Every once in a while, something happens in this little burg
on the Kickapoo that makes a person proud.
Yes, we Kickapoogians have our faults, which can often cause us to be
cast in a less than pleasant light.
Then, lo and behold, the local folks will band together for a particular
cause, carry it through with appropriate gusto and élan to such a degree, that it makes everyone puff up with
pride. So, let’s take a look at something that
has transpired in the last few months regarding the lands of the Kickapoo
Valley Reserve.
Yup, We have trouble right here in River City and
it starts with a capital “C” as in a controversy once again concerning the “government land”. That damn “dam land” has risen up another time to capture the headlines of the
local press. Most of us denizens of the
upper Kickapoo Valley had thought that the issues associated with the land
taken by the federal government for the La Farge Dam & Lake Project were
put to rest some fifteen years ago when the land was legally transferred over
by the Feds to state control. Since
then, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, which was created from that “government land” (This was a local name
bestowed on the dam project lands during that time starting in the 1970’s when
the dam project was in legislative and bureaucratic limbo for nearly thirty
years as the powers to be tried to
figure out what to do with the nearly 9,000 acres. That name for the property is not heard
nearly as often in these parts as it used to be.), has grown into one of the
most popular public lands in southern Wisconsin. Tens of thousands of people use the Reserve
every year to hunt, hike, bike, fish, camp, canoe, ski, bird watch, and cool out. Thousands of school children from all over
western Wisconsin come to the Reserve each year to hike its trails, learn about
the wonders of nature and become aware of the history of the land.
So what
could possibly interrupt this idyllic transformation for these Kickapoo Valley
lands from a bad situation into a good one?
Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker introduced his proposed state budget to a joint session
of the state legislature on Tuesday evening, February 3rd. It was a snowy evening in Madison and there
was also a Badger men’s basketball game at the Kohl Center that same evening
that I was attending. The combination of
the snowy and slippery streets, the crowd coming in for the UW basketball game
and the Governor’s budget address made for a traveling gridlock for people
driving into the Downtown Madison area.
By tipoff time for the Badger game, more than half of the seats were still
empty – an extremely rare occurrence.
Eventually
the snow stopped and the streets were plowed and salted. Bo Ryan’s Badgers played superbly in
dispatching an over matched Indiana team by a score of 92-78. By halftime of
the game, the Kohl Center was packed as usual.
Everything returned to normal except for that pesky budget presented
that evening by Governor Walker.
By the time
that we had returned home from Madison that evening, my e-mail started to fill
with messages about a particular provision in the Governor’s budget. That policy provision (always a bad deal when
included in a budget bill, but Walker isn’t the first Governor to do it) called
for a change in the administration of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, moving it
from the Department of Tourism over to the Department of Natural Resources
(DNR). The Governor’s proposal for the
Reserve caught everyone by surprise. Neither
the staff nor the management board of the Reserve had been consulted. The Ho-Chunk Nation, which jointly manages
part of the Reserve, knew nothing about the proposed change. Even the DNR, the state agency designated to
administer the Reserve in the Governor’s proposal, was unaware of the proposed
change.
What was apparent with the proposal
was that it had been included in the budget by Governor Walker without proper
communication to those most directly affected by the change. Soon a strategy was developed to voice opposition
to the proposal. To provide some historical
perspective to the story of the lands involved in the Governor’s proposal, I
wrote a letter-to-the- editor and sent it off to a few area newspapers. I titled the letter, “Walker’s Proposal a
Slap In The Face to the People of the Kickapoo Valley”.
In the letter, I wrote,
“The
recent proposal in Governor Scott Walker’s budget to transfer administrative
control of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve to the state DNR caught nearly everyone
by surprise. The move by the governor
was obviously done with little thought to the complex and troubled history of
these lands.
In the early 1990’s, a move was made
to return the nearly 8,600 acres of land purchased by the federal government
for the failed La Farge Dam Project to the State of Wisconsin. Governor Tommy Thompson, State Senator Brian
Rude and Assemblyman DuWayne Johnsrud (all Republicans) worked to involve the
people of the Kickapoo Valley in that process.
A committee of local citizens met with Al Anderson from UW-Extension to
see what could be done with the huge section of land located north of La
Farge. Meetings were held throughout the
Kickapoo Valley to hear from the people.
Overwhelmingly, the people demanded that the property NOT be controlled
by the DNR.
Eventually
the Kickapoo Valley Reserve was created by state statute and the property was
administered by the Department of Tourism.
It has since developed into one of the most popular public lands in
southern Wisconsin. It draws tens of
thousands of horseback riders, hunters, hikers, campers, winter sports
enthusiasts and others to the northern Kickapoo Valley every year. Thousands of students and adults participate
in the Reserve’s education programs and special events each year. This excellent public use of the lands has
developed as the people of the Kickapoo Valley had hoped.
Yet, Governor Walker now wants to
turn the administration of the Reserve lands over to the DNR – an agency that
he also guts of nearly 70 job positions in his same budget message. Due to the governor’s enforced under staffing
the DNR cannot manage the lands that it now oversees. How will the DNR administer the proposed new
lands of the Reserve – one of the largest areas of public land in southern
Wisconsin? Chaos and mismanagement can
be foreseen. More importantly, why did
the governor go against the wishes of the citizens of the Kickapoo Valley with
this “Slap in the Face” move? Perhaps he
was too busy being out of state courting his billionaire campaign backers for
his presidential bid? He obviously
wasn’t studying the history of the Kickapoo Valley.
This shortsighted blunder by the
governor can be stopped by the legislature.
If you would like to see that happen, contact Assemblyman Lee Nerison
and State Senator Jennifer Shilling to get them behind the opposition to
Governor Walker’s insult to the Kickapoo Valley. Act now before it is too late!
My rhetoric
was a little fiery and over-the-top perhaps, but I intended it to rally some
outrage over what the governor was proposing.
It may have worked.
Within a week
the letter had been printed in newspapers from Baraboo to LaCrosse. Soon it was posted on various Face Book pages
and the message spread throughout social media.
I was hearing from both old friends and people that I had never met
about how to help save the Reserve.
Phone calls and e-mails poured in.
On Thursday evening, February 19th, the Management board of
the Reserve met with Rep. Lee Nerison and Sen. Jennifer Shilling to see what
could be done. It was standing room only
that night at the Reserve’s Visitor Center as 150 people crowded in to see what
they could do to oppose the governor’s proposal. Both of the elected officials in attendance
pledged their opposition to Governor Walker’s proposal and instructed everyone
to contact the members of the Legislative Joint Committee on Finance and tell
them to pull the proposal from the budget.
The rallying cry was heard and the
people responded. By late March, the
members of the Joint Finance Committee were starting to indicate that the
proposal would be pulled from the budget.
Senator Shilling’s office staff said that they had heard from more
people about the Kickapoo Valley Reserve proposal than any other issue
ever. At a Joint Finance Committee
hearing held in Reedsburg on March 26, Co-Chairman Rep. John Nygren spoke to a
group attending from the Kickapoo Valley and hinted that the governor’s
proposal about the Reserve was coming out of the budget.
On Wednesday, April 22nd,
the Joint Finance Committee, by a vote of 16-0, removed Governor Walker’s
proposal to change the administration of the Reserve to the DNR from the budget. Once again, the people had remembered the
special lands of the northern Kickapoo Valley.
They had spoken and they had been
heard - So Far, So Good.
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