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August 17, 2006
Working Lands Initiative ~ Wisconsin
Letter to Secretary Nilsestuen
July 2006
Rod Nilsestuen, Secretary
Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
2811 Agriculture Drive
Madison, WI 53708
Dear Secretary Nilsestuen:
On behalf of the Working Lands Initiative Steering Committee, we are pleased to submit the
enclosed report to you.
The Committee has met each month since July 2005 in open meetings. Our early meetings were
largely spent receiving information from experts in various fields relevant to the issues affecting
working lands. In our more recent meetings, we discussed problems and possible solutions and
developed the enclosed recommendations. Each meeting included an opportunity for public
comment from interested citizens and we understand that many citizens watched the webcast of
our meetings.
As individuals and representatives of organizations, we brought our ideas, recommendations for
action, and personal and professional perspectives to our discussions. We support the resulting
recommendations for action presented in this report and offer them for further discussion by
state leaders, elected officials, and the citizens of Wisconsin. We do not want this report to
simply sit on the shelf. We intend these recommendations to be put into action and we look
forward to participating in the public dialog that is the next step in making that happen.
Some of our recommendations are more detailed than others, but in all cases many more details
will need to be worked out in order to put these recommendations into action. Working out these
details may raise issues that are not addressed in our report, and Committee members or their
constituencies may have differing views on some of these implementation details. As this process
unfolds, we respect one anothers right to take what may be differing positions on the most
effective ways to implement these recommendations.
Thank you for the confidence you placed in the Committee and for giving each of us the
opportunity to be active participants in this important issue.
Sincerely,
Dan Poulson and Linda Bochert, Co-Chairs
On behalf of the members of the Working Lands Initiative Steering Committee
August 17, 2006
i Wisconsin ~ Working Lands Initiative
Steering Committee
Working Lands Initiative Steering Committee
Dan Poulson
Former President, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation
Linda Bochert
Michael Best & Friedrich
Dick Barrows
UW-Madison CALS
Sue Beitlich
Wisconsin Farmers Union
Jerry Bradley
Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation
Ed Brooks
Foremost Farms USA Board
Denny Caneff
River Alliance of Wisconsin
Dick Cates
DATCP Board
Jerry Deschane
Wisconsin Builders Association
Vicki Elkin
Gathering Waters Conservancy
Rob Gottschalk
Vandewalle & Associates/Blue Planet Partners
Steve Guthrie
Tomahawk Timberlands
Dave Helbach
Alliant Energy
Steve Hilger
Hilger Farms
Steve Hiniker
1000 Friends of WI
Jim Holperin
Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Tourism
Ed Huck
Wisconsin Alliance of Cities
Margaret Krome
DATCP Board
Tom Larson
Wisconsin Realtors Association
Mark O'Connell
Wisconsin Counties Association
Bill Oemichen
Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives
Gary Rohde
Former Secretary, Wisconsin DATCP
Sharon Schmeling
Jefferson County Board Chair
Rick Stadelman
Wisconsin Towns Association
John Torinus, Jr.
Serigraph, Inc.
Curt Witynski
League of Wisconsin Municipalities
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http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/workinglands/index.jsp Working Lands Initiative ~ Wisconsin
Forward
Forward
By Rod Nilsestuen
Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
No matter how big our economy grows, no matter how technology advances, no matter how global
our society, we need people to till the land, produce our food, harvest timber, produce our paper,
and conserve our most basic and precious resource, Wisconsins productive working lands.
A healthy forestry sector, a healthy farm sector, and healthy rural communities need constant
infusions of new producers and foresters. These men and women will help Wisconsin agriculture
and forestry grow, introduce new ideas and approaches whether grazing, fish farming, or
marketing at the high-end and enrich our state economy while providing a good life for
themselves and their families.
Throughout time, the working lands of Wisconsin have been the source of traditional commodities
for the marketplace including corn, soybeans, hay, milk, and beef from agriculture and wood,
pulp, and paper from forestry. But working lands are about more than these critical commodities.
The foundation of our working lands is the soil, a complex, living system, which is the basis of all
life. If we maintain our working lands, their productivity will be sustained by recycling what was
once living into new life. Soil on our farms harbors a host of microorganisms that perform an
array of functions that sustain life. The working lands soils also buffer the multitude of foreign
substances our industrial society releases into our environment. Working lands provide a healthy
soil that can help to process those wastes, although agricultural land alone cannot offset the need
for less polluting urban and industrial activities.
Soil on our farm and forestland is also a critical component of the carbon cycle. In this era of
accelerated fossil fuel use, our soil, if we maintain our working lands, can sequester carbon, thus
helping to stabilize global climate change.
August 17, 2006
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Photo by USDA NRCS Wisconsin ~ Working Lands Initiative
Forward
Our working lands are homes for people and for many plants and animals that inhabit the earth.
If we maintain our working lands, we can continue to coexist with this rich array of life. Working
lands produce abundant food and fiber, paper and pulp and now are a source of biomass for fuels,
energy, and the products of the future. Working lands are the home and neighbor to someone. We
need to find ways to live and work together in cooperation, not in conflict, as far too often occurs
with unplanned land use.
Yet, as we know from simple observation, we continue to lose too many acres of farmland every
year, and in many cases, it is the best farmland that we have. Of equal concern, we are losing
forests and farms in a fragmented fashion that increases urban-rural (and rural-rural) conflicts,
and deprives us of the land base and infrastructure we need for agricultural development and
profitability.
We have developed policies and programs to address these concerns. The states Farmland
Preservation Program, use-value assessment policy, and comprehensive planning process play
important roles. The Department of Natural Resources programs in forest management have
been very successful, but changes in our forestland ownership also require new strategies and
approaches.
Overall, our tool kit needs to be updated and expanded to meet todays needs and tomorrows
challenges. To that end, I appointed the Working Lands Initiative Steering Committee last July.
The Steering Committee consisted of 26 Wisconsin residents from agriculture, local government,
forestry, various private sector businesses, the University of Wisconsin System, and non-profit
organizations.
On behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the citizens of
Wisconsin, I extend profound thanks to the Steering Committee members for their significant
contribution to this critical issue.
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http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/workinglands/index.jsp
For more information on Wisconsins working lands and
on the proceedings of the Working Lands Initiative Steering
Committee, please visit the
Working Lands Initiative website at
http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/workinglands/index.jsp
so-0155.qxp 08/06 Working Lands Initiative ~ Wisconsin
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Working Lands Initiative Steering Committee ______________________________________ii
Forward
____________________________________________________________________________iii
Table of Contents ____________________________________________________________________v
List of Figures ______________________________________________________________________vi
Executive Summary ________________________________________________________________viii
Recommendations for Action __________________________________________________________viii
The Challenge ______________________________________________________________________viii
Managing Growth ____________________________________________________________________ix
The Threats __________________________________________________________________________ix
The Opportunities______________________________________________________________________x
Goals of the Working Lands Initiative __________________________________________________xi
Wisconsin Working Lands: Our Opportunities, Our Challenges ______________________1
Planning for Prosperity ________________________________________________________________1
Maintaining Environmental Quality ____________________________________________________1
Community Collaboration Networks ____________________________________________________2
Why Wisconsin Should Take Action Now ________________________________________________2
Is Losing Acres of Working Lands a Problem? ____________________________________________2
The Challenge ________________________________________________________________________2
The Opportunities
____________________________________________________________________4
The Threats __________________________________________________________________________6
Goals of the Work