1-26-24 evers goes around gop to secure grant for largest land conservation purchase in wisconsin history

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers has secured federal dollars to complete the largest land conservation purchase in Wisconsin history, going around Republicans who had blocked it. The state Department of Natural Resources planned last year to spend about $4 million in stewardship dollars to cover about a quarter of the price tag for a conservation easement on nearly 56,000 acres of property in northern Wisconsin known as the Pelican River Forest. The U.S. Forestry Service had agreed to pay the remaining 75% of the easement. But Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee blocked the stewardship dollars in April. Evers announced during his State of the State address Tuesday that the forestry service would cover the full cost.