Assembly Republicans Pass Legislation for Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship Program

Monday, January 26th, 2026 -- 8:01 AM

(Anya Van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin Public Radio) With Wisconsin’s decades-old land conservation program due to expire this summer, Assembly Republicans passed legislation Thursday to keep it afloat through 2028.

But, according to Anya Van Wagtendonk with Wisconsin Public Radio, the bill would simultaneously decrease funding and increase legislative oversight of the Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship program, moves that Democrats described as watering down the historically bipartisan pact.

The stewardship program lets Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources borrow money to buy land and set it aside for land conservation. The program is currently funded at about $33 million per year.

The Assembly GOP proposal, which was passed as two bills, would lower that to about $28 million, with $13 million of that borrowed and the rest from a segregated state fund for land acquisition. The bill’s supporters described the legislation as a fix that would keep Knowles-Nelson alive, with opportunities to strengthen it over time.

“Let’s make sure we don’t lose what we have today. We can maintain the program. We can go ahead and make sure that we can keep the lands that we already have in good condition and continue to move forward,” said Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers. “I would rather take a half a cookie today rather than no cookie.”

Democrats criticized the GOP bill as giving too much power to a single legislative committee, and called on Republicans to return to the negotiating table.

“When we sat here seven months ago and worked on a budget, my colleagues immediately across the aisle on this issue of Knowles-Nelson promised that they would come back with a standalone that was better and stronger,” said Rep. Tara Johnson, D-Town of Shelby. “That is not what we have before us today.”

Wisconsin’s stewardship program has deep bipartisan roots, having been created in 1989 by former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson with the help of a Democratic Legislature.

It was renamed to honor Knowles and Nelson, two former Wisconsin governors who embraced conservation efforts, Knowles as a Republican and Nelson as a Democrat.

Lawmakers from both sides have supported its outcomes over the years, with land set aside for recreation, habitat and species protection, and climate resilience.

But the program itself has been subject to bitter partisan debate after a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that found that lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee, which writes state budgets and authorizes state funding, were improperly blocking stewardship projects.

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