Working Lands Initiative More Important Now Than Ever Agri-View: Capitol News

News Editor

The Working Lands Initiative (WLI) is alive and well.

That was the message Jim Arts, who has worked on the issue since its inception, delivered to Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) board members on April 1.

“More than two years ago over 25 people looked at ways to preserve Wisconsin’s agricultural and forest land. The group’s report came out in 2006 and we’d hoped we would have seen some legislation to address the recommendations in that report,” Arts told the board.

No legislation has been brought forward. But that hasn’t dulled Arts’ enthusiasm. “The case is even stronger today than when WLI met,” he told the board.

“There is also more need now than ever before. We thought it was time to pick the report up off the table and move with it,” Arts said. That’s exactly what’s been done.

There were three major recommendations in the WLI’s report. One dealt with the Farmland Preservation Program (FPP); another with the creation of WLI Enterprise areas; and a third with creation of a purchase of agricultural easement program (formerly called Purchase of Development Rights or PDR program).

Farmland Preservation Program

Created in the 1970s, the FPP has been the flagship program for land use, Arts noted. The WLI committee was told to either get rid of the program or fix it n and fix it is what’s been done. The DATCP and the Legislative Reference Bureau are working on drafting proposed legislation to update the program.

Recommendations included in the draft include making ag zoning more flexible. “That means getting away from those 35-acre plots, but not losing farmland protection power,” Arts explained.

The relationship between state and local governments for land use programs is vital. The new plan would allow local governments to self-certify local plans and ordinances, but they would still be subject to state audit.

Another change would be enforcing the FPP payback provision. “Landowners get tax credits for participating in FPP, but historically it has been very difficult to administer sometimes because local governments don’t always let the DATCP know when it is repealed,” Arts said.

“We want to move to a conversion fee process and let local governments enforce that n and they get to keep the money. This gets the state out of it,” he said.

There would be a requirement to update FPP plans. “If you don’t have a good plan, nothing else will work well,” Arts said, noting many FPP plans are 20 years old n or older.

Enterprise areas

To protect large working lands area from fragmented sprawl, Working Lands Enterprise Areas would be created.

“These would encourage farmers and owners of contiguous land areas to enter into agreement with the state to make them eligible for a variety of financial incentives,” Arts said. This may involve the Right to Farm Law, he added.

Enterprise Areas would help protect the land base for the production of biofuels and could use the concept that is behind creation of industrial parks.

“We are encouraging the DATCP and local governments to develop pilot projects in these enterprise areas,” Arts said.

Easements

Wisconsinites have shown a lot of interest in the purchase of agricultural easements. “But both local governments and land trusts would like a little help from the state for such programs,” Arts said.

Ozaukee, Jefferson, La Crosse and Waukesha counties have expressed interest in ag easements and have held meetings on this topic.

DATCP’s involvement

Kathy Pielsticker, administrator of the Division of Agricultural Resource Management, said the DATCP’s role would be to expedite educational information programs/materials that local governments could use to explain WLI.

“Staff at the department’s Land and Water Bureau will be involved and will develop an electronic newsletter on WLI,” Pielsticker said.

“We will describe good ideas that have already been tried to help foster good leadership and generate public support. The DATCP’s website will also have current information on it,” she added.

The department is also working with UW-Extension on education about WLI and to better define the DATCP’s and Extension’s roles.

Pielsticker said the DATCP is “looking at specifics of what a pilot program, could, should and might be. We can do this by providing models.”

The American Farmland Trust has expressed some interest in working with Wisconsin on agricultural easements, she added.

“At some point there will be a legislative informational hearing, despite the state’s somewhat grim fiscal outlook, we still hope to see some legislation proposed,” she said.

What’s next for WLI?

The WLI committee will reconvene in the next several weeks and the ideas proposed by Arts and Pielsticker will be discussed. “It will be up to the committee to set the priorities,” Arts told the board.

DATCP Secretary Rod Nilsestuen said he wanted to “underline the obvious. The reality is that with a major update of the Stewardship Program, having two similar preservation programs wouldn’t happen.

“The next time around what we’ll put forward will be stronger,” he pledged.

At meetings around the state, Nilsestuen said he is “constantly being asked what’s happening (with WLI) n or being told what’s happening.

“The WLI is even more important now than it was two years ago, considering where land prices have gone. Wisconsin is in first place in terms of how much land is being lost to development each year,” Nilsestuen said.

The state’s interest in and commitment to renewable energy means investment in agriculture and forestry. “We won’t have this unless we have a land base that is predictable (in size) year after year. This is most important in advancing stewardship and conservation,” the secretary continued.

Currently there are eight million acres in exclusive ag zoning, Nilsestuen said. “The challenge is for us to be able to address this big and very complex equation n it is political and problematic, but it is where economic interests and preservation interests come together,” he emphasized.

Other business

In other business, the board:

- Approved a hearing draft rule on the “Buy Local” Grant program created in the 2007 Biennial Budget Act. This permanent rule is similar to the temporary “emergency rule” that is now in place. However, unlike the “emergency” rule, this permanent rule will allow grant recipients to use non-DATCP grant funds as part of the required “match” for DATCP “Buy Local” grants.

- Approved a hearing draft rule and authorized public hearings across the state on electronic communication services.

- Approved a rulemaking scope statement on Consumer Product Safety. This will allow the department to begin working on a rule that may ban several products that present a hazard and unreasonable risk of personal injury and may incorporate federal consumer product safety standards related to those types of products.

- Heard reports on the DATCP’s work with Geographic Information Systems and on Invasive Pests, namely the Emerald Ash Borer. This pest has not yet been found in the state.

- Set the next DATCP Meeting for May 14 in Madison.