Mary Jean Huston: Nature Conservancy benefits Sauk County

For more than four decades, The Nature Conservancy has helped conserve Sauk County’s most significant lands and waters for the benefit of people and nature alike.

To assist Sauk County governmental entities, the Conservancy raised generous contributions from our supporters. Regrettably, the economic recession prompted the Conservancy to file this year for exemption from property taxes in Sauk County.

The Conservancy has a finite amount of resources. Our budget is limited, and consequently we must ensure our funds help conserve Wisconsin’s most ecologically sensitive and highly threatened areas.

Under state law, nonprofit conservation organizations are not required to pay real estate taxes on properties they own that preserve native plants and wildlife and which are open to the public.

Nonetheless, the Conservancy has paid taxes to local communities since we first started working in Sauk County in the 1960s. After paying our 2009 taxes, the Conservancy will have paid more than $2.5 million in property taxes to local taxing entities over just the past decade.

The Nature Conservancy wants to continue to be a good partner in Sauk County.

That’s why we committed to making a one-time payment to local schools in 2010 to cover any reduction in tax allocations they would experience as a result of our amended tax payment. Due to the shared revenue formula that determines state aid to school districts, Sauk County schools will not see a significant change in funding in ensuing years.

Additionally, we pledged and are committed to making voluntary payments next year equivalent to what we paid in taxes last year to assist townships that are most impacted by this change — Spring Green, Baraboo, Freedom, Sumpter and Honey Creek.

When the Conservancy first started paying property taxes in Sauk County, we owned considerably less land. The amount of taxes we’ve had to pay on a per-acre basis has also increased significantly.

For example, in 1990 we owned 4,788 acres in Sauk County and our tax bill was $43,383. We now own 9,119 acres in the county, but our 2009 tax bill amounted to $366,564. That’s a more than three-fold increase of 343 percent per acre.

We previously were able to pay real estate taxes in Sauk County thanks to generous individual gifts to the Conservancy. But that has become increasingly difficult to maintain with half of our entire budget for the area going to taxes.

The Conservancy’s preserves are a great resource and benefit for Sauk County residents. Our lands are open to the public for outdoor recreation including bird-watching, hiking and deer-hunting. Our lands also provide wildlife habitat, help keep the area’s air and water clean and serve as an outdoor classroom for students and teachers.

The county’s land use plan points out that residents strongly support the protection of the area’s rural character and its natural resources. Our preserves do both, however, local taxing entities have not had to spend any taxpayer money to acquire or maintain these lands.

Here are some additional facts about the Conservancy’s work in Sauk County:

— Our Baraboo Hills preserves help protect the largest block of southern upland forest in southern Wisconsin.

— Our lands provide habitat for many of the 77 native species found in the Baraboo Hills that are listed as rare or imperiled in Wisconsin.

— The area continues to be the destination for many educational field trips by school groups and adults.

— The Conservancy issues more than 300 hunting permits per year in Sauk County and makes 7,472 acres available to hunters.

— The Conservancy’s lands help protect water quality in Seeley, Honey and Otter creeks.

We appreciate the support of Baraboo residents and other Sauk County residents to conserve the Baraboo Hills. The Conservancy’s work helps keep this beautiful and exceptional landscape intact for everyone’s benefit.

 

 

 Mary Jean Huston, is  the Director of The Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin