Money Well Spent

Bill contains $1.125 million for Ice Age Trail

One of those perks tucked into the budget bill passed by the House this week provides $1.125 million for the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Wisconsin.
All but $125,000 will be spent to buy land in Dane, Waukesha and Columbia counties, in areas where the trail now passes over paved roads. The $125,000 would be used to build hiking trail segments on the purchased land, according to Andrew Hanson III, the trailway director.
It would be another small step in the long journey to complete the 1,200-mile off-road footpath that marks the furthest southern reach of glaciers in the last ice age. Currently, about half of the trail requires hikers to trek on roads.
Hanson said the federal dollars would help generate allocations from the state stewardship fund and county coffers, and private donations. The federal allocation from the Land & Water Conservation Fund typically requires a local match of 50%.
Since 2000, the Ice Age Trail has received about $12.5 million in federal money for land acquisition and trail work and generated about $20.5 million from state and local sources.
State Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) took credit for the federal windfall in a news release her office issued on Thursday.
"The Ice Age Trail is one of the great environmental treasures of our state and our nation," she said. "Preserving this trail and opening it up to the public is a gift and a duty to future generations."
The new infusion of cash follows two other recent gains for the Ice Age Trail: Wisconsin's Natural Resources Board voted 7-0 earlier this month to approve the purchase of 78.62 acres of land for the trail in Waushara County. The land will be purchased from the Ronald Motola estate for $220,200, of which 50 percent will come from federal Land & Water Conservation funds and 50 percent from Wisconsin's Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund.
In Washington County, the state and the Cedar Lakes Land Conservation Foundation combined to buy a 108.5-acre farm northeast of Hwy. 41. That land also will provide a route for a portion of the Ice Age Trail.

Credit: www.jsonline.com