Members of State's Finance Committee Block DNR Plan to Preserve Northern Wisconsin Forest

Monday, January 9th, 2023 -- 8:01 AM

(AP) Members of the Legislature’s powerful finance committee have blocked a state Department of Natural Resources plan to spend $15.5 million on a conservation easement to preserve 56,000 acres of northern Wisconsin forest.

The forest stretches across eastern Oneida County as well as part of Langlade and Forest counties. The purchase would have been the largest land conservation effort in state history, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.

The DNR’s policy board signed off on the deal in October, agreeing to spend about $10.8 million in federal forest legacy dollars on the project with about $4 million coming from the state’s stewardship fund.

But state Sen. Mary Felzkowski, an Irma Republican who sits on the finance committee, said Thursday that she and other committee members whom she declined to name have objected to using state money for the project.

She told Wisconsin Public Radio that the easement would mean the 56,000 acres could never be developed. She added that public land is already abundant in northern Wisconsin and local governments have concerns about lack of housing and land availability.

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