State Legislation Threatens Pelican River Forest Easements

Legislators on state’s Joint Finance Committee have created what environmental advocates call a “poison pill” against the Pelican River Forest conservation easement, which would open some 70,000 acres of private forest land, mostly in Oneida County, to recreation while allowing sustainable logging to continue. Last fall the DNR approved $15.5 million for conservation easement to some 56,000 acres of the forest, most of it to be funded by a $10.8 million forest legacy grant from the U.S. government. The state would contribute about $4 million from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program – and that has become a sticking point. Republican legislators and some local governments in the area of the forest object to closing off the land to development in perpetuity.

The “poison pill” is a provision added to a bill related to shared revenue for ;local governments in which funding for projects under the Knowles-Nelson program north of Highway 8 would first require approval from all local governments affected.