MADISON, Wis. (WRN) — Funding expires for Wisconsin’s Knowles-Nelson land conservation program.
During a Tuesday media event at Governor Nelson State Park outside Madison, Democrats pointing the finger at Republicans in the Legislature.
“We tried to see what were Senate Republicans willing to do, what were we willing to work on together. But every time they came back to the table to say what they were interested in, their ideas just got worse and worse,” said Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein.
Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on reauthorization, and Hesselbein says that puts future acquisitions in jeopardy.
“Those parcels of land that could become open and that now we don’t know what’s going to happen. And those could be sold to developers and then developed,” she said.
Republican lawmakers argued that the program which has acquired some 750,000 acres for conservation since 1989 needs greater legislative oversight.