Working Lands Workshop March 10

About four years ago I traveled to Madison with Bill Ferraro and Rick Dale, two fruit growers from Bayfield, to make a presentation about our farmland preservation program. Rick and Bill met with Rod Nilsestuen, the Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture to explain the benefits of purchasing development rights (PDR)on Bayfield orchards to preserve farmland.

We also presented a slide show about our program (the second in Wisconsin after the Town of Dunn) and information about twenty-four other states that have a state fund to support local PDR purchases. We had a full house in front of the Working Lands Initiative Committee and a great discussion about what works.

Secy Nilsestuen and his committee have done an excellent job incorporating this concept into the new Working Lands Program. To learn more about it, come to our workshop on Tuesday, March 10 at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center (Ashland, WI). We look forward to hearing more about the status of the program, and other efforts to protect farmland and working forests.