By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher
Well, give us credit: When we screw up, we do it in a big way. It keeps us humble, you know. Last week we gave front-page play to a story that the biennium budget removed funding for the Kickapoo Valley management board and the property’s four full-time employees. Oops — no, not really.
I guess this is why newspapers are called the first draft of history. When we looked at the governor’s full budget document released on Tuesday evening, it included a chart showing zero dollars for the KVR in 2016–2017. What we did not realize was that farther down in the budget, those dollars reappeared in the DNR budget. And so, being Tuesday and press deadline, we made a logical leap we never should have. This agitated the Kickapoo Valley Reserve folks in a big way.
From all assurances, the management and funding of the KVR will stay exactly the same. The only (and I stress ONLY) change will be that the property will shift from the Department of Tourism to the Department of Natural Resources.
The first question we ought to ask is if nothing changes, then why do this? It is a question that state Rep. Lee Nerison cannot answer.
Some readers may recall that at the inception of the KVR, the property was placed under the management of the Department of Administration and was later moved to the Department of Tourism. At the time, it appeared we were reinventing the wheel. The land sits side by side with Wildcat Mountain State Park; why not just haveit part of that property and managed by the DNR?
Going further back to the contentious meetings of the early and mid-1990s, local citizens were adamantly opposed to any more land under the DNR’s control. There was (and probably still is) a great deal of negative sentiment toward the DNR in this area.
Taking that into consideration, local legislators, Gov. Tommy Thompson and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold struck a deal that satisfied the demands of the local constituency. The KVR would not be under the thumb of the DNR, and a citizen board would assume management authority, including forming a budget, hiring staff, and creating and enforcing policy for the property.
This was pretty heady stuff and a new concept in Wisconsin for recreational property. If you are a user of state parks, you know they are the McDonald’s of recreation. You know what to expect. Rules and regulations are delivered from on high in Madison, and no matter which park you visit, there is very little variance.
The first years were, well, rocky, to say the least. Turning 8,762 acres of mud-bogging, garbage-dumping, no man’s land into a respectable public property was challenging. Every user group, from the horse crowd to the hunting dog trainers, had an agenda and a vision of what it wanted the KVR to be. Meetings were contentious and controversial.
It was a tough birth, but the result was a nice baby. Not only does the KVR supply wonderful opportunities for outdoor recreation, but also its environmental education work has provided countless hours of education for thousands of children and adults, bringing greater understanding of the role of nature in all our lives. A thriving Friends group has raised many thousands of dollars to enhance the programming and improve the property.
I would suggest that much of that local participation and enthusiasm is largely due to the sense of ownership generated by local management. Management board members could be your next-door neighbors or the people you see at church or at the grocery store. Their monthly meetings are public, and you can go and harass, harangue or heckle. And you can also get an answer, unlike with the DNR, which “has to check with Madison.”
If you are really cranky, you can even take a shot at being appointed to the board.
Though the Kickapoo Valley Reserve has flourished, the poor stepsister next door, Wildcat Mountain State Park, has been throttled by continuous cutbacks in DNR funding. There has not been a naturalist at the property in more than 10 years. Two of the four full-time positions have not been filled; the summer employee staff is at its lowest level ever. The Wildcat Mountain work unit is also responsible for the three bike trails and Mill Bluff State Park. You can do only so much before routine maintenance of trails, buildings and other facilities begins to suffer. Many would argue that it already has.
At this point, it appears things will stay the same for the KVR through the next biennium budget. And maybe it will. But I suggest there may be plenty of horse-trading in the legislature before the final budget approval later this spring.
How long will the DNR look at that $922,000 pot of money that comes with control of the KVR and not see a solution to its own financial struggles? And how long will it allow a property to operate in a far different manner than the others in its own agency? And how does the memorandum of understanding with the Ho-Chunk Nation factor into all this?
The governor says the reason for moving the property to the DNR is “streamlining.” Really? No one can quite tell me how it would streamline anything, which leads me to conclude this is just one more move to take away local control and consolidate as much power as possible in the office of the governor.
We should be very, very suspicious.