Knowles-Nelson Legislation Takes First Step Forward
On June 11, 2025, the Assembly Committee on Forestry, Parks, and Outdoor Recreation held a public hearing on a bill to reauthorize Knowles-Nelson, Assembly Bill 315.
Thanks to your advocacy, over 4,700 emails were sent to legislators in under 24 hours leading up to yesterday’s hearing. We were proud to speak on behalf of Team Knowles Nelson, knowing that so many of you contacted your legislators and the committee members. It is absolutely crucial that legislators hear from us and you spoke loud and clear. Thank you!
Eleven organizations testified at the committee hearing, all voicing strong support for continuing this critical conservation program. Most groups, including Gathering Waters, offered specific feedback on how to improve the bill. All the speakers emphasized Knowles-Nelson’s importance to Wisconsin and their commitment to working together to strengthen it.
Our Position on Assembly Bill 315
Assembly Bill 315 has many good parts, and it needs some important improvements.
The good news:
- It provides stable funding for land trusts and local governments.
- A four-year authorization gives organizations some certainty to plan projects.
- A proposed new grant program would help to manage lands that are already protected.
Our concerns:
- The bill could make it harder to protect new land by directing DNR to always prioritize land management over acquisition.
- The proposed oversight process, a so-called “major” lands acquisition program, has no clear process, no timelines, and no mechanism to ensure projects receive an up or down vote.
Now, we’ll keep working with legislators to find ways to better balance land protection with land management and to create clearer oversight rules.
We’re proud to stand with so many partners working together in support of Knowles-Nelson. You can find each group’s testimony online, and you can watch the full committee hearing at WisconsinEye (you’ll need to create a free user account to view the archived video).
The committee will now review the testimony and determine next steps for the bill. The Assembly committee may choose to amend the bill before voting to advance the bill out of committee to the entire Assembly. On the Senate side, the bill has been referred to the Sporting Heritage Committee, but we have not yet heard anything about a hearing. This entire process can be a lot of “hurry up and wait.” We’ll be sure to keep you informed whenever we learn of impending action.
Your emails, postcards, phone calls, and continued conversations are making a difference – legislators are listening, and your advocacy will be crucial as we keep moving forward. Thank you for responding so quickly.
Featured image by Gathering Waters staff, 2025
