Public land use regulations revisited

Legislature considers dropping rule that allows hunting on most public property

By Brian Reisinger • Wausau Daily Herald • June 8, 2009

Wisconsin’s regulations on public land would ease under a proposal in the state Legislature, potentially making it easier for groups to restrict use of land.

The proposal has outdoor groups at odds and could affect how land in the Wausau area is used in the future.

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee recently voted 12-4 in favor of removing a provision requiring virtually all “nature-based” uses, including hunting, to be allowed in most cases on land involving the use of public stewardship dollars.

The stewardship program would provide about $86 million in state money to the Department of Natural Resources , local government and land trusts to preserve land for public use in the 2010-11 budget, said Adam Collins, a DNR spokesman. A provision put in place in 2007 mandated that land be open to all uses unless they violated public safety, environmental concerns or “usership patterns.”

Removal of that provision allows groups receiving stewardship money more control, which supporters say makes it easier to preserve lands.

Bill Duncanson, director of the Wausau and Marathon County Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department, said local government could miss out on stewardship dollars under the current requirement because it’s too strict about intended use. Lobbyists on behalf of local government and nature conservancies agree.

George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, which lobbies on behalf of nearly 170 hunting, fishing, trapping and other groups statewide, and Rep. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, both think removal of the provision makes it too easy for groups to restrict use.

“Now, with this change, this will probably limit more access of this land,” Petrowski said.

Hunting, which is one of the major uses at issue, is allowed on about 92 percent of all stewardship land, and 95 percent of land purchased by the DNR, Collins said. The issue of what regulations should govern future use of land still must come before the full Legislature and Gov. Jim Doyle.