesnelson.org. 

Committee member Robb Jensen said he would like to see a resolution come back to the committee for their May meeting, giving enough time to pass it on to the full county board before their next meeting. The committee agreed a resolution would be the way to go to show support for the program. Lopez said perhaps committee members could use the map to find projects that had been supported in towns in their jurisdiction and share those with town boards, so all involved understood the impact. Sadauskas said she would work on revising the resolution from the Town of Lake Tomahawk and make is more specific to the county. She will bring the resolution back to the committee in May.

Support for increase in base funding for land and water conservation department

Another item on the committee agenda was support for an increase in base funding for land and water conservation departments. Sadauskas said there were two Joint Finance Committee (JFC) meetings coming up, one was on Monday, April 28th in Hayward, which she hoped to attend with committee approval. She then asked if there was anyone from the committee who might be available to attend the meeting in Wausau, which would be held on Tuesday, April 29. Newman said she would look at her schedule and plan to attend. If she was unable to free her schedule, Sorgel said she would make room on her schedule to attend in support for this funding. Sadauskas said she would work with the committee representative to determine some talking points for the meeting.

Boismenue receives 2025 Invasive Species Action Award

Oneida County Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) coordinator Stephanie Boismenue was the recipient of the 2025 Invasive Species Action Award and was recognized as such by committee chair Collette Sorgel.

“I’ve seen her in action, and she does an excellent job,” Sorgel told the committee. “She had dedicated herself to providing AIS education, outreach, training, technical assistance to lake organizations, students, landowners, recreationalists and partners.”  She said Boismenue began working with the department as a Limited Term Employee (LTE) in 2014 and moved to full time the AIS coordinator in 2016. She said she has heard great things from others about what the county land and water conservation department does and the leadership they provide, and she thanked the department for that leadership as well as education of committee and board members.

Boismenue said she was very appreciative of the award, stating it meant a lot to her.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].