Wisconsin Conservation Legislation
The primary methodology for my project for the McNair Summer Research Institute has been reading literature. I gained a foundation of conservation knowledge through a political and scientific lens by reading The Man from Clear Lake, Earth Day Founder, Senator Gaylord Nelson, by Bill Christofferson, A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold, and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Relevant chapters from the Wisconsin Land Legacy Report and the Wisconsin Environmental Law Handbook, as well as university law reviews, land use plans, conservation bulletins, and current events, increased my understanding of conservation legislation. Each literature having its own sources worth following up on created an incessant list of articles and sources to read to in order to narrow down my research question. My findings included learning that the Cochrane City Bluffs, a focal point of my research, were named a 2007 Legacy Place for conservation. I also learned that one of the primary goals of the creation of the Warren Knowles- Gaylord Nelson 2000 Stewardship program was 'bluff protection.' Organizations such as the former Conservation Civilian Corps and the Civilians Natural Resource Association of Wisconsin brought attention to specific projects that would help to narrow down my focus, such as the Soil Conservation Civillian Corps located in Cochrane, Wi from 1935- 1943, and how administrative efforts have and continue to pave the in preserving natural habitats.
Wisconsin Land Legacy Report 20 years later
The Cochrane city bluffs, as referenced in the 2007 Wisconsin Land Legacy Report, consumed my attention because I grew up there in a house on land owned by my family for more than a century. Moving forward, I intend to have communications with the Town of Belvidere, Buffalo County Planning Committee as follow up to their 2012 Land Use Plan. Recent events, such as the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision Evers v. Marklein, 2024, ruling that the Joint Finance Committee's use of halting expenditures from the Department of Natural Resources for land conservation was violated separation of powers under the Wisconsin Constitution, are significant events in the future of conservation. In keeping up with current events, I plan to read Marquette Law Review "Environmentalism and the Constitution", by Jason Czarneski and the Wisconsin State Legislature, Chapters 23 through 29 on a variety of topics from “Conservation” to “Wild Animals and Plants,” There are a variety of ways to ensure that the Cochrane bluffs and other natural habitats are protected through legislation, and researching the path forward is included in the next steps of my project where I attempt to answer the question, “What’s Next for the Buffalo County and Cochrane Bluffs Conservation Legislation?”
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