A big thank you directed to…

Fred Prehn, who resigned from the DNR Board several days ago with the resignation effect on 12/30/22.

This ends a strange and sad saga with Dr. Prehn (he is a dentist) staying in his seat for almost two years after his term ended.  Emails revealed that he had done so with the encouragement of Republican legislators and lobbyists.  His presence sustained a conservative majority of four on the Board with what appeared to be opposition to Governor Evers' conservation and environmental agenda.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

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Stop the holiday planning: this needs your attention

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Charles Carlin and our good friends at Gathering Waters are fighting the good fight to preserve the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Program. Click here to read the latest update from their team. You'll recall how an anonymous member  of the  Joint Finance Committee (JFC) was destroying the Pelican River conservation project in NE Wisconsin. The linked article shows that JFC did not even follow its own bad rules and that Governor Evers might have the chance to save the project.

Photo by Joshua Mayer

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At the expense of Pelican River

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The faithful six readers of this blog know that one of my perennial concerns has been the threats facing the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program. The most insidious of these is the power the Joint Finance Committee has exercised. Currently, any member of the Joint Finance Committee can anonymously stop any Stewardship grant that comes before the Committee without stating any reason and without any public hearing on that action.

Charles Carlin of Gathering Waters offers an effective description of the latest abuse of power by some JFC member. That legislator has stopped the Pelican River conservation/timber easement of 70,000 acres in northeast Wisconsin.

Photo by Joshua Mayer