Land Conservation Groups Expect to See More Funding Requests After Supreme Court Ruling

Wednesday, July 17th, 2024 -- 12:01 PM

(Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio) Land conservation groups say they expect to see more funding requests under the state’s land purchase program now that the Legislature’s finance committee can’t legally block conservation projects.

According to Danielle Kaeding with Wisconsin Public Radio, at the same time, Republican lawmakers say the decision has placed the future of the program in jeopardy.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 6-1 earlier this month that certain statutes governing the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program unconstitutionally authorize the legislative committee to block spending of funds the full Legislature had already earmarked for land purchases.

The decision came after Gov. Tony Evers sued leaders of the Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Finance for violating the separation of powers through legislative vetoes of 27 projects since 2019.

Charles Carlin, director of strategic initiatives for Gathering Waters, called the committee’s process an egregious overreach. He said the ruling will spur more requests for funding.

“I think what we’re going to see in the next couple of years going forward is so many conservation organizations really re-engaging with the Stewardship program and just utilizing it to its maximum potential,” Carlin said.

Under the provisions the court declared unconstitutional, lawmakers could raise anonymous objections to Stewardship purchases through its passive review process, leaving projects in limbo by failing to hold hearings on them.

That amounted to a “pocket veto” of projects, including a $15.5 million conservation easement for the Pelican River Forest. The committee eventually voted to kill $4 million in Stewardship funding for the largest conservation project in state history, but Evers later went around lawmakers to finalize the purchase with federal funds.

Prior to the ruling, some conservation groups say they only requested Stewardship funds below a $250,000 threshold to avoid triggering the passive review process and a legislative veto from the committee.

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