After Pelican River, Oneida County officials make land use policies less conservation friendly

Pelican River area in Wisconsin (Jay Brittain | Courtesy of the photographer)

County board members in Oneida County who opposed the conservation of the Pelican River Forest are now working to make the county’s land use policies less conservation friendly. 

The Pelican River Forest is the largest conservation project in state history, setting aside 70,000 acres of forest land across Langlade, Forest and Oneida counties. After months of wrangling between state, local and federal officials, a conservation easement protecting the land in perpetuity was created in January. 

A group of local officials opposed the project, arguing that any use of federal funds to conserve land requires “coordination” with them. A widely discredited legal theory, the idea of coordination comes from American Stewards of Liberty, a right-wing anti-conservation group that has worked against efforts to protect land across the country. 

The group’s founder, Margaret Byfield, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany worked with locals in the three counties to oppose the conservation project. Byfield later appeared at an event in Michigan hosted by the Rhinelander-based Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association where she claimed that efforts to conserve land are actually Democratic plots to “control” rural communities. 

ASL describes itself as an organization dedicated to protecting “property rights,” but conservation groups say it espouses a twisted view of property rights — holding that landowners shouldn’t be allowed to put their property into conservation easements that protect that land from excessive logging or mining, and that local and county officials should be able to prevent those agreements. 

“This is a group that wants to limit what property owners can do with their property, and they want the government to have control and to be able to tell property owners, you can or cannot do this with your private property,” Aaron Weiss, the deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, who has studied the group, previously told the Wisconsin Examiner. “So that’s the biggest, the most important thing to realize is that when ASL claims they are about private property rights, that is an absolute lie. The policies they promote and as you see it playing out in Wisconsin, are all about limiting private property rights.” 

As ASL was working with county officials to oppose the Pelican River project, those officials also began working on updating their comprehensive plans. 

Counties are required to have comprehensive plans under state law. The documents must be updated every 10 years and, according to the state Department of Administration, are meant to “provide a rational basis for local land use decisions … for future planning and community decisions.”

Under Oneida County’s old plan, established in 2013, county officials noted the importance conserving the area’s land and water should have in land use and planning decisions. 

“Land and water resources are a major attribute of the quality of life in Oneida County,” the 2013 plan states. “In addition to their contribution to the area’s history, environment and economy, they are valued for their natural and scenic beauty, wildlife habitat, and the recreational opportunities they provide. The planning effort needs to consider natural resources and incorporate methods to implement conservation strategies. While using those resources which contribute to the economic success of Oneida County, there needs to be a balance between the natural environment and human environment in the use of our resources.” 

But as the county has worked through updating the plan, it has made a number of decisions that appear to depart from that sentiment. 

The previous version stated that the county aimed to “conserve and enhance large tract woodlands and County Forests.” Under the draft of the new plan, that goal has been changed to conserving and enhancing “managed forest law lands.” 

Wisconsin’s managed forest law program, operated by the state Department of Natural Resources, allows landowners to reduce their property taxes by agreeing to a plan for sustainable forestry on their property. 

The policy under the old plan was meant to “minimize the conversion of woodlands into other uses.” 

Now, the policy aims to “promote areas for future development by using existing Managed Forest Law lands in private ownership to increase the tax base.”

This change to the plan is almost explicitly a reaction to the Pelican River easement. The old plan stated the county wanted to “improve forestry management to promote productivity of forest products, protect wildlife habitat, water quality, and provide recreational opportunities.” 

Now, the county wants to “discourage the conversion of existing privately owned lands to public lands.” 

Charles Carlin, director of strategic initiatives for Gathering Waters, a non-profit aimed at promoting the state’s land trusts and conserving natural areas, says he doesn’t believe this change is what Oneida County residents want, that people live there because of its natural environment. He adds that protecting that environment can be good for both the local economy and the climate. 

“This small group of Oneida County leaders appears to be continuing to take direction from the radical anti-conservation group The American Stewards of Liberty, which seeks to undermine responsible care of our land and water, starting at the level of local government,” he says. “That makes no sense. Groups like ASL don’t know Wisconsin and they don’t know our values. Wisconsin is the proud home of conservation champions across the political spectrum who know how caring for our land and water increases economic opportunity while ensuring that our kids and grandkids have clean air and water as well as wild places to play.” 

Carlin points out that Oneida County’s tourism council recently named the conserved Pelican River Forest the newest “gem” of the Northwoods. 

“Overall, I do not think most Oneida County leaders or residents are interested in any kind of backlash against Pelican River,” he adds. “The forest will boost the forest products and recreation economies while at the same time it will sequester carbon, mitigate flood risk, and protect our drinking water. That’s a remarkable win for Wisconsin.”

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