July 6, 2007
Natural Resources Board approves major land purchases
OCONOMOWOC, Wis. (AP) – The state Natural Resources Board gave the go-ahead Wednesday, June 27 to purchase nearly 10,000 acres of pristine land around the state.
The largest purchase was nearly 6,000 acres to add to the Brule River State Forest in Douglas County. That deal also calls for the state to buy a 40-acre easement for the North Country Trail west of the forest. The purchase includes a boreal forest, which hosts a greater diversity of birds and mammals than any other area of the state, Gov. Jim Doyle’s office said.
The Conservation Fund of Arlington, Va., bought the property from Wausau Paper Mills in December. It plans to resell the land to the state for about $6 million.
The governor’s office said other purchases include:
• About 2,800 acres from Consolidated Water and Paper Company, part of paper manufacturer Stora Enso North America, in Portage and Marathon counties for about $2.5 million. The purchase will protect 11 miles along the Little Eau Pleine River and flowage.
• About 975 acres for the Lower Wolf River Bottomlands Natural Resource Area in northwest Outagamie County. The state plans to pay the Wilderness Conservation Club about $2.8 million for the parcel, including a mile along on the Wolf River and marshes that provide walleye spawning habitat.
The money for the purchase will come through the Natural Resources Damage Assessment program. Paper mills along the Fox River and Green Bay have agreed to pay for preservation and restoration projects to make up for environmental damage the industry has caused.
• About 50 acres for the Big Muskego Lake Wildlife Area for $445,000. The city of Muskego will chip in about $111,000, and the state will pick up the rest. The land includes nearly 1,200 feet of lake front as well as wetlands, woodlands and agricultural areas.
• One hundred sixty acres in Kewaunee County to expand the C.D. Besadny Fish and Wildlife Area. The state will pay about $480,000 to Lynne and Sharon Busch of Algoma for the land, which features forest and wetlands.
Doyle’s office said the state will use about $10 million from the Nelson-Knowles Stewardship Fund to cover the purchases.
The moves come as Doyle and other Democrats push a state budget plan that would increase spending on the state land purchase program from $60 million a year to $105 million starting in 2011. Doyle declared June 27 “Stewardship Day” to celebrate the purchases.
The Natural Resources Board approved all the purchases unanimously, Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Erin Celello said. Doyle must sign off on them. He promised in a statement to do so “promptly.”
Doyle also announced a $257,000 state grant for the Mississippi Valley Conservancy to help purchase 452 acres for the La Crosse Bluff Lands Protection Program.
He also said the Natural Heritage Land Trust will give the state 351 acres adjoining the Avon Bottoms Wildlife Area in southwestern Rock County. The trust purchased the land with a $227,000 grant from the stewardship fund that brought in another $633,000 in federal funds.
© 2007 Outdoors Weekly Corporation