Wisconsin Conservationists: Don`t Sell Off Public Lands

MADISON, Wis. - A large number of conservation organizations are adamantly opposed to a platform plank approved at last week`s Republican Natiopnal Convention that advocates the sale or disposition of federal public lands.

Rather than selling public lands, said Michael Carlson, executive director of Gathering Waters, a Wisconsin land-trust organization, what`s needed is bipartisan solutions and additional investment.

"One example would be permanent reauthorization of the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, or LWCF, in Congress," he said, "which would continue a more than 50-year bipartisan legacy of funding for federal, state and local land-protection efforts."

Former Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary George Meyer, who now is executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said maintaining public lands in the Badger State is critical....   ...more

Ken Notes: All great points, but the legislature sees the sale as a good thing that saves money. I suggest we ask for lands to be transferred or sold into use that benefits the public trust and/or tourism.