Wisconsin’s Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund expired on June 30 after the state legislature failed to renew the state’s primary land conservation program, leaving future grants for parks, wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation projects without dedicated funding.
Since its creation in 1989, the program has awarded roughly $33 million annually for land acquisition, habitat restoration and recreational development across Wisconsin. In Madison alone, the fund has awarded 28 grants for conservation projects, mostly focused on land acquisition and expansion and dredging — a process of removing debris from bodies of water.
The stewardship program, renamed after former Governors Warren Knowles and Gaylord Nelson, was designed to provide the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) the financial ability to purchase land, develop park trails and maintain parks and facilities.
“Knowles-Nelson is how we conserve land to protect environmentally sensitive areas,” Charles Carlin, director of strategic initiatives at Gathering Waters, Wisconsin’s Alliance for Land Trusts, told Wisconsin Watch in March. “It’s how we provide access for hunters and anglers and silent sports recreationists.”
Governor Tony Evers and the DNR proposed a 10-year renewal of the fund at $100 million per year in a 2024 budget request. This proposal failed to pass, and the Wisconsin Legislature did not build room for funding in the budget.
For the first time since its start in 1989, the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund will receive no support from the state government, even though 93% of Wisconsinites want lawmakers to renew state funding for land protection.
City of Madison Parks Division Conservation Resource Supervisor Hannah Quinlan said acquisition of land and conservation go hand-in-hand.
“Having a particularly large area is helpful for wildlife, but being able to manage that land and make sure the prairies get burned and the wetlands get restored is crucial,” Quinlan told the Cardinal.
Quinlan oversees Madison’s 21 conservation parks and works closely with other organizations and volunteers to maintain these areas.
Increases in land prices, lifestyle changes — including society’s preference toward organized activities over independent outdoor recreation — and lack of public access to recreation are all reasons why an increase in support of conservation is necessary for the benefit of Wisconsin, the DNR reported in a formal testimony.
Quinlan said that University of Wisconsin-Madison uses natural areas for a unique purpose — as research hubs.
The Prairie Ridge Conservation Park and the Lakeshore Nature Preserve are two locations Quinlan said students at UW-Madison, as well as Madison Area Technical College and Edgewood College, visit for research projects, particularly in ecology.
“Those two sites owned by the university are also working to conserve land and wildlife in a similar way to how the City manages our properties in respect to conservation,” Quinlan said. “These areas are protected and they’re there for people to research. They help support the education of students at UW.”
The UW-Madison Arboretum is another similar organization. While the arboretum has never received funding from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, it’s another conservation effort that provides educational support around land management and use.
“The Stewardship Fund is, by far, the best tool we citizens of Wisconsin have to maintain our natural heritage of plants and animals in natural communities,” Signe Holtz, director of the DNR’s Endangered Species Program said in a report on Wisconsin stewardship.
In Dane County alone, the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund has provided grants for 512 projects, investing over $78 million in the past 37 years. Most recently, the Driftless Area Land Conservancy received funding to purchase the Kernan Trust property and add 83.37 acres to the Southwest Grasslands area.
“People are not separate from the land. It’s really important to steward these natural areas,” Quinlan said.
Without support from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, future attempts to protect natural areas and boost outdoor recreation may come with significant limitations. Wisconsin programs that rely heavily on this funding, like the DNR, will see strained resources.
“I think this is going to have to be a central conversation in the next state budget that can be as simple as appropriating money to the stewardship program in the short term,” Carlin told Wisconsin Watch. “And then there’s a much broader conversation to be had about, how do we again get serious about taking care of our land and water so that our kids and grandkids inherit a better Wisconsin than we do.
